“the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” – … · 2018-08-08 · inside...

I N S I D E

“The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” – Bahá’u’lláh

Newsletter of the Bahá’íInternational Community

April-June 2004Volume 16, Issue 1 The Uganda Program of Literacy for Transformation (UPLIFT) helps

participants acquire the skills, knowledge, and incentive for a “lifelongself-improvement plan” — coupled with an emphasis on moral educationand interreligious harmony.

In Uganda, a focus on practicalknowledge boosts literacy efforts

UPLIFT, continued on page 8

Review: Spirituality inthe Land of the Noble— Richard C. Foltzconsiders how Iranshaped the world’sreligions.

In Australia, a confer-ence on bioprospectingexamines the indig-enous connection.

At the United Nations,a panel of “eminentpersons” upholds therole of civil society.

Perspective: Howliteracy is fundamentalto development.

12

2

16

4

ONGIDO, Nebbi District, Uganda — In the past, when Judith Kojjo’s children hadbouts with malaria, she took them to a witchdoctor. But since taking literacy classes

offered by the Uganda Program of Literacy for Transformation (UPLIFT), she has learned toquell malarial fevers with a tea made from the leaves of a common tree.

“I don’t take the children to the witchdoctor anymore, I first administer traditionalmedicine made from neem leaves,” said Ms. Kojjo, a 53-year-old mother of eight, who livesin this village of some 400 in the West Nile region of Uganda.

“I prepare it by adding one cup of water to the leaves and then boiling it,” she said. “Igive one small spoonful three times a day to a child suffering from malaria. If there is noimprovement after this treatment, then I go to the hospital.”

While traditional literacy programs focus mainly on getting adults to read and write, theUPLIFT method incorporates other kinds of knowledge — such as how to combat malaria,how to make compost, and how to obtain better nutrition — into its outreach.

The result is a program that, in addition to teaching literacy, helps participants acquirethe skills, knowledge, and incentive that are the basis of what the project calls a “lifelongself-improvement plan.” Also fundamental to that process is an emphasis on moral educa-tion and interreligious harmony.

These side benefits have not gone unnoticed by local officials, who praise UPLIFT for itsintegrated approach, the dynamism of its workers, and the effect on participants.

A literacy class, under a tree, conducted by UPLIFT in northwest Uganda.

ONE COUNTRY / April-June 20042

P E R S P E C T I V E

is published quarterly by theOffice of Public Information ofthe Bahá’í InternationalCommunity, an internationalnon-governmental organiza-tion which encompasses andrepresents the worldwidemembership of the Bahá’íFaith.

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© 2004 by The Bahá’íInternational Community

ISSN 1018-9300

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Literacy and Development

Language is fundamental to human con-sciousness. Without language, higher

levels of abstract thought and insight areimpossible.

Language is also fundamental to humansociety. Without language, higher levels ofsocial structure and culture are unattainable.

As an extension of language, the writtenword likewise makes possible the achievementof ever greater intellectual and social accom-plishment. It is the repository of humanity’saccumulated knowledge and the buildingblock for innovation, creativity, and social andeconomic development of every kind.

In today’s globalized world, moreover, thewritten word has become essential to ourcollective advancement. Not only are thosewho cannot read or write cut off from theirown opportunities for advancement, but so-ciety as a whole is also deprived of the po-tential contributions that individuals canmake to the good of all.

It is a crisis of the worst kind, then, thatnearly a billion people worldwide cannotread or write.

According to the United Nations, morethan 861 million adults are illiterate; in ad-dition, some 113 million children are not inschool and risk living out their adult livesas illiterates.

The period from 2003–2013 has been pro-claimed as the United Nations Literacy Decade.And the United Nations Educational, Scien-tific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)has adopted a simple but powerful slogan forthe Decade: “Literacy as Freedom.”

It is a slogan that perceptively encom-passes the idea that knowing how to readand write is about more than those simplepractical things, such as processing a busi-ness transaction, reading a letter, or findingone’s way, that are usually given as reasonsto banish illiteracy.

The slogan illustrates the way in which il-literacy also prevents an individual from par-ticipating in the give and take of democracyand other forms of social interaction that makediverse societies work in the modern world.

The ability to read and write is recog-

nized as a fundamental human right in theBahá’í teachings. “Knowledge is as wings toman’s life, and a ladder for his ascent,” wroteBahá’u’lláh more than 100 years ago. “Itsacquisition is incumbent upon everyone.”

Around the world in recent years, Bahá’ícommunities have become deeply involved inliteracy projects. In recent years, Bahá’í-inspiredprojects in Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon,Chad, Chile, the Democratic Republic of theCongo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, India,Malawi, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, the Philip-pines, Russia, and the United States of America,among other countries, have addressed literacyin a variety of ways.

The global experience of Bahá’í commu-nities in promoting literacy can offer muchas the world considers how best to promoteliteracy during the UN Decade.

In particular, Bahá’í efforts to promoteliteracy generally take an integrated andholistic view of the challenge posed by illit-eracy. As described in the cover story for thisissue of ONE COUNTRY, for example, theBahá’í-inspired Uganda Program of Literacyfor Transformation (UPLIFT) incorporateselements of community participation, prac-tical self-help, and moral development intoits literacy curriculum.

Such concepts are part of a much neededredefinition of education that frees it from thetraditional focus on economic results and ac-knowledges its transformational role in bothindividual lives and social organization. Basiceducation, literacy, and vocational education,in other words, should not focus merely onthe acquisition of a few skills and the grasp ofa few simple facts.

Rather, the direction needed for such pro-grams should stem from an underlying real-ization that all individuals have the right andcapacity “to become conscious subjects of theirown growth, and active, responsible partici-pants in a systematic process of building a newworld order,” as was stated by the Bahá’í Inter-national Community in a 1989 position state-ment on education that was developed for theWorld Decade for Cultural Development.

One critical aspect of this redefinition of

ONE COUNTRY / April-June 2004 3

priorities is a realization of the importanceof moral and spiritual development in anyeffort that seeks to uplift and empower theunderprivileged and impoverished.

In the Bahá’í view, as the 1989 statementpoints out, the mind is “the fruit of a spiri-tual dimension of existence which distin-guishes human beings from the rest of cre-ation and endows them with potentialitiesthat become apparent through a process ofspiritual and material evolution. While ac-knowledging the value of material forces inthe advancement of civilization, Bahá’ís at-tribute a central role in this evolutionaryprocess to the religious teachings of diversepeoples which constitute the wellspring ofthe cultural history of the human race.”

Language plays a key role in the devel-opment of the mind — and in the develop-ment of spirituality.

In virtually all of the world’s great reli-gions, there is an emphasis on the creativepower of the “word” — especially the Wordof God — as the key to human transforma-tion, empowerment, and advancement.

