Spiritual Journey

In the middle of the Bible belt exists a relatively young religion from the Middle East, the same area of the world where the ancient religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam originated. In the mid 1840s, Siyid Ali-Muhammad, a Persian merchant, later known as Baha'u'llah, proclaimed to be a manifestation and messenger of God. He set out to promote spiritual rebirth and unity. Followers of Baha'i, a monotheistic religion, view Abraham, Jesus, Moses and Muhammad as messengers from the same God.

Baha'i houses of worship serve more than 153,000 in the United States, acording to the National Assemblies of Baha'is in the United States at usbahai.org. The first Baha'i house of worship in Alabama was in Fairhope in the late 1890s. Baha'i came to the Shoals in the mid 1970s. Huntsville, Birmingham and Mobile are some of the larger cities in the state with Baha'i populations.

The Baha'i faith embraces unity and social equality among different religions, races and men and women.

"It really touches on the crises of today," said Dr. Jeff Choron, of Florence, a former nondenominational Christian who converted to Baha'i when he was in college. "That's a two-edged sword there. Sometimes you might think this religion is just too vivid for our world today to come from God, you think maybe a man would have come up with it. At the same time a new religion that affects the world today can be equated to the novelty of the message that Christ gave in his time or the transformation that Muhammad accomplished."

Jacquie Osborne, secretary of the Shoals Baha'i Center in Florence, said the Fairhope Baha'i community exemplified the religion's emphasis on diversity and equality from the beginning by teaching Blacks during a time when they were segregated to their own churches.

"The Baha'i faith in Alabama was integrated from the very beginning," she said.

In fact, many members of the Baha'i faith integrate through interracial marriage, stemming from the Baha'i belief of oneness in mankind.

A first generation Baha'i, Osborne views her faith as "part of my life's journey." She grew up in an army family in Japan after World War II.

"My early childhood memories are of ruins and Buddhist temples," she said. "I guess I always knew a couple of important issues were peace and that there were more than one religion in the world."

After some soul-searching, she decided to convert when she was 29. Her children and grandchildren are all Baha'is. She has been involved with the Shoals Baha'i Center since she moved to the area 29 years ago.

Osborne said living in an area of the country where there is a Christian church on almost every corner actually encourages her to practice her faith.

"To be in an atmosphere where people really do try to practice their religion, where it's a very big part of their life it's actually easier to be spiritually alive in an area like this than it was on Long Island," she said.

"You just put your foot on a spiritual path and see where it leads you and this is my path."

The Shoals Baha'i Center congregation is small, made of 10 members, who meet each Sunday afternoon, a change from Baha'i calendar instructions to meet every 19 days to adapt to Southern religious culture, Choron said.

Being a religious minority proves challenging at times.

Newcomers to Choron and his wife Dr. Flora Kayfan's neighborhood knocked on their door and asked to see the couple's snakes, which don't exist. Choron said such misperceptions about his religion are disappointing. Other false assumptions he's come across are that Baha'i are sects of Islam and Judaism.

Though Baha'i promote unity of other world religions, Osborne stresses that the monotheistic faith is not a melting pot of major world religions.

"One misperception is that the Baha'i pick and choose pieces from different religions," she said. "We have our own structure, our own holy days, our own scripture."

Baha'i temples have nine sides representing other religions. Osborne describes Baha'i temples as "gifts to humanity where anyone can come and pray."

Former members of the Shoals Baha'i Center came to the U.S. to flee religious persecution. Kayfan, a physician in the Shoals, came to the United States in 1978 with her family shortly before Baha'i persecution intensified in her native country of Iran. Her uncle was later tortured and killed because of his faith. Baha'is in Egypt and Iran continue to face persecution.

Kayfan sees no distinction between her religion and her vocation. One of the core Baha'i beliefs is that science and religion should combine harmoniously.

"I would like to bring comfort and hope to the patients," Kayfan said. "For me, in my profession, I don't believe I'm just making money."

She decorates the examination rooms in her office with Baha'i posters with excerpts from scripture and black and white children.

Her faith helped her through the rigors of medical school.

"It's about love, unity, equality," she said. "I would not have made it if it wasn't for my faith."

Jennifer Crossley can be reached at 740-5743 or jennifer.crossley@timesdaily.com.