Taking it on faith: Baha'i blogs put forward views in comfortable space
Posted : March 14, 2007 - 4:03pm
Terms : News Human Interest

Anything you ever wanted to know about the Baha'i Faith and weren't afraid to ask is out there in the blogosphere.

Planet Baha'i Blog Blogging, for Baha'is, has proved to be an ideal format to talk about the faith, how it has changed their lives and how it may change the lives of others.

There are about 200-300 Baha'i blogs on the blogsophere at any given time. Conveniently and courteously, many Baha'i blogs provide links to other blogs. They're all in this together -- to connect with those in and outside the faith.
"Getting in touch, getting connected, is what blogging is all about," says George Dannells of Tacoma, Wash., who oversees Baha'i Views, which he describes online as "pithy excerpts & mentions of ‘Baha'i' in the blogosphere."
Dannells, known on his one-year-old site as George Wesley (his middle name), says Baha'i Views aims to serve as a forum for commentary on the faith and excerpts from the Baha'i Writings. He hopes that the reader, in scrolling through, will get “an image of the faith that reflects in some small way the incredible diversity of Baha'i experience and depth of its spiritual teachings.”
"The most precious ‘find' for me is a blog-mention of the Faith by a non-Baha'i," Dannells says. "Those are the posts I most want to excerpt and feature" because they offer a different perspective.
From Baha'i Views, readers can link to Anxiously Concerned, which views moral, social and scientific topics through the lens of the Baha'i Faith. Or Baha'i Thought, which tackles racism and other issues related to being African-American and a Baha'i.
Or Oh, Look at How She Listens, a personal, heartfelt blog written by Ashley Sandvoss, whom Dannells came across last year before the 20-year-old Barnard College student became a Baha'i in November. Sandvoss' pre-Baha'i questions and concerns echo the thoughts and feelings of many readers interested in the Faith.
Planet Baha'i Blog discusses the meaning of Baha'i writings (and the writer's passion for astronomy) in short entries, so "readers are more inclined to read them," says Dale Lehman, the blog's writer and owner/editor of Planet Baha'i, which he describes as "a broad-based resource on the Baha'i Faith."
Visit Correlating to see how the Baha'i Faith relates to the social sciences. Or Livin' in Harmony, which comments on the Baha'i Writings against a purple background with fluttering birds and twinkling stars.
"I don't post just to hear myself talk. I post when I feel inspired. If it's inspiring to me, maybe it'll inspire others," says Livin' in Harmony's author, Amy Lugsch, 45, of Persia, Iowa, who describes herself as an "artist, writer, lover of nature, lover of humanity, an eternal optimist."
Ms. Lugsch, who mostly posts Baha'i Writings rather than running commentary, is excited about an upcoming meeting with a reader who stumbled across her blog and asked, "What is this Baha'i thing?" The reader, who lives about one hour away, wants to get together in person to find out more about the faith: a Baha'i blogger's dream - to share the teachings of the Baha'i Faith with spiritual seekers.
Victor Ali, alias Anxiously Concerned, says he caters to readers who don't know anything about the faith and asks himself, "Would they find what I'm about to post appealing?"
Mr. Ali, 28, an attorney in San Francisco, says he particularly loves writing about social neuroscience with his readers, many of whom comment regularly from the United States as well as from places throughout the world.
Mr. Ali's favorite subject is Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence: The New Science of Social Relationships. On a recent post, Mr. Ali discusses two studies by Mr. Goleman that indicate that a group's overall emotional intelligence, and not members' individual cognitive abilities, is the greatest predictor of the group's ability to solve a problem.
To show how the Baha'i Faith's beliefs are compatible with Mr. Goleman's ideas, Mr. Ali quotes Abdul-Baha, a central figure of the Baha'i Faith, saying "absolute love and harmony" are necessary for effective group decision-making.
"I think one of the beauties of blogging is that it allows readers to share how the Baha'i teachings affect them personally," Mr. Ali says, "and to understand how the teachings answer the needs of this day and age."
Phillipe Copeland, 32, says he too tries to appeal "to all humanity" with Baha'i Thought. He describes his blog as "as a service to the faith."
A Boston social worker who specializes in addictions, Mr. Copeland says he gets his material from personal experience, "hot issues" and the Baha'i Writings. For instance, in November he blogged about "white rage" after actor Michael Richards hurled racial epithets while performing at a Los Angeles comedy club.
One Baha'i Thought reader, a white woman, commented: "We are encouraged from the time we are born til we die in subtle and overt ways NOT to see our privilege and not to care in any case. Many of us live our lives from crisis to crisis, which leaves us with no room or time to care about ‘other people's problems.'"
Thoughtful responses like hers, Mr. Copeland says, "are confirmation that it's (his blog) worthwhile. I try to be encouraging by commenting on other people's blogs and linking to their sites. That's how we Baha'is can help build world unity through blogging, one blog at a time."
To find blogs from around the world, please visit www.bahainine.com, a new site that is being developed.