World Religion Day | |
---|---|
Observed by | Baháʼís, interfaith and multi-faith organizations [1] |
Type | International, cultural |
Significance | Celebration of the oneness of religion and its role in human society |
Date | Third Sunday in January |
2022 date | January 16 |
2023 date | January 15 |
2024 date | January 21 |
2025 date | January 19 |
Frequency | annual |
First time | December 8, 1949 |
World Religion Day is an observance that was initiated in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States, which is celebrated worldwide on the third Sunday in January each year. Though initiated in the United States, World Religion Day has come to be celebrated internationally by followers of the Baháʼí Faith. [1]
Described as a "Baháʼí-inspired idea that has taken on a life of its own", [2] the origins of World Religion Day lie in the Baháʼí principles of the oneness of religion and of progressive revelation, which describe religion as evolving continuously throughout the history of humanity. [3] [4] The purpose of World Religion Day is to highlight the ideas that the spiritual principles underlying the world's religions are harmonious, and that religions play a significant role in unifying humanity. [1] [2]
Initially a Baháʼí observance, World Religion Day was inspired by the Baháʼí principles of the oneness of religion and of progressive revelation, which describe religion as evolving continuously throughout the history of humanity. [3] [4] It promotes these principles by highlighting the ideas that the spiritual principles underlying the world's religions are harmonious, and that religions play a significant role in unifying humanity. [1] [2]
As a means of clarifying the nature and purpose of World Religion Day, the Universal House of Justice, the elected council that serves as the head of the Baháʼí Faith noted in a 1968 message that, rather than providing a "platform for all religions and their emergent ecumenical ideas," the observance serves as "a celebration of the need for and the coming of a world religion for mankind, the Baháʼí Faith itself." [5]
In April 2002, the Universal House of Justice published a letter, "To the World's Religious Leaders", in which it stated:
...interfaith discourse, if it is to contribute meaningfully to healing the ills that afflict a desperate humanity, must now address honestly ... the implications of the over-arching truth ... that God is one and that, beyond all diversity of cultural expression and human interpretation, religion is likewise one. [6]
World Religion Day has been described as a "Baháʼí-inspired idea that has taken on a life of its own", [2] because its observance is no longer confined to the Baháʼí community, where it originally took shape. Although observances of World Religion Day are still sponsored and supported by Baháʼí communities worldwide, Baha'i institutions such as the Universal House of Justice or the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States no longer play active roles in the promotion of events, apart from reporting on them. Instead, an increasing number of observances are independently organized by interfaith or multi-faith coalitions. [1] [2]
The earliest observation entitled "World Peace Through World Religion" was in Portland, Maine at the Eastland Park Hotel in October 1947 with a talk by Firuz Kazemzadeh. [7] In 1949 observances in various communities in the United States made the local newspapers in December called "World Religion Day". [8] It was standardized across the United States by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States in December 1949 to be held January 15, 1950. [6] [9] It also began to be observed internationally starting as early as in Australia in 1950 in two cities [10] and Bolivia in 1951. [11] By 1958 Baháʼís had gathered notices of events in a number of countries—sometimes attracting hundreds of people and sometimes overlapping with race amity priorities. [12] In Laos, for example, meetings were noted in 1958, [13] 1959, [14] and 1960, among many countries activities. [15] [16] In the Netherlands in 1962 it was noted in several cities. [17]
This article contains a list of miscellaneous information.(January 2022) |
The observance has grown in some scale of recognition beginning in the 1950s.
It was noted on various AM radio stations in the 1950s and 1960s:
Various noted speakers have given talks in the 1950s to the 1970s:
A number of locales have seen Mayoral proclamations in the United States and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s:
In 1968 the proclamation was issued by Warren E. Hearnes, Governor of Missouri. [42]
In 1985 Sri Lanka issued the first World Religion Day postage stamp. This was followed by a stamp issued by the Republic of the Congo in 2007. The Congo stamp showed a globe with the symbols of 11 religions surrounding it, and the text (in French) read, "God is the source of all religions." [43] [44] [45]
There is a long tradition of hosting panels and symposia with representatives of many religions at World Religion Day observances. [46] [47] [48] [49] [50]
After years of activity since 2000 [51] : 1:02min in 2011 Ottawa city government hosted an event that was video taped. [52] It was subsequently noted in 2014 on CTV Television Network. [53]
Since 2013 participants have gathered at a virtual presentation in Second Life [54] : 1:44min at the UUtopia Center for an observance. [55] The 2014 observance had screenshots taken. [56] The 2015 event [57] of talks of a panel of speakers was recorded. [54]
In 2013 the Parliament of Religions noted it. [58] The Oxford University Press' blog noted it in 2015. [59]
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception. The religion is estimated to have 5–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís, spread throughout most of the world's countries and territories.
