Members of National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world have elected nine members to the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha'i Faith, at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa.

Lisa Blecker’s Blessed Is the Spot: A First Prayer Book with animated DVD transforms a much-loved prayer by Baha’u’llah into a multimedia experience that sends souls and hearts soaring no matter what your beliefs.

On April 29, approximately 1,200 delegates from 170 nations will elect individuals to the nine-member Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Baha'i Faith. The election is held every five years at the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, Israel.

Try to imagine, if you can in this age of contention, a style of group decision-making in which participants arrive at a decision that everyone accepts with grace. No “owning” your ideas. No hurt feelings. No battling, blame or sour grapes.

Ten years ago, Michael O’Neal started a program to help dispel racial tension in the Savannah public schools. Called Parent University, the Baha'i-inspired program has attracted more than 4,000 participants and earned numerous awards. Recently the city of Savannah hired Mr. O’Neal and his staff to help 100 at-risk families.

What makes the Festival of Ridvan, celebrated April 21 to May 2, the holiest of days for Baha'is? It commemorates the anniversary of Baha’u’llah’s declaration in 1863 that He was the Promised One of all earlier religions.

Ed LaBonte
Athol, Massachusetts
Baha'i since November 2007

After being an atheist my whole life, I decided, as part of a midlife crisis, that there had to be something out there that was better than nothing. Secular humanists say you have to make your own meaning, but when you’re faced with a gigantic universe that doesn’t care about you, it’s hard to do.

Mr. Kenneth E. Bowers, Secretary General of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, was among a small group of selected religious leaders invited to serve as ecumenical representatives at the arrival ceremony honoring His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI at the White House on April 16, 2008.

To enable further restoration of the Baha'i House of Worship and begin construction of the new Visitors Center, the lower level of the temple, which currently houses the Visitors Center and bookstore, will be closed to the public for approximately one year, from May 19, 2008, to May 2009.

Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’u’llah’s eldest son and Successor, had a close association with the House of Worship even before it was built.