Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/665

Some 750 Baha’is from Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe gathered in Lusaka last weekend for the first of 41 regional Baha’i conferences scheduled over the next four months in cities around the globe.

The unprecedented series of gatherings comes at the midway point of a five-year effort by Baha’is to decentralize many of their activities...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/662

Asked to open a United Nations meeting on poverty, Kevin Locke recited an “eagle” prayer in his native Lakota Sioux dialect.

“The eagle is a symbol of the ascendant nature of the human spirit, of the innate capacity of the human spirit to rise to nobility,” explained Mr. Locke at a UN roundtable to mark the International Day...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/661

An Iranian inspector who examined the 2006 arrests of a group of young Baha’is in Shiraz, Iran, filed a confidential report dated June 2008 confirming what Baha’is have said all along: that their activities were strictly humanitarian in nature and did not involve the “illegal” teaching of the Baha’i Faith.

The report...

Author: Lara Takenaga

Source: The Daily Northwestern

http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2008/10/24/City/The-North.Shores.World.Landmark-3504949.shtml

Just one mile from Northwestern's campus, a pearly white temple displaying intricate symbols from the world's major religions towers over North Shore suburbia.

Wilmette's Bahai House of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/660

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his concern over human rights violations in Iran against Baha'is, other minorities, women and juveniles.

In a 20-page document released on Monday, Mr. Ban responded to a request from the General Assembly last December for a “comprehensive report” on the human rights situation in Iran.
...

Author: Louis Charbonneau

Source: Reuters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102002316.html

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday expressed concerns about possible human rights abuses in Iran and urged the country to do more to combat discrimination against women and minorities.

While praising Tehran for strides made in fields such as education and the provision of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/659

Baha'is around the world will observe a holy day - the Birth of the Bab - on 20 October.

One of nine holy days on which Baha'is suspend work, the date marks the anniversary of the birth - in 1819 in Shiraz, Iran - of Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, known to history as the Bab.

In 1844, the Bab announced that He was the Promised One foretold in the...

Author: Judith Ingram

Source: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/657

As the new academic year got under way, young Baha'is in Iran again found the door to higher education closed.

Although in its public stance the Iranian government maintains that Baha'is are free to attend university, reports over the past few weeks indicate that the policy of preventing Baha'is from obtaining higher education remains in effect....

Author: Sarah Capponi

Source: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter

http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2008/10/02/NewsFeatures/Bahai.Community.A.Growing.Presence.At.Homewood-3467227.shtml

While Baha'i is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world, its representation at Hopkins is very small. There are an estimated eight or nine...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/655

The 32nd annual conference of the North American Association for Baha’i Studies drew some 1,400 people from 23 countries - the largest-ever representation from outside the United States and Canada.

The gathering, held this year in San Diego, had as its theme “Religion and Social Cohesion.” The four-day conference concluded on 1...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/654

Melbourne stands out as a multicultural metropolis – Malaysian restaurants, Japanese paper shops, music venues with bands from Senegal to Indonesia, all within strolling distance of one another. Not surprising, then, that Melburnians have adopted a Baha’i devotional meeting with a difference.

Called “Soul Food,” the gathering...

Author: Tasha Kates

Source: Charlottesville Daily Progress

http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/bahais_find_safe_place_to_practice_faith/28519/

For 70 years, Kamal has practiced a religion that has put him in the shadows of Iranian society.

The practicing Bahai converted when he was just 12 years old. While his siblings were Muslims, his grandfather was a Bahai who ultimately...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20080926-1145-eu-eu-iran-religiousfreedom.html

The European Union said Friday it is “very worried” about what it sees as a deterioration of religious freedom in Iran.

A statement from the French Foreign Ministry on behalf of the EU says pressure has increased on religious minorities in the Islamic...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States

http://www.bahai.us/node/554

The U.S. Department of State's 2008 International Religious Freedom Report, released on Sept. 19, calls attention to the grave persecution faced by Baha'is in Iran, as well as the discrimination against Baha'is in Egypt, who continue to be denied government-issued identity cards.

“During the reporting period, respect for religious...