A Bahá'í Perspective

A Bah#225;'#237; from the Boston area who is both an artist and social scientist.

Although Rhett grew up in a Bahaacute;'iacute; family, he didn't claim the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith as his own until going to college. He first became a nurse and worked on a Native-American reservation. Then he went back to school and got a degree in school psychology and then went back to the reservation to work in the school system for another three years, at which time he left to get his doctorate. He is the author of the book target="_blank" href="http://www.bahaibookstore.com/productdetails.cfm?pc=7321"Psyche in Eros: Bahaacute;'iacute; Studies in Spiritual Psychology.

At age 13 Bill read the Bible and started asking questions. At age 15 he read the Quran and recognized that same Voice from the Bible. At age 18, Bill knew that these and the other major world religions were linked together somehow, but didn't know what that link was. Bill describes his journey to discovering that linkage. He is a published author and has contributed to the Encyclopedia of Millennialism.

A Bah#225;'#237; who basically made the Peace Corps her career after becoming a Bah#225;'#237;. Before the interview I play a piece from the radio program The State We're In produced by Radio Netherlands. This piece updates the plight of Bah#225;'#237;s and other religious minorities in Egypt.

A Bah#225;'#237; whose great grandfather, Howard Colby Ives, was a Unitarian minister who became a Bah#225;'#237; in 1912.

A Bah#225;'#237; who lives both in NYC and in Florida. She is an actor, musician and composer, a makeup artist, a chef and a playwright. At the end of the program I play cuts from Dora's new CD, Pathway To Paradise.

A Bah#225;'#237; and former television news anchor at the NBC-affiliate WIS in Columbia, SC.

A Bahaacute;'iacute; who grew up in Iran and came to the United States when he was 18 to go to university just prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It was during this time that Kamran investigated the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith for himself even though he was raised as a Bahaacute;'iacute;. In the interview Kamran refers to three Bahaacute;'iacute; books and provides a concise summation of each. These books are target="_blank" href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAQ/"Some Answered Questions, target="_blank" href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/KI/"The Book of Certitude, and target="_blank" href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/SVFV/"The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys.

A Bahaacute;'iacute; from Long Island, NY who discovered his calling in social work when in college. He discovered the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith from an ad in the newspaper. He has written an introductory book on the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith called target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Journey-Exploring-Bah%C3%A1%C3%AD-Faith/dp/1434312941/ref=sr_1_1/002-1127004-5137627?ie=UTF8amp;s=booksamp;qid=1194713316amp;sr=1-1"Divine Journey: Exploring the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith.

A Bah#225;'#237; who discovered the Bah#225;'#237; Faith when he was steeped in the hippie culture with all its attendant activities both positive and negative.

A Bah#225;'#237; of Armenian descent. His parents grew up in Iran and moved to Brazil to help the Bah#225;'#237; Faith there. Jacob was born in Brazil and lived there until he decided to get his post graduate degree, so he moved to western Massachusetts with his young family in the early 1990's.

An 83 year old Bah#225;'#237; now living in West Virginia. When he first became a Bah#225;'#237; just after World War II, he went to Brazil for a year. After returning from Brazil, he and his wife, Joanne, were the first Bah#225;'#237;s in Cape Verde, Africa. They stayed in Cape Verde until there was a Bah#225;'#237; community established there.

A Bah#225;'#237; from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Jackie grew up in Michigan and moved to Florida when she was 29. It was in Florida that Jackie discovered the Bah#225;'#237; Faith, but it took her nine years before she got the courage to officially identify herself as a Bah#225;'#237;.

Brett is a PhD candidate in English Literature at Harvard University, where he studies Shakespeare and directs plays. In this interview he speaks about growing up in a Catholic family in California, the disintegration of that family through divorce, and his first encounters with the Bah#225;'#237; Faith.

A Bah#225;'#237; who grew up in Bufort, SC. Before she became a Bah#225;'#237; she owned her own business and did a stint as a private investigator. She is currently the administrator for the non-profit organization One Human Family, as well as working for a non-profit called the Community Re-investment Association.

A Bahaacute;'iacute; from Amherst, MA who grew up with the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith. Her father was Curtis Kelsey, who learned about the faith when he was a young man. Carol's husband, Nathan Rutstein, wrote the book, target="_blank" href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?r=1amp;ean=9780853981213"He Loved And Served, The Story of Curtis Kelsey. Carol talks about Nathan's writing career and talks about how his career got started when her daughter inspired him to write target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Go-watch-TV-should-children/dp/083620588X"Go Watch TV. Carol was a professional singer performing in musical theater and spending about a year traveling with target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Waring"Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. When I finished the interview, Carol handed me a CD recording of a talk her father gave in 1970. I took snippets from the talk and created a 20 minute excerpt which I play following Carol's interview.

A Bah#225;'#237; who, from an infant, grew up in Central Africa. He returned to his country of birthright (the U.S.) to live to complete high school and university. He went to England to get married and get his PhD. Before returning to the U.S., where he currently lives, his family lived in Australia and Rumania. In Rumania he worked for the U.N. organization UNESCO, and now he and a partner are consultants for Social and Economic Development projects.

A Bahaacute;'iacute; musician and musical producer who moved around a lot growing up, going to about 12 different schools. He became a Bahaacute;'iacute; after marrying Maya who was a Bahaacute;'iacute;. It was the Bahaacute;'iacute; book Thief In The Night by William Sears that lead him to becoming a Bahaacute;'iacute;. Jeff talks about target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk"filk music, as did Maya in her interview. Visit their website target="_blank" href="http://www.MysticFig.com"MysticFig.com.

A Bahaacute;'iacute; musician and author of science fiction and fantasy works as well as short essays on issues related to the Bahaacute;'iacute; Faith. Her music is a joint venture with her husband, Jeff, and their musical styles include target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk"filk. The music in this podcast is all from Jeff and Maya's work. Their website is target="_blank" href="http://www.MysticFig.com"MysticFig.com.

A Bah#225;'#237; from Iran whose paternal grandfather was a Zoroastrian in the 19th century. When her grandfather heard about the Bah#225;'#237; Faith he wrote to Baha'u'llah, the prophet-founder of the Bah#225;'#237; Faith and asked Him seven questions. In the Zoroastrian Faith, seven is a very holy number. Baha'u'llah responded to her grandfather in a tablet called "Seven Questions Answered". It has been recently translated into English and can be found in the Bah#225;'#237; compilation Tabernacle of Unity.