Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity.

A beautiful Bahai Quote!
That refreshes and gladdens the spirit.

"Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answer to the cry of the needy, a preserver of sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgement and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meeknes to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of right eousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility, We pray God to protect thee from the heat of jealousy and the cold of hatred. He verily is nigh, ready to answer."
Bahá'u'lláh
(www.bahai.org)

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God- your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
Marianne Williamson

Human Rights Day in Germany puts spotlight on Iran.

Human Rights Day in Germany puts spotlight on Iran

LANGENHAIN, Germany, 9 December (BWNS) – Youth from a drama troupe joined with local dignitaries this week to address themes of exclusion and prejudice as they commemorated Human Rights Day with the Baha'i community of Germany.

The program took place at the National Baha'i Center on the grounds of the European Baha'i House of Worship, with more than 200 people in attendance.

The performance by the People's Theater, a youth project in the city of Offenbach, took a look at relationships between native Germans and immigrants, while other parts of the program focused on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran, especially a group of some 50 young people in Shiraz who are being punished for organizing activities for underprivileged children. Three of the Shiraz group are serving four-year prison sentences. http://www.peoplestheater.de/

"I find it deeply shocking that the Baha'i youth in Shiraz engage in social activities in the same way as we do in Offenbach, but with one difference – whereas here in Germany our efforts are rewarded with prizes, the Baha'i youth in Shiraz must pay for their services to Iranian society with prison sentences and other coercive measures," said Peggy Habermann, coordinator of the People's Theater.



Kamal Sido, head of the Near East division of the Society for Threatened Peoples, attended the gathering and offered words of support for those persecuted in Iran.

The chairwoman of the Green Party in the German Federal State of Hesse, Kordula Schulze-Asche, expressed indignation over the human rights violations perpetrated in Iran, as did Gisela Stang, mayor of Hofheim, which encompasses Langenhain.

Messages were read from two members of the German Federal Parliament, Erika Steinbach of the Christian Democratic Union and Omid Nouripour of the Green Party.

Ingo Hofmann, representing the Baha'i community of Germany, presented an overview of the current situation of the Baha'is in Iran. In Shiraz, he said, Haleh Rouhi, Raha Sabet, and Sasan Taqva, had organized, with permission from authorities, an educational program for underprivileged children. They were later accused of having propagated the Baha'i Faith, even though a report commissioned by the government concluded that their activities were strictly humanitarian. The three were sentenced to prison terms.

Before performing "Souls of Shiraz," a piece composed for the occasion, musician Anke Keitel spoke of the invisible ties she feels with those imprisoned in Iran.

"Haleh, Raha, and Sasan believe just like me in the universality of human rights. They strive to foster the well-being of humanity, just as I do. And they are just as young as I am," she said.

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world and marks the anniversary of the adoption – on 10 December 1948 – by the United Nations General Assembly of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.



To read the article with photographs, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/740

For the Baha’i World News Service home page, go to:
http://news.bahai.org

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow them. Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.

Anke Keitel, before performing her song “Souls of Shiraz,” composed especially for the Human Rights program, musician Anke Keitel explains the ties she feels with the young people of Iran.

http://www.myspace.com/ankekeitel

Over 200 people attended the Human Rights Day program at the Baha'i National Center in Germany on 6 December 2009. The building is near the European Baha’i House of Worship.



“The Baha'i House of Worship is itself an architectural monument to human rights, since different religions come into contact here,” she said.

Can you love your enemies?

Video:

Love Your Enemies from Kristen Miller on Vimeo.

O Lord, grant us to love Thee: grant that we may love those that love Thee; grant that we may do the deeds that win Thy love.

(Islam: Muhhamad)

Hatres is not conlquered by hatres at any time, but hatred is won by love: this is an eternal truth

(Hinduism: Gautama Buddha)

“I say this to you who are listening. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too….Love your enemies. ”
(Christianity: Luke 6:27-29)

If others hurl their darts against you, offer them milk and honey in return; if they poison your lives, sweeten their souls; if they injure you, teach them how to be comforted; if they inflict a wound upon you, be a balm to their sores; if they sting you, hold to their lips a refreshing cup.

(Baha’i Faith: Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha, Page 24)

“All [human] creatures are God’s children, and those dearest to God are those who treat His children kindly.”

(Islam: Hadith of Baihaqi)

The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo!, he between whom and you there was enmity shall become as though he were a bosom friend!

(Islam: Koran 41.34)

Better [is] a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

^{(Judaism: Proverbs 17.9)}

Conquer anger by love. Conquer evil by good. Conquer the stingy by giving. Conquer the liar by truth.

(Buddhism: Dhammapada 223)

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I [am] the LORD.

(Judaism: Leviticus 19.18)

Religion helps fight AIDS/HIV

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Strategies to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people could be more effective if they tapped into the power of religious belief and practice.

That is the finding of researchers who studied the knowledge and attitudes of young people in relation to HIV/AIDS and sexual behavior.

The study, sponsored by UNICEF and conducted by the Varqa Foundation here, found that young people who knew and followed the teaching of their religion were much less likely to have engaged in sexual intercourse than those who did not, by a rate of 18 percent to 45 percent respectively.

