A Bahá'í Perspective

An American Bah#225;'#237; now living in Bulgaria. Greg went to Harvard to study physics but ended up getting his PhD in Economics. After college Greg worked for the International Monetary Fund of the World Bank for 27 years. His work took him to such countries as Haiti, Sierra Leone and Madagascar. In the interview we discuss globalization and his new book One World, One People: How Globalization is Shaping Our Future. I apologize for the poor quality of the recording. I was having difficulty with VFR's studio telos (the thingy that transfers the output of the soundboard to the telephone line). Greg couldn't hear me, so I had to have the microphone way up, which created a terrible hum and allowed background noise to filter into the interview. However, the interview is still well worth listening to. I started our interview by asking Greg where he grew up and what was it like growing up there.

A Bah#225;'#237; who grew up in rural Australia; went to the big city for boarding high school and university where he studied physiotherapy. He returned to the rural life after university by settling in a rural part of Queensland, where he ran into the Bah#225;'#237; Faith. His mother's first reaction to Owen becoming a Bah#225;'#237; was "why did you join a religion whose members get killed!" referring to the persecution of the Bah#225;'#237;s in Iran. This is my first attempt at using Skype for the interview. I'm not thrilled about the quality, but it may be a tad clearer than through the telephone.

A Bah#225;'#237; from Iran who came to the United States to finish his medical schooling. After completing his schooling, he returned to Iran and worked at a Bah#225;'#237; hospital called Red Lion Society. When the Khomeini regime took over, they confiscated the hospital, assassinated the chief of staff, Dr. Hakim, and arrested or killed other Bah#225;'#237; physicians working there. Bahman and his family happened to be in the US when this happened, so he stayed in the US and practiced medicine here. He's now retired and is volunteering for two Bah#225;'#237;-inspired institutions, Health for Humanity and the Tahirih Justice Center.

A Bah#225;'#237; from Iran. In Iran, Nosrat had to suppress her desire to express her belief freely. So after university, she decided to leave Iran for the United States. She was included in Dan Rather's book, The American Dream.

A Bah#225;'#237; now living on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who spent nine years in Bulgaria. In the interview Bertha refers to the Virtues Project. You can find information about the virtues project at these two websites: http://www.virtuesproject.com/index.php and http://www.virtueoftheweek.org/. Before playing the interview I play an audio clip of a statement by the Bah#225;'#237;s to the House of Representatives' International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations on June 30, 2006

A Bah#225;'#237; from Lancaster, PA, who discovered the Bah#225;'#237; Faith in Bolivia, and found her true calling in teaching children.

An associate professor of biochemistry at the State University of New York, who grew up in Ghana.

A microbiologist who worked in industry, but when he retired, used his talents to help others in Costa Rica. Bernie refers to the Bah#225;'#237; Peace Statement in is stories about Costa Rica. You can find the complete text of The Promise of World Peace here: The Promise of World Peace

A Bah#225;'#237; from the Boston area who is a pediatrician and founder of the children's organization, Raising Peacemakers

With Sharon's help, Hal wrote the book Liberating Greatness, The Whole Brain Guide to An Extraordinary Life. Their website is http://www.hopellc.com/.

A Bah#225;'#237; of both Italian and Puerto Rican descent. He grew up in New York City and found out that he could bring joy to the lives of children by bringing fictional characters to life. He now lives in Florida. Anthony's websites include: http://www.bahaiway.com/ and http://www.4allproductions.com/

While I was at the Bah#225;'#237; Conference Center called Green Acre in Eliot Maine, attending a workshop called The Holy Spirit's Invitation to Perfect Unity, I contacted my friend Jay Green for an interview. Jay works at the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of New Hampshire.

I was at the Bah#225;'#237; Conference Center called Green Acre in Eliot Maine, attending a workshop called The Holy Spirit's Invitation to Perfect Unity. Phyllis Ring ( her website) was one of the facilitators of the workshop. She is a freelance writer living in Exeter New Hampshire.

This is a continuation of my Lars Patenaude. In this second telephone interview Lars describes his journey from the point at which he became a Bah#225;'#237; at the Bah#225;'#237; Academy called Landegg in Switzerland. He describes his involvement with the World Summit for Sustainable Development in South Africa and his work for the non-governmental organization called Education for Peace in Bosnia.

A Bah#225;'#237; from Wilbraham, MA and Vice President of Information Services for ISO New England an independent system operator that coordinates, controls and monitors the operation of the electrical power system for New England. Jamshid is a descendant from the family of the Persian prophet-founder of the Babi Faith titled the Bab, spelled B-a-b, which means Gate in Arabic. In 1844 the Bab declared his mission as the one announcing the coming of He Whom God Shall Make Manifest. Bah#225;'#237;s believe that this is a reference to Baha'u'llah the prophet-founder of the Bah#225;'#237; Faith. The Bab's life was quite miraculous and resembled the life of Christ in many ways including his dramatic martyrdom. I started the interview by asking Jamshid to give a brief synopsis on the Babi religion and its prophet-founder the Bab.

Somava Stout is the creator and director of the kids organization Raising Peacemakers, and the director of the Children's Theatre Company of Greater Boston.

Sarah is a Bah#225;'#237; whose work is clearly a service to humanity. She is currently the assistant executive director of fund development for HAP, a non-profit, Housing Partnership organization.

Like other folks I interview, Lars Patenaude has more to tell than one hour can allow. In this first telephone interview segment Lars describes his journey that lead him to becoming a Bah#225;'#237;. It includes dropping out of college, going back to college, being a rock'n'roll band manager, and going to graduate school.

A Bah#225;'#237; who graduated from the University of Wisconsin with double majors in physics and philosophy, and double minors in psychology and math. He then went to NC to go to graduate school, and it is in NC where Steven met his wife, Sally. He now provides computer support for a school system. He and Sally have been involved in a number of service organizations, and Steven is a wikipedia enthusiast. Steven mentions two works by Baha'u'llah in the interview, "The Seven Valleys" and the "Kitab-i-Iqan" which means the Book of Certitude in English. Steven also makes reference to a 12 step organization called Bah#225;'#237;s In Recovery Fellowship or BIRF for short.

A Bah#225;'#237; and executive director of the Center for Diversity in the Communication Industries at Emerson College. In this interview, I barely scratched the service of Dr. Smith's life. In one hour we covered the very interesting story of how he ran into the Bah#225;'#237; Faith in high school, while living in a very rough neighborhood. I'll invite Dr. Smith back to talk about his many accomplishments including, founding a video, film and multimedia company called ComTel Productions; founding a non-profit organization called Pupil of the Eye: Vision for Unity in Education; and writing and producing the award winning documentary film "The Invisible Soldiers: Unheard Voices", which aired on PBS; and many, many other endeavors.