May 19. On this date in 1974, the New York Times carried an article titled "The Baha'is on Long Island Reflect the Changing Image of the Sect Nationally."

 

May 19. On this date in 1974, the New York Times carried an article titled "The Baha'is on Long Island Reflect the Changing Image of the Sect Nationally."

MANHASSET‐In the living room of Mrs. David B. Thomas, 103 Andrew Road, Arabic letters in a black picture frame spell out a reference to the founder of her faith with the words: “O Thou, the Glory of the Most Glorious.”

On another wall is a symmetrical design of string netting, depicting harmony. In a discreet corner of a tastefully furnished traditional dining room there is a pamphlet rack.

Mrs. Thomas and her husband are members of the Baha'i's—a fast‐growing independent worldwide religion, founded by Baha'u'llah, whose name means “Glory of God,” in the mid‐19th century in Baghdad, Iraq.

Many of Mrs. Thomas's daytime hours are spent reading and studying her faith, organizing weekly “firesides” of the North Hempstead Spiritual Assembly or compiling her postconvention report as a member of the Eastern New York delegation to the annual Baha'i national’ convention held last month in Wilmette. Ill.

But she is not “typical” of an estimated 1,200 members of the faith in New York City and Long Island or some 100,000 of their co‐religionists across the country.

Minorities Attracted

The American Baha'i image has changed, says Mrs. Thomas and other spokesmen. Today, the “typical” Baha'i in the United States is more likely to be black, Indian, Spanish‐speaking or of Chinese descent than a white Nassau or Suffolk County suburbanite. He or she may be poorer than affluent Baha'i's of two decades ago, and young rather than middle‐aged or grandparents.

“In 1948 to 1950,” Mrs. Thomas commented in an interview, “Baha'i's were well‐positioned people. The financial situation in New York was well handled. Now —and this comes from a tenet of the faith—the extremes of wealth and poverty have been coming ‘together.”

Another Baha'i member, McCleary B. (Bunch) Washington, a black artist and writer living at 66 Stagg Street in the Bedford‐Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, commented:

“The white middle‐class American today is actually a minority among Baha'i's here. I've been in the faith 10 years, and it's really very difficult to think about racial lines. We have people from Africa, the Caribbean, and a great many blacks, and Chinese.”

Both Mrs. Thomas and Mr. Washington say their organized campaigns, called “Proclamations,” of the faith, have met great respohse from blacks, Indians and other minorities in this country. The growth, they said is due to the teaching of Baha'u'llah (pronounced Ba‐ha‐ol‐lah) in behalf of world justice, human rights and equal rights for all individuals.

“He was the founder of the civil rights movement,” Mrs. Thomas observed.

Last year, “The American Baha'i” reported that minorities had entered the faith “in large numbers.” For example, nearly 8,000 rural blacks in the South became Baha'i's within a few weeks late. in 1970. Nearly 60 per cent of newcomers of all races are between the ages of 15 and 30, and most have had previous schooling in some major faith.

Principles of Oneness

The teachings of Baha'u'llah, Mrs. Thomas continued, are based upon principles of the oneness of God, the oneness of religion and the oneness of mankind. Baha'i's refer to their founder, as the “Manifestation of God” for the present day, a prophet ranking with Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Buddah, Zoroaster, Jesus and Muhammad.

“Many blacks and minorities have been responsive to its stress on equality. They have said in effect, ‘This is the way I have always believed but could not find.

Baha'u'llah put it this way: ‘This is the day of justice. Ye are all the branches of one tree and the leaves of one branch. Pride not yourselves that ye are members of one nation or one race, but pride yourselves rather in that ye are members of the human race.'”

The appeal to the young, she indicated, has been based on several factors—disillusionment with existing religions, a search for a unifying spiritual world force and, in some instances a discipline to overcome the drug habit.

“There are a great many youths who have come off drugs and become believers,” Mrs. Thomas said, citing a young hospital’ worker who developed so reliably after entering the faith that he was given a scholarship in hospital therapy at a local university.

“Young people are the life blood of the faith at this point,” Mr. Washington said. “When you are 22 or 23 and setting life goals, where could you find such a faith?

“We're often criticized because we're too idealistic,” he continued. “But these young people are idealistic, and free, and they want our idealism.”

Baha'u'llah was born Huseyn Ali on Nov. 12, 1817, the son of a government minister. He was imprisoned and eventually exiled for his religious teachings.

Baha'u'llah set down number of regulations for a healthy spiritual life.

Alcohol, Narcotics Banned

These included prohibitions against alcohol and narcotics, except for medical purposes. Cigarettes are regarded as “obnoxious” to the body. Devout Baha'is pray daily and, following a 19‐month 19‐day calendar, observe nine holy days and a lengthy springtime fast period between Mar. 2 and Mar. 20. The fast ‘period means that no food or drink is consumed between sunrise and sunset.

Baha'i holy days call attention to events in the life of both the prophet‐founder and his advance “prophet‐herald” known as the Bab, Arabic for “the Gate.” Like John the Baptist, the Bab foretold the coming of Baha'u'llah. He was killed in 1850 in Tabriz, Iran. Some 20,000 of the Bab's followers were martyred during the early history of the faith, according to Baha'i literature.

The international shrine of the Bab on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel, is a pilgrimage site for Baha'i's in 60,591 localities throughout the world.

In this country, the Baha'is, who have no formal churches and are likely to meet in homes or public meeting places, look to the domed Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Ill., as their national center.

The New York City Baha'i community was established in 1897 and the first center established January, 1898, by the late Arthur Pillsbury Dodge, Mr. Dodge later conducted meetings at his home, then at 64 Jay Avenue, Freeport, L. I., and members of the Dodge family have remained active Baha'i's since.

The main Baha'i activities in metropolitan New York of the first half of this century were centered in the New York City Spiritual Assembly. Local Baha'i communities are organized according to “spiritual assemblies,” each having a minimum of nine members. New York's assembly includes Brooklyn and Queens. It was not until the nineteen sixties that Baha'i's spread in Nassau and Suffolk in great numbers.

Today, according to Mrs. Thomas, there are seven Spiritual Assemblies, plus isolated believers, in the two counties.

“We've grown so fast I couldn't begin to give exact figures,” she explained. Particularly active, she said, are young Sahel grrups at Nassau Community College, State University of New York at Stony Brook, L. I., and Hofstra and Adelphi Universities, and Queens College.

One member of the faith on Long Island, Mrs: Ruhiyyih McComb, 8 Mott. Place, Glenwood Landing, L.I, is one of the few believers who met ‘Abdull‐Baha, son, of the founder who carried on the faith. She net him in April, 1912, when he began a United States tour in New York.

Another noted Long Island Baha'i, H. Borrah Kavelin, former real estate man from Manhasset, became a member of the National Spiritual As sembly in Wilmette. Since 1963 he has been one of three Americans elected to the nine‐member Universal House of Justice, in Haifa.