On 21 January 2007 the Omagh Bahá’í Community held its annual World Religion Day meeting, which was attended by over a hundred people. The event was introduced by Rustam Jamshidi, Chairman of Omagh Bahá’í Group, who explained the concept behind World Religion Day “It was founded to foster the establishment of interfaith understanding and harmony by emphasising the common denominators underlying all religions. In essence,” said Dr Jamshidi “they all come from the same source, the One True God. The difference is that the Teacher in each case had a different name and because the receiving societies were several hundred years apart, the message varied slightly… But, in essence, they are all from the same Authority”.
The Omagh Bahá’ís have been marking World Religion Day since 1984 and so have been part of a world-wide celebration of human unity. This year, as for the past several years, the event was held in Omagh Library and the theme was “Youth”.
All of the participants fell into this ‘young-person’ category: starting with Cameron Gornall, from Magherafelt, who played the piano, as people were entering and leaving the room. Soha Graham (Lurgan) explaining the importance of youth and her rôle as a youth coordinator in her service project, before moving-on to University. Courtnay Giffin, from Armagh, accompanied herself on guitar and performed two items of Bahá’í Scripture, set to music, one with her father, John, playing the flute. Molly Rainey and Megan Monahan from Omagh Integrated Primary School read from the scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith, as did David Donnelly and Donna Acheson from Omagh Integrated College. Local sisters Elaine and Gemma Gallagher sang two songs. Adíb Ma’ani, from Newtownabbey and his cousin Inge, playing guitar, sang two songs and Omíd Agahi, from Antrim, presented an audio-visual on the World Religion Day theme, studying children, growing-up.
Councillor Patrick McGowan, attending on behalf of Omagh District Council, spoke some words at the end, in praise of the efforts of the youth, and Dr Jamshídí closed the programme with a prayer.
MDL
Six Millennia in an Hour...
Friday 26 January saw the latest “Deepening in Derry” with Iain Palin taking the stage on the subject of ‘Our Irish Bahá'í Heritage’. When we think of Ireland and the faith names like George Townsend come to mind but there is so much more to what links ourselves and the history of the Bahá'í Faith. Did you know the first roots of the links between Ireland and Iran go back perhaps as many as six thousand years? Irish links with the Báb led on to accounts of the first Irish Bahá'ís, overseas and in Ireland itself, and accounts of well-known and lesser-known figures as well as other, sometimes surprising, connections and more modern developments.
CTP
Magherafelt’s small but active community report a wide range of activities: Weekly junior youth classes (every Sunday) and monthly devotionals with members of the community of interest. Not to mention an intensive Ruhi Book 7 course over the Christmas holidays and a Book 1 just started.
MG
Mr Tonderai Chahwana (Belfast) who has declared his faith in Bahá'u'lláh and been enrolled in the community.
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