Last modified: 2002-08-17 by rob raeside
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There is no "Baha'i flag". A banner with a 9-pointed
star was noted on a Polish website ... this banner is more akin to Tibetan
Buddhist prayer-flags than what we regard as flags that have an official
standing of some sort. They are definitely not official flags of the Baha'i
Faith and there is no flag that meets that description.
These banners were created and are sold by an artist in Hawaii, and are about
20cm (9") square, probably on very light unhemmed cloth. They include a large
number of pictorials of "sacred personalities" ranging from the Virgin Mary to
Ganush. The series that includes the nine-pointed star Baha'i logo also includes
ligatures or monograms in several languages for other faiths, Mogen David,
Shinto torii, but no star and crescent, oddly enough. Instead, a monogramatic
rendering of "Allah" stands for Islam.
(Parenthetically, there is a similar artistic monogram used by Baha'is, a sort
of "Baha'i shihada," if you will. Generally, most Baha'is regard this symbol as
too sacred for everyday display everywhere ... not unlike the official Saudi
flag restrictions. The 9-pointed star or rosette is the acceptable public symbol
... it even shows up as a Microsoft dingbat!)
One of the pillars of Baha'i belief is individual and communal obedience to the
civil laws of wherever they may reside. Another is strict avoidance of political
factions (Baha'is don't join any party, but vote as independent citizens, and
stay clear of political revolutions of any sort). Thus, in Israel, Baha'is
follow legal restrictions on any local administrative organization of their
community, even though they live under the shadow of the global administrative
body of their religious community.
Ergo, Baha'is are not big on representing their faith community with a flag to
fly alongside those of political entities.
Curiously, around 1915 or so, an American Baha'i did make and fly a
standard-looking flag that simply had the word "PEACE" in green on a white
bedsheet. This was a personal display, not in any way an official emblem,
although it reflects, I'm sure, the urgent hope of most members of the Baha'i
Faith.
Bill Dunning, 12 July 2002
![[Baha'i commercial banner]](../images/r/rel-baha.gif)
by Chrystian Kretowicz
The source for this banner was
a Polish Baha'i website,
where there was a picture of it, with the white or yellow star on blue,
but it was replaced recently by some different photograph.
The nine-point star symbol of the Baha'is can be seen, among many other sites,
on www.bahai.org and in historical context,
on
dmawww.epfl.ch/~owhadi/star.html
Chrystian Kretowicz, 11 July 2002
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