Talk:Baháʼí Faith in fiction

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that the Baha'i Faith is the Minor plan (if we do our duty well enough.) The majority of the book deals with what I would short-hand in Baha'i circles as a way the Major plan of God brings society towards its destiny. Nicely done. I'm thinking of writing up an article for World Order and one factor (and thus original research not for here) might deal with some of this.... The one published article on the Baha'i Faith and fiction compares the religion to Star Trek (and then proceeds mostly to immediately do something else in my view) has perhaps one good point - that in the view of the history of Star Trek there is a sense that Earth had to get it's act together before joining the spacefaring peoples. This is comparable to the view that we should get our house in order and not wait for something else to either distract us or do it for us, roughly a Baha'i pov. The mechanics of arriving at a kind of utopia as it were. And as part of that history there are references to various forces and wars and etc about how earth got there in Star Trek. But things like the Matrix movies, which call for and have some kind of mass change in society, completely side step *how* such a change is wrought. After the first movie I really hoped they'd work that angle but instead the amost completely avoided the topic - in a sense giving up that large scale change is really possible. The other works covered in this article don't much deal with that or even at all. Mr. Sheppherd's does. If Mrs. Ralya's books continue perhaps she will deal with this theme too but so far it's unique!

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after the plot was stopped, they were never invited back. In fact, it was the Baha'is who invited them there, when nobody else would take them. The terror cult is a small minority on Mazra'ih, and would have been easily managable had they not smuggled a dozen nukes and other weapons in with them. The planet-smashing attempt took place prior to either of the Mazra'ih stories, but I never did write "Price" until after "Devil", and I think after "The Gardener" as well. "Price" shows this cult to actually be abominable heretics: their leader, the fellow who dies in "Devil", has written his own version of the Quran, and would thus not be considered a follower of Islam by any true practitioner of the faith. Only a very small core of his band are actually dangerous, the rest would be redeemable if freed of the influence of that few, and in fact, they do so at the end of "The Gardener." Tom Ligon

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personal level some pain need not be discovered and compromise one's willingness to do things (like not having a period of justifiable depression and worse - I was just hearing about suicide rates in Aphghanistan among women) and on a social level there would be no wastes in systemtic oppression of a segment of society and the costs of war. Periods like the Dark Ages, and the excesses of the Roman Empire, would have been avoided and civilization could have lept forward far faster. Just an idea.--

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works first in 1986. Almost at the same time Maya's works begin and span upto the present but her significant works in relation to the Faith so far were largely in the 90's. Then we have Joseph's work in 1997. Since the turn of the century I begin to see a mushrooming of works and didn't want that to overwhlem the early phase. I also found another Baha'i with an online review of scifi including some here I'm hoping to help out here....--

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the terrorists, a unique approach, but I can see how some folks might not grow too fond of the main character that way. To prepare for it, I studied the Quran in considerable depth. I never did find any justification in it for terrorism, not that I really expected any. It did make me wonder, though, just what tumble of cobbles the "Islamic" extremists of late are following. If anyone is interested in seeing that story, let me know.

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but my impression is that it's not a important theme, crucial to the plot or is used as the background in which everything happens as the other entries do. However he is an active author both in Baha'i oriented works and in publishing mystery/crime/spy novels - surpassing even Maya in prominance though she certainly has a serious body of work.--

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suggesting that they think he's an atheist because he apparently had some trouble getting one of his books published because the central character was atheist. It did remind me that I'd read his Eden books before, which again have a great interest in the language used by the intelligent lizards on that alternative Earth. --

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Not sure what's going on but I'm having trouble reaching the page by typing in searches for this page in wikipedia - instead I have to login, find my contributions and that leads right to it. If I just type in "Bahá'í Faith in fiction" or "Baha'i Faith in fiction" I get no where. Once here, if I copy

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Update: "For A Little Price", the first draft of which was written in 1986, finally sold. Ahmed Kahn says he is including it in a new anthology of science fiction stories involving Muslims, after some minor revision to the version above. I'll post publication information when it becomes available.

