What we’re about
Dear Friends,
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity and equality of all people. Established by Bahá'u'lláh in 1863, it initially grew in the Middle East and now has between 5 and 7 million adherents, known as Bahá'ís, spread out into most of the world's countries and territories, with the highest concentration in Iran.[Wikipedia.org]
In BRANDON, Florida, the members of the Bahá'í Faith meet in each other's homes for devotional gatherings, and occasionally host public meetings. For major Holy Day events, we usually meet at the Bahá'í Faith Worship and Community Center of Greater Tampa. Those events are listed on the Meetup page entitled: “Tampa Bahá'ís for World Peace and Spirituality". All of the Brandon Bahá'í Faith activities are also listed on that Meetup web page.
We are a group of Bahá’ís who welcome the public to a series of gatherings in which we seek to “Explore Faith and Spiritual Reality in the Modern World”, through the study of the writings of the most recent world religion, the Bahá’í Faith, founded in 1844. We discuss these and similar teachings in earlier world religions to find parallels and commonalities.
The ultimate purpose of this effort is to help people apply and integrate these principles into their daily lives, to renew their own spirituality, no matter what faith they practice; and find peace and happiness in this physical reality.
We pray this will also lead to the foundation for the unification of understanding and practice of faith and spirituality that will contribute to achieving world peace, contribute to the goals of uniting all humanity into one universal family, eradicating racism and prejudice of all kinds, achieving equality and equal opportunity for women and men, and advocating for environmental protection and solutions for global warming through spiritual principles. We host various meetings in public spaces including the public libraries in Hillsborough County, at the Bahá’í Community and Worship Center of Greater Tampa, and in more intimate study groups in our homes.
The meetings are variously spiritual gatherings, discussion groups, prayer meetings, and groups meeting for the study of the Bahá’í Sacred Texts. We also gather occasionally to perform community service, depending on the resources and interests of the group of volunteers, such as serving meals to the homeless, food drives, environmental cleanup and assistance with refugee community support groups. We support other progressive groups, with individuals variously attending interfaith gatherings, or marching in public gatherings such as memorial parades for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
To learn about the Bahá’í Faith, an excellent resource is the official website of the Baháí world center, www.bahai.org. To contact Bahá’ís in any locality in the U.S., call 800-22-UNITE.
