The first panel in this 2-part webinar series is devoted to Bahá’í approaches to various aspects of globalization as discussed in the articles “Globalization — The Tangible Expression of Humanity’s Journey Towards Unity” by Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing; “Building a Just and Sustainable Global Food System: Some Guiding Principles” by Paul Hanley; and “Globalization Requires a Bahá’í Foundation” by Hooshmand Badee. The Host for both panels is Mikhail Sergeev.

This powerpoint presentation starts from the Declaration of Baháu’lláh in the Garden of Ridvan. The Order issued by the Ottoman government for the banishment of Baháu’lláh from Baghdad to Constantinople, the Capital of The Ottoman Empire, was communicated to Baháu’lláh by Ali Pasha, the Prime Minister of the Ottoman Sultan. In courteous language, the letter invited Baháu’lláh to proceed to Constantinople as the guest of the Ottoman government. Thus, the time for the departure of Baháu’lláh from The Garden of Ridvan had come. The departure of Baháu’lláh from the garden of Ridvan was on May 3, 1863. The journey of Baháu’lláh from Baghdad to Constantinople started from Firayjat, three miles away on the bank of the Tigris.

Our guest speaker Jena Khadem Khodadad is a fourth generation Iranian Bahá’í. Her book “Scientific Principles at Work in the Worldwide Advancement of Bahá’í Faith” (George Ronald, Publishers) explores scientific principles in respect to the growth of the Bahá’í Faith and the dynamism and vitality of the Bahá’í community. Jena continues to contribute to public discourse and dialogues on some of the challenges of our times. Furthermore, Jena is committed to enhancement of interfaith understanding and has organized, presented, and contributed to numerous interfaith forums.

This webinar situates the girl child (and her rights) within the global gender equality issue area and, more broadly, that of human rights. It treats the key factors that hem in girls’ progress across the world, limiting their life chances–among them, early marriage, domestic and sexual abuse, trafficking, and access to education. It weighs progress to address the tall challenges, even as it celebrates the achievements in light of UN conventions and Sustainable Goals. Given the Bahá’í auspices of the Series, the webinar brings to bear the Faith’s teachings on the equality of women and men and strong emphasis on the education of girls. Participants leave with the tools to analyze the daily challenges girls face in many parts of our world and with a heightened sense of how urgent safeguarding their well-being is to forging a more equal, just, and unified world. The call to action involves our individual and collective moral duty to assist in this enterprise, as we approach the eleventh year of the International Day of the Girl. Our guest speaker for this webinar is Dr. Trevor McMorris Tate, a Bahá’í, whose current research focuses on global governance, international norms, and the girl child.

Animals of all kinds co-exist with us, from pets to farm animals to wildlife and microscopic organisms. We know more than ever now about animal sentience and capabilities, even as we impact the animal kingdom more than ever before—from extinction and species decline due to climate change and habitat loss, farming practices, pet ownership, and more. What do the Bahá’í teachings say about animals? How can those teachings help guide us in our daily lives and as a society? What does it mean to be kind to animals? What is our vision of animals in the future? Come and join us to explore these questions with guest speaker Carole Flood.

This presentation will begin with a review of basic information about the nature of the Bahá’í Faith, its founders, and its scriptures. Three Wilmette Institute staff—Robert Stockman, Justin Scoggin, and Ymasumac Marañón Davis—will explore the principles and beliefs about individual and collective development, and conclude with an overview of what Bahá’ís are learning in their efforts to serve humanity through community building, public discourse, and social action.

#freewebinar #Webinar #bahaifaith #bahai #wilmetteinstitute #wilmette #education #framework #action #principles #individual #collective #development #beliefs #publicdiscourse #socialaction

This webinar features a collaborative effort between the Wilmette Institute and NCCU (North Carolina Central University), a historically Black university in Durham, North Carolina. These two institutions utilized the power of combining theater and education to put on a thought-provoking play, The Bus Stop, that features how the mass incarceration of Black men affects Black women, their families, and the community. The panel will include two professors from NCCU – one who started the collaboration between the institutions and the other who mobilized her graduate students to facilitate the post-performance discussions and continued to challenge her students with transformative pedagogy to build capacity for social action. An NCCU graduate student, and formerly justice-involved activist will share their experiences in raising awareness about the need for reform. The Baha’i perspective on questioning the underlying assumptions of society and how we can approach the root causes of issues such as mass incarceration of people of color will be explored.

This webinar first introduces Bahá’u’lláh’s mystical Writings and describes His approach to using mystical concepts and symbols. Next, it examines the Bahá’í view on conventional practices, doctrines, experiences, and institutions that are the traditional loci of mysticism. It then considers the object of the spiritual journey in the Bahá’í Faith and provides an overview of the Bahá’í doctrines, concepts, and practices that redefine mysticism but continue the mystical narrative. This webinar concludes with a discussion of how the Bahá’í Faith offers an organic alternative to organized mysticism.

