Baha'i Practiced in Maryland

October 15, 2000

Source: The Baltimore Sun

On September 15, 2000, The Baltimore Sun reported on the Baha'i community of Howard County. It reports that there are approximately 150 followers who gather together weekly for "food, social interaction, prayer and a discussion of one of the faith's tenets." At a recent Friday evening gathering, the "cosmopolitan group of 20 Baha'is encircled the designated speaker, and another member began an informal prayer: 'Thank you, Lord our God, who unifies the spirit of all and fulfills our needs,' said Dermot McHugh, an agronomist for the U.S. Agency for International Development."

"'Science teaches us ways and tools, but religion provides the instruction on how to use it,'" said Farhad Tahmasebi, a mechanical engineer with NASA and the guest speaker...Exploring the Big Bang Theory, Tahmasebi attempted to enable the group to see the relationship between science and religion. 'We had an explosion, we had atoms, but who created those atoms?' Tahmasebi said.... A monotheistic religion, the Baha'i faith's central tenets are oneness with God, oneness of religion and the oneness of mankind."