by Dennis Dalman
When Ronald Marotte of Sartell decided many years ago to become a member of the Baha’i faith, it was not a difficult choice because he didn’t have to “give up” anything. He could and still does believe in one God and in a series of prophets that includes Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad and Baha’u’llah.
Marotte, who lives in Sartell, will be one of the celebrants Sunday, Oct. 22 for a bicentenary celebration of the birth of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i faith. All people are welcome to attend the celebration, which will take place from 1-4 p.m. at the Sartell Community Center, 850 19th St. S. The celebration will include informational literature and videos, but mainly it will be a celebration of unity and the oneness of humankind with people getting a chance to know one another. There will be no efforts whatsoever to get others to join the Baha’i faith. The event is free and no donations will be accepted.
There will be other Baha’i centenary celebrations throughout the world on Oct. 21 and 22, including ones in St. Cloud and Elk River.
“It will be a gathering of kinship,” Marotte said. “A way to show unity and common ground with all people.
That is the essence of the Baha’i faith – a belief in one God and in the unity of all people worldwide, with the spiritual bonds being love of God, kindness, a feeling of oneness, generosity and forgiveness.
Raised in Little Falls, Marotte’s family was Catholic, his mother being very devout and instilling in Ronald a deep sense of spirituality. Eventually, Marotte grew a bit distant from Catholicism. While attending St. Cloud State University, he discovered the Baha’i faith and decided to learn more about it. The more he learned, the more sense it made to him as a spiritual path of oneness and unity.
“It took a couple of years of search and discovery,” he said in an interview with the Newsleader.
What most impressed Marotte about Baha’i was its sense of religion as a progressive spiritual journey enlightened by a series of prophets who would arrive to inform people on the Earth of the message of unity under one God. The prophets would arrive at particular stages of life’s developments throughout the history of Earth, their messages being appropriate to a particular period.
For example, Marotte explained, Adam brought the concept of the union of two people – a man and a woman. Moses brought the concept of the “tribe.” Jesus lived and preached the concept of the city state, Muhammad the nation state and Baha’u’lla the idea of the global state.
Marotte
Marotte earned an art degree at SCSU, graduating in 1976, and then became an art professor there. He later formed his own company, Marotte Design. His wife, Joan, has a doctorate degree in clinical psychology and works as a director at Catholic Charities and its programs in St. Cloud. The couple has two grown children, a son and a daughter.
Baha’i
The prophet known as Baha’u’llah was born in what is now northern Iran (Persia) in 1817. He died in 1892. The man was a Persian nobleman who decided to help the poor and believed all people should embrace other people no matter which religion they believe in or even if they do not believe in a religion.
Baha’u’llahs’ messages of peace, harmony and unity were perceived as heretical threats in his time, and he was insulted, reviled and cast out many times from many places.
During his lifetime, he traveled from place to place, enlightening people with his spiritual messages, despite the hostility toward him in a region dominated by the Islamic religion.
Throughout the two centuries, Baha’i adherents endured appalling persecutions, including loss of rights and privileges, exile, imprisonment and death. Many were executed as “apostates,” especially in Persia. And the prejudice and persecution continue, especially in Iran, to this day. Between 1978 and 1999, an estimated 200 Baha’is were executed in Iran and in Egypt.
The rampages against Baha’i often included destruction of their property as well as atrocities committed against them and their families. Despite the hostilities, however, Baha’i succeeded in establishing itself as a world religion, with an estimated seven million adherents.
Baha’u’llah’s eldest son and his grandson carried on their father’s and grandfather’s teachings. The son was Abdu’l-Baha (1844-1921), and the grandson was Shoghi Effendi (1898-1957).
Effendi’s summary
Baha’u’llah’s grandson, Shoghi Effendi, summarized the Baha’i faith this way:
“The independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or; the oneness of the entire human race, the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith; the basic unity of all religions; the condemnation of all forms of prejudice whether religious, racial, class or national; the harmony which must exist between religion and science; the equality of men and women, the two wings on which the bird of human kind is able to soar; the introduction of compulsory education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; the institution of a world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations; the exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship; the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society, and of religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples and nations; and the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankind — these stand out as the essential elements which Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed.”