We believe the evidence reveals something different to
the perceptions being promoted.
It is not, unfortunately, openly stated by the
promoters, but the three authors, Linda and Dan Popov, and John
Kavelin, are not only related in family but also in religion - all
three are Baha’is.
The course and The Virtues Guide have
drawn predominantly from Baha’i sources and concepts:
B.1. The virtues listed in this programme can
mostly be found in a wide variety of Baha’i books and listings -
e.g. see list in The Light of Baha’u’llah, p.110 - also
indexes of books such as Becoming a Baha’i;
B.2. Under ‘Scriptural References’
on p.57 of The Virtues Guide 3 references are listed for the
Baha’i Faith, 2 for Buddhism, and one for each of the other Faiths
mentioned; in the ‘Bibliography’ on p.58 there are 4
specific Baha’i sources listed - out of all proportion, for a
relatively minor religion, in comparison to other major religions and
their one or two listed sources, and the non-religious sources listed.
The Virtues Project and the facilitator
seminars are promoted and organised by and through Baha’is. The
Popov’s were first sponsored to Australia by the Baha’is
during the International Year of the Family (1994).
The Virtues Guide, and other related
The Virtues Project materials, cards, consumables, a meditation
book on the virtues by Linda Popov, are all sold and distributed
by the Baha’i centres and outlets ( bookshops etc). These
materials are listed in the Baha’i Publications Australia
catalogue. There have apparently been plans, or hopes, to try and have
major bookshops stock the materials as well.
The Virtues Project presentation and its
general, and seemingly multi-faith approach, is totally consistent with
other approaches and activities used by Baha’is to promote their
Cause (religion) and make it more acceptable to the general
community - including active involvement in, and initiation of,
community programmes on issues such as: peace, unity, the environment.
The Baha’i Community has a deliberate agenda of using
education/educational situations/educational programmes to promote their
activities and their faith (see books such as: Each One Teach One
- A Call to the Individual Believer [e.g. pp.10-11],
Baha’i Education, Education - A Baha’i Perspective, The
Individual and Teaching - Raising the Divine Call, Teaching the
Baha’i Faith). The Baha’is also have a deliberate policy
of targeting prominent people, including teachers and other
educationalists - as well as indigenous people (e.g. see chapters 5 & 6
Teaching the Baha’i Faith).
Several of the listed virtues in the Guide
are specifically religious: e.g. Prayerfulness, Reverence, many
others are regarded as part of the spiritual and religious beliefs of
the Baha’is.
Throughout the programme and Guide
there are constant references to religious concepts, especially: God;
how children relate to God; how various virtues please God
or relate to God; God as Creator, etc. The Guide
states: ‘The Virtues Project contains a very simple approach to
God, woven into various Virtues. God is described as: *Loving, *Wanting
the best for and from us, *One you can trust, *One Who has the power to
take care of us and our problems, *One Who has sent us Guidance through
the Holy Books’ (p.45).
Chapters 2 and 3 of The Virtues Guide
specifically deal with the spirituality of children and their
God-given natures. Spiritual expression and activity in everyday
life are also discussed. In these chapters it is stated that:
‘Forming values is a spiritual activity’ (p.33); ‘Making
choices is s spiritual activity’ (p.35); ‘Acting
responsibly is a spiritual activity’ (p.40); ‘Making moral
decisions is a spiritual activity’ (p.42). Readers of the
Guide are told to become Spiritual Companions, and are
advised to support children’s relationships with God (pp.42-45).
Parents are also given ‘Effective ways to support the development
of conscience and spiritual growth when children do something
unacceptable’ and are warned about ‘ways to destroy
conscience and pervert spiritual growth’ (p.12). The Guide
also states that children need to be given ‘the opportunity to
exercise their spirituality’ - and that failure to motivate
spiritual activity in children is to treat children as
‘irresponsible and worthless human beings’ (p.15). Parents are
also asked to personally answer some very specifically religious
questions: e.g. ‘How were your family’s material and spiritual
values passed on to you? What do you remember your parents talking about
most?’ ‘What place did God and religion have in your life as a family?
How has that affected your religious practices as they are now?’
(p.34).
Information hand-out sheets from The Virtues
Project, such as the ‘Core Principles of the Virtues
Guide’ refers to the Virtues being angels in theology
(but fail to mention which theology); it states that ‘self-esteem
is a natural outcome of living by spiritual principles.’ It also
states that the 5 Strategies of The Virtues Project
are for ‘supporting spiritual champions’ and that the 5th
Strategy is to ‘offer Spiritual Companioning.’
Much of the terminology of The Virtues Project
and Guide is religious and/or conveys religious concepts.
Some Baha’is have claimed (in spite of some
acknowledgements and evidence to the contrary) that The Virtues
Project is NOT a Baha’i programme, and while it
is a spiritual programme it is NOT religious! (which amounts to
playing word games.)
In one sense it is NOT a Baha’i programme - in
that it is not an official Baha’i activity - but then a lot
of their activities are not ‘official’ in that sense. But the programme is
prepared by Baha’is; presented mostly by Baha’is; is
promoted by Baha’is - as are the facilitator seminars; is sold by
the Baha’is; is based on specific, and listed, Baha’i
beliefs and concepts.
While there is no question that the programme has many
excellent concepts and ideas - many of which are admirable and may be
acceptable to people of various faiths - most people would see all
activities seeking to promote the spiritual development of their children
as their parental prerogative and to be conducted in the context of their
own home and/or religious faith structure.
The Virtues Project IS religious, and
therefore is not appropriate for general presentation to all students (as
distinct from selected religious groups) in a secular setting such as a
State Government school - unless it is part of an agreed religious
syllabus which has the full endorsement and support of all, or most, local
religious (including Christian, Jewish, Muslim and/or others) leaders, as
well as that of the majority of parents happy for such a joint-religious
programme to be presented to their children.
Parents who are atheists, or of no religious
persuasion, and who do not want their children taught religious concepts,
would have solid ground for complaint if they became aware of The
Virtues Project and its nature, and discovered it was presented to
their children in a secular school as a non-religious values education
programme.
Nor is it appropriate for secular/local
government/government councils or committees to allocate supportive funds
for such a programme. Such support could, rightly, be seen by other
religious communities as a subtle and sectarian support of the Baha’i
religion.
*******************************
References/Sources:
See CCG Ministries TACL
article on the Baha'i
Conversations with Baha’i members on 25-10-96
and 6-11-96.
Promotional posters and pamphlets.
Baha’i International Community Office of Public
Information (nd) Education - A Baha’i Perspective
Leicestershire:Baha’i Publishing Trust.
Baha’i Publications Australia (1995) Teaching the
Baha’i Faith Mona Vale:Baha’i Publications Australia.
Baha’i Publishing Trust (1992) Becoming a Baha’i
- An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith and its Teachings
London:Baha’i Publishing Trust.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the
United States (1975) Each One Teach One - A Call to the Individual
Believer Illinois: Baha’i Publishing Trust.
__________ (1977) The Individual and Teaching -
Raising the Divine Call Illinois:Baha’i Publishing Trust.
__________ (1982) The Light of Baha’u’llah
Illinois:Baha’i Publishing Trust.
Popov, Linda Kavelin, et al (1993) The
Virtues Guide (rev. ed.) British Columbia:The Virtues Project Inc.