Speaker: Vargha Bolodo-Taefi

Vargha Bolodo-Taefi holds a BA in advanced Bahá’í studies and a PhD in politics and international affairs. He has worked across public and private sectors in trade and investment policy. His research interests include Bahá’í theology, Islamic philosophy, Bahá’í economics, comparative religion, asymmetric conflict, coercive diplomacy, and terrorism. He is currently serving in the Research Department at the Bahá’í World Centre.

This webinar will closely examine Bahá’u’lláh’s proclamatory addresses to Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-1878) of the Roman Catholic Church, Emperor Franz Joseph Hapsburg (r. 1848-1916) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Kaiser Wilhelm I (r. 1871-1888) of the German Empire. It is the first in a series of three webinars offered by the Wilmette Institute as part of a course scheduled to begin on Wednesday January 18th, 2023. For more details, visit the course page: God Summons Europe (Part II).

Presenter:

Shahrokh Monjazeb is an independent scholar of the Bahá’í history and sacred scripture. He began his scholarly endeavors in Bahá’í history around 1989 after he completed his undergraduate degree in Applied Physics and Electro-Acoustics with a minor in Religious Studies and Middle Eastern History. Two years later in 1991, he was invited to present at the annual conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies North America on one of Bahá’u’lláh major works. Since then he has been involved with Bahá’í academic research as well as the work of translating into English the writings of the Central Figures of the Bahá’í Faith. He is a published author and lecturer whose writings and presentations focus on Bahá’í Sacred Text and their literary and historical significance in the context of the socio-spiritual condition of human society. He has authored more than a couple of dozen articles on Bahá’í history and Sacred Text as well as a monograph on Bahá’u’lláh entitled “Bahá’u’lláh: A Brief Survey of His Life & Works”

“At each stage in human history, more complex levels of integration become not only possible, but necessary… The demands of the present moment are pushing existing structures for facilitating deliberations among nations, as well as systems of conflict resolution beyond their capacity…” – A Governance Befitting, BIC

While significant progress has been made toward advancing global order, “…recent events demonstrate that current arrangements are no longer sufficient … Integration and coordination must… be extended further…” (A Governance Befitting, BIC) This webinar examines the implications of the emergence of regional centres associated with global institutions in expanding state engagement in global law making. Drawing on findings from her most recent book, Forming Transnational Dispute Settlement Norms: Soft Law and the Role of UNCITRAL’s Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (Edward Elgar, 2021), this webinar explores the role of decentralized law making in the East Asian region and prospects for deepening global cooperation.

Presenter:

Shahla Ali is Professor and Associate Dean (International) & Director of the Program in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution at the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong. Her work centers on questions of governance, development and cross-border dispute resolution in the Asia Pacific region. She serves as a bilingual arbitrator (English/Chinese) with the UN Ombuds office and arbitral institutions in the US and East Asia. Her recent books including Forming Transnational Dispute Settlement Norms (Elgar, 2021) Court Mediation Reform (Elgar, 2018), Governing Disasters (Cambridge, 2016), Consumer Financial Dispute Resolution in a Comparative Context (Cambridge, 2013) and Resolving Disputes in the Asia Pacific (Routledge, 2010) have contributed to the emergence of a growing body of work examining comparative dispute resolution systems from an interdisciplinary perspective. She has been engaged in dispute resolution reform at the regional and global levels including with USAID, IFC/World Bank and the United Nations on issues pertaining to access to justice, peace process negotiation training, financial dispute resolution and land use conflict resolution. Shahla holds a BA from Stanford University in International Relations and Chinese language and a JD and PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

This second part of the original presentation dedicated to the Holy Maiden, who appeared before Bahá’u’lláh as detailed in Terry Culhane’s Bahá’í publication, I Beheld a Maiden, will continue to focus on the Sacred Feminine or Feminine Divine at the heart of the Bahá’í Faith. 

This multimedia presentation augmented with visual art images that previously focused on the Feminine Divine of Native America will expand globally to including the Ocean Mother, River Goddess and Grandmother Moon with symbolism of the Divine Feminine throughout the world.

Presenter:

Nadema Agard Winyan Luta (Woman Holy Red} is a Cherokee/Lakota/Powhatan artist, illustrator, curator, educator, lecturer, storyteller, writer, poet, published author, museum professional and consultant in Repatriation and Multicultural/ Native American arts and cultures. She earned a B.S. Degree from N.Y.U. and M.A. in Art and Education from Teacher's College, C.U. Her work spans more than four decades and includes multiple solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, and guest curatorship’s nationally and internationally. Describing her work, Nadema states: “My artwork has an individualistic style that draws upon cosmic subject matter. It has a global agenda from an Indigenous perspective and reflects the interconnection of myself as woman, mother, Indigenous world citizen, Native North American, spiritual being and warrior. My work has been influenced by the ceremonies of the Onondaga Longhouse, the Hopi Kiva on Second Mesa, the Full Moon and Sweat Lodge ceremonies of the Ojibwe, the Sundance of the Lakota, a pilgrimage to Medicine Wheel, Wyoming, Nanih Waiya Mound of the Choctaw, the Mayan Pyramid in Chichen Itza and Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, home of goddess Pele.”