A Baha'i Meeting: Faith and Safety
This week, we will experience another Bahaʼi meeting within the walls of our UU sanctuary. The topic, "Faith and Security," is a timely one. Our guest worship leader has constructed this service by researching and pulling from Baha'i scriptures and readings, making this a unique service intended to help us find the courage and strength needed in a time such as this.
The Baha'i Faith is a monotheistic religion that originated in Iran in the 1800s. It teaches that all people are equal and that Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Bahaʼi faith all originally followed the same God. Bahaʼis believe men and women should have equal opportunity, prejudice of all kinds should be challenged, the ideal world order is a unified one where everyone can prosper, there is one God who created the universe, and all people have immortal souls. Bahaʼi values include respect for religious and cultural diversity, condemnation of racism, sexism, and anti-scientific interpretations of religious texts, promotion of the relationship between science and religion, and shunning of nationalism, prejudice, and racism. The Bahaʼi Faith, like our own UU church, is lay-led and has no professional clergy. Bahaʼis meet in their members' homes for religious meetings just like the one Margene will bring to us this week.
Margene Nelson Willis is a native of Manhattan, Kansas. She moved to Conway nearly 40 years ago from Iowa with her husband, Bill, who is a native of the other Manhattan (Harlem). They moved here so BIll could work at Radio Bahaʼi. They both became Bahaʼis in the mid-70’s before they met. Margene worked in social services and education. She retired from a joint position with Horry County Schools/Coastal Carolina University, where she coordinated the Dalton and Linda Floyd Family Mentoring program. They have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. Margene currently serves as Secretary of the Bahaʼi Assembly in Conway.
The service will begin at 11:00 am. The service will be available on Facebook Live for those who wish to participate remotely. Go to the ASWUU Facebook page and click the Live link.
We will have a coffee hour after the service where the coffee, snacks and conversation are always rich. You may bring a dish to share if you would like to do so.
