Letter to My Community-Community in a Global Society

                                                               

Dear Tigard Baha’i Community,

Being a part of the Tigard Baha’i community has helped to shape my families identity in many ways.  I was raised Catholic but in large part I was non-practicing.  As an adult I sometimes longed for faith in God but it was just not something that I could convince myself of.  After my husband and I divorced, our daughter longed for education and information about God that I could not give her.  We were invited by neighbors to attend a Baha’i children’s class.  At this class we met some of the most kind and since people that we had ever met.  My children loved the welcoming and fun class.  Some of the other parents that were in attendance invited me to some other Baha’i events that I agreed to attend.  I immediately took notice that at Sunday school my children were learning virtues instead of just scriptures, they were learning how to be respectful and loving, giving and studious.  The children learned what independent investigation of truth was.  I was struck by these things as it was so unlike any other religion that I had been exposed to.  Baha’i actually encourages followers to investigate the faith and other faiths, to question what they read and hear.
In working on this project I have come to recognize that membership and interest in the Baha'i faith has helped me to develop friendships that I would have likely never had the opportunity to develop.  The Tigard Baha'i community is a very diverse group of people in most every way.  Members of the community are brought together threw a common belief that Bahá'u'lláh is a messenger of God and that all humanity is one family.  This community is full of amazing, kind and good hearted people, who may have little in common but treat others as though they are a part of their own family in light of their differences.  The community has always been warm and inviting with no regard to the many differences that we all may have.  To me the overwhelming warmth that the Baha'i community as a whole shows to all people and not just members of the faith, has been one thing that has struck me the most.  After learning a bit more about the injustices and persecution that so many of my Baha'i friends have faced (largely those from Iran) it is even more amazing to me that in the face of this, they can still hold true to the principles of the Baha'i faith, namely the elimination of prejudice of all kinds.  I feel so blessed to be a member of an amazing community such as this one.

The next five years for the Tigard Baha’i community, I believe will be prosperous.  The Baha’i Faith is among the fastest growing religions in the world and is found on each continent.  To help further the cause of my faith, I plan on continuing to hold Baha’i gatherings at my home.  I plan on continuing to educate my children on the principles of the Baha’i Faith, the oneness of mankind, independent investigation of truth.   As the opportunity arises I plan on telling others about the Baha’i faith and what it is all about.  

 

Community in a Global Society

Globalization has impacted the Tigard Baha’i community in a multitude of ways.  The first and most obvious way is that like most world religions the Baha’i faith started in the Middle East, Iran to be precise.  The Baha’i faith has now spread through the world, you can find Baha’i on every populated continent and nearly every country in the world; the Baha’i Faith is one of the fastest growing religions in the world.

The Tigard Baha’i as a community is comprised of people from all around the world, from Iran (where Baha’i are persecuted) South Africa, India, Scandinavia, Spain. 

With the invent of the internet and other technologies it has made Globalization of the faith even more rapid.  In the past the only way to hear about the faith was by word of mouth or by passing books and literature.  Now, we can email, call or even video chat.  Baha’i are all over the country and the world, some living in large cities some living in secluded villages.  It is very common for me to receive invitations to different Baha’i webinars, to receive surveys by emails.  In the Tigard Community we email our monthly calendar of events to all of the members who have email (most of us but there are a few of the older members who do not use internet)

If it weren’t for globalization the Tigard Baha’i community would not exist.  Globalization has affected the community whether it is in the form of knowledge exchange or immigration of many of the Tigard Baha’i members.  Globalization has and dose plays an incredibly large part in the Tigard Baha’i faith.  I am most grateful for the way that globalization has affected my community, without it would never have met some of my very closest friends who have migrated to the U.S.A. from all around the world.