Breaking news from Scottsdale, AZ (A), which launched its first Intensive Program of Growth this last Saturday: The results reported by the core team are exciting!

To enable further restoration of the Baha'i House of Worship and begin construction of the new Visitors Center, the lower level of the temple, which currently houses the Visitors Center and bookstore, will be closed to the public for approximately one year, from May 19, 2008, to May 2009.

Wilmette Bahá'í House of Worship

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to go to one out of the seven Bahá'í Temples located around the world. The temple was located in IL and represents the continent of North America. The following site shows the dome area that I sang in: http://www.bahai.us/bahai-temple

I have never heard about this religion prior to my experience over the weekend. Coming from a nondenominational background, I was curious about what I was seeing.

The Bahá’í Medical Association of Canada (BMAC) held a successful conference, on the theme “Balancing the Social and Spiritual Determinants of Health”, on November 9–11, 2007 in Montreal. It was considered by many attending to be the best ever. Held since the inception of BMAC in 1992, the conferences have been a welcome event for those attending, but this year’s event “brought the event to new heights,” said Dr. Brian Kirsh, Secretary of the Executive Committee of BMAC.

Bahá’í participants listen with reverence as a Bahá’í prayer is read during the interfaith event. [Photo by Tayaout-Nicolas]

Montreal, Quebec, 9 November 2007 (CBNS) — “The one religion of God ‘eternal in the past, eternal in the future’* unfolded before our eyes,” said Ilona Weinstein, one of the nearly 500 audience members who attended the dynamic interfaith gathering recently held at the Chapelle des Franciscains in Montreal.

Otto Donald Rogers art books against the backdrop of his latest paintings at David Mirvish Books

Toronto, Ontario, 13 November 2007 (Rob O'Flanagan, CBNS) — Every work of art Otto Rogers has set out to make began with a sense of great anticipation. "Within the act of creation lies the anticipation of assistance," said Rogers, 72, who is the subject of a major new art book from Radius Books, a new publisher based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Canadian Bahá’ís were pleased to see the passage, at the United Nations yesterday, of a strongly worded resolution calling attention to systematic human rights abuse in Iran. The resolution refers directly in two places to the ongoing persecution of Bahá’ís.

News about the Bahá’í Community of Canada, including its people, activities, and affairs.

Denyse Umutoni of Rwanda

Montreal, Quebec, 10 October 2007 (CBNS) — Denyse Umutoni, a Rwandan genocide survivor, sees in Canada an inspiring example for the world.

“It is a society composed of all the peoples of the earth in one country, in one community…all living together peacefully, at a relatively high level of unity,” said Ms. Umutoni.

Toronto, Ontario, 17 October 2007 (CBNS) — “The issue of poverty must be understood more deeply if it is to be tackled at its root,” said Karen McKye, Secretary-General of the National Spiritual Assembly, the governing council of the Baha'i Community of Canada, welcoming the recent Baha'i International Community (BIC) submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Dr. John Stone and John Crump answering questions after their presentations [Photo: elbi.smugmug.com]

Ottawa, Ontario, 26 October 2007 (CBNS) — By many accounts, global warming will have the greatest impact on the Arctic. Last summer, for example, scientists announced that the Arctic ice pack retreated further this year than in any year since satellites began tracking the ice sheet.

So it was quite timely when the International Environment Forum (IEF) gathered in mid-October to discuss the moral implications of climate change on the Arctic and its inhabitants.

HAIFA, 19 October 2007 (BWNS) -- On 20 October, Baha'is of the world celebrate the Birth of the Bab, the first of the two divine teachers central to the founding of the Baha'i Faith.

"Bab," which means "gate" in Arabic, is the title assumed by Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, born on 20 October 1819 in Shiraz, Iran, then called Persia.

SINAZONGWE DISTRICT, 25 October 2007 (BWNS) -- The Tonga tribe has lived in southern Zambia for hundreds of years, and members are proud of their longstanding traditions and strong social codes. But leaders say some of the customs are eroding - young people, for example, no longer seem to respect the elderly.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Canada, 28 October 2007 (BWNS) -- Some of the notable effects of global warming are being felt by people who don't contribute much to the problem - those who live in the Arctic.

So says John Stone, who for 10 years has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a key international group that directs assessments of global warming.

BUNISI, 31 October 2007 (BWNS) -- In the remote village of Bunisi in Milne Bay Province in Papua New Guinea, the age you start school doesn't depend on how old you are - it depends on whether you can handle the hike to and from class.

Each morning, children trek for two hours, walking 2,000 feet down the mountain to the Ikara Primary School.

HAIFA, 7 November 2007 (BWNS) -- A new Web site featuring photographs that help viewers experience the life of Baha'u'llah has been launched by the Baha'i International Community.

Some of the photographs have not been published before, and many of them have had only limited distribution.