Baha'i in Central Pennsylvania
About
how many practicing Baha'is reside in the Central Pennsylvania
area?
How
do Baha'is participate in the Baha'i community?
What
are important features of the practice of Baha'i?
What
are important beliefs of Baha'i?
What
are the Baha'i community's programs and organizations that
are open to the public where people can learn about the Baha'i
faith or that promote positive inter-group relations?
Speakers
For
further reading
About
how many practicing Baha'is reside in the Central Pennsylvania
area?
Since its conception in 1844, the Baha'i Faith is one of the
fastest growing world religions. More than 2,800 ethnic groups
throughout the world practice Baha'i, and the Baha'i scriptures
have been translated into over 380 languages and dialects.
There are over one hundred practicing Baha'i families in the
area.
How do Baha'is participate
in the Baha'i community?
Every Sunday the members of the Baha'i community gather for
discussion classes. The classes are for children of all ages
as well as adults, and each age group has a curriculum for
the year. There are also Baha'i worship services, open to
all that are held on Sunday mornings during  the
school year and Sunday afternoons during the summer. On Friday
nights a small discussion service, sometimes attended by only
a few people, is held. The Baha'i community celebrates the
Feast of Nineteen Days together with prayer and songs, and
discusses important issues together as a community. There
is a Spiritual Assembly, made up of nine members of the Baha'i
community for the Harrisburg area. These nine people serve
as an administration for the Baha'i community to hold the
community together. Baha'is gather at The Lancaster University
Chaplaincy Center for informal meetings on Monday nights at
7:30.
What are important features of the practice
of Baha'i?
The Baha'i calendar is a solar calendar with nineteen months,
each with nineteen days, making a total of 361 days in the
year. The Baha'i festivals are celebrated and commemorated
according to this calendar. The additional days left over,
between the solar calendar of the Baha'i faith and the 365-day
calendar, are called days of generosity or thoughtfulness.
These days are devoted to visiting friends, doing kind deeds,
holding socials, and giving gifts.
During the Baha'i year there are
nine holy days. These commemorate when the Bab proclaimed
himself a messenger of God who would precede God's prophet;
the period called the Festival of Ridvan when Baha'ullah publicly
announced himself as the chosen of God, which lasts from April
21 through May 2 with three of those days as holy days; the
birth and the death of Baha'ullah; the birth and martyrdom
of the Bab; and the New Year, Naw-Ruz, which is usually on
March 21, the first full day of  spring.
The last month of the year is a fast month; it lasts for nineteen
days between March 2 and March 20. This is called Ayyam-i-ha,
and is a time for spirituality since time is spent on prayer
and meditation rather than eating. The fast lasts during the
day and people eat before the sun rises and after the sun
sets.
Baha'i services
are held on Friday nights and Sundays. The Friday night service
is called discourse or discussion and is very informal. If
anyone would like to learn about Baha'i, he or she can come
and ask questions in a small and comfortable setting. Sunday
worship services are also open to all. Prayers are recited
during this service, usually from the prayer book Baha'i Prayers,
but if people would like to bring their own prayer books they
may, since Baha'i is open to all religions. The services are
always held in the vernacular, since the language spoken by
those practicing Baha'i is always the official Baha'i language.
Every nineteen
days, the Baha'i community celebrates the Nineteen Day Feast.
This feast is not necessarily one that involves a large meal,
but rather it is a "spiritual feast" filled with
worship, companionship, and unity. The three elements of the
Feast are spiritual devotion, administrative consultation,
and fellowship. A devotional portion of the feast includes
the reading aloud of selections from Baha'i writings as well
as scriptures from other religions. Afterward, there is a
discussion during which members of the Baha'i community bring
up matters of importance to the Spiritual Assembly. All members
of the community get to express their opinions on the topic.
A period of socializing ends the Feast and people can include
their own cultural traditions like dance or poetry.
The Baha'ullah
described in his writings the administrative system that holds
the Baha'i community together and makes decisions for the
community. This authority is given to bodies of nine people
on the local, national, and international levels. The local
Spiritual Assembly governs the Baha'i community of a particular
village, town, city, or civic district. The members of the
Assembly are elected each year by secret ballot. Every adult
of the community may vote and are up for election. Each writes
down the names of nine individuals he or she feels would be
best qualified to manage the community's affairs, and the
nine individuals with most votes are selected. There are no
nominations and there is no campaigning for these elections.
The same principles hold for the National Spiritual Assembly
that governs over each nation. The only difference is that
the voters are delegates at a national convention who may
vote for any Baha'i living in that country. Adult Baha'is
who are living inside of specially defined electoral districts
throughout the entire country chose the delegates for each
district through secret ballot. The Universal House of Justice
is the Baha'i international administrative body. The Universal
House of Justice is made up of nine individuals who are elected
every five years by the combined membership of all of the
world's National Spiritual Assemblies. As in the other elections,
there is no campaigning and no nominations. Each of these
governing bodies is elected to serve the Baha'i community
as a whole through individuals with recognized maturity, experience,
and humility.
