Vol. 7, No. 2, 1990

Articles on Other Religious Topics

The Evangelical Press Association recently reported, "The highest body of the Baha'i faith has declared the Israeli port city of Haifa the `Mecca' for the religion's five million members.

"According to the Jerusalem Post, it will be the religious duty of every Baha'i to make at least one pilgrimage to holy places there.

"The Baha'i religion was founded in the 19th century among Persian Shi'ite Muslims by Baha'ullah, who is buried in nearby Akko. Baha'is consider Baha'ullah to have been an incarnation of God, along with Krishna, Buddha, Christ and Mohammed" (4 September, 1992).

The story of Haifa's importance can be traced to the early history of the Baha'i movement.

William Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin in their book, The Baha'i Faith: The Emerging Global Religion, explain, "The period between 1921 and 1963 in Baha'i history is most readily accessible through consideration of the major projects undertaken by Shoghi Effendi in the execution of his role as Guardian" (p. 64).

One of these major events involved the town of Haifa.

Hatcher and Martin state, "Effendi devoted a great deal of time to the physical development of the faith's international headquarters in the area surrounding the Bay of Haifa" (Ibid).

Because of Effendi's education in the English language, he was also very instrumental in the spread of the Baha'i faith "in the Western world" (Ibid, p. 65).

As the Evangelical Press story stated, each member of the Baha'i faith is expected to visit Haifa at least once in their life. This trek is discussed by Hatcher and Martin in their book.

"Baha'u'llah encouraged each of his followers to try, at least once during a lifetime, to undertake a nine-day pilgrimage to the World Center of the Baha'i Faith in Haifa, Israel.

"Increasing numbers of believers respond to this injunction, so many in fact that, for the past several years, there has been a waiting period" (Ibid, p. 180).

With the increasing intrusion of the Eastern theologies into America, the growth of the Baha'i movement is well within reason. Christians need to be aware not only of groups such as Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses and the New Age, but also of groups like the Baha'i.