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UK Bahá’í Review – Summer 2012

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UK_Bahai_Review _Summer_2012_cover

Read about the activities of the UK Bahá’í community in the latest edition of the UK Bahá’í Review, which you can download here. This edition includes reflections on what it is to serve in a community, as well as reports on multifaith social action and celebrations to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We also explore the Festival of Ridvan, which commemorates Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration as a Manifestation of God in 1863, and look at the significance of the Festival for Bahá’ís across the UK today. Read more »

Bahá’í Centre hosts low budget interfaith lunch to tackle extreme poverty and malaria

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Interfaith low budget lunch at Bahá'í Centre

What is it like to live on £1 per day? Representatives from seven religions came together at the National Bahá’í Centre on 1 March to share a lunch, costing just 70p per person, in support of the charity challenge “Live Below the Line”. Nearly one and a half billion people live on this budget every day, not only for food but for all their daily needs. During the lunch guests from the Bahá’í, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh faiths discussed their perspectives on faith, food, poverty and malaria. A video of the lunch can [...] Read more »

Youth panel discusses rural women at House of Commons seminar

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Tom Brake MP with youth panel

Tom Brake MP wants to stay in touch with a panel of young people who joined him in the House of Commons on 27 March to discuss the lives of rural women. Representatives of the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations (NAWO) and other NGOs also took part in the discussion. Mr Brake, the Liberal Democrats’ equalities spokesperson and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís praised the panel’s balance of practical suggestions and theoretical ideas. He was particularly taken with the use of consultative decision-making to empower rural women and give them a voice. [...] Read more »

Bahá’í Centre hosts youth panel discussion with UK Equalities Minister on the lives of rural women

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Lynne Featherstone MP with members of the youth panel

Lynne Featherstone MP (centre) with members of the youth panel on rural women UK Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone MP joined a youth panel and a number of guests on 15 March at the National Bahá’í Centre in London to discuss the empowerment of rural women. The minister and panellists shared insights from their participation in this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and continued the debate on those issues within the UK. In a dynamic series of presentations the five youth panellists explored different dimensions of the need to empower rural women around [...] Read more »

Baha’i Centre hosts national launch of A Year of Service

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Guests wrapping gifts at the national launch of A Year of Service

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles MP joined faith leaders at the National Bahá’í Centre on 28 February 2012 to mark the launch of A Year of Service, a government initiative to promote collaborative social action. More than fifty individuals, including government officials and representatives from different religious communities, came to the National Centre to join hands in wrapping gifts and decorating cakes for homeless people in the area. The event coincided with the Bahá’í festival of Ayyám-i-Há, and was tied to its theme of charity, gift-giving and hospitality. A Year of Serviceis a programme in which [...] Read more »

The Times – Bahá’ís lament 30 years of persecution in their homeland

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A feature article appearing in the Saturday 29 July 2011 edition of The Times explores the persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran. The article also looks at the long history of the Bahá’í community in the United Kingdom and touches on some of the service work carried out by its members. The piece appears in full below.   Bahá’ís lament 30 years of persecution in their homeland The Times | Michael Binyon | Saturday 29 July 2011 More than 100 followers of the global faith are languishing in prison in Iran Few religions have known such [...] Read more »

Egypt Bahá’ís hold UK seminar on open letter

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London, 14 July – Egyptian Bahá’ís living in the UK have hosted a seminar to discuss open letter the Bahá’ís in their country recently addressed to the people of Egypt. The letter, published in the aftermath of the dramatic revolution, puts forward Bahá’í principles for social and spiritual progress as a “humble contribution to the conversation which has now begun” about the future of the country. The letter aims to share perspectives from the experience of Bahá’ís around the world, engaged in community-building processes of spiritual and social empowerment, for “walking the path towards lasting [...] Read more »

UK Bahá’ís awarded OBEs in Queen’s 2011 Birthday Honours

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Peter Hulme and Barney Leith – UK Bahá’ís and members of the UK community’s national governing body – have been awarded OBEs for public service in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours. It is the first time that two Bahá’ís have been recognised in the same honours list. Mr Hulme, lately Principal Psychologist at the Herefordshire Primary Care Trust, was awarded the OBE for services to mental healthcare. He worked in Hereford from 1985 to 2008, and served for several years as the Head of Psychology Services and as a representative of the Clinical Professions on [...] Read more »

Bahá’ís join Amartya Sen seminar on Women as Agents of Change

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London, 20 June – To mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, the Foreign Press Association in London, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, hosted an international symposium on ‘Women as Agents of Change: Why women are fundamental to political, economic and social transformation’. The event was attended by journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, community leaders and political leaders from around the world. The Nobel laureate Professor Amartya Sen, Baroness Verma, Baroness Kinnock and Devaki Jain were among the speakers. The participants discussed the importance of advancing the role of women in all aspects [...] Read more »

Moral education can end violence against women

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Gender Equality

LONDON, 11 March 2011 – Violence against women remains high and attitudes that perpetuate it are endorsed in popular music and the media. Education, including moral development, is essential for reducing violence in the future, agreed a group of activists and experts in London, brought together by the Bahá’í community of the United Kingdom. The National Alliance of Women’s Organisations (NAWO), partnered with Widows’ Rights International and sponsored by the Bahá’í community, held a seminar and dramatic performance called SAY NO NOW, to confront violence against women and girls. The event was held at the [...] Read more »