{"id":69901,"date":"2021-04-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=69901"},"modified":"2021-04-05T07:41:57","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T14:41:57","slug":"discovering-beauty-worshipping-diverse-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/discovering-beauty-worshipping-diverse-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering the Beauty of Worshipping in a Diverse Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhen I went to my first Baha\u2019i gatherings, the amount of integration was quite stunning,\u201d says Eric Dozier<\/a>, a Baha\u2019i<\/a> living in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: The Joy of Meeting the Baha\u2019is in a Time of Segregation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this interview with the Race Unity Project<\/a>, Eric shares how the Baha\u2019i community\u2019s diversity impacted him. Since his previous religious experience was one of worshipping in the Black church, he \u201cwas not used to seeing religion like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric first learned about the Baha\u2019i Faith<\/a> while living in Durham, North Carolina. It is a \u201cvery very diverse \u2014 very active community. [I] still have phenomenal relationships with people that are still there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a>, one of the central figures of the Baha\u2019i Faith, said<\/a> that Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, the prophet and founder of the Baha\u2019i Faith, \u201chas drawn the circle of unity, He has made a design for the uniting of all the peoples, and for the gathering of them all under the shelter of the tent of universal unity.\u201d <\/strong>Baha\u2019is believe that \u201cwe must all strive with heart and soul until we have the reality of unity in our midst, and as we work, so will strength be given unto us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric says, \u201cWorship is an intimate act. It\u2019s not just you go, you say a couple of prayers, and you leave, but you\u2019re really opening your spirit and heart to have an encounter with the divine in the presence of other people. So, that\u2019s not a small feat to allow yourself to pray and be with people like that, particularly with people who may not pray like you \u2014 may chant or sing in a different language, which was not an experience I was used to \u2014 that are a different skin color than you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring these kinds of experiences is the goal of The Race Unity Project, an initiative produced by Journalism for Change, Inc, a nonprofit media organization founded by filmmaker and human rights activist Maziar Bahari. Through interviews with Baha\u2019is from around the country, the project tells \u201cthe century-long story of the American Baha\u2019i community and its efforts \u2014 as well as its tests and challenges \u2014 in promoting race unity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Videos from \u201cThe Race Unity Project\u201d include a variety of candid interviews about race \u2014 including stories of how the Baha\u2019i gospel choir fosters friendships with people from all over the world<\/a> and reflections on how the Baha\u2019i Faith affirms and empowers Black people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch as Eric also discusses why he especially loved reading what the Baha\u2019i writings had to say \u201cabout the eradication of racial prejudice and the roles that people have to play in getting rid of racism in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen I went to my first Baha\u2019i gatherings, the amount of integration was quite stunning,\u201d says Eric Dozier, a Baha\u2019i living in Florida. RELATED: The Joy of Meeting the Baha\u2019is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64356,"featured_media":70117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,1060],"tags":[3156,3188,2986],"series":[2934],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64356"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69901"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=69901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}