Tacoma Baha’i

Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self.
Baha’u’llah

This is the hour when ye must associate with all the earth’s peoples in extreme kindliness and love, and be to them the signs and tokens of God’s great mercy.
‘Abdu’l-Baha

And for everyone it is now easy to travel to any land, to associate and exchange views with its peoples, and to become familiar, through publications, with the conditions, the religious beliefs and the thoughts of all men. In like manner all the members of the human family, whether peoples or governments, cities or villages, have become increasingly interdependent. For none is self-sufficiency any longer possible, inasmuch as political ties unite all peoples and nations, and the bonds of trade and industry, of agriculture and education, are being strengthened every day. Hence the unity of all mankind can in this day be achieved. Verily this is none other but one of the wonders of this wondrous age, this glorious century.
‘Abdu’l-Baha

Photo: L’Avenue des Champs Élysées, Paris, one of the great streets in one of the great cities of the world, as seen from atop the Arc de Triomphe.

H. Res. 1008

In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

August 1, 2008.
Whereas in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2006, Congress declared that it deplored the religious persecution by the Government of Iran of the Baha’i community and would hold the Government of Iran responsible for upholding the rights of all Iranian nationals, including members of the Baha’i faith;

Whereas on March 20, 2006, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, revealed the existence of a confidential letter dated October 29, 2005, from the chairman of the command headquarters of Iran’s Armed Forces to the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard, and the police force, stating the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, instructed the command headquarters to identify members of the Baha’i faith in Iran and monitor their activities;

Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur expressed `grave concern and apprehension’ about the implications of this letter for the safety of the Baha’i community;

Whereas in May 2006, 54 Baha’is were arrested in Shiraz and held for several days without trial in the largest roundup of Baha’is since the 1980s;

Whereas in August 2006, the Iranian Ministry of the Interior ordered provincial officials to `cautiously and carefully monitor and manage’ all Baha’i social activities;

Whereas in 2006, the Central Security Office of Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered to be a Baha’i ;

Whereas in November 2006, a letter issued by Payame Noor University stated that it is Iranian policy to prevent Baha’is from enrolling in universities and to expel Baha’i upon discovery;

Whereas in 2007, more than two-thirds of the Baha’is enrolled in universities were expelled upon identification as a Baha’i ;

Whereas in February 2007, police in Tehran and surrounding towns entered Baha’i homes and businesses to collect details on family members;

Whereas in April 2007, the Iranian Public Intelligence and Security Force ordered 25 industries to deny business licences to Baha’is;

Whereas in 2006 and 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information pressured employers to fire Baha’i employees and instructed banks to refuse to provide loans to Baha’i -owned businesses;

Whereas in July 2007, a Baha’i cemetery was destroyed by earthmoving equipment in Yazd, and in September 2007, a Baha’i cemetery was bulldozed outside of Najafabad, erasing the memory of those Iranian citizens;

Whereas in November 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information in Shiraz detained Baha’is Ms. Raha Sabet, 33; Mr. Sasan Taqva, 32; and Ms. Haleh Roohi, 29, for educating underprivileged children;

Whereas Mr. Taqva reportedly was detained while suffering from an injured leg which required medical attention;

Whereas on January 23, 2008, the State Department released a statement urging the Iranian regime to release all individuals held without due process and a fair trial, including the 3 young Baha’is being held in an Iranian Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz;

Whereas in March and May of 2008, Iranian intelligence officials in Mashhad and Tehran arrested and imprisoned Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm, the members of the coordinating group for the Baha’i community in Iran;

Whereas those seven individuals remain imprisoned without charge;

Whereas the Government of Iran is party to the International Covenants on Human Rights; and

Whereas in December 2007, the Iranian Parliament published a draft Islamic penal code, which violates Iran’s commitment under the International Covenants on Human Rights by requiring the death penalty for `apostates’, a term applied to Baha’is and any convert from Islam: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) condemns the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of Baha’is, calls on the Government of Iran to immediately cease activities aimed at the repression of the Iranian Baha’i community, and continues to hold the Government of Iran responsible for upholding all the rights of its nationals, including members of the Baha’i community;

(2) condemns the Government of Iran’s continued imprisonment of individuals without due process and a fair trial;

(3) calls on the Government of Iran to immediately release 10 Baha’is: Ms. Raha Sabet, Mr. Sasan Taqva, Ms. Haleh Roohi, Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm; and

(4) calls on the Government of Iran and the Iranian Parliament to reject a draft Islamic penal code, which violates Iran’s commitments under the International Covenants on Human Rights.
Attest:

Clerk.

