Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is met by a delegation of British Baha'is at a special multifaith gathering to mark her Diamond Jubilee. Invited to display a treasured object from their faith, the Baha'i community exhibited a robe of 'Abdu'l-Baha and a fra

Representatives of the United Kingdom Baha'i community joined members of eight other religions at a special gathering to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

At a reception held at Lambeth Palace – official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury – Baha'is, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians discussed their beliefs with the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, and showed them treasured objects from the various faiths.

The Bahá’í Faith in the UK has launched a new website. The UK Bahá’í community is made up of thousands of men, women and children from many diverse backgrounds, cultures and walks of life. The website can be visited at www.Bahai.org.uk which brings more news and information about the UK.

The site is intended as a portal through which individuals of all ages and of all walks of life can engage in a meaningful encounter with the Faith of Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i community of the United Kingdom and learn about the community-building process in which the Baha'is and their collaborators are engaged in all parts of the country Kingdom.

An early model of the Baha'i House of Worship for the South American continent, simulating how it will appear at night.

Excavation work is under way for the new Baha'i House of Worship for the South American continent, in the Chilean capital of Santiago. The House of Worship, with its surrounding water gardens of plant species native to the region, will cover some 10 hectares of a 50 hectare site. Excavation is now being carried out of an area measuring 62 meters in diameter, to prepare for the building's foundations and the area around it. The diameter of the House of Worship itself is approximately 30 meters.

This was the theme of a devotional gathering which took place on 7 and 21 February in Crystal Palace and Bromley respectively. During the evening participants read writings from all world leading religions which followed by a group discussion to deepen and reflect on this thoughy provoking theme. A moving exhortation by Bahá'u'lláh best captures the evening's sentiment:

"Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust."