Talk:Baháʼí House of Worship

ASHGABAT MISPELLED

Why the mispelling of the city of Ashgabat? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashgabat The is no city named `Ishqábád, never has been, to use that spelling is like spelling Beijing Peking. Wikipedia should not allow mispellings of real locations.

Change of map required

I noticed that Karachi, Pakistan is listed as a potential construction location. However, it's not highlighted green as the other countries are on the map. Could someone please edit or change the map? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.189.147.186 (talk) 09:40, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Architecture and photos

The plan here is to get the architecture OFF the main Baha'i page and put it here. Soon. Rick Boatright 05:44 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

Really, Really, there will be text here which justifies WHY I uploaded the photos, Ok, ok the wiki way would have been to do the text FIRST. Sorry.

I'm off to bed now. Rick Boatright 07:19 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

A few changes

I've made quite a few changes, most minor but a couple in particular need to be checked (even more than the rest I mean :)

• Turkestan -> Turkmenistan. Bahai.org calls it Ashkhabad in Russia, which seems to tie in with what is now Turkmenistan.

• I removed: "This was the first Bahá'í community since the fall of Czarist Russia to have a population and the freedom to organize itself physically as well as spiritually." (referring to the community in Ashkhabad). Wasn't this before the Russian Revolution? sannse 17:57 Mar 1, 2003 (UTC)

Ever have one of those moment when you write somthing and have NO IDEA what you ment? Uh, yes, this was prior to the revolution. Can we just strike that part about "since the fall of Czarist" since I was clearly not thinking well? Rick Boatright 16:40 Mar 2, 2003 (UTC)

Pictures

I recently took some pictures of the Wilmette House which I'm willing to put up, but I'm not sure how best to present them, and I don't have any text that I could really put with it besides "wow, take a look at that fancy concrete work." So if anyone wants to expound on the architecture of that particular structure and wants some pictures to go with it, let me know. (I'll release them under some nice license or public domain. They're ok, but nothing award winning. I know how to use a camera, and I was using a decent one, but I didn't really take the time to try and take really nice shots. It was awfully cold.) --jkominek 21:29, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Haifa

I know that site at Haifa has been built upon. There's a terraced garden and a shrine. I don't know any details, though. Perhaps someone will see this and take it upon his/herself to do the research and edit the page! -- Claire

The shrine on Mt. Carmel is not a temple; the temple site has still not been built upon. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.77.29.126 (talk • contribs) .

Haifa temple

I think stating definitively that Remey's design for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár on Mount Carmel will, in fact, be used, is going out on a limb. Given his Covenant-Breaker status, I think it's reasonable to question its ultimate selection. I searched and cannot find any confirmation that his design will be used. I think it would be more appropriate to simply state that his design was approved by Shoghi Effendi, and leave it at that. Would anyone object to a change of phrasing here? Keldan 03:06, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Good point, go ahead. -- Jeff3000 03:12, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

The reading: "A design by Charles Mason Remey was approved by Shoghi Effendi." is accurate. I don't know that his design won't be used though considering the House would be overturning the approval. It'd hinge on whether the Guardian "selected" it, making it his choice, or whether he "approved" it, meaning that he considered it acceptable. But, when I was on pilgrimage it seemed pretty clear that that was the design that'll be used.

I've seen the model at Bahji, and don't like it at all. His work was derivative (Just line up the Syndey and Kampala temples with Wilmette's.) and uninspired. (Most architects of that generation were trained to be that way.) The Mount Carmel design is a double of the Ashkabad temple. Personally, W.S. Maxwell and L. Bourgeois were both far superior. MARussellPESE 20:37, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Order

Actually, I'm more partial to having the Houses of Worship listed in order of construction, as opposed to alphabetically (and even alphabetically, shouldn't they be by country rather than by city?). Anyone opposed to changing it back? Keldan 19:00, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree with you Keldan, they should be in order of construction. Can you please change their order to match that. -- Jeff3000 20:32, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Agreed with respect to the Mother Temples. MARussellPESE 20:37, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

Planned construction of temple in Iran?

