Posted by Jonah on February 13, 2001 at 02:00:54:

In Reply to: Gandhi and the Baha'i Faith posted by Nick Stone on February 09, 2001 at 18:23:27:

Hi. I can't confirm or deny any of the above. But I can say that I was not able to find any proof.

First, regarding the credits of "Gandhi" -- I searched the complete credits list for this film at the Internet Movie Database (http://imdb.com) and there was no mention of the Baha'i community in India. Of course, it's possible that the "thanks" credits were just not included in the online credits. One might note that the Baha'i Faith has been the most visible in India since the opening of the temple there in 1986, but the film was released in 1982. Still, it would be quite reasonable to suspect that the Baha'i community would have been supportive of the film and a mention would not be surprising.

Second, regarding Gandhi's daughter. I personally have not heard this, and a search of the internet using http://google.com netted no results. I did find a discussion about Gandhi possibly being a Baha'i (he wasn't) at http://bounty.bcca.org/srb/archive/951021-951231 , but there was no mention of his daughter. I would thus suspect that, if she were a declared Baha'i, it's not widely known.

Since it might come up, let me bring up a third daughter. Baha'is often speak of Queen Marie of Romania as a Baha'i, but her daughter later strongly denied that either she or her mom were Baha'is, but rather that Queen Marie merely felt a strong affinity for and support of the Faith. Of course, Queen Marie's statements affirming her Faith were also pretty clear, so this can't be resolved at the moment.

Since this also might come up, let me forestall discussion: Gene Roddenberry was not a Baha'i. Sorry! But I know that Jeri Ryan, "Seven of Nine" of Star Trek Voyager fame, has family connections with the Faith. I don't know if she is.

-J

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