********
For more information, please go to http://www.bahai.us/house-resolution.

Serenity is a quiet, solitary shore and a blue view to the horizon with a soft breeze on a warm, sunny day, a timeless view that you have all to yourself. True serenity, however, is something far more profound. It is having a solid sense of your moral center and those spiritual values that you have learned and practiced and instilled into your soul and that are reflected in your thinking and conduct. These values all have their origin in the Word of God that has been brought to mankind through God’s Messengers. Baha’is learn them through the priceless utterance of Baha’u’llah – the Word of God that He revealed to mankind during a ministry that lasted 40 years. Practicing them enables you to come closer to your true spiritual self, and on a practical level, demonstrating them can enable you to both enjoy the benefits of this earthly life and avoid making those poor decisions that result in undesirable consequences.

Photo: a 180 degree view to the south and southwest of Cook Inlet taken from Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Alaska. The entrance to Turnagain Arm is on the far left, and the entrance to Knik Arm is on the far right.

Service to God, in whatever from it occurs, is the opportunity of a lifetime. It helps one develops one’s true spiritual nature, which is, after all, our primary obligation during this brief physical life. By serving God we demonstrate a recognition of our true nature. Baha’is can do this by serving their international, national, regional, or local institutions, through self initiative in bringing the Baha’i Writings to others, and by striving daily to develop their spiritual and moral qualities and to demonstrate the fruits of that effort in their daily relationships with others.

Photo: the principle mosque in the city of Akka (Akko or Acre), Israel, known as the Mosque of al-Jazzar. It is built over the ruins of a crusader church. It is said that if you lowered a canoe through the well opening that you could paddle around in the water in the open chamber that was once the interior of the church.

Join us in a study of the Baha’i Faith!

We have a sequence of courses called Ruhi that enables small groups of people to get together informally and study, at their own pace, the spiritual principles and practices that are important for us. Begin with Book One and then take the others as you have time.

Book 1
Reflections on the Life of the Spirit

This course has three main purposes for the participants:

– understanding the Bahá’í Writings in order to fulfill the obligation of studying the Writings every day
– developing the required attitudes toward prayer, and acquiring the habit of memorizing them
– understanding that the true significance of life is to be found in the development of the soul

What are the Ruhi Sequence of Courses?
Ruhi Book 1 Reflections on the Life of the Spirit
Ruhi Book 2 Arising to Serve
Ruhi Book 3 Teaching Children’s Classes, Grade 1
Ruhi Book 3A Teaching Children’s Classes, Grade 2
Ruhi Book 4 The Twin Manifestations
Ruhi Book 5 Raising Up Animators of Junior Youth Groups
Ruhi Book 6 Teaching the Cause
Ruhi Book 7 Walking Together on a Path of Service

Where can I get more information about them?
www.ruhiresources.org

Contact us to take a Ruhi course at tacomabahais@gmail.com or (253) 474-8029

Ethnic Fest was a great success for the Baha’is of Pierce County. The two-day festival, held each year at Wright Park during the last full weekend in July, is an outstanding opportunity to let people see us and get to know us. Easily more than 700 people stopped at our two booths during these two days. That’s people who stopped and looked, talked, got a balloon or a race unity bracelet. Our children’s activity booth was a fabulous winner. Children stopped and took the time to string their own race unity bracelets. That gave their parents a chance to visit and to see our banner and appreciate our basic message that all of the religions, coming from the same Source, are essentially one. We gave away 500 race unity bracelets and 500 balloons. The balloons had a simple, appealing message: some read “No Room in My Heart for Prejudice”, while others read “World Citizen”. We handed out hundreds of “No Room in My Heart for Prejudice” stickers to passers by – most of those were Fest-goers who did not really stop and are not counted among the 700-plus visitors. Dozens of adults stopped by to look and to take literature. Many of them took the opportunity to engage in lengthy conversations about religion and spiritual values. Twenty-four visitors signed up to request a follow-up contact from us. What a wonderful opportunity for us to bring our message to new souls! A great big “Thank You!” to the many volunteers who staffed our booths to meet and talk to our visitors, purchased supplies, delivered items, helped with set-up and take-down, said prayers for our success and made balloons and did all of those little things that made for a highly successful opportunity to present Baha’u’llah’s message.

Ethnic Fest is the right venue for us. Let’s do it again next year.

– The Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Tacoma