Is this actually true? Because as I'm sure everyone here knows the Bahai religion is not legally recognized in Iran and they are a persecuted group (extremely doubtful that this will ever change under the current system), so this doesn't quite add up. SouthernComfort 21:05, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

The article actually states that. Until the Islamic government disallows it, it won't go forward, but it is still planned. -- Jeff3000 21:29, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

"A site has been selected, and plans drawn for the Bahá'í Temple of Tehran, Iran, but Iranian government action has thus far blocked the start of construction." IMHO, this is far too simplistic and ambiguous an explanation, all things considered. Based on this sentence, one might assume there was an attempt at construction, or at least some sort of communication with the authorities about it, which would seemingly be impossible considering the fact that one can end up in prison and possibly worse due to being Bahai. If the plans have been drawn to construct the temple for when the government changes or the restrictions lifted, whichever comes first, then that would make more sense. Sort of like when a "government in exile" is established. I'm just thinking there's a lot more to be said than one sentence. SouthernComfort 22:11, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

120 planned sites

I just would like to point out that 120 sites have been chosen for future houses of worship. not just the 3 shown here. Pure inuyasha 01:52, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

This is a good interesting inclusion to the article. It aroused my curiousity. Could you please feed this curiousity by providing a reference? Thank you. -LambaJan 03:31, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Sure! [1] at the bottom of the page. Pure inuyasha 04:06, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Expand list of future structures

Perhaps we should have a list showing all 120 sites? Pure inuyasha 00:40, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it's needed. Having a list is not that interesting. -- Jeff3000 02:12, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Well I personally thought it would be nice to know if one's planned in my area. Pure inuyasha 02:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Persepolis, Iran

I remember having read somewhere that 'Abdu'l-Bahá stated that Persepolis would be rebuilt in the future as a Bahá'í House of Worship. I am searching for this statement, but I cannot find it. Does anyone know where this can be found? -Wiki-uk 09:32, 20 July 2006 (U TC)

Never heard of this. -- Jeff3000 13:40, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Me either. Bear in mind that there's a lot of pilgrim's notes floating about still from those days. An awful lot of things have been "attributed" to `Abdu'l-Bahá that did not bear out. MARussellPESE 14:03, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

In a Memorandum [2] of the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice dated 6 August 2007 it is stated:

"A statement concerning Persepolis as a future site of a House of Worship is found in a talk delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on 18 July 1915. The talk, which deals generally with Iranian civilization prior to Islam and the prospect of its resurgence, has not, to date, been translated into English. It is published in the original language in Abdu’l-Hamíd Ishráq Khávarí’s Rahíq-i-Makhtúm (Tihrán: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 131 B.E.), volume 2, pages 499–503."

An English translation of the above title can be found here and here. The talk appears in appendix 6: "'Abdu'l-Bahá on Persepolis". Wiki-uk (talk) 09:00, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Turkmenistan not a country back in 1918.

How could it be annexed? someone please fix this. Zazaban 20:24, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Good catch. Fixed. Keldan 21:20, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Structuring external links

I feel the external links in this article are a bit messy: some are in the text, others in the reference section, other again in the external link section. I think the external link section would be preferabe for all of them. Also, the satelite image of Wilmette could be deleted, as it appears again on the Google Earth link website. Wiki-uk 04:48, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree. -- Jeff3000 13:17, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

This has been done now. Wiki-uk 11:11, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Home for the aged at Wilmette

The article now states: 'The temple at one point also was associated with a "home for the aged," operated by the Baha'i community. The Baha'i home has since closed.' Does anyone know when it was opened, when it was closed, and why? Wiki-uk 11:07, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

I have edited this sentence a bit and will look up some specific dates for a future edit. The Baha'i Home was closed because it no longer met the Illiois Code for nursing homes or senior residential. If you had ever been there, you would agree that the structure was no longer appropriate for that use in the modern day. However, the building is now being currently used as a local Baha'i school, for regional training institutes and Ruhi meetings, as an office for the LSA of Wilmette and for Baha'i Feast in Wilmette. The general belief in the local Baha'i community is that someday the current building will be demolished and a modern care facility will be built. Someone told me that Corrine True donated the land, I'll check that. --I'm Nonpartisan 13:01, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Layout

Putting the pictures left and right makes this article, with short entries on each item, quite 'restless'. Does anyone have any suggestions? Wiki-uk 11:11, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Mother temple of _________

According to www.bahaitemple.org, the website of the temple in Wilmette, the Panama City temple is the "Mother Temple of Latin America", not Central America, and Sydney's is the "Mother Temple of the Antipodes", not Australasia. In addition, several are not listed at all: Western Samoa's is the "Mother Temple of the Pacific Islands", India's is the "Mother Temple of the Indian Subcontinent", and Wilmette's is the "Mother Temple of the West". I didn't want to change the ones that are "wrong" in case they're based on something more reliable (than an official website?), and by extension I didn't add the others because I think they should probably all conform to one source. Anybody care to help on that? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tjrudebeck (talk • contribs) .

I've gone through some Baha'i literature and these are the wordings I've found:

• Wilmette

• "Mother Temple of the West" (Citadel of Faith)

• Sydney

• "Mother Temple of Australia" (Citadel of Faith)
• "Mother Temple in the heart of Australasia" (Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand)
• "Mother Temple of the Antipodes" (Letters from the Guardian to Australia and New Zealand)
• "Mother Temple of Australia" (Messages to the Baha'i World - 1950-1957)

• Kampala

• "Mother Temple of Africa" (Citadel of Faith)

• Langenhain

• "Mother Temple of Germany" (Citadel of Faith)
• "Mother Temple of Europe" (Messages to the Baha'i World - 1950-1957)
• "Mother Temple of Europe" (The Light of Divine Guidance v I)

• Delhi

• "Mother Temple of the Indian Subcontinent" (A Wider Horizon, Selected Letters 1983-1992)

• Panama City

• "Mother Temple of Latin America" (Haziratu'l Quds and Mashriqu'l Adhkar)
• "Mother Temple of Latin America" (Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968-1973)

• Samoa

• "Mother Temple of the Pacific Islands" (Messages 1963 to 1986)

• Santiago

• "Mother Temple of South America" (The Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 158, 2001)

So some should be changed. Regards, -- Jeff3000 02:21, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Jeff, you should have just made the edit. The HOW is most certainly the Mother Temple of the West because it was built by the Baha'is communities of United States and Canada, before there were two different National Spiritual Assemblies. No one, anywhere, refers to it as the Mother Temple of the United States and I'm really, really surprised that this was let go. I'm getting a very intense, "time to roll up my sleeves" feeling here. This article could be so much better.--I'm Nonpartisan 13:06, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Description

The first paragraph doesn't properly explain what a Bahá'í House of Worship actually is. Can someone please fix this? Scharb 05:44, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

You mean a straight forward declarative sentence? Why that would be too obvious. <Good catch.> MARussellPESE 06:40, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Other sites

I went looking to find information on all 120 planned sites. i didn't find it, but I found a listing of all the sites chosen by 1963. The information has been added to the article. Zazaban 23:08, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Wilmette Temple.

The huge infobox is..... weird. Anyone else think It should have it's own article and not have the infobox here? Zazaban 23:02, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

It is definitely weird; I don't think it should have an infobox, or a separate page; there is not enough information for each house of worship to have it's own page. -- Jeff3000 23:37, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

It was there because the temple is a registered nation historic place in the US. Zazaban 00:51, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

There is more than enough information on each HOW for each to have a page. Just look at the official websites. The new construction project at Wilmette alone is worthy of several paragraphs, including the new design for a visitor's center. --I'm Nonpartisan 13:07, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Delhi Temple

The article claims that the Baha'i House of Worship in Delhi is the most visited building in the world, but with no reference, this seems really unlikely, does anyone know if this is true? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 140.247.144.223 (talk • contribs) .

That DOES seem very unlikely. However, there is a souce and it should be included. [3] Zazaban 04:36, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

It was supposed to be CNN.com in 1997? 68.98.236.175 01:00, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Black World Map.

Could I have a blank world map? I need it for something I plan to add to this article. Zazaban 00:21, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Nevermind, done. Zazaban 02:11, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Added a map.

