SALEM

Child's questions lead to conversion

College professor turns to Baha'i after his daughter attends a class

SHAWN DAY
Statesman Journal

November 20, 2004

When the time came to teach his 4-year-old daughter about religion and spiritual development, Hamid Behmard remembered the Baha'i worshippers he admired while growing up in Iran.

The religion taught equality and unity. The faithful believed that members of many religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all worshipped the same God. And there was no belief in a distinct heaven or hell -- just another world after death for the spirit to grow.

"It was very desirable," Behmard said. "I was also very confident of the information that was given to her that there was no hidden agenda, and it really is meant for her spiritual growth."

So Behmard and his wife, Sheeny, enrolled their daughter in a children's Baha'i class. They didn't expect her to start pressing them for answers.

"She started asking a lot of questions that we didn't know the answers to," said Behmard, who was raised by Muslim parents but never practiced religion. "So we joined a class for grownups that was organized by Baha'i."

About five years later, the couple professed their belief in the faith.

Behmard and his wife, along with their daughter, now 11, and son, 4, join about a dozen other area Baha'i worshippers each Sunday morning for services at the North Neighborhood Resource Center in northeast Salem.

The group does not have a pastor. Instead, members take turns leading the service, which includes about 30 minutes of reading aloud scriptural passages from numerous faiths, including Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. Members also sing a capella hymns with themes of unity and equality.

Baha'i was founded as a religion in the mid-1800s in the Middle East by a man named Baha'u'llah, who preached that people of all faiths worshipped the same God and that Moses, Jesus and Muhammad were members of a line of messengers sent by God.

Each served a spiritual purpose during their respective time period and, according to Baha'i faith, Baha'u'llah was the most recent messenger.

An estimated 5 million people from more than 200 countries are members of the Baha'i faith, according to the religion's official Web site.

Area worshippers do not have the membership yet to construct a specifically designed Baha'i worship building, but Gene Bronwick, 60, grew up practicing the Baha'i faith and has attended meetings and services in Salem since the 1950s.

"We just do what we do," Bronwick said. "Sometime in the future, every city might have a more purpose-built building for the faith."

For Behmard, a West Salem resident and professor at Western Oregon University, the Baha'i faith has helped fill the void that had been in his life before he began pursuing spiritual growth.

"It is really revolutionary from the point that it is really looking into the future," Behmard said. "And it believes that ... humanity will start growing toward an aim that really dissolves all the small arguments and fights and wars and prejudices around the world."

slday@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 589-6941

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Baha'i

The religion, founded in the Middle East during the mid-19th century, has grown to include roughly 5 million people from more than 200 countries.

The faith focuses on a theme of unity and peace among people, and it contends that followers of different religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all worship the same -- and only -- God.

For information about local Baha'i assemblies, call (503) 363-8089. For information about the faith, go to http://www.bahai.org/.