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Just wondering - there are precious few places that specifically mention the Baha'is Faith in relation to some of the publications - and yet the content is not to my mind disputed even by the authors, yet as such angles on the them are rare how are we to avoid "our own reviews"? I understand the main

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as mentioned above. So it seems possible that the religion is a major component of the book and that angle is not much played up in the other reviews.... But we still need to establish not only whether the religion is an important aspect of the book but also what to say about it - so far the article

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All true probably - Mr. Collins is an exceptional researcher. However rather than note every single reference made to the Faith the article is framed as a review of places were there is a crucial or major theme related to the religion. There is a section at the begining noting "over 30 mentions" and

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a couple single works have come to my attention but I'm still learning about them - The Golden Age: Thy Kingdom Come. Published by: PublishAmerica (2005) by tk ralya, and The Island of the Same Name. Bend, Ore.: Manifest Books (1997) by Joseph Sheppherd. Both are leaps into the future with a strong

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As for future stories it might be interesting if the reconciliation you suggest also had an effect that hinted that that seed of faith about what happens to technologically advanced civilizations. On the practical side I'd suggest the dynamic that results from when opposing forces join forces - on a

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These comments aren't part of the article - just an example of other places that reference the idea of Baha'i Faith in fiction. Are you saying these comments aren't to be even in discussion? As for the reviews for the article - they are ment only an examples of work and how it exemplies the presence

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As for the PKDick addition...again if book uses the religion as a key aspect of the whole story, ok. Hinting that something related to the faith governs a whole planet, but otherwise being a small part of a novel seems to me to be hardly worth the mention unless one is again trying to be exhaustive

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There are two little-known full-length Baha'i novels by Steve Dighton, a Baha'i who self-publishes at www.schoolmarmwood.org. Breathe not the Sins of Others is a prison story involving a Baha'i main character who is a prison nurse, as Steve himself was. Locked In is billed as a medical mystery --

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Just started a small section on Joseph Sheppherd's book. I also saw that there are a substantial number of works appearing so I tried to break up the flow into an early phase and the present. As far as I can tell things really begin with major references or encorporation of the Faith in Tom Ligon's

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The extremists who attempted to destroy Earth with the starship are, in fact, the ones exiled to Mazra'ih, the planet on which Hab was born. Their exile is a result of them having evacuated their very small cult (a couple of thousand individuals) to space prior to the attempt to destroy Earth, and

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Tom Ligon checking in. I'm glad you found my website and my story comments, as previous critiques I saw here were not as appreciative. In "The Gardener" Hab and others had found the signs of a series of deliberately destroyed civilizations on the planet, and many have drawn dire conclusions about

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You'd have to read it. Evidence is found that the planet has been enhabited before, many times, and because the planet is periodically sterilized (but not in time with when the traces of the prior enhabitants end) it has to be by spacefaring civilizations and the characters wrestle with what it all

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HI! Welcome! You may have another story about terrorists ramming earth but didn't the Shia extremist in "The Devil and the Deep Black Void" threaten/consider ramming the Earth? I'm sure that's what I read - that's why the other Shi'a clerics drove him away from the Earth and how he wound up at the

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The terrorists trying to ram Earth was never published ("For A Little Price"). I considered bringing it back out after 9-11, but it just didn't seem right. It had three re-writes, all too dark to interest Stan Schmidt of Analog. The final version tells the story from the point of view of one of

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OK. BTW I beleive he does mention it if briefly. I beleive there is a mention of a Hidden Word in his recent remake of The Saint but it did not get into the movie adaption. I don't follow his work, it not being my cup of tea as they say, so I'm not sure how much he really mentions the Faith or not

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Ran across that entirely by accident. I was trying to track down a reference to the Jeapoardy TV show, though not fictional, that has mentioned the Baha'i Faith a few times. I ran across the fact that james (Bud) Humpreys, editor of the American Baha'i form 1997-? was a 3 day champion on Jeopardy

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Well then you should congratulate him. I just finished reading the book. I was very gripped by the second half. I'm not sure how to phrase this in the article but of everything I've read so far his is the only one which deals with the fact that Baha'is beleive in a Major and Minor plan of God and

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I've now read the first of these and indeed it deserves to be mentioned - the reference also clearly implies it deserves reference. I tried to use the ref structure but failed - the rest of the page suddenly disappeared. Perhaps more capable hands can make sense of this ref structure. It would be

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means and come to the conclusion that some kind of discovery, common near the time when a civilization reaches this semi-inhabitable planet it makes some kind of leap which isn't defined but is presented as having mystical qualities as I recall. It's presented as not mearly a technological leap.--