I added a map based on information on this article. Might have to upload a new one because I stupidly used JPEG and the colour yellow. Hope it helps! Zazaban 02:12, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Zaz, we need a new map. The old one doesn't show where they are; and I couldn't figure out what the colors were for. MARussellPESE 05:06, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

I do have a legend, and was about to add it. Please don't just DELETE it! Just because it needs some work doesn't mean it should be removed! Zazaban 05:13, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Zaz, you had three hours to get a meaningful legend on it. Without it it didn't make sense, especially as the list of planned sites is at the opposite end of the article. It still could use the national borders showing through the highlight. Consider light green for planned. MARussellPESE 21:05, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Ever think I might have been having a very busy day? Not everybody has time to do everything NOW. I was working on borrowed time just to upload it. Like I said, it needs work. Zazaban 00:37, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Then, consider planning your time so that your edits are focused and complete. Once you hit the "Save Page" button it's up here for all to see. Nobody else knows if its a work in progress; and it's a lot to ask that others wait for you to get around to fixing it on your time.

Your pardon, but this is a related issue to the one raised on your talk page about using the edit summaries. You are, by no means, the only one with limited time on your hands. A little more focus will allow you to be edited over a lot less. MARussellPESE 20:49, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

I believe I did use edit smmaries. I did not know i had a lack of time when I started. Zazaban 02:56, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Error on Map

Fiji is not highlighted in light green. There is in fact one planned there. Zazaban 20:29, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Neither is Israel. Zazaban 23:25, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Upgrading Content

References should all be in place for slight edit of Australia Temple. I attended a meeting last night with the architect of the Chile Temple, and there is quite a lot of new information to add. For instance, did you know that materials for the contruction of the temple are currently being fabricated in Toronto? He predicts three years from groundbreaking to completion. Anyway, there's lots more information available for every Temple on this page. Let's get together and make an effort this summer to upgrade.--I'm Nonpartisan 20:11, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Wilmette HOW

Greetings all, I am updating and including some specific info the the Wilmette HOW and would like to include the text of the inscriptions above the entrances and alcoves. This would be 18 small quotations from the Baha'i Writings. Is there any objection to this before I do so? Does anyone know if any of the other Houses of Worship have quotations inside and out? --I'm Nonpartisan 02:53, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. Someone could object because it's not verifiable (not published), but I don't think anyone will. Cuñado ☼ - Talk 05:31, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, WP:V doesn't say that something INSCRIBED ON THE SIDE OF A BUILDING would be verifiable. Careful, some wikisith will enjoy deleting them.

Seriously, by all means add them. MARussellPESE 23:22, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

WikiSith? There's no problem with referencing the quotes, they are in the Whitmore book and can be reference by page number there. I bet they are on the USBNC website,too.--I'm Nonpartisan 03:30, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Hello All. I have made my first wikitable and have attempted to describe all the decorative elements inside and outside the temple. Easier said than done. Please feel welcome to add 2, 5 or even 10 cents. I must say that the wikipedia swastica article is excellent, I'm so glad I went over to look at it. Also, at Portal Baha'i I didn't see an easy link to the House of Worship page. I think as we grow this content that there should be one. AND, as I have only visited one House of Worship, do any of the others also have engraved Baha'i Writings, and are they the same verses as those in Wilmette?--I'm Nonpartisan (talk) 04:50, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Chile2.jpg

Image:Chile2.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 21:53, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

John Joseph Earley

I finally made the correction so that the page links with the biography page for John Joseph Earley, but his page could be greatly expanded, and it needs a paragraph about the Baha'i Temple, which he believed was his greatest accomplishment. I can't do this right now as I'm working on another project, but if someone has the time, it's a worthy task.I'm Nonpartisan 05:20, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

edit request

In the first sentence, is it okay to change the word temple to chapel? Temple gives the indication this is a Dharmic religion when it's not. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Iwanttoeditthissh (talk • contribs) 09:45, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

No - temple is more neutral - chapel is explicitly Christian. though you are right in that the religions isn't explicitly a dharmic religion. But there are Jewish temples afterall. Smkolins (talk) 12:54, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Major updates needed

This article is completely out of date, and needs a major rewrite and update. For example, there are now more than 8 temples world-wide, and several of the "planned" sites have been built, like the one in Haifa, Israel. There is also one in Akko (Acre), Israel. I don't know enough or have the time to do the research, but this is very out of date and should be updated. By the way, the existence of the temple in Haifa predates the creation of this article. WikiTome ^Talk 17:28, 31 March 2011 (UTC)