Cold calling
“That was in 1992…”
In 1992, a seasoned NZ reporter, Peter Jessup, checked out the Baha’is and wrote a half-page article for one of the major dailies. He found “a quiet, uncomplicated faith and a creed of equality”.
Door-knocking was obviously not part of the repertoire, and the faith appeared “to have a particular attraction to people from the entertainment field, the liberal, thinking middle class, and students”. Jessup observed that, “the faith has traditionally been kept quietly, in accord with teachings that people should seek it out rather than have it seek them”. He also noted that “Baha’ulla’h (sic) predicted a destructive end to the 20th century that would bring about a rebirth”.
Well, it didn’t pan out as anticipated, and perhaps the Baha’is got tired of waiting for folks to seek out their quiet uncomplicated faith. I’m certainly seeing a change of culture from what Jessup observed in 1992.
Tags: 1990s, media, New Zealand
January 1st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
[...] One theory of mine is that lots of Baha’is thought that unity of the nations would be established by the end of the 20th century, and that a great event would change the fortunes of the Baha’is. Here’s a reporter, who looked into the Baha’i faith in 1992, saying: “Baha’ulla’h (sic) predicted a destructive end to the 20th century that would bring about a rebirth.” Cold Calling [...]