|
<br /> ~-------.,- -
<br /> -
<br /> . WALL STREET JOURNAL
<br /> @ 1992 now 1.- (J Company, In" AU RigNs Rn...."d
<br /> WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 12. 1992 DES MOINES, IowA.
<br /> , I
<br /> In Doom and Death Baha'Is believe in B Supreme Delng. i one, Baha'u'llah promised "founts of
<br /> They lCtept ChrlSl, Buddha and Mo-
<br /> Baha'i Faithful See hammed as divine messengen. But they gleaming mllt. hearts of love" to his
<br /> consider Baha'u'llah the most l'e4::ent of . foUowen.
<br /> Promise of Peace God's messengers. TIle faith Is spreading Ms. Smith, who was ralsed in the
<br /> fast, with 1,5 million converts world.wlde African Methodist EpIscopal Church, liked
<br /> in JlISl the last sill: years. the way Baha'u'llah "glorified Cluist" and
<br /> . . . The religion eschews clel'l)' of any even upheld the Virgin Birth. She found
<br /> SectFOImder Prophesied an Era sort. At a servlct in the HOllSe of Worship Gospel passages tn which Christ seemed to
<br /> here, members take turns reading from hint at a future messenger. In 1969, she
<br /> or Serenity, but Loads Baha'I scrlplure, the Bible, the Koran and asked a local Baha'I governing body to
<br /> or Misery Must Come Fir$! the Bhagavad-Glla. A It-member a cap- accept her as a convert
<br /> pella choir stngs lOngs that sound like common Beliefs
<br /> IradlUonal Protestant hymns. Tbe scent of Ms. Smith found reason for hope In
<br /> By JVDI11I VALENTE lIowers freshly cut from the temple's nine last year's Gulf War. "People were start.
<br /> PIaIse 7\u'N to PatJe Alt, aximUI . lng 10 question Ihlngs," says the American
<br /> SloIJ .R~"" G/TR~ W4U, s~ JoURRAJ.. .epnu~ lruel'.'1.Ienl. "What 'II really
<br /> WlLME'ITE,III.-At fint glance, mem- happening II that the 01d. orderll lamng to I
<br /> bersoflhe Baha'I faith migbtseent an odd prdenl fUls Ihe last rotunda. that 1t can bi re~ with 'somethlng
<br /> lot. "Ttle windl of despair are blowing, better,"
<br /> When they see the bloody fighttnr alu," a woman readB to aboot 50 people A belief In periods of darkness and
<br /> In Bosnia, they shed a tear for the seated In velour-covt'!l1!d. chairs.. An etch- Iigbt is common to most .of the world's
<br /> dead and Injured, but they also mJght Ing above the temple entrance says: ''O)n- religions. BLJddhlsts believe the last
<br /> smile a IUlle. They can Ond solaee In sort With The Followers 01 AU Rel1gionsln Golden Age was In the sixlh century B,C.,
<br /> last spring's yjolent clashes In l.4)S Ange- Friendllnen." wben Buddha. walked the earth. The world
<br /> les. The gloomy economy doesn't worry The faith', founder was born Mirza has been in a "Degenerale Age" since
<br /> them. To them, a stock market tumble Husayn.AII,lhe son of Persian noblUty, In then, Buddhists say. Hindus say we are In
<br /> right now could even be a plus. 1817. Moslem leaders Imprisoned, then a Kalt Yuga (n.rk Age) that will end only
<br /> To the world's Ove million Baha'Is, exiled him for his splrltual bellers. At the with the total collapse of the world as we
<br /> abnost any bad news these days Is a good age of ff1, convlneed he was the bearer of know 11.. ChristllUlB awatl the 5econd
<br /> thing. It aU has to do With a belief central to divine refelatlon, he renamed himself Coming of Christ.
<br /> thelrfalth. Baha'Il'Uah, which means "Gioryof God." The Baha'! view dlfters In that It
<br /> The founder of Ih<lr religion, ..His tea:clUngs.Jij1lOO VDlwoea..~ doesn't hold that the world wIll end.
