16-January World Religion Day:
History of the day:
The earliest research, entitled “World Peace Through World Religion”, in Portland, Maine at the Eastland Park Hotel in October 1947 with a talk by Firuz Kazemzadeh. In 1949, acknowledgments in different societies in the United States established the local newspapers in December called “World Religion Day”. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States standardized it across the United States in December 1949 to be held January 15, 1950. It also regarded as starting as early as in Australia in 1950 in two cities and Bolivia in 1951. By 1958, Baháʼís had gathered notices of events in several countries—sometimes attracting hundreds of people and sometimes overlapping with race amity priorities. In Laos, for example, meetings were noted in 1958, 1959, and 1960, among many countries’ activities. In the Netherlands in 1962, noted in several cities.
Observance of the Day:
World Religion Day is an observance, started in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States. The is celebrated worldwide on the third Sunday in January each year. Though started in the United States, followers of the Baháʼí Faith celebrate World Religion Day.
The roots of World Religion Day lie in Baháʼí principles of wholeness of religion and modern discovery. This describes religion as evolving throughout history of humankind. The purpose of World Religion Day is to highlight the concepts that the spiritual principles dominating the world’s religions are peaceful, and religions play a significant role in unifying humankind.
Purpose of the Day:
The Baháʼí principles of the wholeness of religion inspired A Baháʼí observance, World Religion Day, and of modern revelation, which describe religion as evolving throughout the history of humanity. It promotes these principles by highlighting the ideas that the spiritual principles underlying the world’s religions are harmonious, and religions play a significant role in unifying humanity.
To clarify World Religion Day, the Universal House of Justice, the elected council, serves as the head of the Baháʼí Faith, noted in a 1968 message. Rather than providing a “platform for all religions and their emergent ideas, the observance serves as a celebration of the need for the coming of a world religion for humanity, the Baháʼí Faith itself.
In April 2002, the Universal House of Justice published a letter, “To the World’s Religious Leaders”, in which stated:
People have called world Religion Day as “Baháʼí-inspired idea has taken on a life of its own”. Because its observance is no longer confined to Baháʼí community where it took shape. Baháʼí communities still sponsor and support observances of World Religion Day worldwide. But Baha’i institutions such as the Universal House of Justice or the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States no longer play active roles in the promotion of events. Instead, a rising number of observances are organized by interfaith or multi-faith coalitions.
