May 23, 1844

"Bahai is not a religion; it is Religion." Three or four years ago it achieved great prominence in this country by reason of plans for the Bahai Temple at Wilmette, on the shores of Lake Michigan, near Chicago.

Louis Bourgeois, of New Jersey, designed the Temple in three units: first story, Roman; second, Greek, with Chinese pagoda effect; third, the Dome. There were 9 sides with 9 doors for the 9 religions of the world.

It was constructed for Worship, Beauty, Music, not Preaching. G. G. Barnard called it "the first new conception in architecture since the Gothic in the 13th Century."

Last week, Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, famed reformed Jew leader, gave the cause a fresh start by opening a Bahai conference in Manhattan. "The time is come," said he, "when religions should unite . . . The faith that is true is the faith of every man that holds it in truth and that lives it in the spirit."

Mountfort Mills, senior warden of St. Marks-in-the-Bouwerie (classic dancing church of Dr. Guthrie) is head of the Bahai movement in New York. Bahai hopes to capitalize present denominational differences. Further conferences will be held.

Mirza Ali Mahamad began preaching in southern Persia at the age of 19, on May 23, 1844. He prophesied the coming of the Great Teacher. He was condemned and shot to death in 1850. Of his followers, 20,000 were killed by the Sultan.

The Great Teacher came. He was Baha' O'llah (Blessed Manifestation). He was the grandson of a Grand Vizier of Persia. He died in 1892, but left a son who had been born May 23, 1844. The son--Abdul Baha--kept a shrine at Akka, Syria. He died in 1921, after having been knighted by King George V for War-services. He loved "flowers and light."

Bahai aims to unite all sects, creeds, races, in love and the other well-known phrases. Its principle of unity has already been violated by schism.