Antelope Valley, CA, January 16, 2004-The Bahá’í communities of Antelope Valley observed World Religion Day on Sunday January 18 th, 2004 with a series of activities to increase understanding among religions.

The Mayor of Palmdale, Mr. Jim Ledford, joined the Baha'is by proclaiming January 18th, 2004 World Religion Day. The proclamation affirmed the following principles:

· Religion can be a vital force for establishing order and peace in the world.

· There can be no peace in the world until there is equality, justice and security everywhere for human beings.

· The achievement of peace is a dynamic process stimulated not by force, but rather by understanding and a recognition of the unity of the human race.

· Technological advances have brought about an interdependence that has made us all inhabitants of a global village - it is important that religion take a leading role in the upliftment of humankind’s spiritual and moral values.

· There is an urgent need to work to remove the causes of war in the minds and hearts of men.

The Baha'is also donated a book called "Bridging Our Faiths" to the high school libraries in the Antelope Valley. "Bridging Our Faiths" (Publisher: Paulist Press; ISBN: 0809195747 ) by the Interreligious Council of San Diego is an excellent, easy-to-read guide to most of the major religious faiths in the United States today. This book was written as a response to the City Schools of San Diego who requested the Interreligious Council to provide them with an up to date, easy to read introduction to the major religious faiths in San Diego County.

The Baha'is also presented a software library of the World's Religious literature to the members of Antelope Valley Interfaith Council. The software library called Ocean is a free collection of the World's Religious literature managed by a unique book-centered research engine. It contains over 1000 books of 10 world religions. It can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet: http://www.bahai-education.org/ocean/

World Religion Day, observed on the third Sunday in January, was initiated in 1950 by the national administrative body of the Bahá’ís of the United States.

Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, taught all true religion came from one source through successive messengers which have included Abraham, Moses, Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Muhammad and the Báb.

According to the Bahá’í writings religion “should be the cause of love and agreement, a bond to unify all mankind for it is a message of peace and goodwill to man from God.”

“Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein,” Bahá’í writings say.

Celebration of World Religion Day has spread to many other countries. In 1985, the government of Sri Lanka issued a postage stamp in commemoration of the day.

*** *** ***