From the monthly archives:

May 2008

Bishop Tom Butler

The Rt Revd Dr Tom Butler, Anglican Bishop of Southwark, has issued a statement on behalf of the Church of England, condemning the arrests on 14 May of members of the Bahá’í leadership group in Iran.
The Bahá’í community has for long played a distinguished role in fostering positive inter faith relations in this country both [...]

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Walk and pub lunch

by Barney on 31 May 2008

White Horse, Burnham Green

White Horse pub, Burnham Green

Erica waiting for her lunch

The pub’s duck pond – with the pub’s duck
Erica and I treated ourselves to a walk and a pub lunch today. A cloudy sky, but warm and rather humid. Good enough to sit out in the pub garden right next to the duck pond. The White Horse [...]

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Barnabas meets the Dalai Lama

by Barney on 30 May 2008

Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama with senior faith representatives at Lambeth Palace [Photo: © Lambeth Palace]
Here’s a picture of the Dalai Lama with the religious representatives at Lambeth Palace on 23 May. You can find my post about this wonderful encounter here.
I’m in the back row on the left of the line-up, next to Cardinal Cormac Murpy-O’Connor.
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Lament at the Ascension of Baha’u'llah

by Barney on 29 May 2008

Bahaullah

The room in which Bahá’u’lláh passed away in 1892 [Photo: Nancy Wong, 2007]

Today is the 116th anniversary of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh in 1892. Bahá’ís around the world commemorated this solemn occasion at 3 a.m. (by the sun), turning to face the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, the holiest spot on earth for Bahá’ís, and reciting a [...]

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More danger signs for Baha’is in Iran

by Barney on 27 May 2008

Two Iranian leaders have recently called for Bahá’ís to be “cleansed” from Iran.
“Murderous spies”
Last Friday, Mashhad’s Friday prayer leader, Alam Al-Hoda, accused Bahá’ís of being “Zionist spies” and called for them to be executed. According to this gentleman, not only is “Bahaism” not a religion, it is not even a belief system:
Countries such as the [...]

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This week’s Reporting Religion on the BBC World Service (25 May 2008) includes an interview with a UK Bahá’í whose cousin is one of the Bahá’í leaders recently arrested in Iran.
On Reporting Religion this week we examine what life is like in Iran if you follow the Baha’i faith. We hear from one woman whose [...]

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It turns out that the families of the six Bahá’í leaders arrested in Tehran on 14 May have not been able to find out where they are.
At first we were under the impression that they had been taken to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, but it seems this is not the case.
Relatives of the six have [...]

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UK Baha’i Assembly officers elected

by Barney on 26 May 2008

The newly elected National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UK met last night to elect its officers, as follows:

Chair: Dr Shirin Tahzib
Vice Chair: Dr Vafa Ram
Secretary: Dr Kishan Manocha
Secretary for External Affairs: Mr Rob Weinberg
Treasurer: Mr Patrick O’Mara

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, National Spiritual Assembly, UK

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The NSA of the UK near the Shrine of the Báb

The members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the UK near the Shrine of the Báb
The results of the election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UK have just been announced by the Chief Teller at our National Convention in North Wales. In alphabetical order:

Mrs Rita Bartlett
Mr Peter Hulme
Mr Barney Leith
Dr [...]

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Globe and Mail Update has published a strongly worded commentary by Payam Akhavan, professor of international law at McGill University in Montreal, co-founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre and a former UN war-crimes prosecutor at The Hague, on the recent arrests of the Bahá’í leadership and the appalling state of human rights in [...]

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