“The Word of God is the king of wordsand its pervasive influence is incalculable,”wrote Bahá’u’lláh. “The Word is the masterkey for the whole world, inasmuch asthrough its potency the doors of the heartsof men, which in reality are the doors ofheaven, are unlocked.”

“When words and actions are not directedby a moral force, scientific knowledge andtechnological know-how conduce as readilyto misery as they do to prosperity and hap-piness,” the 1989 statement said. “But moralvalues are not mere constructs of social pro-cesses. Rather, they are expressions of theinner forces that operate in the spiritual re-ality of every human being, and educationmust concern itself with these forces if it isto tap the roots of motivation and producemeaningful and lasting change.”

The overriding spiritual and moral prin-ciple for today is the oneness of humanity.From this principle, which reflects the real-ity of humankind, comes a whole range ofcorollary principles — such as the equalityof women and men, the equality of all races,and the necessity for recognizing our globalinterdependence.

These principles are, of course, graduallydiffusing themselves throughout the globalculture, a result one would expect from thecomprehension of such universal truths. How-ever, full comprehension of these principlesoffers — as suggested in the quote above —

the means of unlocking new levels of humancapacity, motivation, and development.

It is helpful, then, to draw out how theapplication of an understanding ofhumanity’s spiritual reality can help in anundertaking like the promotion of literacyon a global basis.

“Some of these principles can be ex-pressed in terms of values and imperatives,such as the compulsory nature of education,the importance of the role of the family, theurgency of promoting an awareness of thefundamental unity of humanity, the neces-sity of freeing people from religious fanati-cism, and the need to abolish all forms ofprejudice,” the 1989 statement said.

“Commitment to the unity of mankindimplies a balance between a study of one’sown cultural heritage and an exploration ofthose universal qualities that distinguish theentire human race. Awareness of the need tofree people from religious bigotry and fa-naticism gives rise to a non-sectarian yetspiritual approach to moral education. Thezeal to abolish all forms of prejudice leadsto policies that favor groups who have suf-fered systematic discrimination, includingwomen, entire races, and disadvantaged so-cial classes, to help them overcome the ob-stacles most social systems have incorporatedinto their structures.

“In connection with this policy, the edu-cation of girls is given primary importance,with boys and girls following the same cur-riculum so that women may take their placealongside men in the sciences and arts, com-merce and public administration, and everyother field of human endeavor,” the state-ment said.

In another statement, this time to the 48thsession of the United Nations Commissionon Human Rights in 1992, the Bahá’í Inter-national Community said:

“The effectiveness of any individualgrows as he is taught to appreciate throughthe exercise of his own faculties, the way inwhich diversity of faith enriches social life.Bahá’u’lláh urges the right of the individualto freely investigate truth for himself as aprinciple essential to the advancement ofcivilization. In order to exercise this capac-ity fully, however, one must be able to read.One great value of literacy, therefore, is theaccess it gives ordinary people to the scrip-tures of their own faith as well as to the sa-cred texts of other faiths.”

Literacy is freedom, then, in many moreways than one.

In virtually all of

the world’s great

religions, there is

an emphasis on

the creative power

of the “word” —

especially the

Word of God — as

the key to human

transformation,

empowerment and

advancement.


E N V I R O N M E N T

In Australia, a look at “bioprospecting”and the knowledge of indigenous people

SYDNEY, Australia – The D’harawalpeople, whose ancestral lands lie about a

hour’s drive south of this metropolitan hub,understood how to use 1,794 plants for me-dicinal purposes. So it seemed quite fitting thatSydney was the site of a major internationalconference on “bioprospecting” in April.

Bioprospecting is the search for new plantand animal substances with medicinal orother useful properties. By one estimate,more than 50 percent of the most used medi-cines were developed from natural sources.

But bioprospecting often deeply affectsindigenous people, as a member of theD’harawal made clear in a speech here.

“To our people, the community was themost important thing,” said Francis Bod-kin, an Aboriginal descendent, author,teacher, and traditional storyteller whocited the figure of 1,794 medicinal plants.“What community are we helping by giv-ing away our knowledge — the commu-nity of shareholders?

“Plants can be used for good or ill,”Ms. Bodkin said. “If I give someone theknowledge, how do I know what they willdo with it? I am responsible and so are theancestors. We have to guard our knowl-edge. Our knowledge has not been

lost…we cannot give the knowledge awayuntil there are safeguards it will only beused for the good.”

Ms. Bodkin was among more than 150participants, many of them indigenous, at aconference titled “Indigenous Knowledgeand Bioprospecting,” held 21–24 April atMacquarie University.

Speakers came from Australia, NewZealand, Canada, the United States, theNetherlands, the Philippines, South Africaand the United Kingdom. The conferencealso brought together people from a varietyof disciplines — law, history, science, eco-nomics and education — who shared theirparticular perspectives on this increasinglyimportant issue.

Sponsored jointly by the Association forBahá’í Studies and the University’s Centrefor Environmental Law and Department ofIndigenous Studies, along with five otheruniversity departments and centers, the con-ference was called to mark the close of theUN International Decade of IndigenousPeoples and to contribute towards social andeconomic development and the protectionof the environment.

Presenters included people of Aborigi-nal, Maori, Native American, and other in-digenous backgrounds. Over 40 talks werepresented over the 4-day program by speak-ers ranging from world experts in their fieldto grassroots health and legal workers andadvocates.

Among the points discussed were thecontribution of indigenous peoples’ knowl-edge to the development of pharmaceuticalsand herbal remedies; the importance of pro-tecting the rights of indigenous peoples inthe use of such knowledge; and impedi-ments to protecting indigenous rights.

Quest for curesBioprospecting is increasing around the

world in the search for cures for diseases suchas HIV/AIDS and cancer, and for the devel-opment of other products such as cosmetics.Conference participants, for example, re-ported on current research into the Austra-

The search for

new plant and

animal substances

with medicinal or

other useful

properties often

deeply affects

indigenous

people.

A group of Aboriginaldancers performed at the“Indigenous Knowledge andBioprospecting” conference.


lian “Prickly Fanflower” for its potential can-cer-fighting properties, and on South Afri-can research into some 600 plants in thequest for a cure for malaria.

Efforts such as these hold the promiseof enormous advances in world health.They also offer the potential for materialbenefits to the indigenous communities thatare the repositories of botanical knowledge.However, there is the risk of indigenouscommunities being bypassed in the race forscientific and commercial progress, and oftheir traditional ways of life being irrepa-rably damaged.

“Those parts of the globe with thegreatest biodiversity are also those inhab-ited by indigenous peoples,” said CelerinaBalucan of Lourdes College in the Philip-pines, noting that indigenous peoples con-stitute approximately four percent of theworld’s population.

“The relationship of these peoples to theland and its resources are paramount to theirsurvival…their identity, culture, languages,philosophy of life, and spirituality are in abalanced relationship with all creation. Dis-turbance of the land for development activi-ties threatens the survival and continuity ofindigenous knowledge and biodiversity,”said Dr. Balucan.

