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Come to the FREE film at the Fountain Theater for the Bicentenary celebration

This film follows the personal search for truth and meaning undertaken by eight people from different parts of the world.

Each one describes the journey to discovering that God has sent two Divine Manifestations for today, the Bab and Baha’u’llah, Who are revolutionizing human thought and behavior.

JOIN LAS CRUCES BAHA’IS

AT THE FOUNTAIN THEATER

Saturday, October 19th, 4:30-6:00 pm

2469 Calle de Guadalupe, Mesilla, NM

Admission FREE

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Baha’i Assembly Elected for 2019

 

This article was in the Las Cruces Bulletin

Friday, May 24, 2019

Baha’i council

BULLETIN REPORT

The Baha’i community of Las Cruces recently elected its nine-member governing council, known as the Local Spiritual Assembly, for 2019-2020.
Members are Carl Ewing (chairman), Jean Wilkey (vice chairman), Annie Mitchell (secretary), Dean Wilkey (treasurer), Phyllis Williams, Darrell Rodgers,  Deborah Rodgers, Muriel Gribble, and Linda Elkins.

Local assemblies minister to the needs of the community,  including organizing classes for the spiritual education of children and adults. They support community members in planning devotional programs and other public events. They also conduct Baha’i marriages, plan service projects and provide spiritual counseling to community members.

The Baha’i Faith, founded in 1844, is the youngest of the world’s independent, global, monotheistic religions. It has become a universal faith present in every country in the world with adherents from virtually every national, ethnic, religious and tribal background.

For more information on the Bahá’s of Las Cruces visit www.bahaisoflascruces.org.

 

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World peace and security are attained through unity

 

Las Cruces Bulletin

Friday, April 26, 2019

World peace and security are attained through unity
By Carl Ewing

World Peace is NOT a “pipe dream.” Rather, it is an inevitable reality. Every object that exists is composed of atoms that are unified in the composition of that object. Its very existence depends on this working unity.

In the same way, our global society is composed of a multitude of cultures and peoples. Each culture, country, or people has a unique quality to offer to the essential unity of our whole planet. The wholesome  development and prosperity of the planet depends on this. But it requires a change of attitude about the world. It requires the recognition of the oneness of humanity.

Baha’u’llah, the prophet-founder of the Baha’i Faith wrote: “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.”  He also wrote: “The purpose of justice is the appearance of unity among men.”

The series of prerequisites is clear. Before Peace comes Unity and before Unity comes Justice. So, in order to achieve the unity required for peace, certain issues first need to be addressed  for the establishment  of justice. In 1985, the Universal House of Justice (governing body of the Baha’i world community) released a statement titled “The Promise of World Peace.” Some of its major points include:
• Racism, a baneful evil, is a major barrier to peace.
• The inordinate disparity  between rich and poor keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war.

  • Unbridled nationalism must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity  as a whole.
  • Religious strife, the cause of innumerable wars and conflicts, is increasingly abhorrent to people of all faiths and no faith.
  • The achievement of full equality between the sexes is one of the most important prerequisites of peace.
    • Universal education deserves the utmost support  that governments can lend it, for ignorance is the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples.
    • A fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines efforts toward world peace.
    • Two points bear emphasizing.  One is that the abolition of war is not simply a matter of signing  treaties and protocols but a complex task that requires a new level of commitment. The other point is that the context of the issues of peace must be raised to the level of principal. For peace stems from an inner state supported  by a spiritual and moral attitude in which the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.
    These are but a few issues  that, in our own way, we can each help resolve by promoting justice amongst our friends and acquaintances and to our government. It begins within each one of us as a personal commitment but can grow in an ever expanding wave extending to our communities and nations.
    World peace begins with a true understanding of the oneness of humanity. If the virus of nationalism and unfounded prejudices  can influence our societies, why then can’t we realize an even more powerful unifying impulse through living by and promoting principles of justice?
    We live in a world that is more and more interdependent. Surely, we can share a growing understanding of our essential unity to benefit the whole of humanity and see it realized in the prosperity  and happiness of every country, village and individual. A seed looks nothing like the plant it becomes. Nonetheless, it grows to be so. Let our commitment to justice and unity be the seed of World Peace.

 

Carl Ewing is chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly.  He may be reached at 575-571-4434.

Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Las Cruces

PO Box 1491

Las Cruces, NM 88004

http://www.lascrucesbahai.org/