Posts from — November 2006

Two Baha’is who are bloggers have introduced themselves to me and I’ve added their blogs to my links.

One is Phillipe Copeland, whose blog is Baha’i Thought: Reflections on a Spiritual Revolution. This is a blog about the Baha’i Faith.

The other is James Howden, who is a professional writer and a Baha’i in Ottawa, Canada. Jay comments:

I write for a (nearly wholly imaginary) wide audience, and so my Baha’i references are only occasionally direct ones. Still, among the many things I’m trying to do, there is an element of Baha’i scholarship, in the sense of the attempt to bring the Teachings to bear on contemporary social issues, big and small.

It’s great to hear from other Baha’i bloggers and to get the sense of a growing and thoughtful online community.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, bloggers, writer

It seems that there’s a Baha’i in the list of the top 100 green campaigners, according to an article in today’s Guardian newspaper.

Richard St Barbe Baker, founder of Men of the Trees (now known as the International Tree Foundation) appears at number 66 on the UK’s Environment Agency list, drawn up by experts:

To help celebrate its tenth anniversary, a panel of experts listed its 100 greatest eco-heroes of all time. And it does mean all time: St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) is there, as is Siddartha Gautama Buddha, who died in 483BC.

Top of the list is Rachel Carson, a US scientist whose 1962 book, Silent Spring, is credited by many with kick-starting the modern environmental movement. Her account of the damage caused by the unrestrained industrial use of pesticides provoked controversy and fury in equal measures. Barbara Young, the Environment Agency’s chief executive, said: “She started many of us off on the road to environmental protection.”

The “Small is Beautiful” economist E F Schumacher is second, followed at third place by Jonathan Porrit, head of the Sustainable Development Commission. The world-famous broadcaster David Attenborough is fourth.

It’s good that there’s a Baha’i somewhere on the list, even though luminaries like London Mayor Ken Livingstone are placed ahead of him.

I once had the honour of meeting St Barbe, when I was a Baha’i youth. I was at a summer school in Ireland when he came through. He swept up a crowd of people, including me, to do various things for him. There was no question of not doing what he wanted. He was an old-school British Empire character who did not take no for an answer.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, St Barbe Baker, St Francis of Assisi, Buddha, environment

Religious intolerance is on the rise, says the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

In an interview yesterday with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Asma Jahangir has been speaking about the impact of the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, the only international human rights instrument focused solely on religion. Saturday 25 November, the 25th anniversary of the 1981 Declaration, was marked by a major international event in Prague.

RFE/RL asks Jehangir:

The anniversary is being marked by different events — such as the one in Prague — but is there really a cause for celebration when freedom of religion is yet not a reality for many people around the world and people are persecuted for their faith?

Jehangir replies:

I believe that you’re right in saying that and I have in my reports always also written and reminded people that in many parts of the world religious intolerance has been on the rise; while we have overcome certain problems of the past, new ones do appear. But at the same time I think it is important to realize that in 1981 there was actually a consensus on the declaration. I don’t think you could have that consensus two decades later. So I think that declaration, that document itself is a point of celebration and we need to build on it, we need to remind ourselves that the world had committed to it and that now policy makers and decision makers have to rally people around the declaration to recognize its spirit and then begin to give effect to that declaration.

Jehangir has concerns about many countries, particularly in the Islamic world:

In the Muslim world you have in many countries open discrimination even in laws and policies. There are countries where, for example, if one were to look at it - and it seems unrealistic to talk about it in 2006 - where citizenship is linked to religion, you cannot be a citizen of a particular country if you’re not a Muslim. There are laws against religious minorities who are not Muslims. Even penal sanctions for them if they step out of line, so to speak, [and then] registration is a problem. Then there is a huge problem - and that I think we have not begun to address quite forcefully - is the right of people not to have a religion, the right of people to choose a religion or to not choose a religion, and that, I believe, is a very testing problem for many countries who [practically do not accept] conversions, but theoretically every religion and every religious leader would say that “yes” it’s our right to convert people in our religion - but they don’t accept [that right] of other religions.

Then the Special Rapporteur comes to the question of the Baha’is in Iran:

RFE/RL: In March you expressed concern about reports that said the Iranian government has taken measures to identify the members of the Baha’i community and to monitor their activities. Do you have any new information about the situation there?

Jahangir: The situation is serious and I am extremely concerned about it because we did receive allegations that there was a letter and a copy of a letter where Baha’i community members of faith were asked to be identified by the highest authority in the country. I’ve been following that up and I believe there has been no withdrawal in that respect; it is still continuing and naturally there would be fear amongst that community because there has to be a reason to identify them. There has been a campaign of vilification against them in the very much government-controlled media and newspapers so it seems like building up of some action against them.

Earlier this month I had the opportunity (at a Christian/Muslim dialogue session hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace) to ask Iran’s ex-President Khatami to comment on the denial of religious freedom to the Baha’is in Iran (having clearly explained that the Baha’is in Iran do not seek to be recognized in the Iranian constitution). Mr Khatami spent several minutes explaining why it was not possible to recognize more than the four religions that are currently recognized (Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism) - a discourse that was completely irrelevant to my question - and then made the astounding claim that no one is persecuted in Iran because of his religion or belief.