The conference was opened by a tradi-tional Aboriginal smoking ceremony, sym-bolizing purification. Participants were wel-comed by a representative of the Darugpeople, on whose traditional lands the cityof Sydney now stands. An indigenous mem-ber of the New South Wales Parliament, LindaBurney, gave the opening address in whichshe pointed out that the Aboriginal cultureis the oldest surviving culture on earth — aprecious gift to the world.

On the first evening of the conference,participants were treated to a feast of cul-tural performances: an Aboriginal dancetroupe performed traditional dances to theaccompaniment of the didgeridoo; renownedNative American educator and traditionalflute-player Kevin Locke performed the in-tricate and difficult Hoop Dance; andSydney’s Bahá’í Cultural Group performedmusic and dance from the Pacific Islands.

Several speakers referred to the clash ofcultures that exists between indigenous anddominant Western concepts of “ownership.”Aroha Mead, a Maori academic, said that mostindigenous communities were founded onthe principle of guardianship, not owner-ship. But modern states are now formulat-

ing laws relating to ownership over land,resources, species, all genetic properties, andtraditional knowledge associated with theseresources. Patents are being taken out onplants to such an extent that indigenous com-munities may no longer be able to use them,said Ms. Mead. It is very difficult for indig-enous communities to fight companies andlegal systems to prevent or revoke patents.

Ms. Mead said it is easy to misappro-priate indigenous knowledge in the tech-nological age. Cultural material providedfor one purpose may end up being usedfor something quite different on the otherside of the world — and there is no legalrecourse available.

Anne Waters, a Native American philoso-pher, poet and lawyer, expressed the fear thatbioresearch could result in disaster for in-digenous peoples as their resources are co-opted, taken away, and made unavailable.Each species has a role to play in the bal-ance of the environment that the humanspecies needs for survival, said Dr. Waters.Disaster could play itself out through greedand arrogance.

International instrumentsHenrietta Marrie, formerly of the UN

Environment Programme Secretariat of theConvention on Biological Diversity, reportedon recent developments in the global arena.The International Treaty on Plant GeneticResources for Food and Agriculture wasadopted by the Conference of the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Na-tions in November 2001. Signed by 77 coun-tries so far, the Treaty is regarded as a land-mark, said Ms. Marrie, placing traditionaland modern farmers on the same level, thus

Sponsored jointly

by the Association

for Bahá’í Studies

and Macquarie

University’s

Centre for

Environmental

Law and

Department of

Indigenous

Studies, along

with five other

university

departments and

centers, the

conference

considered the

many aspects of

“bioprospecting”

and its impact.

Among the speakers at theconference were, left to right,Philip Kerr, Australia;Memory Elvin-Lewis, UnitedStates; Inotoli Zhimomi,Nagaland (India); JimKohen, Australia; KevinLocke, United States; andJoanne Jamie, Australia.


protecting indigenous knowledge as well asfarmers’ rights.

The Treaty is concerned with conserva-tion, sustainability, and equitable distribu-tion of benefits. Taken together with relatedprovisions of the Convention on BiologicalDiversity, it provides another instrumentthrough which local communities can pur-sue their rights to genetic resources and tra-ditional knowledge at national and interna-tional levels, Ms. Marrie said.

An indigenous Australian herself, Ms.Marrie cited Australian bush food as an ex-ample of how an indigenous communitycould use its two precious assets —biodiversity and traditional knowledge —as a basis for economic development. An es-timated 10,000 native plants can be used forfood, and only a fraction of these are cur-rently used by non-indigenous people. Salesof “bush tucker” were worth A$1.4 millionin 1996 but are expected to grow to A$100million. The bush tucker industry has thepotential to replace the pastoral industry inoutback Australia. However, she cautioned,indigenous value systems must be protectedat the same time as communities benefit fromtheir resources.

The legal contextMany speakers expressed concern that the

current intellectual property regimes, withtheir basis in Western concepts of ownershipand invention, are inadequate to justly pro-

tect and compensate indigenous peoples fortheir traditional knowledge. New creativesolutions need to be found, they said, suchas specially designed legal regimes.

Ikechi Maduka Mgbeoji, Professor,Osgoode Hall Law School, York Univer-sity, Toronto, said the Western patent re-gime was designed in a European contextand is in many ways unsuitable to deal withthe protection and recognition of indig-enous knowledge.

“The patent system was designed formachines, not for biology,” said Dr. Mgbeoji.“Patents are not applicable to allcultures…the law protects the interests andworldview of those who participate in itsmaking, and indigenous people have notbeen involved.” He also said that indigenousknowledge has not received enough atten-tion because of sexism and genderdisempowerment, as traditional knowledgeis often the province of women.

Jerzy Koopman, from the University ofUtrecht in the Netherlands, said that whentraditional knowledge is widely held, or inthe “public domain,” it is not possible topatent it because it no longer meets the legalrequirement of novelty. Additionally, he said,a patent can only be issued when a new, in-dustrially applicable product is brought intobeing. These and other barriers mean it isnot possible to patent the majority of indig-enous resources. Nevertheless, Mr. Koopmansaid, he has tracked down 600 patents wheresome kind of indigenous knowledge hasbeen incorporated into the product. Thelargest holders of patents are not corpora-tions, but universities, he added.

Yee Fen Lim, of Macquarie’s Departmentof Law, said that the financial incentives toexploit traditional knowledge are high. “In1995, the estimated market value of phar-maceutical derivatives from indigenouspeoples’ traditional medicines was US$43billion worldwide,” said Ms. Lim. “Manyancient herbal remedies…find their way intohigh-priced Western pharmaceuticals with-out the consent of, or compensation to, thepeople who have used them for generations.”

Sonia Smallacombe, of Australia’s CharlesDarwin University, said that legal languageis sometimes inaccessible to many indigenouspeople. “Plain English versions need to bemade of intellectual property andbiodiversity legislation,” said Dr.Smallacombe, who is a member of theMaramanindji people in the Daly River re-gion of the Northern Territory. “Local com-

Henrietta Marrie, formerlyof the UN EnvironmentProgramme Secretariat ofthe Convention on BiologicalDiversity, reported on recentbioprospecting developmentsin the global arena.

“Patents are not

applicable to all

cultures…the law

protects the

interests and

worldview of

those who

participate in its

making, and

indigenous people

have not been

involved.”

– Ikechi Maduka

Mgbeoji, Professor,

Osgoode Hall Law

School, York

University, Toronto


munities can understand technical conceptsif it is explained to them.” While policiesand declarations created in global arenas canhave far-reaching effects, their outcomesneed to be better disseminated locally so thatindigenous people are more aware of theirrights, she said.

