The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-26
ABDUL BAHIA, HEAD OF SECT THAT MEETS
 IN CHICAGO TO-DAY

Abdul Baha, the Persian prince and scholar who is the interpreter and leader of the Bahai sect, a movement that proposes to unite all religions and thus inaugurate the dreamed-o of era of universal peace, is expected to receive the homage of his American followers at the American convention of the BahafSt sect, scheduled to open today in Chicago. Abdul Baha, which is title signifying Servant of God, comes to America to carry on the propaganda of the new faith and to address the peace conference at Lake Mohonk, N. Y., next month. Although 1t was founded only siXty-eight years ago, Bahaism now has 15,000, eco ad- herents scattered throughout the world, several hundred thousands of whom are in the United States and Canada Abdul Baha succeeded to the leader
 ship of the sect twenty years ago, on
 the death of Baha Ullah, his father, who was the illuminated one'' of Bahaism and was known as the Glory Of God Brotherhood and peace be- tween men and nations are the central dogmas of the teaching of Abdul
 Baha. Already they have had effect 1 in the constitutional movements in Persia and Turkey, where Bahaism is | rapidly gaining ground. Because of their propaganda, which was cons1d- cred by the fanatical Moslems to con- { Abdul Baha and his father were i'm prisoned for nearly half a century.
 When Mohammed Ali began preach ing the doctrines of Bahaism in 1844, he soon found a devoted adherent in the wealthy Prince Of Mur, one of the l most influential of Persians and a de- scendant of the ancient royal family of that country When the Prince was
 recognized as Baha Ullah, the expect
 ed Sone, the Glory of God, he was thrown into prison and all his prop erty was confiscated From the veal
 most miserable, but his faith in the new dispensation never wavered, and it was fully shared by his son, the present Abdul Baha. Torture and fg-
 nominy, such as could only be con-
 ceived of by the besotted Oriental
 and son. Abdul Baha was only nine years old when he was deprived of the luxuries and pleasures of the pal ace and thrown into a dungeon at Acca, perhaps the most loaIthsome prison in the world. He was about
 deprived of all formal education, Abdul Baha was taught by his father and thus fitted to become worthy success sor of the Glory of God.
 Abdul Baha, with his wonderfully penetrating eyes, his wealth of silvery nalf- ana lOnS WHlt0 D6dfO, SIlu HIS thoughtful and philisophic air, would be a striking figure if clad in conven- tional garb. In the costume of the Persian scholar and a white turban on his head, he is more striking. The
 doctrines he teaches are strictly mod ern. Science is the handmaiden of the new religion, declared Abdul Baha,
 and he looks to the inventors and the thinkers to create a new heaven on earth. Although not Socialist, he
 teaches many economic "isms" that
 are akin to the Marxian gospel of CO., operation. While holding economic
 equality between men, he asserts that
 the present wide gulf between rich and poor is of artificial creation and that the laws of nations must be
 changed so as to prevent alike ex- treme wealth and dire poverty. He believes that women should have the same political rights as men.