My sister has written a letter to the school where her children go. I think it is an excellent letter and have asked her for permission to share it publicly, which she has granted. I am sure you would be welcome, if you are a Baha'i trying to explain Christmas, to use it as appropriate in your own community.

Greetings! This letter is in response to having been asked for the second time in the three school years that our children have been attending W...School if they may participate in the Christmas concert. While we recognize and appreciate that this question arises from respect for individual families' belief systems, the fact that it keeps coming up tells us that there is probably a lot of confusion as to what exactly our family believes and fear of unknowingly stepping on our toes. We wish to make it clear that it would be very difficult to do that, and why.

As a brief introduction, the Baha'i Faith originated in Iran in the year 1863, when a Persian nobleman, whose title was "Baha'u'llah", an Arabic word meaning "The Glory of God" or "The Glory of the Father", declared Himself to be the Promised One of all the previous major religions. For most, probably all of you this means that He stated that He is the Return of Christ. In the words of Shoghi Effendi, Baha'u'llah's great-grandson and the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith,

"To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the "Everlasting Father," the "Lord of Hosts" come down "with ten thousands of saints"; to Christendom Christ returned "in the glory of the Father," to Shí’ah Islám the return of the Imám Husayn; to Sunní Islám the descent of the "Spirit of God" (Jesus Christ); to the Zoroastrians the promised Sháh-Bahrám; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha."

So to make it very clear, we DO believe in His Holiness Jesus Christ, with all the love and reverence that you feel for Him.

The purpose of this letter is not to prove that Baha'u'llah is the Return of Christ. If any of you are curious about that, we think we have made ourselves open enough that you can ask for information or literature, whenever you'd like. Also, we host bi-weekly Saturday dinners and devotional gatherings at our home for people of all faiths and beliefs to come and worship together. Our purpose in this letter is to explain how our beliefs cause us to respond to school events that are related to religion. Contrary to disapproving of religion-related activities in a public school, we enjoy religious diversity. We believe that there is truth to be found in the teachings of all the major religions, and an unbiased study of any of those Writings will reveal that. If the parents of the children in the school were primarily Hindu and those were the school's celebrations, we would encourage our children to participate in those celebrations. If the culture of the school were primarily Jewish, Buddhist or Muslim, as long as the observation of such Holy Days were not to cause our children physical or emotional harm, we would not only encourage our children's participation but be grateful that they have the opportunity to learn, first hand, another perspective. Our approach to religion in public school would not be to pick and choose whose beliefs should be allowed, or eliminate religion altogether, but to allow and encourage the sharing of all beliefs. Baha'u'llah taught that there is only one God, and that all religions are one religion, the religion of God. Not Christian, Baha'i, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu - these are labels they have been given because of the Names of the Messengers Who brought each religion, each time furthering God's Message to humanity according to the time in which the people were living. The spiritual teachings, as opposed to the outward form, of all of these religions are the same because they all came from the same Source.

We were advised that we were asked this time because the school play is about Santa, not Jesus. You've obviously heard we don't teach our children to believe in Santa Claus. This is a parenting decision, not a religious one. Some Baha'is from Christian backgrounds still celebrate Christmas and tell their children that Santa is coming. As Baha'is grow to understand the significance of Baha'u'llah's coming themselves, this will change. My parents became Baha'is in the 1950s, my father from a United Church background, my mother from a Baptist background. One of our Baha'i leaders, Shoghi Effendi, counselled the Baha'is to give up the traditions of the religions in which they were raised in order to establish that the Baha'i Faith is an independent religion, not an offshoot, sect or church of one of the existing ones, with Holy Days and celebrations of its own. This is not a law, but my parents were so excited to have found the long-awaited Return of Christ, that they wanted to do everything they could to establish the "Kingdom of God on earth." If that meant giving up Christmas trees and Santa, neither of which are based in the Bible anyway, it was a small sacrifice. My husband became a Baha'i from a Catholic background before he and I met, and feels similarly.

Also simply a parenting choice related to Santa: to us there is a fine line between encouraging children to believe in fantasies, albeit benign ones, and lying to them. We want our children to know that we will never lie to them, that they will always be able to trust us - hence our children know that the Tooth Fairy's name is Mom. This does not mean that we believe that a Christmas play about Santa is bad, or that searching for eggs left by the Easter Bunny is wrong. Our choices are not about judgment of others. It just means we make sure that our children know the difference between fantasy and reality, so that they can't accuse us of lying to them when they discover that these characters are just fairy tales.

We hope this letter clarifies any misconceptions you may have, and also alleviates any worries you may feel about the possibility of offending us with Christian celebrations. Christ's birth is most definitely something to celebrate! The only thing that could possibly get us to protest that we can think of would be if adults started telling our children that they are going to hell for what we believe. This has not happened at this school, of course, but one of our daughter's friends in a different location told her that her mom said that A. was not going to heaven because she wasn't a Christian. We would have a problem with that sort of judgment.

At the same time as we encourage our children to learn about all the Faiths, we appreciate that the school has allowed us to bring Baha'i celebrations in as well. However, given how threatened some of the adults felt last year, this February we would like to do it quietly, if the school will allow us to celebrate the Intercalary Days there again - perhaps make a meal for the school at lunch time like we did the first year we were here, to give us an opportunity to be of service to the school at our special time of gift-giving, hospitality and service. If any of the school parents do have concerns about the Baha'i influences in the school, please feel free to share this letter with them.

To end, we would like to offer another invitation. This year our family is hosting the Baha'i community's celebration of the birth of Baha'u'llah. How we celebrate varies from year to year and host to host, but we, the Vasquez family, generally think of birthday celebrations as parties, so if you would like to join us in the celebration of Baha'u'llah's birthday, (November 12th), Baha'i Holy Days start at sunset on the day before, and the party will start at 5 p.m. of Sunday, November 11th. Just call to let us know if you are coming.

A final word about religious celebrations: Baha'u'llah said, "Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship." As most of you know by now, it is not unusual for our family to give gifts to the staff at Christmas time (please do not give us gifts in return, to try and exchange gifts with all the school families would be ridiculous), because it is a way that we can celebrate your special days with you. By the same token, we give gifts during our special time of gift giving, so we can celebrate our special days with you. Please know that this is only about a desire for mutual respect, and while it may seem strange to receive gifts at the end of February for no apparent reason, our children know that it is for a special reason, though it is not "the Baha'i Christmas." There is only one Christmas, and we will honour Jesus' life with you at that time.

With gratitude to all of you for your excellent instruction and care of our children, and blessings for the Christmas season and the New Year (yes, we have a different New Year too, but that's another story....)

(signed by my sister and her husband)

P.S. Apparently A. was asked whether we do Hallowe'en too. Well, Hallowe'en is silly, but where's the harm in silliness, other than a possible upset stomach or two from too much candy? Please, just know that our children can be involved in any and all school activities, and if there is anything we have difficulty with, we will let you know.