Local Baha’i celebrate birth of founder, share message of unity
Karen Peterson
People attending the Baha’i celebration decorate a community unity tree with handprints, names and words of kindness.
Karen Peterson
Tania Stevens
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
Karen Peterson
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PABLO – Dozens of people from across Lake County attended the 200th birthday celebration for the creator of the Baha’i faith at the Salish Kootenai College on Sunday, Oct. 22.
The Baha’i of the Flathead Reservation organized the event. They were celebrating the 200th year since the birth of the Iranian man who started the Baha’i faith. He died in 1892.
Tania Stevens explained how to pronounce the name of her faith by putting the sound “bah” and “high” together. She said it is a world religion that began in Iran by focusing on uniting humanity as one family with one God to create world peace.
“We want to get people together if they have a religion or no religion and unify people to make communities vibrant,” she said.
The Baha’i in Lake County get together in different homes to talk about bringing people together and serving humanity. They don’t have preachers or a local church, and they attend events like Women for Wellness, the Men’s Fair, and the Race for Unity to talk about their faith if anyone is interested.
Lisa Hochmann has been involved with the faith for 41 years. She wanted a spiritual life and was looking for the right fit four decades ago. She tried Buddhism and other religions and found that the Baha’i faith worked best for her. She liked that the members organized the meetings and people pray when they felt the need and talk as if in a conversation rather than being led by one individual.
“I’m not criticizing other religions,” she said. “This is just about finding what I needed.”
Dale Morrow became a Baha’i follower in 1968 when he was living in California. He said that focusing on unifying humanity to create peace gives him purpose and he does that by talking to people with different beliefs in an effort to create understanding and acceptance.
“I try to talk about things that are important to all of us,” he said. “We all love our children, fresh air, and sunshine. I show them that there is far more that we agree on than disagree.”
Celina Gray is a student at SKC. She was born and raised in the Baha’i faith. She said there are not a lot of Baha’i followers in Montana, but bigger cities like Seattle have thousands of members.
“Being Native American and a Baha’i, I feel like the ideals of the two are similar,” she said. “They both give back to the community, and unity is the singular theme with one creator.”
During the event, the crowd moved into the Johnny Arlee/Victor Charlo Theater room and watched a documentary about the Baha’i faith. Several speakers talked about faith before the film started including SKC founder Joe McDonald.
“Thank you for inviting me,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed reading about the Baha’i faith.”
McDonald took a moment to pray for people including those who are suffering from the actions of terrorists, natural disasters, and other atrocities. “Our government leaders need to unify people and reject racism,” he said.
People across the world celebrated the 200th birthday of the faith by watching a film where people described the religion in their own language. English subtitles were used during the Pablo showing. It started out by saying that the Baha’i faith was about transcending all forms of prejudice for the equality of men and woman.
The Baha’is of the Flathead Reservation can be reached by voicemail at 406-872-2222.
