The Huntsville Times

FridayMarch 31,2006

Kay Campbell/Huntsville TImes

Marlene Brown, center, reads a passage for theInterfaith devotional held once a montllln thehome of Darren and Ruhl Hiebert, both members ~of the Baha'I faith, In Madison. Respecting otherfaiths Is part of the creed for Baha'Is. Ustenlngto Brown read Is interfaith minister the Rev.wanda Gall campbell, at lett, and OllyaAqaanoshohada.

Baha'i family ~,also embraces ,.different views'Interfaith devotional fulfillsduty to respect all religionsBy KAY CAMPBEUTimes Faith e1 Values Editorkayc@hti,mes.com

The Baha'i faith is hard to spell, easy tounderstand.One of the foundational stories of the faith; :begun in 1844, illustrates the conundrum.

Not long after the Persian prophet Bah'u'llah :issued the proclamation of Baha'i as a new step .for faith, a brave woman stepped into the centerof a group of elders discussing whether theprophecies were truth or heresy.

The woman, Taharih, had read and under-stood Bah'u'llah's message of the unity of all pe0-ple, including women. -

She ripped off the veil that Muslim customhad forced her to wear over her face.

The audacity of her clear assertion of equalitywith the men registers in the moment capturedin a painting in the dining room of Darren and .Ruhi Hiebert's home in Madison.

One elder cuts his own throat in dismay. Onereadies to killTaharih. All faces - except the calmTaharih's - register shock and awe. ,

The painting captures the revolutionary sim-plicity of the Baha'i faith: that many paths lead toGod, and that all people can arrive there equally.

Misunderstood faithThe Hieberts, who are Baha'i, hold monthly

interfaith devotio~als at their home to celebrate ,that belief, but not to proselytize for the faith:that's been-often misunderstood since its incep-"":tion. :

Ruhi Hiebert suffered imprisonment and iwhipp-ings in her native Iran because she was :Bahai before she moved to the United States sev- :eral years ago. Marlene Brown of Gurley, who:became Baha'i when she was a teenager in I

Detroit, faced trying to convince her Catholicmother that she wasn't joining a wicked sect. I

And some people have trouble understandingthat when the Hieberts invite people to an "Inter- Ifaith Devotional," they mean just that.

It's not a Baha'i prayer meeting, though Baha'iprayers are included along with readings from

plea1Je see BAHA1 on B5 :..j Joining together in prayer

• The Hleberts welcome guests to the monthlyInterfaith devotional In their home In Madison,Contact Darren Hiebert atdarren@darrenhlebert.com and 705-0123.

• One Human Family, an Interfaith, Interculturalcommunity choir, invites anyone who enjoyssinging to join. The choir, led by Helen Oney, prac-tices at 7 p.m. Wednesdays at The Baha'i Center.

• The Baha'I Center, 3209 Pulaski Pike, hasregular meetings Sundays at 10:30 a.m, The,services are member-led since there are no clergyIn the Baha'I faith.

"ThI1ntIrtaIthPrayer Book"IncIudII praytI'Ifrom the worId'a=~:&.~1UtI.. ACNIdtar 1areapect tar df8ItIIL -

Kay C8mpbelVHuntsville Times

Baha'iContinuedfrom page B1

the Bible, the Quran and otherholy scriptures. It's not a Baha'ientrapment where guests mustlisten to an explanation of theobscure, but worldwide faith.

It's just people. Prayingtogether after ~ting some ofRuhi's saffron-scented ricepilaf. Listening to prayer songs£rpm the world's faiths. Laugh-ing together over cheesecakeand coffee.

J'It's just a devotional," saidDarren Hiebert, handing outcopies of the selections fromscriptures he'd put together forthe evening last month.'Tonight's theme is prayer."

Hiebert sat with his daugh-ter, Samineh, 11, near the con-trols for the stereo. He startedthe devotional by playing anachingly beautiful Baha'i hymn,'The Most Melodious ofThnes," sung by Carol Macky.Other music selections duringthe evening would includeBach and Handel, and a newsong by writer Jim Parker.

Then guestS,which includedJews, Protestants, Catholics,New Thought, and Baha'is,took turns reading the shortpassages from the Quran, theBible, the Hindu Vedas, andother scriptures. .

The living room became acircle of voices and thoughts -from Samineh's young, clearvoice, to the exotic Persian-born accents of her mother andaunt to the gravelly Alabamaaccent of a bearded guest.

This sort of meeting is asclose to a ritual as Baha'is get.The overriding goal of Baha'iwork in the world is to help

Kay Campbell/Huntsville Times

samineh Hiebert reads a pas-sage from selections from sev-eral sacred texts during themonthly interfaith devotionalorganized at her home. Herfather, Darren Hiebert, followsalong.

unify people and promoterespect for a:µ religions.

The democratic equality ofall members asserted by Tahar-ih continues.. For a wedding, the husbandand wife many each other. Thecommunity says prayerstogether for the dead, and Sun-day meetings are to share thewritings of the prophet and topray together.

"Baha'i is a faith defined byfaith, not by practice," Hiebertsaid. "No individual has moreauthority than another to inter-pret the writings."

It was this democracy andwide-open respect that attract-ed Marlene Brown to the faithfrom Catholicism when she wasa teenager.

"I never had to denounceanything about Jesus," Brownsaid. 'This was just anotherstep, more knowledge andmore spiritual guidance."