The Baha'i Temple in Wilmette

On Saturday, 24 July, we headed to the little town of Wilmette, north of Chicago, to visit the Baha'i Temple, a landmark building in the US. You never heard of the Baha'i religion? I'm sure you are not the only one. I was introduced to it many years ago by Brazilian friends. "The Baha'i Faith is the youngest of the world’s independent monotheistic religions. Founded in Iran in 1844, it now has more than five million adherents in 236 countries and territories. Baha'is come from nearly every national, ethnic and religious background, making the Baha'i Faith the second-most-widespread religion in the world." (quoted from the Temple's website).

The building in Wilmette is one of just seven such temples in the whole world and like all Baha'i temples it is circular in shape, has nine sides and is surrounded by beautiful gardens and fountains.

Baha'is view the world's major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals his will to humanity. Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), the founder, is seen by members of the Baha'i faith as the most recent in a line of divine messengers that includes Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus and Muhammad. This is problematic, of course. Baha'is say that their prophet is the ONE for this age. But who is to say that he is the last one in the series, and not some unknown current prophet in the streets of Manila, London, or Accra? And what do you keep and what do you discard from the previous religions? How do you handle their contradictions? Who is to say that on a certain point Buddha was more right than Jesus? I hope you get my point.

But I have to admit that the central theme of the Baha'is message is very appealing and most needed in today's world: "that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for humanity’s unification into one global society" (also from the temple's website). Their efforts to reconcile science with religion are also noteworthy. And they are supportive of a global form of government (a less power-corrupt UN, I suppose).

There is more below on the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette from their own website:

"Construction of the Baha'i House of Worship for the North American Continent in Wilmette, Ill. was completed in 1953. (...)

Groundbreaking for the House of Worship, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, occurred on May 1, 1912, in a ceremony blessed with the presence and participation of Abdu'l-Baha, son of the Founder of the Baha'i Faith. Construction began in earnest in 1920, and the temple was formally dedicated on May 1, 1953.

Not long after the first World’s Parliament of Religions introduced Americans to the Baha'i Faith at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the Faith took hold and gradually gained momentum in the United States. Interest was particularly strong in the Chicago area, where Corinne True, one of the first American Baha’is, rallied the support of the more than 1,000 Baha’is throughout the country at the time to have the first Baha'i House of Worship in North America built in the Midwest.

Ms. True came to the Faith after losing two children to illness. Struggling to maintain her faith in God, she explored various religions. When she discovered the Baha'i Faith in 1899, she embraced it almost immediately. Abdu’l-Baha established a regular correspondence with Ms. True. In 1907 she visited Him in Akka, Palestine, to deliver a scroll containing the signatures of more than 1,000 American Baha’is who pledged to support the construction of a Baha'i House of Worship in the United States, specifically in the Chicago area. During one of their talks, Abdu’l-Baha told Ms. True he would like the temple to be built away from the business district and near the lakeshore. He showed her His plan for a building with nine sides surrounded by gardens, walkways and fountains.

Ms. True told Him she had explored areas just north and south of Chicago. She was particularly excited about several locations in Evanston and Wilmette, just north of Chicago. She felt one site, on a bluff in Wilmette overlooking Lake Michigan, was the “chosen place.” The delegates at a Baha'i convention held in 1907 thought so too. The Baha’is purchased the land and started gathering at the site, even before ground was broken, for prayer meetings. (...) And in 1953, the House of Worship for the North American Continent opened its doors and continues to be a place where "all religions, races and sects may come together within its universal shelter.""

(L)