"Prevention strategies for the spread of HIV/AIDS should harness religious belief and practice, especially in societies such as Guyana where religious affiliation remains strong," wrote the study's authors in an article published in the March 2007 issue of the International Journal of STD and AIDS.

Guyana has the third highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, which is the second-most afflicted region in the world.

"Many specialists working in international development are somewhat uncomfortable with faith-based efforts at personal and community transformation -- such as to prevent HIV-AIDS," said Brian O'Toole, the lead author in the study, in an interview.

"But this study suggests that in a country like Guyana, where many people have strong faith-based beliefs, it might be possible to draw on spiritual inspiration to address some of the problems facing society," said Dr. O'Toole, who is also director of the Varqa Foundation, which is a Baha'i-inspired social and economic development agency based in Guyana.

Other authors included Roy McConkey, a professor in the health promotion group at the Institute of Nursing Research at the University of Ulster; Karen Casson, also of the University of Ulster; Debbie Goetz-Goldberg, a researcher with Health for Humanity, another Baha'i-inspired agency; and Arash Yazdani, a youth volunteer.

More than 2,000 people aged 12-20 were surveyed for the study. They completed anonymous, self-reporting questionnaires about sexual behavior, their understanding of HIV/AIDs and the way it spreads, and attitudes towards issues like virginity and condom use.

Ninety-five percent of respondents were aware that HIV could be contracted from sexual contact with someone who was HIV positive. However, less than a third (29.5 percent) were able to state up to three other ways that HIV could spread and only 37 percent were able to name three ways of self-protection.

The survey also found that in Guyana, nearly 25 percent of young people aged 12-14 were sexually active, a percentage that rose to more than 33 percent for those 15 and older. Nearly half of the males over the age of 15 were sexually active, according to the survey.

Respondents were asked if they were aware of their religion's teaching on sexual matters and whether they followed it. Just over 35 percent of the young people said they did, with another 22 percent knowing the teaching but not following it.

The authors also concluded that peer education should be another element in any strategy of HIV/AIDS prevention.

"The content and delivery of educational inputs must be capable of being adapted to local contexts preferably by persons who are very familiar with those situations," wrote the authors. "In this respect, peer education would appear to offer some promise."

Dr. O'Toole noted that the study was carried out by a network of young people who themselves had been inspired by a faith-based, peer-education leadership training program known as Youth Can Move the World (YCMTW), also sponsored by the Varqa Foundation.

"Usually in this type of survey you get a couple of hundred responses," said Dr. O'Toole. "We were able to get several thousand because of the network of young people established by the Youth Can Move the World project."

Founded by Varqa in 1997, the YCMTW program has used peer education methods to train more than 7,000 Guyanese young people in strategies to prevent alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence.

Among other things, the program uses inspirational passages from the holy writings of the major religions in Guyana to help young people draw on their spiritual heritage in an effort to prevent risky behavior. In Guyana, about 50 percent of the population is Christian, 35 percent is Hindu, 10 percent is Muslim. The remaining five percent of the people belong to other religions, including the Baha'i Faith.

(http://news.bahai.org/story/520)

--
Best regards
Husseim Stuck C.

Alber Einstein proofs the unability of Evil to exist

In English:
A university professor challenged his students with this question.
"Did God create everything that exists? A student bravely
replied, "Yes, He did!" "God created everything?" the professor
asked. "Yes, sir," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created
evil, since evil exists. And according to the principal that our
works Define who we are, then God is evil." The student became quiet
before such an answer.

The professor was quite pleased with himself, and boasted to the
students that he had proven once more that the faith in God is a
myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question,
professor?" "Of course," replied the professor. The student stood up
and asked,"Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never
been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.
The young man replied, "In fact, sir, cold does not exist. According
to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is, in reality, the
absence of heat. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it
has or transmits energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total
absence of heat. All matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction
at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word
to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?" The
professor responded,"Of course it does." The student replied, "Once
again you are wrong, sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness
is, in reality, the absence of light. We can study light, but not
darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break white light
into many colors and study the various wave lengths of each color.
You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break
into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how
dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present.
Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what
happens when there is no light present."

Finally, the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"
Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have
already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of
man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and
violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing
else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least
it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It
is just like darkness and cold -- a word that man has created to
describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not
like faith, or love, that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is
the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present
in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat,
or the darkness that comes when there is no light."


The professor sat down. The young student's name -- Albert Einstein.

Friedens Appell ; Es rühme sich nicht, wer sein Vaterland liebt, sondern wer die ganze Welt liebt.

Friedens Appell


„Es rühme sich nicht, wer sein Vaterland liebt, sondern wer die ganze Welt liebt. Die Erde ist nur ein Land, und alle Menschen sind seine Bürger.“

Durch den vierjährigen Besuch der Internationalen Bahá’í Schule Townshend, wo ich die

Bahá’í Religion kennen gelernt habe und durch den täglichen Kontakt mit anderen Bahá’í aus verschiedenen Ländern der Welt (und wo ich mich an meinem 19 jährigen Geburtstag als Bahá’í erklärt habe), ist mir bewusst geworden, dass alle Menschen zwar verschieden in ihren Eigenschaften sind, aber alle von demselben Gott stammen. Nur weil jemand eine andere Sprache spricht, eine andere Hautfarbe oder eine andere Religion hat, macht es ihn nicht schlechter oder besser als andere. Daher finde ich das Konzept “Vaterland” auch unsinnig oder falsch. Wieso sollte ich die Mitglieder eines Landes mehr lieben als die anderer Länder?

