Great News

Maybe this will take on at more college campuses ...

[From Norman Baha'i Newsletter]

University of Oklahoma

Course on Bahá’í Faith Now

in Permanent Curriculum

What we believe to be the first regular college course on the Bahá’í Faith in the United States has taken its place in the curriculum of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

Other classes on the Faith have been held as summer or intersession offerings, but not as an academic course within a university department. Farhad Rohani, Ph.D., conducted the first class from January to May, 2007, and will do so again in the spring 2008 semester. Acceptance of the course, and of Rohani as instructor, did not come easily. The evaluating committee was “very rough” on him, he said, fearing that he, as a believer, might be tempted to use his position to proselytize.

This is the first time, Rohani said, that a class on the Bahá’í Faith was allowed in all its aspects, not just as history. He presented the teachings, philosophy, even the prophecies, in a strictly objective manner. “It is the art of it,” he said. Some students answered the mid-term exam questions so well that he declared that he could not have answered so well himself.

Dr. Rohani credits Dr. Tom Boyd and their long relationship for the final approval. Dr. David Boren, OU president, called Boyd out of retirement to create and head the department of Religious Studies after the 9-11 tragedy, as a response to religious fanaticism. Drs. Tom and Barbara Boyd, both instructors in world religions and ethics, had had years of connection with Rohani and Firouz Abbassian. Dr. Barbara Boyd often invited them to present the segment on the Bahá’í Faith in her course, trusting their knowledge and objectivity.

Tom Boyd once said, “I trust Bahá’ís more than my fellow Christians.” And after Rohani and Abbassian served on a panel that Boyd moderated, he said that the Bahá’í Faith had the strongest voice there.

Firouz Abbassian was another major figure in the long process of bringing the course to reality. He provided special materials for the students through his unique link to the Research Department of the World Center’s Archives, where he once worked.

Dr. Rohani expressed surprise and pleasure after receiving the report of the students’ evaluations, which rate a course and its instructor on a one-to-five scale. These evaluations then go to a third-party evaluation, which scores them relative to other classes in Religious Studies and classes in other Arts & Sciences courses. One of the most important questions was whether the instructor encouraged critical thinking. The students gave the class a five, the highest rating, then another five when compared with classes in the same department and a four when compared with the other Arts & Sciences courses. Such high ratings are remarkable, particularly for a first-time offering.

One student was so impressed with the class that she chose to write about the Bahá’í Faith for a different course, the Sociology of Religion. And another expressed surprise that the Faith could relate to current events instead of simply restating traditions of belief. Still another was surprised about the independent investigation of truth instead of “just following old ways.”