<br /> . Baha'u'IIah, prophesied a "Oowerlng of , 1892lnl'alesUneofnatnraleauses.lnIran,. Just the opposlle: It holds that things
<br /> humanlly," an era of peace, unUy and .:Baha'ls. Contlnue~to suffer peBealt1on: . wlU get better. To celebrate the dawning of
<br /> enlightenment, BoI before this new are most Mo8,iem, COllDb1es restrict tbeluctly- that hoped.for new era, tens of thousands
<br /> can come, Bahil.'u'lIah warned, things itles. . of beUevers from around the world will
<br /> have to get so bad mankind can't help bul Intereslln Baha'I SW'll'ed In the U.s. in arrive at the Jacob Javtts Center in New
<br /> change Its ways, the mld-l97Os, With the popularity of the York this November for four days of
<br /> Pivotal Year musical duo seaJB &: Crofts, Who are prayer services and other events, Includ-
<br /> Baha'Is expect: the whole process 10 Baha'I believers. Their hll "HWIlIn1nC- Ing a concert by the Jazz mus1c1an DiU)'
<br /> start accelerating thIs year, which marks bird" was about Baha'u'llah. Glllesple, who is a Baha'i.
<br /> the tOoth anniversary or Baha'u'llah's . i;jecllDg EIIm1Noke TeUe.. One problem Is that Baha'Is don't
<br /> death. Many profess to see evidence that . And In recent months, the religion know exactly when this new age or enllght.
<br /> the first part of the process Is under way, bas gained attenllon because of Its focus on enmenl will come to full fruition.
<br /> lOOay's messy world is like "a b,!by ~Ing nee relations. In lhe wake of the Los Baha'u'Uab said only that It would culmi-
<br /> '-c"',1IIt!b<CiilaI..~ Clayton Angeles riots, BaJaa'1a are belplnr city nate wllhln 1,000 years. How soon It comes
<br /> officials organize semlnan to promote depends on bow qu1cldy the world hits rock
<br /> grealer harmony. At the urging of former boUom.
<br /> President JlrnmyCarter, Baha'I leaders 1n . "We see the Immediate future as
<br /> Atlanta are working on a Btudy of people stili rather dark,'! says Ronald Precht,
<br /> and programs thaI foster racial under- spokesman for Amerlcan Baha'Is. "But the
<br /> Slandlng. Mr. Carter bad seen a similar distant future "m be quUe glorious."
<br /> survey Baha'Is tlld In the Chicago area. I
<br /> The "Models of Unlly" study identified a
<br /> Chicago bar owner who ejected palrons for
<br /> mating e1hnle Jokes and a Catholic parlsb
<br /> that sought to discourage Whllefilgbl.
<br /> Thollfh Baba'ls live throughoUl the
<br /> U.S., the largesl eommunlUes are In Call,
<br /> fornia and South Carolina, when the faUh
<br /> has a major educational center. Members
<br /> come 10 the falCh from myriad paUls.
<br /> . Jeffrey MondSCheln, managing dlree-
<br /> "., BaluJj NotianaI House ~ W"""". tor of foreign exchange for OtIeago's Con-
<br /> tinental Bank, was reartd In a Jew1stt-
<br /> . Taylor, --. history leacher from Glencoe, Ba""1 household. As a young man, he
<br /> m., and one of 110,000 Amerlcan Baha'Is. became a Baha'I, like his mother. He says
<br /> Ever since their rellgton look root he liked the f<h's notion of "el.YillzaUou
<br /> 150 years ago In Moslem Tellran, Baha'Is III an evolutionary process."
<br /> have waged a quixotic struggle lo refonn At a child, Rllth Leilani smith read the
<br /> the world, They espouse rac:lallUllty, sex. .Blble every day. In ooIIege, sbe heard of I
<br /> uaI equality, global disarmament and cre- the Baha'I faith from a friend sludying
<br /> aUon of a world community, WDI1d reUgIons. "1.wouId )ove to hear her
<br /> The first Baha'I converts In the U,s. read the PRIen," MI, SmIth recalls. In
<br /> . lived in CbIC1KO. and built thetr National
<br /> House of Worship in this moneyed suburb,
<br /> and It has slnee become an area landmark.
<br /> Its colossal white dome,. wrapped in a
<br /> IlIIlen1llf, lace-like c:overl.ng, rises, oth-
<br /> erworldly, from lhe middle of a sedate
<br /> residential block, For B religion that
<br /> promotes race unity, the temple'B locaUon
<br /> is somewhat paradoxical. ThIs town of
<br /> 17.1lOO hu 0IlIy 84 blacD.
<br />
|