The way forwardChris Jones, one of the conference’s or-

ganizers, said the event pointed out the needfor new social, legal, and political relation-ships based on justice. “We are all part ofone human family, while we recognize thevalue and beauty of diversity,” he said. “Thisperspective of ‘one family’ needs to be ap-plied to the issue of bioprospecting. Whilerelationships between people are unequal,you cannot have a productive outcome.”

Among a range of solutions, Mr. Jonessuggested the formation of regionally based,indigenous-owned pharmaceutical andherbal remedy companies as a means of over-coming inequality.

Several presenters gave accounts ofprojects that are currently being run in con-junction with Aboriginal communities. InTitjikala in Central Australia, the Plants forPeople Program aims to document and pro-tect traditional knowledge about plants ofcultural significance. The information is re-corded on an electronic database to whichaccess is restricted, to protect the intellec-tual property rights of community members.Professor Louis Evans of Curtin Universityin Western Australia pointed out the poten-tial of traditional knowledge to developplant-based enterprises to generate employ-ment and wealth. She explained that not only

is the existing patent system problematic forprotecting indigenous knowledge, but roy-alty payments by themselves do not gener-ate employment.

In Western Australia, the Kimberley Col-lege of TAFE is working with Aboriginalbusinesses to cultivate the “gubinge” or wildplum, which is believed to contain the high-est level of Vitamin C of any fruit in theworld. Macquarie University is working withAboriginal communities in the Kimberleyand New South Wales to record and pre-serve indigenous botanical knowledge whileprotecting Aboriginal intellectual property.Access to indigenous foods could reducehealth problems such as diabetes, which areadversely affecting Aboriginal people.

During the conference, an importantworkshop was held to launch a twelve-month project to revise university ethicsguidelines relating to biodiversity researchand benefit sharing with indigenous peoples.Macquarie University has committedA$90,000 to this project, which supports theaims of the conference.

The conference program closed with aperformance of Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander dancing, in which the audience wasinvited to participate. The conferencebrought together a variety of disciplines, andthe participants benefited by hearing differ-ent perspectives on this multi-faceted issue.The atmosphere of the gathering was char-acterized by friendliness and a genuine de-sire to advance the interests of indigenouspeoples. The conference organizers plan toenable the relationships that were establishedto be maintained for the benefit of all.

— by Jane McLachlan-Chew

HAIFA, Israel — The Bahá’í InternationalCommunity has launched an Internet

website that makes available the sacred writ-ings of the Bahá’í Faith in English, Arabic,and Persian.

The launch of the Bahá’í Reference Li-brary, which also carries other Bahá’í publi-cations, marks the first time that a volumi-nous and authoritative library of Bahá’í scrip-ture has been available online.

“The site is expected to assist research-ers, students of religion, and the generalpublic worldwide in gaining greater accessto the Bahá’í holy texts,” said Douglas Moore,director of the Office of Public Informationof the Bahá’í International Community.

The Bahá’í Reference Library offers anextensive collection of Bahá’í holy scripture,which includes the writings of Bahá’u’lláh,the Báb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It also makesavailable works by Shoghi Effendi, the Uni-versal House of Justice, and Bahá’í authors.

“It joins the family of Bahá’í InternationalCommunity sites including, among others, thegeneral information site, the news service, andthe Bahá’í International Community’s statementlibrary,” Mr. Moore said.

The address of the Bahá’í Reference Li-brary is http://reference.bahai.org. The launchis the first stage of the development of theReference Library. Other materials will beadded as they become available.

New website offers online access to Bahá’í sacred writings

“We are all part of

one human family,

while we

recognize the

value and beauty

of diversity. This

perspective of

‘one family’ needs

to be applied to

the issue of

bioprospecting.

While

relationships

between people

are unequal, you

cannot have a

productive

outcome.”

–Chris Jones, one of

the conference’s

organizers


In Uganda, a focus on practicalknowledge boosts literacy

D E V E L O P M E N T

“First of all there is a change in their at-titudes and their lifestyles because now theyare able to count, they are able to write, sothey are able to keep records and, therefore,able to improve on their trade activities,” saidKakura Joseph, chairperson for Local Coun-cil 3 in the sub-county of Parombo, whereUPLIFT is active.

“But they are able to farm better usingimproved seeds and so forth,” said Mr. Jo-seph. “These learners and the communitynow will be able to lead healthy lives be-cause now they recognize some of these pre-ventable diseases. Actually sanitation inhomes has improved. You find the latrinecoverage has increased. Most homes have pitlatrines. The environment is being now pro-tected much better.”

In 100 CommunitiesFounded by a group of Bahá’ís in

Uganda in 2001, UPLIFT operates in morethan 100 communities in the Nebbi Districtof the West Nile Region of Uganda, an iso-lated and relatively impoverished area in the

northwestern corner of the country.To the east, across the West Nile River,

is the war-torn Gulu District, scene ofbattles with the infamous Lord’s ResistanceArmy, a rebel group that makes extensiveuse of child soldiers. The effects of civilstrife there sometimes spill over into Nebbi,and security issues make travel to and fromthe region difficult.

The economy of the Nebbi District isdependent primarily on subsistence agricul-ture. Major food crops include cassava, mil-let, sorghum, maize, beans, and groundnuts.Fishing is also an important activity, pro-viding 20 percent of household income insome areas. More than 90 percent of thepopulation lives in rural areas.

Health standards are generally lower thanthe national average. There are frequentshortages of medical supplies and equipmentpartly because of inadequate transport andpoor road networks. As well, poverty fur-ther reduces access to health care.

The literacy rate in the region is about58 percent, also somewhat less than the na-tional literacy rate of 68 percent. The ratefor women is lower — about 30 to 40 per-

UPLIFT, continued from page one

UPLIFT literacy classes areoften held under a tree. Inmany villages, as well, localchurches or communitycenters have offered space.

Founded by a

group of Bahá’ís

in Uganda in 2001,

UPLIFT operates

in more than 100

communities in

the Nebbi District

of the West Nile

Region of Uganda,

an isolated and

relatively

impoverished area

in the

northwestern

corner of the

country.


cent — and providing literacy for women isUPLIFT’s primary focus. More than 80 per-cent of the some 2,300 learners who haveparticipated in the UPLIFT program so farare women.

“Development very much depends onwomen,” said Hizzaya Hissani Mwani,UPLIFT’s program manager. “For example,where women are literate, they tend to bemore likely to send their children to school.They are more aware of hygiene. And ifwomen are educated, they are better able toexpress themselves.”

Beyond its focus on women, the programhas been successful because of its innovativeapproach to teaching literacy in rural envi-ronments. This approach includes an initialemphasis on the phonetic elements of thelocal language instead of the traditionalmemorization of the alphabet, and the useof highly participatory teaching methodssuch as singing, skits, and role-playing.

All of this results in a program that en-ables most participants to learn to read andwrite in about 100 hours of class time. Thenorm is from 200 to 300 hours of instruc-tion, according to literacy specialists.

