On Encountering Baha'i: Viewing It as a Major Religion

Blogs are being used for purposes beyond just personal self-expression. The blog format is being used in education. Students are being asked to create a blog as a vehicle for responding to class assignments. It makes public a discussion which otherwise would be limited to a classroom or just between teacher and student.

Melinda's comments, excerpted below, are from her blog entry for a course entitled "Method and Theory in the Study of World Religion, RLG404H." Googling the name, I find that there is a course of that name taught by a Frances Garrett at the University of Toronto. Dr Garrett is a scholar of Buddhism, the study of which the University of Toronto is apparently quite a center. Reading of this professor's various awards, I see that she was nominated for a National Technology Innovation Award for the project "Use of Blogging to Facilitate Engaged Learning" in 2005. Pretty neat, huh! -gw

Melinda's LiveJournal pic

My first encounter with 'world religions' was in a grade eleven high school classroom. ...

It is through this high school class that I first came into contact with Baha'i. Our final assignment was to choose a religion not included in our 'major seven world religions' and to research it. I find it particularly interesting that this 'minor' religion (as it would have been classified in my high school class) now often finds its place in the table of contents in many 'world religions' textbooks that are produced today. It would be interesting to track the development of a religion as it makes its journey from being minor to major. What qualifying features did Baha'i have to acquire or promote in order to be included among the elite? ...

Years later I wonder how the Baha'i girl who sat in front of me in grade eleven religion class was affected by the fact that her religion had not yet graduated to the accepted list of 'major world religions' even though it possessed several of the required qualifications.

Melinda, "My First Encounter with World Religions," Method and Theory in the Study of World Religion