William Bernard Sears was an American writer and a popular television and radio personality in various shows culminating in the 1950s with In the Park but left television popularity to promote the Baháʼí Faith in Africa and embarked on a lifelong service to the religion, for some 35 years as Hand of the Cause, the highest institution of the religion he could be appointed to. He wrote many books about the religion, with Thief in the Night and God Loves Laughter being his most popular.
Zikrullah Khadem was an Iranian follower of the Baháʼí Faith, appointed for life by the head of the Faith to a select leadership role as a Hand of the Cause in February 1952. The 27 Hands played a key role in the transition of power in the religion during the leadership crisis after the death of Shoghi Effendi in 1957.
Green Acre Baháʼí School is a conference facility in Eliot, Maine, in the United States, and is one of three leading institutions owned by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States. The name of the site has had various versions of "Green Acre" since before its founding in 1894 by Sarah Farmer.
Helen Elsie Austin, known as H. Elsie Austin as an adult, was an American attorney, civil rights leader, and diplomat from the Midwest. From 1960 to 1970, she served for 10 years with the United States Information Agency (USIA) on various cultural projects in Africa. The first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Cincinnati School of Law, Austin was appointed in 1937 as an assistant attorney general in Ohio. She was the first black and the first woman to hold this position.
The Baháʼí Faith in Kenya began with three individuals. First, Richard St. Barbe Baker took a constructive engagement with the indigenous religion of Kenyans to a United Kingdom conference on religions, where, in sympathy with his efforts, he was presented with the Baháʼí Faith and became a convert. The second individual was Enoch Olinga who traveled to Kenya when he served in the British Royal Army Educational Corps. The third came twenty-one years after the first and marked the arrival of the Baháʼí Faith in Kenya. In 1945 Mrs. Marguerite Preston arrived in Kenya. She had been a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom from 1939 through 1945 when she married a Kenyan tea grower and moved to Kenya where the couple had three children within two years and she was the only Baháʼí in the nation. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated about 429,000 Baháʼís in Kenya in 2005.
The Baháʼí Faith in Ukraine began during the policy of oppression of religion in the former Soviet Union. Before that time, Ukraine, as part of the Russian Empire, would have had indirect contact with the Baháʼí Faith as far back as 1847. Following the Ukrainian diasporas, succeeding generations of ethnic Ukrainians became Baháʼís and some have interacted with Ukraine previous to development of the religion in the country which began rising as the region approached the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. As of around 2008 there were around a thousand known Baháʼís in Ukraine according to the community's national governing body, in 13 communities. International data reviewer Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) listed 227 Bahá'ís in 2010, and in 2021 a study found 12 Bahá'í communities in the country, placing it at among the smallest minority religions in the country. National observances of Bahá'í Holy Days had occurred in recent years.
Oothout Zabriskie Whitehead was an American stage and film character actor. He was born in New York City and attended Harvard University. Called "O.Z." or "Zebby", he also authored several volumes of biographical sketches of early members of the Baháʼí Faith especially in the West after he moved to Dublin, Ireland in 1963.
The Baháʼí Faith in Samoa and American Samoa begins with the then head of the religion, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, mentioning the islands in 1916. This inspired Baháʼís on their way to Australia in 1920 to stop in Samoa. Thirty four years later another Baháʼí from Australia pioneered to Samoa in 1954. With the first converts the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1961, and the Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1970. Following the conversion of the then Head of State of Samoa, King Malietoa Tanumafili II, the first Baháʼí House of Worship of the Pacific Islands was finished in 1984 and the Baháʼí community reached a population of over 3,000 in about the year 2000.
Lisa Janti, known as Lisa Montell when performing as a Hollywood actress of the 1950–60s, later shifted her career to one of advocacy and service to various disadvantaged groups and to her adopted religion, the Baháʼí Faith.