At the core of UPLIFT’s success is a meth-odology, devised by Dr. Mwani, that breaksdown the local language, Alur, into easy-to-memorize phonetic units.

“Dr. Mwani has identified five or sixcode words that give you every letter andsound in the Alur language,” said TomGossen, an international development con-sultant who is a member of UPLIFT’s man-agement team. “Often working just on a

blackboard under a tree, the literacy edu-cators break these key words down intoall of their sounds and letters. The par-ticipants memorize those, and soon theyare able to put them back together to makeword formations and, finally, sentences.”

Another important aspect of the projectis its emphasis on building the reading andwriting curriculum around issues of localconcern and interest, giving the program acontext that goes beyond simply learning toread and write. Information in literacy work-books covers issues such as malaria preven-tion and treatment, composting and othersimple agricultural improvement techniques,and basic health and sanitation.

“The approach is to look at the needs ofthe community as a whole and to relate thecontent of the program to the lives of thelearners,” said Dr. Mwani.

Maureen Kendrick, an assistant profes-sor of family literacy at the University ofBritish Columbia who has visited theproject twice over the past 12 months, saidthis emphasis on making the curriculumrelevant to the social context of the com-munity should help make the project sus-tainable in the long run.

“Other adult literacy programs I’ve seenare not firmly rooted in the cultural and so-cial context,” said Dr. Kendrick. “They areoften transplanted from another cultural con-text, and so they don’t take root because theyare not related to or meaningful to the livesof the people.

“One of the things that really struckme about the project is how much effort

An UPLIFT literacy group.Overall, some 80 percent ofUPLIFT learners arewomen.

“Development

very much

depends on

women. For

example, where

women are

literate, they tend

to be more likely

to send their

children to

school. They are

more aware of

hygiene. And if

women are

educated, they are

better able to

express

themselves.”

– Hizzaya Hissani

Mwani, UPLIFT’s

program manager


they put into trying to solicit the opin-ions of the participants. They really tryto understand what the people want andwhat their needs are.

“So it is not just reading and writing forthe sake of reading and writing,” said Dr.Kendrick. “They are trying to look at theauthentic purposes that the people in thesecommunities would have for reading andwriting, in relation to helping with agricul-ture, for example, such as throughcomposting.”

Use of resident educatorsLike other non-governmental organiza-

tions that provide literacy training, UPLIFTrelies on a cadre of literacy facilitators, callededucators. Typically, they travel to commu-nities in the service area to provide classes.

One distinctive aspect of UPLIFT’smodel, however, has been its emphasis onusing resident educators who live in the com-munities they serve. Dr. Mwani himselfspends more than half his time in the field,at the same standard of living as the localeducators.

“This is important — to support theconcept that money is not the key to a poorperson’s development,” said Mr. Gossen.“Instead, what is needed is a self-help pro-gram of increased skills, knowledge, andspirituality.”

At UPLIFT’s start, most of the literacyeducators served as volunteers — and classeswere held in the open, often under thebranches of a spreading tree. As the projecthas gained recognition, various buildingssuch as churches, schools, and communitycenters have been made available for classes.

Recently, as well, many of the educators

have begun to receive small stipends. Andthe government has provided a small num-ber of bicycles for transportation.

The use of bicycles, instead of automo-biles, also distinguishes UPLIFT educators.“Imagine a man who only wants to use a carto penetrate and go into our villages whereyou find most of our illiterate people,” saidMr. Joseph of Parombo. “The illiterate peopleare not within towns. You find them in placeswhere cars cannot pass.”

Interfaith participationAnother distinctive aspect of UPLIFT’s

approach has been its emphasis on includ-ing members of all religious groups in itsclasses, a feature that has helped in somecases to soothe tensions between the variouscommunities. The region is predominantlyChristian, but a substantial percentage of thepopulation is Muslim. UPLIFT, as a Bahá’í-inspired agency, has sought to include ev-eryone from all religions in the literacyclasses, an unusual step in an area wherereligious communities for the most part keepto themselves.

The reading materials, for example, fea-ture quotations from the Bible, the Quranand the Bahá’í writings. They also includequotations on basic virtues such as honesty,trustworthiness, and service.

“One of things that makes UPLIFT dif-ferent is its embrace of spirituality,” said ZoeBakoko Bakoru, Uganda’s Minister of Gen-der, Labor, and Social Development. “TheBahá’ís talk about humanity, oneness, andunity. The majority of people in Ugandahave been through a phase of suffering be-fore this Government came into power, dur-ing the Idi Amin era, and there is a need fora healing process.

“UPLIFT targets everybody within acommunity, whether they are Muslim orChristian or none of the above,” said Minis-ter Bakoru, who has visited the project area.“So the UPLIFT program has found a fertileground where it is able to sow the seeds ofunity among the people of different religionsand to help them co-exist together.”

Local authorities echo this observation.“UPLIFT has solved very many problems inthe community,” said Matthew Ngarombo, amember of the Nebbi District Public Com-munity Service Committee. “There has beena lot of disunity, especially about religiousdifferences, tribal ideologies, and so forth.But these days, people are cooperating. Theyare coming together as one because of the

Hizzaya Hissani Mwani,UPLIFT’s program manager,played a key role indeveloping UPLIFT’sinnovative approach.

“One of things

that makes UPLIFT

different is its

embrace of

spirituality...

UPLIFT targets

everybody within

a community,

whether they are

Muslim or

Christian or none

of the above.”

– Zoe Bakoko

Bakoru, Uganda’s

Minister of Gender,

Labor, and Social

Development.


UPLIFT program, which has made peoplemore friendly through interfaith activities.”

At the core of UPLIFT’s program, ofcourse, is literacy training. And participantswho have stayed with the program almostall say it has made an importance differencein their lives.

Increased self-confidence“Now I can read and write letters to my

friends, unlike when I used to take my let-ters to my friends to read for me,” said Flo-rence Nyiwege, a 38-year-old farmer inOngido village. “Now I am proud. I evendiscuss with my children how the programhas made me read and write well.”

Many UPLIFT learners said they appre-ciate literacy because they are better able toread holy scripture, whether the Bible, theQuran or the Bahá’í writings.

“Before, I was lacking in knowledge be-cause I did not know how to read,” saidJudith Nyiwegi, a learner in Panyangosubcounty. “Now I can even read the Bible,and it has given me the knowledge of howto keep my family clean and even how tocontrol my children.”

Others speak of the sense of self-confi-dence that literacy has given them. “It hasallowed me to speak with confidence inmeetings,” said Kulastika Okwanga, anotherUPLIFT learner in Panyango subcounty. “Ilike the knowledge of how to be in a com-munity, how to do things together.”

Many women say they feel better able torun small businesses, now that they can readand write and do simple arithmetic. Andnewly literate mothers often say how happythey are to be able to help their children withschool work.