What
are important beliefs of Baha'i?
Baha'i belief holds that there is one creator who is called
by many different names in many different languages, but is
still the creator of all things and the one God of all people.
God gave every created thing one of his/her own attributes
or qualities and gave to humans all of the divine qualities.
This is what it means to say that humans are created in the
image of God. If we choose to develop these attributes and
qualities in our lives, then we become more spiritual.
According to Baha'i
belief, there is a mystical relationship between humans and
God. Prayer and meditation are very important in the Baha'i
faith. They keep the line of communication with God open.
There are prayers for specific times of the day as well as
specific topics like for children, parents, tests and difficulties
that people face, healing, journeys, safety, spiritual qualities,
and more. Prayers can also be made up by individuals to reflect
their own personal feelings. These prayers are a reflection
on the attributes given by God and by praying we become recipients
of the goodness of these qualities. Since all attributes come
from God, they are all good if used properly. 'Abdu'l-Baha,
the son of Bahau'llah, the prophet of Baha'i, writes that,
"if a man is greedy to acquire science and knowledge,
or to become compassionate, generous and just, it is most
praiseworthy. If he exercises his anger and wrath against
the bloodthirsty tyrants who are like ferocious beasts, it
is very praiseworthy; but if he does not use these qualities
in the right way, they are blameworthy."
The Baha'i Faith
is a very optimistic religion. Baha'i believe that the Kitab-i-Aqdas,
the Most Holy Book, points to a time when all people will
be united and there will be world peace. They believe that
every so often in the course of history, God sends a chosen
one to bring his/her message to humanity so that we will follow
God's laws and that each came to add on to the teachings of
the prophet before. As people progress, and their needs and
society's needs become more complex, God's messengers lead
us through God's teachings. This is why there are so many
religions. Baha'ullah is the last prophet who has come to
bring world peace. He was preceded and announced by the Bab,
whose name means "gate"- referring to the portal
through which the universal Messenger of God would appear
to bring world peace to humanity. Baha'ullah appointed his
son, 'Abdu'l-Baha, "Servant of Glory," as the authorized
interpreter of God's will. 'Abdu'l-Baha, in turn, appointed
his oldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to take on the role of
guardian of the Baha'i Faith after his death.
The teachings of
Baha'ullah, which he wrote down in the Kitab-i-Aqdas while
he was in the penal colony of Acre in what is now Israel,
and are the major tenants of the religion:
1. the oneness of humanity
2. elimination of all prejudice
3. individuals should investigate to discover their own truth
4. universal education for all people
5. equal rights for men and women
6. religious tolerance
7. harmony between science and religion
8. a universal auxiliary language, in addition to native languages,
so that all humans can communicate
9. an elimination in the extremes of wealth and poverty
10. and a world commonwealth of nations
In this vision
of a world commonwealth, each country has its own sovereignty
but the heads of all of the nations will get together and
sign a treaty that they will not wage war on each other. If
one country does wage war on another, all of the other countries
will band together against the aggressor. When this happens,
armed forces can be reduced to a national guard and the money
that countries now spend on huge armies can go towards other
aspects of life, like education and health care.
What are the Baha'i community's programs and
organizations that are open to the public where people can
learn about the Baha'i faith or that promote positive inter-group
relations?
The Baha'i community in the area holds many programs that
promote positive inter-group relations since the oneness of
humanity is one of the basic Baha'i principles.
Every third Sunday
in January, the Baha'i community in the area holds World Religion
Day, which is devoted to showing that all religions are connected
and essentially one common expression of faith in God.
Every year on the
second Sunday in June is Race Unity Day, which promotes harmony
among the different races, cultures, and ethnic and religious
backgrounds in the area. It is held at City Island and there
is food and music representing ethnic groups present in the
area.
In September the
Baha'i community holds an International Day of Peace to advocate
the importance of establishing peace between ourselves and
all other nations.
Speakers
If you are interested in having somebody speak on various
topics regarding the Baha'i Faith and its principles and practices,
contact the Baha'i spiritual Assembly of Harrisburg. You can
request of them a speaker on any topic for a specific day
and time and the Assembly will match you with someone appropriate.
Please call at least a week in advance so they have time to
find a speaker. The speakers will not ask for payment for
themselves, but will ask that a contribution be made to a
charity of their choosing in their name.
Baha'i Spiritual
Assembly
P.O. Box 3108
Harrisburg, Pa 17105
(717) 232-9163
For
further reading…
If you would like to learn more, check out the following books,
pamphlets, magazines, and internet resources:
Matlins, Stuart
M. and Arthur J. Magida. How to be a Perfect Stranger, Vol.
2: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People's Religious Ceremonies.
Jewish Lights Publishing, Vermont; 1997.
St. Rain, Karen
and Justice St. Rain. "Baha'i Teachings for a New Millenium."
Special Ideas, Indiana.
"The Baha'is: A Profile of the Baha'i Faith and its Worldwide
Community." Office of Public Information of the Baha'i
International Community, NY; 1994.
Pluralism Project,
Harvard University:
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