\n<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Words and Photos by Giuliana LaMantia<\/em><\/p>\n The inside of the temple was white, and pillars branched all the way to the top of the dome, crisscrossing into intricate patterns. A woman named Rebecca Rice stepped up to the microphone. She sang a few lines of the word of God. People of many races sat in the plush, blush-colored seats before her. They were silent.<\/p>\n This is the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois. It\u2019s one of eight Bah\u00e1’\u00ed temples in the world, and it\u2019s the only one in North America. It\u2019s open not just to those of the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith, but to people of all religions and cultures. Its people come from all walks of life, and they strive for progression, inclusiveness and a unified world.<\/p>\n The goal of the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith is world unity.<\/p>\n Its founder, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h, came from Persia in the middle of the 19th century and was a messenger from God, sent to teach world unity. He said that there was only one God, one people and one religion, and that God had a plan from the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cBah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h brought teachings to unite humanity,\u201d said Chris Vodden, director of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed House of Worship in Wilmette. \u201cHe said that the time for nation building is over, the earth is but one country and mankind is its citizens. He says, \u2018Let your vision be world embracing, not concerned with your own selves.\u2019 Now is the time for humanity to see each other as one family.\u201d<\/p>\n Each of the world\u2019s major religions \u2013 including Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity \u2013 are all \u201cchapters\u201d in a book, according to the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed. Divine prophets throughout history \u2013 such as Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Muhammad and Jesus \u2013 were sent from God at different stages in the world to teach humanity something new. First, humanity needed to learn about unity of the family. Next, they learned about unity of the tribe, then the city-state, and afterwards, the nation. The Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith is the next chapter in the religion and its story of humanity.<\/p>\n One hundred seventy years later, it\u2019s the second most widespread religion, after Christianity.<\/p>\n To represent the progression, the main symbols from different religions are included on the exterior pillars on the House of Worship. This includes the nine-pointed star of the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith. The number \u20189\u2019 is significant. There are nine sides to each temple with a garden and fountain on each side. Since it is the highest single-digit number, it is seen as a symbol of strength, completeness and unity.<\/p>\n Because the main focus is unity, there are not separate branches of the religion. Though some have tried, none have succeeded. There is, and always will be, only one form of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith.<\/p>\n Symbols from different world religions, such as Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, are shown on the pillar of the House of Worship.<\/p><\/div>\n The Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed religion can only accept donations from people who are Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed.<\/p>\n Vodden learned this when he tried to send money to the faith before becoming Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed, only to find out they donated his contribution to charity. After this, he decided to become a Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought this must be it, this is the truth,\u201d Vodden said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot to learn, but I think this is the path I want to go on.\u201d<\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t always been this sure, though.<\/p>\n Vodden is originally from Hull, England. He was born into a Christian family; his grandfather was a Bishop in the Anglican Church. When he was 5 years old, his father took a job in India on the British Council, and they moved. During his time India, Vodden was exposed to all major religions and some lesser-known ones. Even so, he didn\u2019t understand it. He viewed religion as superstitious and dogmatic. By the time he was a teenager, Vodden decided he did not believe in God and became an atheist.<\/p>\n But during his college years at Hull University, he had a realization.<\/p>\n \u201cI studied evolution and pre-history, and I found it fascinating,\u201d Vodden said. \u201cI learned about the evolution of humanity, life, geology, the Ice Ages, and I saw the beauty of the universe, the infinity and time and place, and I thought, \u2018How can all this order exist in the world, in the universe? How can you get this from absolute nothingness?\u2019 And I thought, \u2018there has to be a creator.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n While at school, Vodden met a Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed couple. At the time, he wasn\u2019t ready to investigate religion. It wasn\u2019t until after his time at the university that he began questioning. He wanted to find a community that aligned with his beliefs. Curious about the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith, he wrote to the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds of Hull. As it turned out, the wife of the couple from school was the secretary. She sent him information to read. Vodden went from studying the material to attending informal meetings where he interacted with Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds and learned about the faith.<\/p>\n \u201cI became closer to these ideals of world citizenship, people working together,\u201d Vodden said. \u201cThis is what the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith believed in, and the organization spread throughout the whole world. But I was still hesitant to take that step.