The Baháʼí Faith in Egypt has existed for over 100 years. The first followers of the Baháʼí Faith arrived in Egypt in 1863. Baháʼu'lláh, founder of the religion, was himself briefly in Egypt in 1868 when on his way to imprisonment in ʻAkká. The first Egyptians were converts by 1896. Despite forming an early Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly and forming a National Assembly, in 1960 following a regime change the Baháʼís lost all rights as an organised religious community by Decree 263 at the decree of then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser. However, in 1963, there were still seven organized communities in Egypt. More recently the roughly 2000 or 7000 by ARDA Baháʼís of Egypt have been embroiled in the Egyptian identification card controversy from 2006 through 2009. There have been homes burned down and families driven out of towns.
The relationship between Baháʼí Faith and Native Americans has a history reaching back to the lifetime of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and has multiplied its relationships across the Americas. Individuals have joined the religion and institutions have been founded to serve Native Americans and conversely have Native Americans serve on Baháʼí institutions.
The Baháʼí Faith was first mentioned in the United States in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Soon after, early American converts began embracing the new religion. Thornton Chase was the most prominent among the first American Baha'is and made important contributions to early activities. One of the first Baháʼí institutions in the U.S. was established in Chicago and called the Baháʼí Temple Unity, incorporated in 1909 to facilitate the establishment of the first Baháʼí House of Worship in the West, which was eventually built in Wilmette, Illinois and dedicated in 1953. As of 2020 the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies noted the Baháʼí Faith was the largest non-Christian religion in the majority of US counties.
The Baháʼí Faith is a relatively new religion teaching the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people, established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th-century Middle East and now estimated to have a worldwide following of 5–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís.
Linda Marshall is an American actress. She started her television career in the 1963 situation comedy My Three Sons, and in 1965 appeared in her first movie, The Girls on the Beach.
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Robert B. Powers, was a prominent police officer in the history of California, first as Chief of Police in Bakersfield, California (1933–1945) and as the chief enforcement officer at the state level (1944–1947) during which he co-established one of the earliest training programs for police in matters of race relations.
Nancy Douglas Bowditch was an American artist, author, costumer and set designer. The daughter of painter George de Forest Brush, she produced a biography of him in 1970, and her own memoirs published posthumously. She was married firstly to the artist William Robert Pearmain, and later to Dr. Harold Bowditch.
The Baháʼí Faith in Greater Boston, a combined statistical area, has had glimpses of the religion in the 19th century arising to its first community of religionists at the turn of the century. Early newspaper accounts of events were followed by papers on the precursor Bábí religion by Dr. Rev. Austin H. Wright were noted, materials donated, and lost, and then other scholars began to write about the religion. The community began to coalesce being near to Green Acre, founded by Sarah Farmer, who publicly espoused the religion from 1901. From then on the institution would progressively be associated with Baháʼís - a place where both locals and people from afar came to learn of the religion, and who officially took over controlling interest from 1913. Leaders rising to national prominence with a national level of organization soon arose after ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, traveled through the area for about 40 days and across the United States for some 239 days. Most prominent were Harlan Ober, William Henry Randall, and Alfred E. Lunt, who served in events in the Boston area, Green Acre boards, and national institutions of the religion. In addition to national leaders in the religion, a number of notable individuals joined the religion and were increasingly visible - such as Urbain Ledoux, Sadie and Marby Oglesby, James Ferdinand Morton, Jr., Nancy Bowditch, and Guy Murchie. The community moved from beginning to host public meetings to systematically support a presence in a Center in Boston with services and presentations on the religion as well as a racially integrated community since 1935. Starting about the 1950s and broadening into the 1960s there was wider recognition of the Baháʼís themselves. Sometimes this took the form of noting their persecution in Morocco and then Iran and other times noting local concerts and fairs with their participation. The modern community, albeit a tiny fraction of the wider population, is present in some concentrations and thin areas throughout the greater Boston area. Over the last couple of decades it has been systematically pursuing programs of neighborhood community building activities of study circles, children's classes, junior youth groups, and devotional meetings among the activities and observances of the religion.
Florence Virginia Foose Wilson Mayberry was an American writer and convert to the Baháʼí Faith. After mostly being raised by her grandparents, her grandfather in particular serving in the Union Army during the civil war, she joined the religion at age 35 and around the same time began also writing short fiction, eventually having a long career writing for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. In the religion, her service as a speaker was wide-ranging, and soon she advanced from position to position in the religion as first an Auxiliary Board member and then a Continental Counselor and then one serving at the International Teaching Centre – the highest appointed positions of the religion during her later years. Meanwhile, she was a successful writer with almost 20 years of continuous annual appearance in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and almost half her stories were also anthologized even as late as 2012.