“We see an increased confidence in whichwomen feel they have improved their statusin the home and the community,” said Eliza-

beth Kharono, chairperson of UPLIFT’sboard of directors. “They are expressing theirviews in public, organizing local women’sgroups, networking for passing on informa-tion, and establishing small businesses tosupplement family finances.”

In Punvuga village, Margaret Atho saidthe knowledge provided by UPLIFT hasgreatly helped her cassava growing enter-prise.

“In UPLIFT, we learned how to plantcassava in rows,” said Ms. Atho, a 46-year-old mother of ten children. “By planting thecassava in rows, it is easy for the farmer toknow which plants are not growing well, soyou can replant.”

Ms. Atho added that the simple arith-metic that UPLIFT taught her has alsohelped greatly when she takes her cassavato market. “If you set the price of each rowof cassava to be 5000 shillings, and you have100 rows, you can calculate how muchmoney to expect from the sale of cassava.”

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, USA — A com-prehensive catalog of Bahá’í sacred litera-

ture, as well as Bahá’í books on history, socialteachings, and other aspects of the Bahá’í Faith,is now available on the World Wide Web.

The new e-commerce site also carriesBahá’í-inspired music, videos, calendars, andother materials.

The Bahá’í Distribution Service, anagency of the National Spiritual Assembly ofthe Bahá’ís of the United States, launched

the site. More than 2,000 titles, representingthe efforts of hundreds of publishers aroundthe world, are available for purchase throughthe site.

The Bahá’í Distribution Service is theprimary distributor for the National Spiri-tual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UnitedStates and its agencies; the Bahá’í Publish-ing Trust of the United States; and Bahá’íWorld Centre Publications. The site is http://www.BahaiBookstore.com

Comprehensive catalog of Bahá’í books for sale online

“We see an

increased

confidence in

which women feel

they have

improved their

status in the

home and the

community.”

– Elizabeth Kharono,

chairperson , UPLIFT

board.

A graduation cremony.


U N I T E D N A T I O N S

UNITED NATIONS – As the world’s prob-lems grow ever more complex and glo-

balized, the United Nations must reach outmore vigorously to civil society — and givenon-governmental actors more access to highlevel deliberations that have traditionallybeen reserved for governments.

That’s the conclusion of a blue-ribbonpanel charged a year ago with reviewing therelationship of the UN with civil society.

“The rise of civil society is indeed one ofthe landmark events of our times,” wroteformer Brazilian President FernandoHenrique Cardoso, chair of the Panel ofEminent Persons on United Nations–CivilSociety Relations, in a letter accompanyingthe panel’s final report in June 2004.

“Global governance is no longer the soledomain of Governments,” continued Presi-dent Cardoso. “The growing participationand influence of non-State actors is enhanc-ing democracy and reshapingmultilateralism. Civil society organizationsare also the prime movers of some of the mostinnovative initiatives to deal with emergingglobal threats.”

The report, entitled “We the Peoples: CivilSociety, the United Nations and Global Gover-nance,” outlines a series of concrete steps thatthe United Nations can take to strengthen part-nerships with civil society.

Recommendations include regularizingthe “cycle of global debate” on issues so thatcivil society is more widely included, tak-ing specific steps to give civil society in-creased access to high-level bodies of theUnited Nations, including the SecurityCouncil, boosting staff and budgets for unitsand offices concerning civil society, and ap-pointing an Under-Secretary-General re-sponsible for overseeing an office that wouldengage the constituencies of civil society,indigenous peoples, the private sector, andparliamentarians.

“The United Nations should use its moralleadership to urge coordinated approachesto civil society, to encourage Governmentsto provide a more enabling and cooperativeenvironment for civil society and to fosterdebate about reforms of global governance,including deeper roles for civil society,” thereport states. “This should emphasize prin-ciples of constituency engagement, partner-ship, transparency and inclusion, with aspecial emphasis on those who are normallyunderrepresented.”

This kind of engagement with civil soci-ety is necessary, the report says, because it isno longer possible for the world’s govern-ments by themselves to solve complex glo-bal problems, such as HIV/AIDs, poverty,environmental degradation, and ethnic strife.

Public opinion is key“Public opinion has become a key factor

influencing intergovernmental and govern-mental policies and actions,” states the re-port. “ The involvement of a diverse rangeof actors, including those from civil societyand the private sector, as well as local au-thorities and parliamentarians, is not onlyessential for effective action on global pri-orities but is also a protection against fur-ther erosion of multilateralism.”

Much of the report discusses the grow-ing influence of civil society, which it de-fines as “associations of citizens enteredinto voluntarily to advance their interests,ideas and ideologies,” such as tradeunions, professional associations, socialmovements, indigenous peoples’ organi-zations, religious and spiritual organiza-tions, academia, and public benefit non-governmental organizations. Its analysisincludes an extended discussion of thechanging nature of democracy.

“[C]itizens increasingly act politically byparticipating directly, through civil society

UN “eminent persons” panel sees riseof civil society as a “landmark” event

“Civil society

organizations are

also the prime

movers of some of

the most

innovative

initiatives to deal

with emerging

global threats.”

— Former Brazilian

President Fernando

Henrique Cardoso


mechanisms, in policy debates that particu-larly interest them,” the report says. “Thisconstitutes a broadening from representativeto participatory democracy. Traditional de-mocracy aggregates citizens by communitiesof neighborhood (their electoral districts),but in participatory democracy citizens ag-gregate in communities of interest. And,thanks to modern information and commu-nication technologies, these communities ofinterest can be global as readily as local.”

This trend arises in part, the report says,because of the processes of globalization,which have made traditional forms of repre-sentation less relevant.

“Elected legislators and parliaments seemto have little impact on decisions madeintergovernmentally or in the supervisionand regulation of international markets,” saysthe report. “And the traditional separationof powers — having a legislative body ofelected representatives to supervise and over-see the executive function — does not applyso clearly in international intergovernmen-tal institutions.”

Since more decisions are being reachedin international forums and organizations,it is becoming more important to develop astronger framework for global governancewith democratic accountability to citizenseverywhere, the report says. “The emergingpillars for this framework are civil society,global roles for parliamentarians, publicopinion and global media. People concernedabout such issues are using new channels toexpress their political interests, through glo-bal civil society networks and global socialmovements.”

Engagement with religionThe report specifically calls for greater

engagement with religious and spiritualgroups. “These groups provide powerfulcommunity leadership, shape public opin-ion, provide advice on ethical matters, fa-cilitate reconciliation between conflictingcommunities and identify the needs of vul-nerable groups,” the report says.

It also urges greater outreach to tradeunions, and it supports the importance ofreaching out to the private sector, as part ofan overall engagement with non-govern-mental actors.

