The Baha'i community of North Fulton County, Georgia, which covers the area recently incorporated as the city of Milton, has elected the first local governing council since the establishment of the city in November 2006.  The Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North Fulton County was elected on April 21 at the community's annual meeting.

As the Baha'i Faith has no clergy, the Local Spiritual Assembly - and assemblies elected at the regional, national and international levels -- are charged, according to Baha'i writings, with the responsibility of being "channels of divine guidance, planners of the teaching work, developers of human resources, builders of communities, and loving shepherds of the multitudes."

In a recent message to Baha'is around the world, the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body the Baha'i Faith, reiterated the importance of these qualities because people everywhere are yearning for institutions that will "dispense justice, dispel oppression and foster an enduring unity between the disparate elements of society."

To those who equate elections with hard-ball partisan politics, the Baha'i Faith's system of spiritual administration may seem like an oxymoron. These skeptics might well examine how the Baha'i electoral system removes partisanship from the democratic process, thus increasing the likelihood that those elected are not bound by narrow interests, but rather seek the well being of the entire human race.

At a time when trust in government is eroding everywhere in the world, and when the electoral process in many nations has become discredited because of endemic corruption, this new model of governance serves as an antidote to apathy, alienation and despair.

The election of the Spiritual Assembly of Milton coincides with the first day of the 12-day Festival of Ridvan, which commemorates Baha'u'llah's proclaiming in 1863 of His mission as God's Messenger for this age. Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, is recognized as the most recent in a line of Divine Messengers that stretches back beyond recorded time and includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad. Baha'is view the world's major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity. The central theme of Baha'u'llah's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for humanity’s unification into one global society. While reaffirming the core ethical principles common to all religions, Baha'u'llah also revealed new laws and teachings to lay the foundations of a global civilization. “A new life,” Baha'u'llah declared, “is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth.”

The worldwide Baha'i community, composed of people from virtually every racial, ethnic and religious background, is working to give practical expression to Baha'u'llah’s vision of world unity. We invite you to learn more about the Baha'i Faith and benefit from the spiritual and practical insights found in the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, God's message for humanity in this day.