ABS(ESE) SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP REPORTS
Membership in the Special Interest Groups is free to all ABS (ESE) members. To find out more about their activities please contact the person named at the end of each report.
SCIENCE INTEREST GROUP: FIRST MEETING
The first meeting of the Science group was held at Keele University on 15th February 1997. The day started with a paper by Mr Paul Hammond on the theme of "Scientific and Religious Knowledge". This paper presented some fundamental ideas on the commonality and connections between science and religion. The second paper by Dr Masoud Afnan was titled "Working with Human Embryos - Dilemmas and Opportunities". This paper offered a brief glimpse into one of the more controversial areas of science, where the moral and ethical issues are paramount, and religious belief is certainly relevant to many people. Dr Masoud outlined the technical issues involved, before discussing his personal approach as a Baha'i to the moral dimensions of the field. After lunch Dr Roger Kingdon presented a paper on "Two Logical Proofs of the Existence of God", with specific reference to the work by William Hatcher "Logic amp; Logos". This was the most intellectually demanding paper of the day with formal logic and higher maths liberally sprinkled throughout the theological content of the paper! The final paper of the day was by Dr Munirih Mali on. "A Baha'i Perspective on Drug Misuse". This paper reviewed the medical and social nature of drug abuse in the UK and offered some insights from the Baha'i Scriptures which served to highlight the severity of the problem in termS of its human costs.
Approximately 24 people attended the meeting, from a wide range of backgrounds, which emphasised the potentially wide appeal of the group. Significantly more interest was expressed via e-mail in the meeting, including many from abroad who stated how they would have liked to attend. Most people present expressed a keen desire to see the group continue and for further meetings, although with greater publicity being required and at an earlier date.
In parallel with the aim of general meetings for presenting papers the Science group now has an email discussion fonum, with over 80 subscribers. The active role of this e-mail list should significantly enhance the scope and maturation of the Science special interest group, (particular thanks are due to James Herbert for arranging the list).
Reported by Robert Ghanea-Hercock
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND POLITICS INTEREST GROUP:
FOURTH BIPOLIG CONFERENCE
The fourth conference of The Baha'i International Politics and Law Special Interest Group (BIPOLIG) of the ABS was held on the weekend of 7-8 December 1996 at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
As usual the conference welcomed student speakers to speak on their research, as well as established academics and professionals. This conference's student speakers consisted of Steven Powles' talk on "The Death Penalty - A Violation ofHuman Rights" and Miata Conton's well-informed and animated talk on "The Notion of Human Rights".~
Other speakers included Diana Perry-Elby, Dermont Knox, Dan Wheatley and Kishan Manocha. Diana Perry-Elby's paper on "Negotiation and Diplomacy as a means of Protecting Human Rights" was based mainly on the case study of negotiations between the US and China on China's 'Most Favoured Nation' status in 1994, and was followed by a workshop to discuss the relevance of consultation to present day political processes.
Dermont Knox spoke of "A New Era for Civil Society in the United Nations" drawing on his personal experiences as one of the Baha'i representatives at the recent Habitat conference in Turkey.
"World Federalism: Viable Option or Aspirational Ideal?² was the title of Dan Wheatley's enthusiastic presentation which combined the World Federalist and Baha'i proposals for a world federal system. This session was later followed by a workshop on the need for a Permanent International Criminal Court.
Kishan Manocha presented the paper "The Validity ofHuman Rights - A Baha'i Approach" which had been written jointly by himself and Morten Bergsmo. This detailed study sketched the philosophical and historical foundations ofhuman rights and linked them to the Baha'i writings and the individual search for truth.
Plans for the fifth BIPOLIG conference are already underway. The theme of the next conference is 'Ethics' and Politics' and it will be held at the London School of Economics on the weekend of 14-15 June 1997. One of the confirmed speakers is Professor Charles Lerche from Belgium, who will speak on "Ethics, Statesmanship and Globalization". For further details please contact the organisers at 3 Heather Glade, Madeley, Cheshire, CW3 9EP, tel. 01782 751824, e-mail ladO3@cc.keele.ac.uk (after 25 April 1997) or e-mail n.azemian@lse.ac.uk.
Reported by Naz Ghanea-Hercock
RELIGIOUS STUDIES INTEREST GROUP:
TWELFTH IRFAN COLLOQUIUM A SUCCESS
The Twelfth Irfan Colloquium was held December 6-8, 1996, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom. The colloquium was jointly sponsored by the Haj Mehdi Arjmand Memorial Fund, an institution established in the memory of a Persian Baha'i whose knowledge of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scriptures was legendary, and the Religious Studies Interest Group of ABS (ESE).
The participants enjoyed nine presentations during the weekend. Friday evening Dr. lraj Ayman spoke on "The Mission of Religion: A Baha'i Perspective," a study of some sixty passages in the Baha'i scriptures that state different purposes of religion. Saturday morning Nuba Sabour-Wollmington presented and commented on her provisional translation of Baha'u'llah's Surat al-ism (Sura of the Name), a tablet revealed in 1867. Her presentation was followed by Moojan Momen's "The God of Baha'u'llah," which described Baha'u'llah's concept of God and its ability to reconcile Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and some Buddhist notions of the Ultimate. Saturday afternoon began with Robert Stockman's "Millennialism in the Baha'i Faith: Progressive and Catastrophic Themes" which reviewed the different aspects of the Baha'i vision of the future and noted that most were optimistic and progressive. Fariba Hedayati then spoke about "Immortality and the Afterlife: Some Christian, Baha'i, and Modem Western Secular Perspectives." One part of her paper discussed cryonics (freezing people at the point of death in the hope that in the future they can be thawed and revived) and its possible implications for Baha'i theology. The afternoon closed with Stephen Lambden's presentation on "Christianity and the Baha'i Faith: An Historical and Doctrinal Overview."
Sunday morning Stephen Lambden offered a second talk, on Baha'u'lIah's Tablet to Pope Pius Ix. The paper offered an excellent overview of the context of the Tablet's revelation as one of a series of messages penned by Manifestations to religious and political leaders and surveyed the Tablet's contents, including possible allusions to the First Vatican Council (1869). Seena Fazel then spoke on "Understanding Exc1usivist Baha'i Texts," noting that there was a series of approaches to apparently exclusivist passages in Baha'u'llah's writings that minimize their tendency to exclude non-Baha'is. The colloquium ended Sunday afternoon with Ismael Velasco's "In Quest of the Ocean of True Understanding: The Mystical Paradigm of Baha'u'llah's Book of Certitude." It noted the importance of earlier tablets by Baha'u'llah in understanding the Kitab-i-Iqan, that the Iqan's literary paradigm is that of a mystic journey of the seeker, and that the paradigm shaped Baha'u'lIah's replies to the questions that prompted the revelation ofthe Iqan.
The Haj Mehdi Arjmand Memorial Fund is in the process of collecting the papers delivered at the colloquium for eventual publication. Meanwhile, a book of the abstracts is available for US$3 from the Research Office, Baha'i National Centre, Wilmette, IL 60091. Checks should be drawn on a US bank and made out to the "Baha'i Services Fund. "
The next Conference of the Religious Studies Interest Group will take place on 4-6 July 1996 in Manchester: the theme is "World Religions and the Baha'i Faith". For further details or to register please contact Moojan Momen on tel: 44-(0)176-7627626 or bye-mail: Momen@Northil1.Demon.co.uk.
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