Mary Racelis, one of the Report’s authors,said perhaps the most important message ofthe panel was simply that the UN and gov-ernments must appropriately recognize thegrowing influence and capacity of civil so-

ciety organizations.“In a sense, we are calling for a new

mindset on the part of the UN,” said Dr.Racelis, a sociologist at Ateneo de ManilaUniversity in the Philippines. “The UN hasto reach out and recognize and draw in, ona multi-stakeholder basis, different views, inthe debate that leads towards better globalgovernance.”

Dr. Racelis also said the Report’s discus-sion of representative democracy versus par-ticipatory democracy was not meant to teardown traditional forms of democracy, butrather to strengthen them.

“In so many parts of the world, the ma-jority of people are often poor and disad-vantaged, and, for various reasons, eitherdon’t vote, or if they do, are captured by astructure that doesn’t represent their inter-ests,” said Dr. Racelis.

“We know that people who are left outof society sometimes turn to other means,such as terrorism or crime or violence,” saidDr. Racelis.

Strengthening democracy“What we are saying is that representa-

tive democracy is fine, but there must alsobe recognition that participatory democracyis now the trend,” Dr. Racelis said. “And weare trying to say to member states that this isa very positive development that canstrengthen democracy.”

Jeffery Huffines, immediate past presi-dent of the Committee of Religious NGOs atthe UN, said the report would be welcomedby most NGOs. “The power of this report isthat it offers a step-by-step, rational processwhereby member states of the UN can moreeffectively engage key constituencies of civilsociety across the board,” said Mr. Huffines,who hosted several meetings with represen-tatives of the panel, to help provide inputfrom faith-based NGOs. Mr. Huffines is alsothe representative of the Bahá’í communityof the United States to the UN.

The panel was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in February 2003. Itsmembers are affiliated with governments,NGOs, academia, and the private sector. Inaddition to Mr. Cardoso and Dr. Racelis, theyinclude Bagher Asadi of Iran, Manuel Castellsof Spain, Birgitta Dahl of Sweden, PeggyDulany of the United States, André Erdös ofHungary, Asma Khader of Jordan, Juan Mayrof Colombia, Malini Mehra of India, KumiNaidoo of South Africa, Prakash Ratilal ofMozambique, and Aminata Traoré of Mali.

The flag of the UnitedNations. (UN Photo)

“What we are

saying is that

representative

democracy is fine,

but there must

also be

recognition that

participatory

democracy is now

the trend. And we

are trying to say

to member states

that this is a very

positive

development that

can strengthen

democracy.”

– Mary Racelis, one

of the report’s

authors


P R O F I L E

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Work onBahá’í service projects here gave screenwritersMark Bamford and Suzanne Kay the ideafor a movie that has recently won interna-tional attention.

After their arrival here from Hollywoodin 2001, the husband and wife team threwthemselves into various projects such as af-ter-school enrichment programs for disad-vantaged children and English lessons forrefugees from French-speaking Africa.

Those experiences inspired them to make“Cape of Good Hope,” a feature film thatwas screened recently at two internationalfilm festivals — Cannes and Tribeca — andwon appreciative reactions from, among oth-ers, the BBC and Variety.

Mr. Bamford and Ms. Kay had left theircareers as television scriptwriters in Los Ange-les so they could pursue their own film projectsin Cape Town. It was a place where theywanted to raise their newborn baby and to in-volve themselves in helping the reconstruc-tion of a newly democratic African nation.

They saw firsthand the struggles of ordi-nary people to make the most of their lives.That inspired them to write the screenplayand then produce and direct the movie.

The film that emerged, “Cape of GoodHope,” won a stand-ing ovation at its pre-miere in April 2004at the Tribeca FilmFestival in NewYork.

Following thatpremiere, the BBCtelevision’s “Talk-ing Movies” showcarried interviewswith some of thestars of the film anddescribed the movieas “heartfelt andreal.”

And the subse-quent screening of

“Cape of Good Hope” at the Cannes Festi-val — which highlighted the 10th anniver-sary of the end of apartheid by showing majorSouth African films — clearly struck a chord.

Variety, a widely read film industry jour-nal, hailed the movie’s “warmth and charm”and said it was a “good-natured multi-charac-ter snapshot of contemporary South Africa.”

The film, cowritten by Mr. Bamford andMs. Kay, interweaves fictional storylinesaround a Cape Town animal rescue center.

Characters include the woman who runsthe shelter, a refugee from the war-tornDemocratic Republic of Congo, a singlemother trying to educate herself while work-ing as a servant, a young couple unable tohave children of their own, and a recentlywidowed veterinary surgeon.

In this mosaic of love and hope, filmedon location in South Africa, the human sto-ries replace the intense political focus that isthe norm for films set in Africa.

“There were lots of films about Africa andwith epic political messages,” Mr. Bamford said,“but we felt they were missing the trees for theforest. You actually feel more from a story whichis about the reality of people’s lives.”

The film highlights themes of love, in-terracial relations, xenophobia, justice, and— in an unusual twist for a commercialmovie — kindness to animals.

“Cape of Good Hope” is Mr. Bamford’sdebut as a director of a feature movie. Hisprevious work includes “Hero,” a widelyscreened short film, featured on PBS.

The positive themes of the movie reflectthe couple’s philosophy on filmmaking. “Ithink the purpose of art is to uplift the humanspirit,” Mr. Bamford said. “In film, entertain-ment is fine, but a lot of what passes for enter-tainment is destructive — it degrades womenand glorifies drugs and violence.”

Ms. Kay added: “Because we say ‘uplift-ing,’ we don’t mean ‘naive’ — we just wantto give [audiences] energy to contributesomething for the betterment of society.”

– Bahá’í World News Service

In South Africa, filmmakers draw onsocial action for their on-screen vision

Mark Bamford and Suzanne Kay

Inspired by the

struggles of

ordinary people in

South Africa, two

Hollywood

transplants create

a much acclaimed

film with an

optimistic vision.


carving of sacred grottos from rock, inheritedfrom Persian Achaemenid funerary architec-ture, which spread to Buddhist sites through-out India and China.

The chapter on Judaism covers groundthat is perhaps more commonly known, inthe West at least, since much of Old Testa-ment history involves the exile of ancientIsraelis to Persia. “It can rightly be said thatthe Jewish diaspora, spanning twenty-sevencenturies, begins in Iran,” writes Dr. Foltz.He also writes that Judaism “underwent oneof its most radical transformations” as a re-sult of contact with the Persians.

Dr. Foltz suggests, for example, that theIsraelites derived the concept of the mes-siah from the Zoroastrian “Saoshyant” sav-ior figure.

In his chapter on Christianity, Dr. Foltznotes that the three “wise men” who, accord-ing to Matthew, came to witness the birth ofJesus, were clearly identified as ZoroastrianMagi from Iran.

