Bahá'í Chronology: 1950-01-15

date	event	locations	tags	firsts
1950 15 Jan	The earliest observation of what has become known as World Religion Day was observed in Portland, Maine in October of 1947 and was entitled "World Peace Through World Religion" after a talk by Firuz Kazemzadeh. [Portland Sunday Telegram And Sunday Press Herald. Portland, Maine. October 19, 1947. p. 42.; BN No 229 March 1956 p1] In 1949 there were observances in various communities in the United States and in December of 1949 it was standardized across the United States by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States to be held January 15, 1950. The purpose of World Religion Day is to highlight the ideas that the spiritual principles underlying the world's religions are harmonious, and that religions play a significant role in unifying humanity. [BN No 226 December 1949 106BE p4-5] It is celebrated internationally each year on the third Sunday in January. [Wikipedia] See World Religion Day (January) by Christopher Buck See message from the Universal House of Justice dated 22 October, 1968 to the Spiritual Assembly of Chicago in Lights of Guidance #1710 in which they describe the purpose of World Religion Day. ".....is a celebration of the need for and the coming of a world religion for mankind, the Bahá'í Faith itself." iiiii	United States	World Religion Day; Interfaith dialogue; Firsts, Other; Firuz Kazemzadeh