"Bahá’à Thought" - 5 new articles
Spiritual Self-Mastery and Mental Health
I wanted Baha'i Thought readers to know about an awesome workshop that will be taking place at Bosch Baha'i School in December entitled, "Spiritual Mastery and Mental Health". The info is below. I particulary hope readers on the West Coast take advantage of this opportunity and then comment on your experience on this blog so the rest of us can learn from you! Also, learn more about the Baha'i Association for Mental Health here.
Dear Friends,We hope to see you at the BAMH workshop at Bosch to be held on Dec 18-20, 2009 entitled "Spiritual Self-Mastery and Mental Health". Drawing upon the explanations of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, this workshop will focus on the nature of the soul, its relationship to the rational mind, its interaction with the reactive physical self, and the stages of spiritual development. It will feature experiential and interactive exercises exploring the processes of prayer and meditation and deep listening, and it will explore their practical applications in increasing unity and opening options for acts of service, all essential to intensive programs of growth. It will be facilitated by Dulamdary Enkhtor, M.A., Ph. D. candidate in Clinical and Community Psychology, and Mary K. Radpour, LCSW, psychotherapist in private practice. The workshop is not limited to mental health professionals, and is open and suitable to wider audience. Please, see below the link to the detailed information on Bosch website.http://guest.cvent.com/i.aspx?1Q,P1,CC4548BE-32C2-4F3E-A307-6357849B66FF  Baha'i Dad Chronicles: 13 Months
I think I'm turning into one of those dads who just want to talk about their kids all the time. Oh well, I guess there are worse states of being, right? Douglass Ali had another busy month of milestones and adventures. One of the things he got to do was meet some old friends of his mommy's from her college days. He also figured out that in addition to taking all the pots and pans out of the cupboard, he can also crawl inside there and hang around a bit. His walking has given way to running which apparently works better if you also giggle while you do it. Maybe giggling would get me running around a bit myself. He continues with his fascination with placing objects inside other objects. Apparently his mother's cell phone ended up in the trash because of this fascination. More recently, he has discovered climbing. He will spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to climb onto or into something. I'm certain I'm going to discover him on top of the refrigerator one of these days. The biggest adventure of the month was celebrating his cousin's birthday. That's where he discovered one of those things that's full of multicolored balls that kids jump around in. He. Loved. It. Finally, he's getting into the swing of the "play date" thing. He had several visits with other Baha'i kids in the area. Good times indeed. Let's see what the next month will bring!
 Good Without God
Beside ads beckoning believers to explore Islam, attend services at the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, or learn about the healing powers of Christian Science, the walls of the city’s subway cars will make room this month for another creed: nonbelief. A group called the Boston Area Coalition of Reason has spent $11,000 to buy ads on more than 200 subway cars on the Red Line and Green Line to raise awareness about people who believe that God is a myth. Surveys suggest that they account for an increasing number of Americans. The ads, which were unveiled yesterday and will be up for the next month, are set in a background of blue sky with puffy clouds. The bold-lettered message reads: “Good without God? Millions of Americans Are.’’ “The point of this ‘Good without God’ campaign is to reach out to the millions of humanists, atheists, and agnostics living in the United States,’’ said Fred Edwords, head of the United Coalition of Reason, which is sponsoring the campaign in Boston, as well as similar efforts in New York, New Jersey, and Chicago. “Nontheists sometimes don’t realize there’s a community out there for them, because they’re inundated with religious messages at every turn. So we hope this will serve as a beacon and let them know they aren’t alone.’’ The national coalition, funded by an anonymous donor, has already sponsored ads this year on billboards and transit systems in cities including Dallas; Charleston, S.C.; Des Moines; Phoenix; and New Orleans, with the message: “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.’’ Anyone familiar with this blog knows that I yawn in the face of the so called 'New Atheism'. This article bugged me though. Not because there is anything wrong with people of any belief system promoting their views or trying to alert those with similar beliefs that they are not alone. What bugged me was the following portion: They also point to polls suggesting that the numbers of nonbelievers are increasing. A 2007 Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, for example, found that 20 percent of Americans surveyed between the ages of 18 and 25 say they have no religious affiliation or consider themselves atheists or agnostics, nearly double the percentage of those who said that in a similar survey 20 years ago. Another Pew survey that year found 12 percent of Americans surveyed who were 20 and older described themselves as not religious, up from 8 percent in 1987. The author of this article lumps being 'unaffiliated' or describing oneself as not religious together with being atheist or agnostic. This gives the impression that there is some kind of rising tide of 'nonbelievers' in America. However, being unaffiliated or identifying as non-religious in a survey tells us nothing about a person's belief or lack of belief in God. Rejection of organized religion, a well documented phenomenon in contemporary social science, is not the same thing as rejecting God. Research suggests that the "Nones" as they now being called, are a a complex and diverse group only a small portion of which could be considered atheists. Some have characterized these Americans as those who "believe but don't belong", which may be a more accurate description than "nonbelievers".
Good without God? I'd settle for good journalism.
 Baha'i Dad Chronicles: Busy Boy
 Hot Bloggin': October 2009
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