This article was written by Eddie Whiteside at the request of the Bahá'í Council
“I’ve just come from the LSA, where we consulted with our ABM and ATC, using the guidance from the ITC and the NSA to encourage our JY to do a YOS through the BCNI.”
When my family and I were last in Haifa some years ago, everyone was talking about the MCP’s. I was horrified. How could this be happening here, of all places, and within a community that fearlessly proclaimed the equality of men and women. What had male chauvinist pigs got to do with anything? You can imagine my relief when I learned that MCP’s was an abbreviation for Mount Carmel Projects! The experience was a salutary one, and set me thinking about how our language and behaviour can impacted on the wider community.
Today we talk about IPG’s. The outside world is familiar with MPG (miles per gallon) or LPG ( liquid petroleum gas) or even, sadly, RPG ( rocket propelled grenade). But what on earth is IPG? For those of you who have been somewhere else it means Intensive Programme of Growth. And if you talk in front of your friends about having a visit from the ABM they’re more likely to think of the launch of an Anti Ballistic Missile than an Auxiliary Board Member.
Speakers giving talks should be aware that there may be non-Bahá'ís in the audience, and make sure that when first introduced, the names of our Central Figures, which are bound to sound strange, are accompanied with a brief explanation of who They are, or what their mission was.
One of the strangest ways of speaking that we adopt is the use of “Allah-u-Abha” on meeting and greeting our fellow Bahá’ís. Spare a thought for what must be going through the mind of anyone not a Bahá’í, who witnesses this. This is what Shoghi Effendi wrote about thepractice.
‘The Bahá’ís are free to greet each other with Allah-u Abha when they meet, if they want to, but they should avoid anything which to outsiders, in a western country, might seem like some strange Oriental password. We must be very firm on principles and laws, but very normal and natural in our ways, so as to attract strangers.’ (Directives from the Guardian p. 3)
While on the subject of greetings, Ruhíyyih Khánum, when she visited us in Africa, said that male members of the community could hug each other if they chose, but it was wiser and more decorous for a man to shake hands when he met a lady.
We also need to think about how we use the written word. Some local Spiritual Assemblies have two sets of letterhead notepaper – one for internal use within the Bahá’í community, which retains the word ‘Spiritual’, and another for outreach into the wider community, which might find the word ‘Spiritual’ strange (and perhaps suggesting Spiritualism). At some Bahá’í weddings and funerals, some friends choose to acknowledge the source of any quotations as ‘from the Bahá’í Writings’ for the same reason. Whether or not you agree with these practices, it at least shows an awareness of how strange some of our terminology is to others. Remember, Communiqué and other Bahá’í publications are read by the wider community.
One last thing. When I was growing up my school record said I was CoI. There I was blissfully thinking I was a member of the Church of Ireland, while all the time I was CoI - community of interest!
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