# Baha'i Doctrine Attracts Non-whites *Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.* --- > '.l he l~tional Leader 14 October 20, 1983 > > Baha'i doctrine attracts non-white: > . I > By James S. Tinney House of Justice. Mitchell, a Jamai- know who they are, and they realize > In many ways, Baha'is (pro- can-born American citizen who that Black is a wonderful thing to be, > nounced bah-hi) seem to be ahead of taught at Howard University prior to but never in opposition to any other > the times. They preach a radical serving 14 years of the National Spiri- color." > equality between men and women tual Assembly, however, is not the Unlike some Eastern religions > that has earned them persecution in first Black person at the Baha'is international headquarters in Haifa, Is- which seem to negate individuality > Third World countries unwilling to and all race consciousness ( and the > give women full rights. And they not rael, where its founder Baha'u'llah > was tortured a_nd died a prisoner of Baha'i religion is unique in that it atonly proclaim racial equality and the tempts to combine the best elements > end of prejudice as a lofty goal, they the Turks in 1892. > He was preceded by Amoz Gibson, a of all the major Eastern and Western > work to make it so. religions) , the Baha'i faith does not > Washington, D.C.-born educator who > spent most of his adult life on American Indian reservations, an unusual of heritage and racial pride in some > kind of colorless integration. > I > expect Black followers to lose a sense 1 > > sight for many to behold - a Black > man devoted to full time im- "We Qelieve in unity with diversity. > provement of the status of First We do not believe in uniformity," ex- > Americans. But that is as typical of plains Brady. "If I have non-Black > Baha'i followers as anything. They Baha'is in my home, I don't serve > have a vision larger than concrete them a Caesar salad. I serve smothspaces and they regard the entire ered chicken and collard greens. The > world as their home, not just a parish. richness of all the human family is va- > They live out their lives as members lued." > Glenford Mitchell Magdalen Carney of an international order that envi- Similarly, Brady believes that Basions the coming of one world govern- ha'is are best equipped to deal with > While many Christians just talk ment. white people in truly mutual, self-reabout it, Baha'is do it. Consequently, Baha'is may not number very many specting fashion. She says : "I didn't > this world faith which began in the heads, as far as counting goes, but have to learn how to deal with white > 19th century in what is now Iran, has they are not newcomers to the reli- people, because growing up in a Bagreat appeal for those Black Ameri- gious scene. Take Dr. 'Wilma Brady, ha'i home, I had been around white > cans who seek a truly international for example. A member of the faith people, and people from every counapproach to religion that is perhaps who lives in Atlanta, Brady prides try, all of my life. " > the most racially integrated of any herself on the fact that she belongs to This national Baha'i figure sums up > faith on American soil. > The Baha'i faith boasts that more > than 30 percent of.4 its members in the > a four-generation family of Baha 'is. > Not only were her mother and father converts to the faith (they joined > her sense of racial pride by saying, "I > teach my little babies spirituals. I > love the blues. I love being who I am. > I > in the '30s) , but her son and grandchil- And it's all all right." > U.S . are Afro-Am hican. Only one or dren are also. Brady is one of the People join this religion for many ' > two other denominations can make three Black members of the National reasons. And all kinds and sorts of I > similar claims - among them, most Spiritual Assembly ; her son, Dr. Rob- people join. Even among Black Ba- ' > notably, the Seventh Day Adventists. ert Henderson of Atlanta, is another. ha'is, there is no one kind of back- > But the Baha'is additionally can In fact, this marks the first time that ground that seems more attracted to > claim that the remaining 70 percent is a mother-son combination has ever the faith·. > not mostly-white either. It is, instead. served together on that panel. Barbara Eaton Bond, a member of > mostly composed of people of color " In the beginning, it was a struggle the Local Spiritual Assembly in Washand of Third World origin. to live up to the faith ," she says. " But ington, D.C ., was a single parent, di- > Take the chief governing body of after a brief period of rebellion as a vorced, with four little children, when > the 100,000 adherents here in the U.S. youth, I came back to the Baha'i faith she decided to become a follower. For > This top-level administration, known at the age of 15. I couldn 't stay away . I her, it was the writings of Baha'u'llah > as the National Spiritual Assembly, missed the freedom and liberty that that attracted her, especially the two > has nine members, all of whom jointly comes from knowing who you are as a chief books by the founder: the Book > share equal r ank. Their nationalities? Black person. The Baha 'i faith tea- of Laws and the Book of Certitude. " I > They include an American Indian, an ches you that - but never defines stayed up half the night reading those > Asian-American, an Iranian - or Blackness simply in reaction to some books, even though I had to get up ear- > Persian, as Baha'is are still wont to other