Set this denial against the serious concerns expressed by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and we can see that the Baha’is in Iran continue to need the wholehearted support of the UN and of governments of goodwill (including the UK, the US, and Canada).

It is important to understand that the Baha’is are not looking for special treatment in Iran (or anywhere else, come to that). They seek, rather, to be free to practise their religion unhindered. In other words, they want to enjoy the freedom of religion or belief guaranteed by crucial international human rights instruments - notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - to which Iran is a state party.

Happily, the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee voted through the annual resolution on human rights in Iran on 21 November. Canada initiated the resolution, which was cosponsored by 43 countries altogether and which passed by 70 votes to 48. As the story on Baha’i World News Service says:

The resolution takes particular note of the worsening situation facing Iran’s 300,000-member Baha’i community, noting “reports of plans by the state to identify and monitor Baha’is,” “an increase in cases of arbitrary arrest and detention,” and “the denial of freedom of religion or of publicly carrying out communal affairs.”

The resolution also expresses concern over the “destruction of sites of religious importance” to Baha’is and “the suspension of social, educational and community-related activities and the denial of access to higher education, employment, pensions, adequate housing and other benefits” for Baha’is.

Technorati Tags: Religious intolerance, Asma Jahangir, religion, Islam, religious minorities, Baha’i, Iran, Christian, Archbishop of Canterbury, Khatami, human rights

Three cousins: Ethan, Jacob & Emily

Alex and Charlie brought Ethan and Emily over to Welwyn yesterday afternoon. Hari, Doug and Jacob joined us and we spent a wonderfully noisy afternoon and evening together. It was wonderful to see the three cousins playing together. Ethan and Emily were very good with Jake, who’s still too young to join in completely, although he obviously enjoyed being with his cousins.

Ethan loves to be threatened with a “whiskering” by yours truly. So I became “Dr Whiskers”, treating various “ailments” by tickling necks and tummies with my whiskers.

It’s great when the family gets together like this. We really missed Tom, Vicky and the yet-to-be-born Bubsy Moo Moo.

Technorati Tags: cousins, family

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I’m about to rave! (Please turn away now if you’re going to find this embarrassing.)

Christopher Lay, a good friend of my eldest son Alex (they met while serving at the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel, is a fantastic photographer.

Let me say that again, just in case you don’t get the force of what I’m saying. Christopher Lay is a PHANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHER.

Shenzhen, China, by Christopher Lay

Go visit his site to see some of the most wonderful photographs you’ll ever see of Cambodia, Japan and China. The pictures are luscious, reflective, colourful, witty, dramatic…

And you can buy a 2007 wall calendar with some of Chris’s wonder China pics. Just go to his shop link. It’ll make a great gift.

OK, you can look again now. I’ve stopped raving. Yoo hoo! Anybody there?

Technorati Tags: Christopher Lay, Baha’i World Centre, photographs, Cambodia, Japan, China

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…of London commuting.

As usual I went to Knightsbridge Underground station yesterday evening to begin my journey home from the National Office. I touched my Oyster card onto the reader at the gate and went down the escalator onto the eastbound Piccadilly Line platform. Stood there for a while before a voice blares out over the loudspeakers telling us that the Piccadilly Line service had been suspended between Hammersmith and Hyde Park Corner because of someone under a train at Earls Court. We were advised to take the train in the other direction and change at South Kensington onto the Circle and District Lines.

Groan!

So I talk to a chap who, like me, is trying to get to Kings Cross. He’s not sure what to do. I’m not sure what to do. And then another announcement: the next westbound train is at least five minutes away. I decide to abandon Knightsbridge and walk up the road to Hyde Park Corner.

So, up the escalator to the barriers and the ticket office. Before leaving the station I need to cancel the journey that I’ve started on my Oyster card, otherwise the card will register that I’ve made an uncompleted journey and not let me into another station - and it will charge me the whole day’s outrageous Underground fares at full cash rate.

Brompton Road (famous for Harrods) is crowded with shoppers and tourists, all of whom are drifting along, gawping into shop windows, looking at street maps, stopping without warning and generally getting in my way. (I’m sure they do it deliberately!)

After I’ve crossed Sloane Street I get into my stride a bit. There’s an art to walking quickly on crowded city streets. You have to defocus your eyes, avoid looking at people - if you look into the eyes of pedestrians coming in the opposite direction, you end up doing the dance of death with them - and power along, dodging the slowcoaches, calculating can you get through that space in front before the guy with the suitcase in tow coming towards you fills the gap, oh and watch out for the mother with her baby in a pram and three small children strung out across the entire width of the pavement.

Into the Hyde Park Corner underpass, sharp left and left again into the Underground station. Touch my Oyster to the reader. Yes, the ticket clerk at Knightsbridge did actually cancel my aborted journey! Through the gate and down the escalator just as some earsplitting gargle over the tannoy system tells everyone that the next eastbound train is at platform 2 (usually used for westbound trains); there are no trains at platform 1; if people want to get an eastbound train they must go to platform 2. By it’s tone, the tannoy voice is really saying, “Stupid, stupid people, can’t you see where the train is?!”

