The Communications Committee of the Halifax Baha’i Community will be announcing their plans to update the HalifaxBahai.org Web Site and the community’s e-Bulletin at Feast this evening.

The new site will be live by Midnight tonight, Wednesday November 30th, 2011.

Hope ya like the new look.!

On November 28, 1921, The Master passed away at the age of 77.

He had shared in all of Bahá’u'lláh’s exiles and had Himself been a prisoner for much of His life, yet He tirelessly led the Bahá’í community by making historic journeys through Europe and North America to spread His Father’s teachings. Through word and by example, He proclaimed with persuasiveness and force the essential principles of Bahá’u'lláh’s religion. Affirming that “Love is the foundation of true civilization,” and that the “supreme need of humanity is cooperation and reciprocity” among all its peoples, `Abdu’l-Bahá reached out to leaders and the meek alike, to every soul who crossed His path.

The commemoration of the Master’s passing allows Bahá’ís around the world an opportunity to reflect on His life of service and sacrifice, and to rededicate themselves to emulating His example.

Today, November 26, is the Day of the Covenant. It is the day when Bahá’ís celebrate the appointment of `Abdu’l-Bahá as the Centre of Baha’u'llah’s Covenant.

`Abdu’l-Bahá was born on May 23, which was also the day that the Báb declared his mission. `Abdu’l-Bahá stated that this day should be exclusively associated with the Báb. He insisted that day should under no circumstances be celebrated as his day of birth. However, Bahá’ís begged for a day to be celebrated as `Abdu’l-Bahá’s birthday, so he gave them November 26 — 182 days after the ascension of Bahá’u'lláh. This day was now to be observed as the day of the appointment of the Centre of the Covenant.

Members from Local Spiritual Assemblies across the Atlantic Provinces convened in Moncton this past weekend for the first ever regional electoral gathering.

The event was a wonderful success, surrounded by a warm and loving atmosphere generated by everyone in attendance which expressed itself in many ways: focused and elevated conversations, laughter, a sense of shared challenges and victories, dedication to the work of the 5 Year Plan, devotion, and above all, a realization of the sacred privilege each Assembly member had come to discharge by casting his or her ballot and voting for the membership of the Regional Council for the coming year.

To assist with sharing their experience and to provide you with a flavour of the gathering in visual images, you are invited to click on the following link:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=0508e03d22c503eb&page=play&resid=508E03D22C503EB!105&authkey=ofYiQOQWPe4%24

NEW YORK — In a wide-ranging media campaign that has gone largely unnoticed outside of Iran, hatred and discrimination are being systematically stirred up against the country’s 300,000-member Baha’i minority.

In a report released today, the Baha’i International Community documents and analyzes more than 400 press and media items over a 16-month period, that typify an insidious state-sponsored effort to demonize and vilify Baha’is, using false accusations, inflammatory terminology, and repugnant imagery.

Read the full report here (PDF)

“This anti-Baha’i propaganda is shocking in its volume and vehemence, its scope and sophistication,” said Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“It’s all cynically calculated to stir up antagonism against a peaceful religious community whose members are striving to contribute to the well-being of their society,” she said.

Titled Inciting Hatred: Iran’s media campaign to demonize Baha’is, the report’s main conclusions are:

• anti-Baha’i propaganda originates with – and is sanctioned by – the country’s highest levels of leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who gave a highly discriminatory speech in the holy city of Qom a year ago;

• the campaign spurns international human rights law and norms, including a precedent-setting resolution passed earlier this year at the United Nations Human Rights Council that specifically condemns and combats the negative stereotyping and incitement to hatred of religious minorities;

• Baha’is are branded as “outsiders” in their own land and as enemies of Islam in a manner that is clearly calculated to provoke the religious sensibilities of Iranian Shiite Muslims;

• the campaign aims to deflect attention away from calls for democracy in Iran by using Baha’is as an all-purpose “scapegoat” – and, in so doing, to smear those who oppose the government as well as human rights campaigners as Baha’is, “as if that were the most heinous crime.”

• the authorities disseminate ludicrous conspiracy theories including that foreign broadcasters, in particular the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA), are controlled by or under the influence of Baha’is because they report stories about human rights violations in Iran;

“The diverse content of these attacks demonstrates tremendous effort and commitment of resources by the Islamic Republic,” says the report.

“Many attacks are built on gross distortions of Baha’i history; some attempt a strategy of guilt by association through lumping Baha’is together with completely unrelated groups – such as ‘Satanists’ or the Shah’s secret police; still others deploy a tactic of connecting Baha’is with ‘opponents’ of the regime, which allows the Government to discredit both the Baha’is and its opponents in a single transaction. The campaign makes extensive use of the World Wide Web, and often uses graphic images that portray Baha’is as fiendish ghouls or agents of Israel.”

Bani Dugal said the demonization of Iran’s Baha’i community is a matter that deserves the attention of governments, international legal institutions, and fair-minded people everywhere.

“The campaign not only clearly violates international human rights law,” she said, “it also utterly contradicts Iran’s long-standing claim at the UN and elsewhere that it is working to support measures to outlaw or condemn hate speech directed against religions or religious followers.”

“The parallels between the campaign of anti-Baha’i propaganda in Iran today and other state-sponsored, anti-religious campaigns of the past are undeniable. History shows us that such campaigns are among the foremost predictors of actual violence against religious minorities – or, in the worst case, precursors of genocide.

“It is time for Iran to be told that such egregious violations of international law and norms cannot be tolerated,” said Ms. Dugal.