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s when he decided to donate money, and the rest is history.<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t many rituals in the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed religion. In fact, there isn\u2019t even one to accept the faith as one\u2019s own.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you decide to become a Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed, it\u2019s because you accept Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h as the messenger, the manifestation, the prophet of this age,\u201d Vodden said. \u201cSo you accept him and you know that he has brought laws for humanity. Not only for the protection of yourself, but for the protection of humanity, and that these laws have a scientific reason, they\u2019re not just arbitrary laws.\u201d<\/p>\n For Vodden, the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith explains the mysteries of the faiths preceding it in a logical way. To him, science and religion need to work together. With too much religion comes superstition, and too much science causes materialism.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this idea of humanity working together was a very powerful draw to me,\u201d Vodden said. \u201cUltimately, we have to have a religion and we have to have the knowledge of God, and it is through spirituality as well as science working together. The ultimate destiny of humanity is a glorious one of coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n A few months after becoming Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed, Vodden was elected to the local spiritual assembly of Hull. The Bah\u00e1’\u00ed religion does not have a clergy, but rather democratically elected officials at local, national and international levels, that play an administrative role and support Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds. From there, he moved to Haifa, Israel, where he served at the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed World Center for 12 years.<\/p>\n He soon met his wife and moved to the suburbs of Chicago. In 2010, he settled into his role as director of the North America House of Worship in Wilmette, where he has been ever since.<\/p>\n Equality between races, religions and gender is a major part of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith. They are taught to eliminate prejudice.<\/p><\/div>\n College student Pegah Nabili worships at the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed House of Worship. She was born into a Bah\u00e1’\u00ed family, but it didn\u2019t stop her from finding the religion for herself.<\/p>\n According to the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith, at age 15, people become responsible for investigating their faith for themselves and deciding if they are, indeed, Bah\u00e1’\u00ed. Nabili did this by studying the writings of Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h. The Bah\u00e1’\u00ed religion does not yet have a unified book of Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h\u2019s teachings, but rather separate, shorter books. As a new faith, many of his writings are still being translated from Arabic and Persian.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the most important thing is reading the writings of Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h,\u201d Nabili said. \u201cWe\u2019re, in a sense, lucky, because Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h\u2019s faith is a new one, so he has a lot of authorized text that he has written on various topics. So by reading them, you\u2019re able to match it with your reason, like, \u2018does this make sense to me?\u2019 That was my process.\u201d<\/p>\n Prayer is another important part of the investigation process, and of the religion in general. Prayer is seen as a private and individual act. During Bah\u00e1’\u00ed services, or devotions, one person will recite a word from God, while those gathered will reflect and speak to God on their own.<\/p>\n Putting prayers and studies into action is also a crucial piece of the investigation. Keemia Soheil and Samir Nooshabadi, both members of the faith born into Bah\u00e1’\u00ed families, agreed that serving the community played a big role while they explored their faith at age 15, and it continues to impact them now.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has to be some sort of outward expression to your transformation,\u201d Nooshabadi said. \u201cSo just being a passive worshipper isn\u2019t acceptable. You have to be doing something outwardly as well. Service is that arena where your passive worship becomes active, but you need both.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s especially important to Bah\u00e1’\u00eds to not only get to know the people around them, but to make the community a better place together.<\/p>\n \u201cI think right now regardless of your political affiliation or religion, it\u2019s a very dis-unified moment in history where there\u2019s a lot of chaos and disorganization in terms of on a social level, but also on a spiritual level,\u201d Soheil said. \u201cHow do we express not only our dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, but also combat these forces of darkness that have slowly enveloped our nation?\u201d<\/p>\n Soheil works with a program near her college to help students ages 11 to 14 realize their spiritual capacity and how they can become agents of change. Right now, she is helping them organize an interfaith event at their school.<\/p>\n Besides this program, Bah\u00e1’\u00eds have created numerous other interfaith organizations and programs throughout the world to foster a dialogue between people of different faiths and determine how they can work together to serve.