baha’is in newsweek magazine

In late April, Newsweek published a great article titled ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ discussing the re-discovery of pilgrimage as a spiritual transformative power. Unfortunately there was no single mention of the Baha’i Faith.

Today, in the September 17 edition, the following letter to the editor was published regarding the article:

Whose Sacred Spots?
Kudos to your writers for their April 30 piece “Pilgrim’s Progress,” chronicling religion’s grip on the human psyche the world over. Unfortunately, however, it also exposes their major blind spot in omitting mention of the places of pilgrimage of the Bahai faith, the world’s youngest independent religion, with its beautiful shrines on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa. With its worldwide following of less than 10 million, the Bahai faith has followers in more than 200 countries. The nine-sided Bahai temples in various capitals of the world are universally acknowledged as are architectural masterpieces of ecumenical symbolism. Finally, you should have included the profoundly touching photo, also titled “Pilgrim’s Progress,” portraying Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims prostrating themselves every step of the way on their two-year journey to Lhasa. It would have strengthened your description of humanity’s eternal quest.

Jamshed K. Fozdar
Singapore