Vielmehr als Bahá’í sehe ich die Erde als ein Land und die gesamte Menschheit als ihre Bürger. Meine Überzeugung ist, dass alle Menschen den Auftrag haben, in Einigkeit, Frieden und Gerechtigkeit miteinander leben zu lernen. Dieser Lernprozess ist gerade in unserer Zeit sehr wichtig in den zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen wie in den Beziehungen zwischen Ländern oder Nationen. Ich glaube auch das Leben ist ein Geschenk Gottes und ich habe nicht das Recht, das Leben eines anderen zu nehmen. Alle meine Freunde und Verwandte kommen aus verschiedenen Nationen, gegen sie womöglich in einer kämpferischen Auseinandersetzung zu sein und jemand aus deren Nation zu töten scheint mir unvorstellbar und völlig unsinnig. Es würde in mir tiefe Gewissenskonflikte auslösen und ich möchte keine solche Schuld auf mich laden und meine Seele nicht mit der Tötung anderer Menschen belasten.

Für mich hat das Gebot des Nicht Tötens nicht nur eine religiöse Rechtfertigung sondern auch eine ethische. Ich bin zur der Erkenntnis gekommen, dass ich überhaupt nicht in der Lage wäre, jemanden zu töten. Schon als Kind habe ich nie versucht, Konfliktsituationen mit Gewalt zu lösen und ich bin daher nicht interessiert, das in Zukunft zu tun.

Selbst Albert Einstein hat schon gesagt ‘Nichts wird Kriege abschaffen, wenn nicht die Menschen selbst den Kriegsdienst verweigern”. Es muss also eine völlig andere Geisteshaltung in den Menschen existieren, damit Weltfrieden herrscht und mein Beitrag zu diesem Weltfrieden ist, dass ich den Dienst mit der Waffe verweigere.

Überhaupt habe ich große Zweifel, dass ein Krieg das geeignete Mittel in einer Konfliktsituation ist. Nehmen wir als Beispiel nur mal den Irak-Krieg. Es wurde der Öffentlichkeit erzählt, dass der Grund des Angriffs auf Irak der sei, dass Irak der “Drahtzieher” der Terroristenangriffe sei und außerdem Atomwaffen besitze. Keine von beiden Anschuldigungen hat sich als die Wahrheit herausgestellt. Die Öffentlichkeit wurde also belogen (manipuliert) und die wirklichen Interessen waren andere (wahrscheinlich wirtschaftlicher Natur). Meine feste Überzeugung ist, dass ein Krieg niemals die Lösung von Konfliktsituationen sein kann. Auch wenn im äußersten Verteidigungsfall der Einsatz von Waffen vertretbar sein kann, möchte ich persönlich niemals eine Waffe auf einen anderen Menschen richten und das aus meiner religiösen und ethischen Überzeugung. Ich verweigere daher den Dienst mit der Waffe, aber ich bin gerne bereit stattdessen einen Zivildienst zu leisten.

In meinem Leben möchte ich einen konstruktiven Beitrag zum Wohlergehen der Menschen leisten. Als Bahá’í bin ich verpflichtet, ein Jahr meines Lebens in den Dienst der Gesellschaft zu stellen, daher habe ich mich für 12 Monate bei Peoples Theater in Offenbach verpflichtet. Das ist eine Organisation, die mittels Theatervorführungen durch darstellende Tänze soziale Probleme (z.B. Drogen, Gewalt und Vorurteile) vor Augen führt und versucht die Gesellschaft davor zu warnen und zu erziehen, dass Probleme auch anders gelöst werden können, durch respektvolle Auseinandersetzung mit der Meinung anderer, durch Beratung und nicht durch Gewalt.

Obwohl ich nie in Deutschland gelebt habe, habe ich dennoch eine enge Beziehung zu diesem Land. (Hier wurde mein Vater geboren, hier leben meine Grosseltern, ich selbst habe Deutschland durch viele Besuche in meiner Kindheit kennen gelernt.) Ich finde es positiv, dass die Menschen hier Frieden wollen und nicht an kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen interessiert sind. Nach meiner Zeit bei Peoples Theater möchte ich ein Studium in Deutschland anfangen, wahrscheinlich im ökologischen Bereich.

Ich bedanke mich für die Zeit, die Sie sich genommen haben um meine Ausführungen zu lesen und ich hoffe, dass meine vielseitigen Gründe verständlich, schlüssig und auch in Ihren Augen ausreichend sind, um mich als Kriegsdienstverweigerer anzuerkennen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

„Es rühme sich nicht, wer sein Vaterland liebt, sondern wer die ganze Welt liebt. Die Erde ist nur ein Land, und alle Menschen sind seine Bürger.“