It goes without saying that Islam had ahuge impact on Iran. What is perhaps lesswell known is the degree of impact that Iranhad on the practice of Islam. Although Is-lam originated in Arabia, Dr. Foltz writes, itwas mainly Iranian followers who, amongother things, were chiefly responsible forcompiling the sayings of Muhammad(Hadith), creating the concept of the Islamicschool (madrasa), and writing the first sys-tematic grammar for Arabic.

Dr. Foltz also appropriately chronicles therise of Iranian-based Shi’ism and its role inthe Islamic world, including its part in the1979 Islamic revolution and the rise of fun-damentalist Islam around the world.

Noting that Iran was the birthplace of twoindependent world religions — Zoroastri-anism and the Bahá’í Faith — Dr. Foltz de-votes a chapter to each tradition.

His chapter on “The Bábi Movement andthe Bahá’í Faith” is noteworthy for its lucidsketch of the early history of the Bahá’í Faith,specifically its emergence from the matrix ofIslam and establishment as an independentbelief system.

Dr. Foltz, who is not a Bahá’í, describes thefervent turmoil and messianic expectation thatseized many in Iran in the early 19th century.Specifically, he writes, “many of the existingtrends in Iranian religious thought had beensynthesized in the so-called ‘Shaykhi’ school

Religions in IranReview, continued from page 16

of Shaykh Ahmad Ahsa’i.”For many in the Shaykhi sect, this long-

ing was satisfied by the emergence of a newfigure, Siyyid Ali Muhammad, known as theBáb, which means “gate” in Arabic. A youngmerchant from Shiraz, the Báb declared thatHe had come as the Promised One, bringinghis own Revelation. He soon had many as100,000 followers, according to Dr. Foltz —a tidal wave that stirred intense official op-position.

The Báb Himself promised the coming ofanother, even greater figure, “He whom Godwill make manifest.” For the vast majority ofBábis, that figure was Bahá’u’lláh, Founder ofthe Bahá’í Faith.

“Whereas the former movement had fo-cused on the Shi’ite world of Iran,Bahá’u’lláh’s vision encompassed the entireworld,” notes Dr. Foltz. “All humans,Bahá’u’lláh taught, are of the same essenceand substance. The world, in his view, was‘but one country, and mankind its citizens.’”

The majority of Iranians rejected thisuniversalist message — although, as Dr.Foltz notes, there are at least 300,000 Bahá’ísin Iran, composing that country’s largest re-ligious minority. Instead, as Dr. Foltz ex-plores in his final chapter, the Iraniansturned to a radical, anti-modernist versionof Shi’ism envisioned by the AyatollahKhomeini in the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Iran’s Shi’ite clergy has over the yearsconsistently attacked the Bahá’í Faith as anapostasy. “The position of the present Ira-nian governments towards the Bahá’í Faithverges on the bizarre,” writes Dr. Foltz.

“Official references to the Bahá’í Faithclaim that it is an organization founded bythe British in the nineteenth century as partof the latter’s colonial project, aimed at theeventual takeover of Iran by foreign inter-ests,” writes Dr. Foltz.

“Any admission of the Bábi movementas arising within messianic Shi’ism is entirelyabsent, and the explicit Bahá’í tenet of po-litical non-involvement is disregarded. Therabid hostility of the official view makes itessentially impossible within Iran today toobtain anything approaching an accurateunderstanding of the Bahá’í religion.”

As Dr. Foltz properly notes in his conclud-ing chapter, this odd degree of religious intol-erance serves only to mask Iran’s great contri-butions to the history and progression of worldreligions — a phenomenon that has beenwidely overlooked but is now significantlyrectified by his highly engaging book.

“Whereas the

former movement

had focused on

the Shi’ite world

of Iran,

Bahá’u’lláh’s

vision

encompassed the

entire world. All

humans,

Bahá’u’lláh

taught, are of the

same essence and

substance.”

– Dr. Richard C. Foltz


B O O K R E V I E W

Review, continued on page 15

There are many ways to look at history.Ancient historians sought to glorify he-

roes and battles. Modern historians have foundnew directions, looking at the past throughsuch lenses as sociology, psychology, econom-ics, and, more recently, race and gender.

In Spirituality in the Land of the Noble:How Iran Shaped the World’s Religions, Rich-ard C. Foltz keeps the focus tight by usingthe lens of geography to examine the his-tory of world religions.

An associate professor of religion at theUniversity of Florida, he zooms in on Iran,chronologically tracing the currents andcross-currents of religious history there.

“Modern Iran’s relative religious homoge-neity notwithstanding, throughout thecountry’s long history its peoples and cultureshave played an unexcelled role in influenc-ing, transforming, and propagating all theworld’s universal traditions,” writes Dr. Foltz.

Yet, although his focus is a single coun-try, Dr. Foltz offers up what amounts to anextremely readable and interesting summaryof the teachings of most of the world’s majorreligions — and, significantly, their evolu-tion and progression throughout history.

A listing of chapter headings gives therange of religions that have been bound upwith Iran throughout history: Zoroastrian-ism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Gnos-tic Traditions, Islam, and the Bábi Movementand the Bahá’í Faith — virtually all of theworld’s major religions, in other words.

Even Hinduism, one of the most ancientof world religions and one that today is al-most wholly associated with India, can tracesome of its origins to Iran, writes Dr. Foltz.

Specifically, he says, the Rig Veda, whichis considered by Hindus to be a sacred textand is commonly dated to around the eighthcentury BC, is probably much older — andquite likely originated with the ancient peopleswho once inhabited Iran and its surrounds.

“The world it evokes resembles not thesteamy plains of northwest India, but ratherthe dry steppes of western Eurasia whencethe Indo-Aryans came,” writes Dr. Foltz,adding that it shows many similarities withthe oldest Iranian text, the Avesta.

“…the Rig Veda can shed light on theorigins of Iranian religion as much as it canfor Hinduism — perhaps even more so,since Hinduism retains much that presum-ably predates the Aryan arrival.”

In like manner, Dr. Foltz — diggingdeep into Iranian history — reveals a num-ber of facts, insights and observations thatmany will find quite surprising.

Buddhism, for example, was once hugelypopular in Iran, even though it has now com-pletely disappeared in that country. Neverthe-

less, he writes, “for a number of centuries, ahuge proportion of the Iranian populationpracticed Buddhism, and it is equally appar-ent that Iranian Buddhists infused the tradi-tion with a number of distinctly Iranian ideas.”

The merchants and missionaries who car-ried Buddhism to Central Asia and China weremostly of Iranian background, according toDr. Foltz. And, among other things, he writes,Iranian architectural styles can be seen to havegreatly influenced Buddhist styles, such as the

Religious history through the lens of Iran

Spirituality in the

Land of the Noble:

How Iran Shaped

the World’s

Religions

By Richard C.

Foltz

Oneworld

Oxford

“the earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” – … · 2018-08-08 · inside...

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