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like me giving my time to something like that is a way that I confront these forces like the prejudice,\u201d Soheil said. \u201cIt\u2019s helping people realize a sense of unity in the community and not just being angry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n The 9-pointed star is a symbol of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith. It can be found on and around the temple and welcome center.<\/p><\/div>\n Rebecca Rice writes the programs for devotions at the Wilmette House of Worship. Sometimes, excerpts from the Bible and the Quran are included. Rice explained that this is because they are seen as the sacred word of God.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you embrace Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h and the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed faith, you\u2019re embracing that reality of all those previous messengers,\u201d Rice said. \u201cIn fact, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h says if you turn against any of them before him, you\u2019ve turned against God, because all of those profits are of the same Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n Rice is the Welcome Center Coordinator at the House of Worship. She organizes events and programs at the temple and focuses on community outreach. She\u2019s the only person in her family of birth who is a Bah\u00e1’\u00ed.<\/p>\n Rice was raised Methodist. Despite her strong upbringing in faith, the message never resonated with her. During her second semester at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, she met a Bah\u00e1’\u00ed who shared his faith with her. At age 18, Rice became Bah\u00e1’\u00ed. One year later, she married the man who taught her the faith. They raised their children Bah\u00e1’\u00ed, and their grandchildren are involved in the religion too. She\u2019s been a Bah\u00e1’\u00ed for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up, I\u2019d often wondered about these other religions and seemingly divine educators that my faith didn\u2019t talk about, other than maybe Abraham and Moses, because they seemed to me to be of God,\u201d Rice said. \u201cThis faith made sense of that for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Becoming Bah\u00e1’\u00ed was easy for Rice. Communicating with her family was the hard part. Her father thought that she was going through a phase. Her mother was more understanding, although she did not agree with it herself.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me a while to feel comfortable in family settings for fear they would say something, but then I realized, \u2018what does it matter what they say?\u2019\u201d Rice said. \u201cEven if they ask me a question I don\u2019t know the answer to, I\u2019ll tell them I\u2019ll look it up and find out. I think I had to mature a little.\u201d<\/p>\n Rice\u2019s family has chosen not to engage in conversation about religion or spirituality with her. She wishes that they could have a more open dialogue and understanding about their different beliefs. She sees her faith as a gift to not only herself, but to humanity, and tries to share it with others when it seems appropriate in conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cI figure if much of humanity is following some faith and knows that god is going to speak again, who am I to not tell people,\u201d Rice said. \u201cBah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h says we can\u2019t force people to believe, and we shouldn\u2019t proselytize, but we can share the faith, definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois is seen as a gift to both the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds and non-Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds of North America. It is their home to worship, reflect or meditate.<\/p><\/div>\n The Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith is about working together to move forward.<\/p>\n Humanity moves onward. Vodden says humanity is in a state of adolescence. In a time of disruption and rebelliousness, humankind is on the cusp of a golden age. Some may still be tied to tradition, but others sense the need to advance.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see it now,\u201d Vodden said. \u201cThis old house is crumbling, and you can see this house crumbling and the new house is being built. And so Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h has inaugurated this golden age.\u201d<\/p>\n The individual soul of each person progresses, even after death. Upon entering the spiritual realm, Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00eds believe that the soul continues to move closer to God. People were put on earth to realize their spiritual attributes. They will enter the spirit world on a spectrum either close to God or far from him, depending on how they spent their time on earth. Wherever they land, they have the opportunity to grow closer to their creator.<\/p>\n Just like the people who are a part of it, the religion itself will continue to progress. The Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith is simply the latest chapter in the story. In his writings, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h shared that in a thousand years, another messenger greater than he will come to earth to spread the word of God.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that there will be another manifestation, because that\u2019s part of God\u2019s covenant with us, from time to time to guide us and send this messenger, and in return be followed,\u201d Nooshabadi said. \u201cWe don\u2019t believe that it ends with the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, is one of only eight in the world. Just like its faith, it\u2019s open to all<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBeliefs<\/h6>\n
![](\"http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Bahai_1-1124x750.jpg\")
Religion, Science and Faith<\/h6>\n
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Bah\u00e1’\u00eds Today<\/h6>\n
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Sharing the Story<\/h6>\n
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Progression<\/h6>\n