Michael Kay does a relatively kind puff piece on the Baha’is for the Union Democrat.  But as GetReligion often asks, can you see the ghost in the story.  It’s not so much the ghost of religion (as the piece is overtly about the religious), but the problem that Baha’is are facing in recruiting members to their cause.

For Kay, the Baha’is are inconspicuous despite their geographic spread, and at first glance you would think this is because the article points out, somewhat erroneously “the faith forbids proselytizing” (in reality it just forbids using the word to describe the activities that Baha’is undertake to encourage people to convert to the religion).

Kay points out the Baha’is believe in Very Nice Things (like world peace and unity) but for the community in Mother Lode and elsewhere, the pattern of attracting new believers is slow to non-existent. “Whether the Baha’is in the Mother Lode will be around to see that future is questionable. Like many in the area, their members are gray and graying — many converted in a ‘60s era that saw the U.S. population of followers quadruple.”

What the article doesn’t say is that in the hippy days of the 60s (when my parents converted and met) the Baha’is emphasised the social teachings of their religion (such as end to prejudice; equality of women and men; universal peace) not just to outsiders on pamphlets, but within the community as well.  The Baha’is spearheaded interfaith efforts, and promoted core values.  But in the 90s it began to seriously change, to the point where all that was left was a huge drive to try and gain more and more memberships.

For me it was notable when community projects were scuttled when it was assessed there would be no avenue to attract new members through such efforts.  C’est la vie. To the point that Compass can run a three-episode series on interfaith, finishing in Chicago (the home of the US Baha’i temple) and manage to not mention the Baha’is once!

Before Shrek hit the big screens, I could barely belief how much we were inundated with Shrek advertising, particularly in the supermarket. It was so bad, I swore never to buy anything with Shrek on the label (although most of it is junky food anyway). So I like Rudd’s proposal to ban cartoon and movie characters (like Shrek) to advertise crap ‘food’ to kids. It will certainly make the Happy Meal less Happy!

On another note, our television and DVD are on the blink. Yasmin decided to experiment with the DVD player, and now the tray won’t come out. In trying to fix the blasted thing, I accidentally snapped off the end of the jack that goes into the telly, so now you can’t watch the television unless you have an antennae (which we don’t, we are cable-reliant).

So, we missed Boston Legal and the constant murmur of Nick Jnr in the background during the day. I actually think it’s worth celebrating. I think the only show I will really miss is “Big Love” (to which I admit an addiction) but apart from that I am perfectly content not to watch the telly. Plus, the constant Nick Jnr channel is too tempting to put on to babysit Yasmin. Yippeeeee, the television is dead, long live no television.

Well I installed the Muslim Edition distrib. of Ubuntu (which is normal ‘ole Ubuntu but with some snazzy little proggies useful for Muslims, and some nice artwork). You get an Islamic calendar, a piece of software for learning Qur’anic surahs (woohoo) and a prayer-timer.

You also get a Muslim-styled login and splash screen (with the audio “bismillah” - better hide that one from your work colleagues or they’ll be ringing ASIO :P)

Plus you also get a ‘greening’ of the icons and general theme.

Overall, nice, but could do with some more useful Muslim programs (like a program for memorising hadiths; some compilations of Islamic texts with a search function; a list of important dates in the Islamic calendar - in the calendar; more Islamic-themed artwork; maybe pre-bookmarked good Islamic sites on the web ummm…. what else, the list could go on and on couldn’t it.)

On what Islam teaches particularly about issues on which there is much misunderstanding.  Includes posts from Muzzamil Siddiqi, Abdal Hakim Murad, Eboo Patel, John Esposito,  Keith Ellison, the Aga Khan, Abdurraman Wahid and more! (Cross posted at Islamosphere)

Jamilah Kilocotronis was planning to become a Christian minister for the Lutheran church and even found a seminary who would accept female students (many Christian churches do not accept that women may become priests or ministers). But on the way to becoming a member of the clergy, God had a different plan for her:

One day I walked into a bookstore and bought a paperback translation of the Qur’an. I had a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion, and a semester of seminary training, so surely I possessed the skills I needed to expose the errors in the Qur’an. Then I would be able to persuade my poor Muslim friends how very wrong they were.

I read, looking for mistakes and inconsistencies, and found none. I became impressed when I came to Surat Al-An`am 6, verse 73. [He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in truth. On that day when He says, Be, it is.]

When I was a little girl, attending Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, I learned about how God created the world. “God said, ‘Let there be light’,” the Bible says. “And there was, and it was good.” Be, and it is. I started to wonder if Allah was the same God I had always worshiped.

I paid closer attention after reading that verse. For the first time, I wanted to know more about Islam.

Read the rest of her story here.