Today (third Sunday in January) is World Religion Day. Established in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States , World Religion Day has been increasingly taken up in other countries - at first by national and local Bahá'í communities in different parts of the world, although it has also become an event widely recognised and keenly celebrated by people of other faiths too. Its purpose is to bring together people of various faith communities, to celebrate the unifying power of religion, to promote inter faith understanding and to encourage religious leaders and adherents to acknowledge the similarities between their faiths and work together for the common good.
There's no celebration of World Religion Day in my neck of the woods today; but I wouldn't want it to pass unmarked (here in the blog, at least). So I thought I'd cast my net a little further afield and blog about the first thing I could find on this event, anywhere in the world. And here is the first mention that I found, from the pages of the Courier-Journal, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA (which came to me via Twitter, through @ReligionUpdate).
Bahá'ís holding "drop-in" prayer
Religion Day vigil open to all
A 24-hour prayer vigil to observe today as World Religion Day began Saturday night at the Louisville Bahá'í Center.
Organizers invited people of all faiths and beliefs to come to the center, at 3808 Bardstown Road, at any hour to participate.
“Stop by after you get off work at midnight, or 7 a.m., or after church or after a movie, or before you start your Sunday activities. This is a participatory prayer gathering,” said Nancy Harris, a member of the administrative body of the local Bahá'í community.
The Bahá'í faith is a monotheistic religion founded in Persia that emphasizes the spiritual unity of all humankind, and seeks to “unite people of the world and establish world peace,” Harris said. There are an estimated 200 followers of the faith in the Louisville area, and an estimated 6 million around the world.
Harris said the vigil grew out of the faith's efforts to end the persecution of its followers in Iran. Bahá'í is the largest minority religion in Iran, but it is not recognized as one and its followers have been arrested and imprisoned by the government.
“But we also recognize that people of many faiths around the world are often persecuted when they are in the minority. Whether instigated by governments, organizations or individuals, oppression and persecution are rampant in many countries,” Harris said.
At the conclusion of the prayer vigil at 7 p.m. today, the center will host a free talk by Terry Taylor, executive director of Interfaith Paths of Peace on “Reclaiming Religion and Freedom of Conscience.” The program is open to the public. Directions and additional information can be found at http://www.louisvillebahai.org/
As with all such online articles, reader comments are invited and published on the site. When I looked at the page, there were two - both of which I've reproduced below.
fnal11860 wrote:
Yeah! Another useless day of prayer for world peace. What a racket! If this is an interfaith activity, which "God" is prayed to and which one actually does something for world peace?
If I was at Terry Taylor's speech I would ask him what exactly he is trying to re-claim religion from? As long as everyone clings to their respective texts (most of which encourage violence and hatred) there isn't much one can do.
How about you all go out and lobby your congressmen and women for peace? How about meet with people at the UN and talk peace?Praying to imagined, invisible beings in the sky never has and never will accomplish anything.
while willie01 wrote:
Good luck. The world needs all of the prayer, peace, and unity it can get.
How's that for good old-fashioned journalistic balance? Though sorry if I misled you, faithful reader, into thinking that I was actually celebrating World Religion Day in Louisville, Kentucky myself (chance would be a fine thing!)
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