Posts from — February 2007

In my post about the meeting organized by the Maranatha Community in the House of Lords to discuss the diminution of genuine religious freedom resulting from the lack of reciprocity when a particular religion refuses to recognizes the right of people to leave their religion and choose another, I reported on a presentation in which Sam Solomon claimed that there was no equivalent of the Golden Rule in Islam and that this lack leads to deep rooted inequality in Muslim thinking between “believers” and “unbelievers”. Those who have been Muslims and convert to other religions are subject to particular obloquy as “apostates”.

Umm Yasmin (now a Muslim, formerly a Baha’i under the name of Rachel Woodlock) rightly says that I did not correct Sam Solomon’s claim. I should have done so. But before I do, I need to address the question of freedom to change one’s religion. If I seriously believe that my religion is truth given by God, then surely it is my duty to invite others to investigate this truth, since the seeker’s acceptance or otherwise of the truth will determine their fate through eternity. Baha’u'llah couches this as a statement of the Golden Rule:

The children of men are all brothers, and the prerequisites of brotherhood are manifold. Among them is that one should wish for one

The UK Baha’i National Spiritual Assembly has sent two delegates to support the work of the Baha’i International Community at current session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). One of them is a 13-year-old girl from Cornwall who has lived much of her life in Tanzania.

As this story on the Baha’i World News Service reports:

Among the hundreds of girls coming to the United Nations this week to discuss the problems facing girl children around the world will be a dozen with a distinctive viewpoint: their religion teaches that they are equal to boys.

“For Baha’is, it is a basic element of their faith that we must establish equality between women and men, not to mention girls and boys,” said Fulya Vekiloglu, a representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“In a world where religious traditions often stand at the heart of discriminatory practices, this is a rather unique perspective, and one that ought to be a pattern for the future,” said Ms. Vekiloglu, who also directs the Community’s Office for the Advancement of Women.

“So we are hopeful that the 12 young Baha’i girls who are coming to New York for the Commission on the Status of Women next week can bring concrete examples of equality and empowerment in action.”

The Baha’i girl delegates come from Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, Sweden, Tanzania and the USA as well as from the UK. The theme of this year’s CSW is the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child.

I wish Holly and the other girl delegates all success in their work at CSW.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, UN, Commission on the Status of Women, girls

Michael and Petra Bayfield

Erica and I have just returned from Michael and Petra Bayfield’s wedding at Essebourne Manor, a country hotel near Andover in the beautiful Hampshire countryside.

Erica and I have known Michael for around 30 years and it was wonderful to see him so happy with Petra, whom we met for the first time today. She is a lovely person and I am sure they will be very happy together.

I was pleased to represent the National Assembly at the Baha’i wedding ceremony (there being no Local Assembly in the area to oversee the wedding).

Michael and Petra cutting the cake

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, wedding

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I’ve hesitated to post this report. We in the UK are living in an atmosphere in which, increasingly, we cannot say certain things that we may believe to be true and in which we are constrained to say things we believe to be untrue. The ever growing amount of equality and diversity legislation can be seen as criminalizing certain speech acts, as do hate speech laws. For example, if a religious person says, as an expression of his or her beliefs, that homosexuality is immoral, this may be taken by the police as an expression of “homophobia” and, hence, as a form of offensive or hate speech.

This “mandated speech”, it has been argued, is a result of the tendency of “liberal” governments to wish to define the moral sphere in legislative terms. In the past, morality was very much the province of religion, but now the “liberal” tendency is to try to domesticate religion and coopt it to government purposes. The problem for the faith communities is to know how to respond to this tendency, which has been exacerbated in the UK because the government is now offering capacity building funds to faith communities and faith-based organizations and projects.

One of the areas in which “mandated speech” is problematic concerns what we may and may not say about Islam and Muslims. There is an increasing strain in the UK (as in other European countries and in North America) arising out of tension between the fact of terrorism committed by Muslims on religious grounds and the ever-rising demands by Muslims in the UK for exceptional treatment by the state (as, for example, in this story about a recent manifesto from the Muslim Council of Britain demanding that schools in the UK better accommodate Muslim students), on the one hand, and the desire to placate Muslim hostility to any kind of critical remark about Islam, on the other. The desire to appease has been reinforced by the insertion of the term “Islamophobia” into the public discourse about Islam. We’ve been seduced by this word. It is now all too easy to brand anyone who criticizes the behaviour of Muslims or, indeed, Islam itself as an “Islamophobe”. This has become a term of vilification (almost equivalent to “racist”) and is used by some to try to silence debate about Islam.