But then the tannoy plays a prerecorded (more upmarket) voice that tells us that there’s no train service between Hammersmith and Green Park (which is the next station east from Hyde Park Corner).

What to do? Leave the station and get the journey on my Oyster card cancelled again? Try the train at platform 2?

I squeeze onto the train standing at platform 2. It’s hot. It’s jam packed. And it stays that way until I shoulder my way off at Kings Cross and step onto the platform with a sense of relief.

There are two opposing streams of people on the Kings Cross Underground platform. Some are trying to get to the Thameslink exit. Others, like me, are trying to get to the exit for the mainline station. Heels are trodden on. Underground staff make fatuous pleas over the loudspeakers for passengers to move down inside the cars - fat chance, the cars are stuffed! Tempers fray. A pregnant woman pushing a buggy shouts, “What am I supposed to do? Breathe in?!”

All the while, I ‘m thinking unkind thoughts about people who use Underground trains as a means of suicide. But it turns out that some youths were “play fighting” at Earls Court and two of them fell on the line. One died, and part of the Piccadilly Line was shut down for several hours.

Ah, the joys of the London commuter!

Technorati Tags: London, Knightsbridge, Underground, Piccadilly, Harrods, commuter

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I had the privilege last Thursday of participating in another session of the Voices: Multi-faith Enquiry Circle in the wonderful Tent at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in the heart of the City, London’s financial district.

The Tent, which is an intimate space smelling faintly of camel hair, encourages dialogue.

There must have been around 20 or 25 of us, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, perhaps some of no particular faith, sitting on the divan around the circumference of the Tent. We began with a few minutes of silent meditation - and that silence was powerful. I could hear the traffic of the City, but it didn’t intrude on the meditation. It’s a bit like being in the Shrine of the Bab at the Baha’i World Centre on Mt Carmel, where one can hear the sounds of the outside as a distant accompaniment to one’s prayers and contemplation.

Three of us then spoke in turn on the theme of ‘spiritual etiquette’. I had been asked to speak first. I began by quoting Shoghi Effendi’s commentary in God Passes By of some of the moral teachings of Baha’u'llah given in the Kitab-i-Aqdas:

Apart from these provisions Bah

Technorati Tags: St Ethelburga, London, meditation, Baha’i, spiritual, Baha’u'llah

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I’ve been ‘off the air’ for a few days while moving my domain registration to another registrar, and at the same time shifting my blog to a different server. There were the inevitable hiccups. In fact, I had a panic at one point; I thought I had lost all the previous posts and I couldn’t actually get to my blog. This happened earlier today, when I had already lost the link to my previous server - so all the files stored there are now inaccessible.

I’m glad to say that my eldest son, Alex, is very capable with this technical stuff. He figured out what was going wrong and fixed it.

It’s great to have such a great son!

By the way, I’m trying this new blog theme. My previous theme seemed to have lost some of its features in the move, so I’m experimenting with this theme. I may try some others in the coming days, so don’t be surprised if my blog looks different each time you visit.

And there are still a few things to sort out, such as the sidebar. So expect to see some more changes.

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The Baha’i communities of Welwyn and Welwyn Garden City (in England’s leafy Hertfordshire, just north of London) jointly celebrated the Birthday of Baha’u'llah last night, guests of one of the Baha’is who has a beautiful and large home. Around 40 of us gathered for prayers, readings from the story of Baha’u'llah’s birth and early life, and food (of course!). Lashings of wonderful Persian food.

I have to say it was a bit like being in Tehran. Almost all those present were Iranians. Needless to say, once the food was finished, the music went on and one of the older men stood up to dance, Persian style. Now, because I had done some “mock Persian” dancing with this gentleman at a previous Holy Day gathering (it’s one of my party pieces - you’d better believe it), he insisted I stand up and dance again. But I was so full of food, I could hardly shift. I did a few steps, some twisting and turning, and some arm waving to oblige, but quickly sat down again.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Persian dancing, but it always looks to me to be about sexual pursuit. I mean, it’s highly suggestive dancing, usually done by a man and a woman who gyrate and circle around each other. So it has to be a bit questionable when two men dance together, doesn’t it?

Now, this gentleman (a senior gentleman, by the way, who is a wonderful dancer, light on his feet and elegant in his moves) and I hammed it up for all we were worth the last time we danced together, exaggerating the gyrations and hand-waving.

This always gets the Persian friends laughing.

Anyway, as I say, I didn’t really feel up to repeating my terpsichorean exploits of the previous holy day gathering last night. So I did a bit of perfunctory dancing and sat down again to digest.

I never sleep well after these celebrations. A combination of food, bakhlavar, chocolate cake and Persian tea keeps me awake or just dozing through the night.

But greed gets the better of me every time!

Happy Holy Day, all!

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Hertfordshire, Baha’u'llah, Baha’i

I lit the woodburning stove for the first time last night and it works a treat. It’s so nice to have a live fire in our sitting room.

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