There’s dining, and then there’s banqueting.

Every two years or so, the Lord Mayor of the City of London (not to be confused with the London Mayor - two different offices and two different people) holds a dinner for the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England. He also invites the dignitaries of other churches and representatives of non-Christian faiths. Erica and I dressed up for the occasion, white tie and tails, the lot.

It’s actually the fourth time we’ve been to this glittering occasion in the last ten years.

Now, it’s not just a matter of eating some really good food. There are many fanfares (yes, real live trumpeters), toasts (”Pray be upstanding…”), the National Anthem played twice, speeches by the Lord Mayor, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York. And a small orchestra playing light music as the gathered guests dine and converse with each other. All of this takes place in the glorious Egyptian Hall of Mansion House, which is the Lord Mayor’s official residence.

The Egyptian Hall is so named because its form was thought to replicate the dining halls used in Egypt in Roman times, with giant columns supporting a narrower attic area. Reconstructions of such halls were studied in Roman times and became very fashionable in the 18th century. However, there is nothing Egyptian about the decoration, which is classical in style. Although Mansion House retains much of its original character, there have been changes - one of the most important of which was the covering of the internal courtyard to form what is now known as the Saloon to provide a large reception area.

A number of our very good inter-faith friends were there, including the very distinguished Dr Indarjit Singh and Mrs Kanwaljit Singh from the Sikh community, Dr Natubhai Shah and Mrs Shah from the Jain community, Macolm Deboo from the Zoroastrian community, and Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, chair of the Muslim Council of Britain’s interfaith relations committee. It was the first time that Shaykh Ibrahim had attended, and he was very excited by the proceedings, the ceremonial, the uniforms, the sheer grandeur of the occasion.

The new head of the London Buddhist Vihara, the most Venerable Bogoda Seelawimala, was there. I asked him what he would do while we were all eating (Buddhist monks do not eat after midday, I believe). He said he would have a cup of tea.

Erica and I talked during dinner at some length about the Faith and the Baha’i community with the Bishop of Dudley and his wife, both of whom asked many questions.

The Lord Mayor, Alderman David Lewis, welcomed us and said that this was the 818th year of the office of Lord Mayor (see some of the history here). He stressed the importance of religion as the basis of morality and said words of warm welcome to the representatives of “other faiths”.

As did Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, who also made some indirect, but wry and humorous, remarks about the recent controversy surrounding his speech on civil and religious law. (The media accused him of advocating the introduction of some elements of sharia law as a parallel form of jurisdiction alongside English civil law.) He spoke at the dinner of SS Cyril, whose feast day it was, and Methodius, who together brought Christianity to the Slavs of Eastern Europe. St Cyril is traditionally supposed to have invented the Cyrillic alphabet. As Dr Williams said to loud laughter from the bishops, he excelled in making himself clear to strangers.

As formal as these occasions may be, they are great fun. We meet some really interesting people, revel in the tradition and ceremonial of it all (how much the English love their history and their silly costumes), and eat excellent food.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, London, Lord Mayor, Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, Church of England, Mansion House

Today’s edition of The Economist has a story about what may be a modest increase in religious freedom in Egypt.

Last year Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti, who is the government’s highest religious adviser, declared that nowhere in Islam’s sacred texts did it say that apostasy need be punished in the present rather than by God in the afterlife. In the past month, Egyptian courts have issued two rulings that, while restricted in scope, should ease some bothersome strictures. Bahais may now leave the space for religion on their identity cards blank.

Small steps, perhaps, but they point the way towards freedom of choice and citizenship based on equal rights rather than membership of a privileged religion.

Hmm. We shall see. These are very small steps and, while they will make life for Egyptian Baha’is somewhat easier, they do not address the basic issue: Baha’i activities were banned by President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1960 under Presidential Decree 263. This decree has never been rescinded.

By the way, there is an irony attached to Ali Gomaa’s declaration that apostasy does not need to be punished in this life. Iran is currently contemplating a new penal code that would include a mandatory death sentence for apostasy. So no increase in religious freedom in Iran, then.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, religious freedom, apostasy, Egypt, Iran

Another great new Baha’i website has just come over the horizon. The Baha’i International Community United Nations Office (BIC UNO) has put up a wonderful new site with loads of information about the work of the BIC at the UN. There’s news about BIC activities, some history of Baha’i involvement with the UN, access to BIC statements and reports and other publications.

Did you know that the BIC presented a Baha’i Declaration of Human Obligations and Rights to the first session of the UN Commission on Human Rights 61 years ago in February 1947? It’s worth a read, particularly in light of current debates about human rights and their relations to responsibilities and obligations and to notions of citizenship (here in the UK, at least).

And you can find out about BIC’s present and future activities at the UN on the site. The 52nd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is coming up. BIC will be represented by delegates from over 15 countries, and Dr Augusto Lopez-Claros, Baha’i and international economist, will join a panel of speakers on Financing for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women: Leadership for a Sustainable Future.

You can read the Baha’i International Community’s statement to CSW here.

Altogether a great resource. Go visit!

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, BIC, UN, website