Public Information Officers -- Please be sure to replace items in brackets in the press release template below with local information. If possible include a group photo of the new Local Spiritual Assembly. Name all members in the photo caption saying “From left are ……….” Feel free to contact the Office of Communications with any questions: or 847-733-3584.
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For further information:
[PIO Name]
[PIO phone number and email address]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[Your Town] Baha'is elect Local Spiritual Assembly
[YOUR TOWN, Your State, April __, 2016] –The [Your Town] Baha'i community recently elected its nine-member governing council, known as the Local Spiritual Assembly, for 2016-2017. The election in [Your Town] occurred on the same day as Baha’i elections around the globe.
[Your Town’s] new Local Spiritual Assembly includes [list names of nine members]. All met afterward and elected [name] as chairperson for the coming year.
The Baha'i community has been active in [Your Town] since [year].
Local Assemblies minister to the needs of the community. They support community members who organize classes for the spiritual education of children, adult study circles, devotional programs, Holy Day observances and service projects. They also conduct Baha'i marriages, pray for members of the community and provide spiritual counseling on matters brought to the Assembly.
The Founder of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), taught that in an age of universal education, there was no longer a need for a special class of clergy. Instead, He provided a framework for administering the affairs of the Faith through elected councils at the local, national and international levels. All Baha'i elections occur through secret ballot, without candidacies, nominations or campaigning. There are approximately 11,000 Baha'i Local Spiritual Assemblies around the world, elected each year from among the adult believers in every locality where at least nine Baha'is reside.
The Baha'i Faith, founded in Persia in 1844, is the youngest of the world's independent, monotheistic religions and is one of the fastest-growing, with approximately 175,000 members in the United States and more than five million world-wide.
Baha'is view the world's major religions as part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity. Major Baha'i tenets include the oneness of humanity, equality of men and women, eradication of prejudice, harmony of science and religion, universal education and world peace. To learn more about the Baha'i Faith in America, visit www.bahai.us.
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Note to reporters: For more background, check the Religion Newswriters Association’s “Source Guide on the Baha’i Faith” at www.religionlink.org/tip_090211.php.
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