Most people don’t want to be labelled “Islamphobic”. But the matter goes far beyond labelling. The restraints on freedom of expression that arise out of “hate speech” legislation and the insidious blocking of debate by the use of the label have the effect of restraining freedom of religion and belief. Particularly they, and threatened and actual violence, make it increasingly difficult for people to convert from Islam to other religions.

On 20 February I attended a consultation in the House of Lords on the theme of “Religious freedom, conversions and international human rights”. Organized by the Maranatha Community, the consultation was jointly chaired by Baroness Christine Cox, a remarkable parliamentarian and a doughty defender of religious freedom (with a particular focus on defending Christians), and Lord Anderson. former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The underlying theme of the consultation was the erosion of genuine religious freedom, particularly the freedom to change one’s religion, as a result of the creeping Islamisation and the increasing political correctness of European societies. The Maranatha Community, which - according to its website - is “a free, open and loving Christian movement which is rapidly growing throughout the United Kingdom and abroad”, is deeply concerned about the way in which accusations of and penalties against apostasy are used by Muslim leaders to block Muslims from changing their religion.

As Baha’is in Iran know only too well, accusations of apostasy can carry the death penalty in Islamic states. However, Muslims in the UK who convert to other religions are also subjected to pressure and rejection by the mosque, their families, their friends, and in some cases have had death threats.

The speakers were:

I went to Methodist Church House in London this afternoon to be interviewed by Anna Drew for the monthly podcast that is downloadable from Methodist Web Radio. The Methodist Church is holding a month of prayer for inter faith relations and the podcast is part of that month.

Anna had looked at one or more Baha’i websites, had googled me and had visited my blog, so had a good idea of sensible questions to ask. I had good opportunities to explain some of the basic teachings of the Faith and to say why inter faith work is important for Baha’is.

Anna told me that Elizabeth Harris, who does an excellent job as the Methodist Church

Ashin’s blog tells how he represented the Baha’i Faith at the recent Diversity and Dialouge event, under the title Believing in London, in the British Library.

It’s worth reading Afshin’s account of the event. It shows that young people, despite the negative press they so often generate, can develop positive understandings of faith and religion and can make a positive contribution to a better world.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Diversity and Dialogue, Believing in London, religion, faith

Pieter Ruiter (whom I met some years ago when I worked for George Ronald Publisher) has left a comment on my post about the UK Tutors’ Conference in Coventry (which happened last weekend). Pieter has included some interesting thoughts on social evolution on his blog and the new style of social participation that Baha’is are pioneering through the training institute process.

I strongly commend Pieter’s blog - it is intelligent and literate and definitely thought-provoking.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, blogging, social participation, social evolution

Great news - fabrication of components for the new Baha’i temple in Chile in South America has begun, as this story on the Baha’i World News Service makes clear:

The structure will be created by nine translucent alabaster and cast-glass “wings,” which during the day will allow sunlight to filter through. At night the temple will emit a warm glow from the interior lighting.

The huge segments that will form the sides and dome of the building are being fabricated in Toronto and then will be transported to Chile.

Mind you, it will take some time before the temple is complete:

It will take two to three years to complete the pieces of the temple that are being fabricated in Canada. At the actual site in Chile, construction of the foundation is tentatively set to begin next October.

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You may not think of sitting down with a group of people to study a series of training books as a religious activity. But it’s what large numbers of Baha’is and their friends are doing all around the world.

Baha’is in pretty much every country of the globe have found that a series of courses developed by the Ruhi Institute in the South American country of Colombia meet all sorts of individual and community needs.

The curriculum of the Ruhi Institute consists of a sequence of courses that can be worked through in small groups called “study circles”. Although we think of these courses as “training”, they’re really about transformation. The Baha’is website explains this:

At the heart of the Revelation of Bah

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Erica celebrated her birthday on 15 February with this cake!

Erica’s birthday cake, beautifully made by our daughter. Allegedly the figures are members of the family.

Erica and I drove to Coventry on Friday evening to attend the UK Training Institute Tutors’ Conference. Of course (of course?) we went via Northampton so that I could meet our new granddaughter, Maya, for the first time.

Erica, lucky thing, had said hello to Maya a few days before. So I got to hold Maya, who fell asleep in my arms (after a bit of wriggling and complaining) and slept for a good hour.

Health warning: I’m about to bore the pants of non-grandparents.

Sorry, I can’t help myself, but I have to say that she is really lovely - she doesn’t look a bit like Winston Churchill. However, she is giving her parents a hard time. She’s demanding to be fed about once every hour and Vicky and Tom are exhausted.

I assured them that it will get better. Until, that is, Maya enters her teens…

Technorati Tags: family, Leith, grandchildren

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