Baha'is gather to plan campaign to broaden message

Baha'is gather to plan campaign to broaden message
By PEGGY LIM
For The Tennessean

While many Middle Tennesseans celebrated Thanksgiving at home, thousands of
the Baha'i faith gathered in Nashville to spend the holiday among extended
family.

About 1,500 Baha'is ate Thanksgiving dinner at the Nashville Convention
Center on Thursday night, and about 3,500 attended the Southern Regional
Baha'i Conference, organizers said.

The conference ends today with a public concert at Ryman Auditorium.

The conference focused on the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, who in the
mid-19th century claimed to be God's messenger, sent to fulfill the promises
of other religions and address humanity's present-day needs, according to a
brochure distributed at the conference.

The conference's efforts are part of a larger movement over the next 10
years to ''emblazon'' â or give prominence to â Baha'u'llah. Baha'is say
they hope to let every person in the United States know something about the
Baha'i faith by 2013. Organizers say they are in the midst of 300 similar
conferences, both large and small, dedicated to this theme, but the weekend
conference in Nashville is among the biggest.

''We have reached a turning point in history,'' Robert C. Henderson,
secretary-general of the Baha'i National Spiritual Assembly, told conference
participants Friday morning.

The Baha'i community has grown such that it is ready ''(for followers) to
prepare for a time when the steady stream of entry into the Baha'i faith
would turn into entry by troops and ultimately to mass conversion,''
Henderson said.

Baha'is are admonished against proselytizing, but the new movement
encourages followers to share their faith more actively. The Nashville
Baha'i community sponsored a Nov. 17-29 television campaign on Comcast cable
to invite others to learn more about the faith.

''We don't want to browbeat people, but it never meant we didn't want to
share the Baha'i faith with them,'' Henderson said. ''What we're really
talking about â is nothing more complicated than learning how to love and â
telling (others) who taught us how to love.''

The conference drew a crowd of many ethnic identities and ages from 16
Southern states and some from as far as Haifa, Israel, the faith's
international headquarters. Some sessions were held in Farsi, prayers were
said in Cantonese and Indian dances were featured along with gospel and
country performances. A singer from Uzbekistan even sang in Esperanto.

It was the second regional conference held in the South. The first was also
in Nashville, in November 2000, organizers said. Nashville was chosen
because of its strong Baha'i community and central location in the South,
said James Sturdivant of the Southern Regional Baha'i Council.

Nashville Vice Mayor Howard Gentry welcomed the group Friday and said he was
touched to ''come before a group that is full of God.''

Gentry, who grew up across the street from the Baha'i center on 42nd Avenue
North, said the center was known as ''the round building â where the quiet
(and) â peaceful people were.''

But as quiet and tiny as the faith may seem â there are an estimated 5
million Baha'is worldwide â there has been a surge of interest in the Baha'i
faith since Sept. 11, 2001, Henderson said.

Among the key attractions drawing people to the faith are its emphasis on
unity among the world's religions and spiritual solutions to the world's
prob- lems.

Kathy Diaz of Nashville, who attended the conference with her two daughters,
said she converted from Catholicism in her 30s because the Baha'i faith's
openness to all religions and races seemed to make more sense.

''I wasn't even allowed to go to another church,'' Diaz said about growing
up Catholic.

''The fruit of all religions is peace â that's what God's purpose is for us,
but if we can't have a dialogue with each other and clergy are the ones
dictating to us, how can various people come together?'' said Aram Ferdowsi,
member of the Baha'i faith from Brentwood.

Getting there

The Southern Regional Baha'i Conference continues 9 a.m.-noon today at the
Nashville Convention Center. It is free to the public and includes exhibits
and a bookstore.

A ''Voices of Baha'' concert will be 2-5 p.m. today at Ryman Auditorium. It
will include performances by a choir, country singer Dan Seals and
children's entertainer Red Grammer. Tickets: $20.

About Baha'i Faith

Founder: Baha'u'llah (which means ''the glory of God'')

Five million members in 235 countries. Second-most geographically widespread
religion after Christianity.



Basic tenets:

â There is only one God.

â All religions share a common foundation.

â All races, nations, classes and religions are equal in the sight of God.

â Promotes independent investigation of the truth, equality of men and women
and universal education.

For more details

Contact Nashville Baha'i Center, 2026 Clifton Ave., Nashville, Tenn. 37203.
Phone: 615-321-5926 or 1-800-228-6483 (1-800-22-UNITE).

Visit on the Web, http://www.nashvillebahai.org and http://www.us.bahai.org.