racial or ethnic group.' ' ly the next morning to go to work." > say - three white Americans and For Brady, who has reared seven Someone might get the impression > three Blacks. children, all of whom are also now that most Blacks who join represent a > Until last year, the entire work in practicing this religion, the Baha'i well-heeled middle-class with the > this country was directed by another faith is especially important for Black built-in advantages of a good educa- > Black Baha 'i member, Glenford children defining their own sense of tion. Not so, say Baha' is. On the other > Mitchell. who has since been elevated identity, and for all Black people who hand, there is something about the rehy popular vote to become a spiritual seek to love themselves at the same ligion's emphasis on universal com- > ·servant " nn the worldwide govern- time they love everyone else. " Little pulsory education - meaning > a nce unit known as the lnternationai Black children in Baha' i families everybody at all times must be a > ~- .J, > > National Leader Octobe'r 20, 1983 Carolina town to another, Deas has al~ > most singlehandedly carved out th > "BAHA'I DOCTRINE .'\TTRACTS NON-WHITES" ( con) territory for her religion. Her conver > sion to this religion came after year > of searching and trying first the Bap > searcher for truth and a learner of tist, then the Presbyterian, and even- > God's progressive revelation - that tually the Episcopalian > brings people to a higher level of edu- denominations. "I've been a searcher > cational achievement that they might all of my life," she stresses. But now > not have otherwise been motivated to > attain. · she believes she has found what she > Of course, this is attractive to both was looking for. > . . the formally education and the self- Some compare her dedication and > ~ducated. No wonder, then, that fa- zeal to none other than the man for > ·mous Black Baha'i members include whom her school is named. Louis Gre- > Rob~rt Abbott, the founder of the Chi- gory was the first Black American to > convert to the faith in 1922. A Fisk > graduate, he earned a Howard law degree and then went to work for the · > Treasury Department before finally > traveling to Egypt to meet the son of > the founder of the Baha'i faith. He > was also one of the nine original members of the very first National Spiritual Assembly. > Today, Black members of the Baha'i religion are very much in the > news in South Carolina. Both whites > Robert Henderson Alberta Deas and even some Blacks steeped in tracago Defen_der newspaper; Alain ditionalism cannot understand why > Locke, the first Black Rhodes schol- the governor of the state has appointar; Robert Hayden, the acclaimed ed a Black Baha'i named Alonzo Nespoet; and Matthrew Bullock a Har- mith to the board of trustees of the > vard-trained lawyer and the first Citadel College - an elite, private > Black coach at any white college. Diz- military school. At 26, he is also the > zy Gillespie is also a Baha'i. > But mariy just-as-important but un- ·1 youngest board member ever. But > known farmers and sharecroppers Baha'is attract the attention and adand poor people, both rural and ur- miration of nearly everyone who > ban, have also joined. The success of comes in contact with them. > this religion in the state of South Caro- Everyone may not agree with their > lina, for instance, is due to the large · estimation of Jesus Christ -they say > following among Black rural dwell- he was one of a line of prophets, and > ers. Probably there are more Black !lot the son of God in a unique sense of > Baha'is in South Carolina, followed by incarnation. But no one can gainsay > Georgii,1, than anywhere in the na,tion. their modeling of a new world order 1 > Mrich of the credit for the Carolina that puts even the United Nations to > growtti belongs to Alberta Deas, who · shame. > went away to get an education and This is probably the only church - > then returned to "dig out" and "build perhaps the only group of any kind - > up" the l:3aha'i faith in her home area. that prohibits campaigning for office > Deas now heads the Louis Gregory In- and relies exclusively on a popula; > stitute in Hemingway, S.C., an adult- . vote without nominations. It is also • > education school that is named after a the only Black man and operated primarily by dictates that whenever there is a tie > Blacks, although persons of all races between two candidates, the election > attend. The Baha'i school was started always goes to the non-white person if > in 1972. there is one. > "My grandfather was an AME min- It's a good rule. And it works for the > ister," Deas states, "and my father Baha'is. It's the kind of policy that atwas a deacon in the church for 58 tracted people like Dr. Magdalene > years. Now he too is a Baha'i." Not Cai:ney, who had spent the '60s coordionly him, but 35 other members of nating desegregation struggles in > Deas' family. Canton, Mississippi. A few days ago, > Operating with a largely volunteer Carney went to Israel where she is > staff, ~nd doing the legwork herself, now an "international counselor" (or > travehng every day from one small world representative) for the religion. > For her, the Baha'i insistence that all > its members eliminate prejudice of > all kinds, both in their own lives and in > ..society, forms a line of continuity with > ·h~r former civil rights activities. > > — *Baha'i Doctrine Attracts Non-whites (Used by permission of the curator)*