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BTW, where did you find this published Collins review? I've only seen references to it, never the whole original or even a complete reference to it. - never mind - Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Babi and Baha'i Faiths 1844-1985. William P. Collins. Oxford: George Ronald, 1990. 521

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This may have been just a mistake - the problem may have been with the question proposed rather than the answer given by the show but we're mentioned here... Game #4601 - Monday, September 13, 2004, Double Jeopardy! Round, RELIGIOUS TITLES for $ 1600 - "Bhai, Sardar" was the answer and "What is

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I think I'm probably confusing this with his use of Esperanto in his books, but I had an idea that Harry Harrison talked about the Baha'is somewhere. I just checked out his article, and there's a substantial mention of his connections with the Esperanto movement, but someone on the talk page

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Now I hear that one of the ladies in 2006-7 "Bachelor: Office and a Gentleman" - Bevin - "was raised Baha'i" in a season finale, but she "lost". Maybe there should be a major media article of mentions of the faith.... along with various news papers and such.... the non-fiction mentions of the

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and was trying to track down more info - still trying to figure out is there enough material for an entry and where - perhaps the popular media section needs to be expanded into it's own section but keep smaller fictional references here...) when a link in the google list said something about

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I don't know Harry Harrison and only some about Esperanto. But from what I do know it's very probable, but not citable, that Harry knew of the religion through his connection with Esperanto. If someone does find something it'll be an interesting addition if it's not a trivial reference....

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though it introduces a little bit of science fiction, too -- wherein a Baha'i main character tries to solve the mystery of what appears to be a disease whose main symptom is unconsciousness in the patient. I considered both of them good enough to donate to my public library. ````Avjoan

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I'm still trying to narrow down which Bill Paxton is the author here - I'm fairly sure it's not the actor. I've read through lot's of lists of his works and they never mention authoring a book. I also found one reference to a Bill and Kersten Paxton in Sweden or teaching

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The reviews of the book and it's sequel aren't very complimentary but at least there was a sequel.... I'm also trying to figure out of the Bill Paxton author is a Baha'i or not, and also see references to a Bill Paxton actor who may or may not be the same

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He also predicted a few things for 2006 that haven't come to pass and some that have for different reasons. It'll be alittle interesting to see if something of the core of his predictions will come to pass - 2006 is when it all begins to really

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Tom Ligon, the actor, is a different person, and I think there is also a poet, a character at Jamestown, VA, my cousin who writes computer books for Microsoft ... Ligon males are named either Tom or Bill, and this goes back at least 1000

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the title of the article and place that in the search it comes up. But I can't see any difference in what I'm typing and what it shows. Aside from that does anyone know how to setup the "redirect" pages from similar spellings? --

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It has to do with the diacretics and the capitilization in the title. To fix the problem, type in something in the search box that you think should lead to this page, and if it doesn't, make a new page with the following

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Done. The idea was to reference stuff not already footnoted somewhere or to extend the relevance of some of them.... I agree it should not be a link farm, but it should note other major or important bodies of work I

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The first may have been Game #2861 - Monday, January 27, 1997, Double Jeopardy! Round, 19TH CENTURY AMERICA for $ 1000 "This religion that promotes a universal faith was introduced to the U.S. from Persia around

496:, edited by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmed and Ahmed Kahn, and published by ZC Books. It should be out in September 2008. (Edit 11/7/08: Release date finally set as 11/15/08, can be ordered from zcbooks.ca -- TL) 284:

which sites his work with "The Saint" series/movie - I beleive the book version has a reference to the Hidden Words. His websites are in transition, one of his old ones mentioned both his work and his religion.--

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Tom Clancey has a character in one of his books that is the victim of torture and toxic experiments. So I guess that would beg the question of how Baha'is are generally perceived in literature and news. ==

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I think he has a rather singular distinction as being a prominant author as well as a Baha'i (of several books and associated with a TV series and movie adaptation I can quite remember at the moment.)--

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I actually wrote a rather long response to thinking the attempt was basically rather simplistic and begged for much more work. The place requires a login but you can read my response without login at

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Game #4340 - Friday, June 13, 2003, single Jeopardy round, KEEP THE FAITH for $ 1000: 'The prophet of this religion, Mirza Husayn Ali, is known as Baha'u'llah or "Glory of God" to the faithful."

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There's an idea in the back of my mind that Hab and the now thoroughly reformed terrorist might meet on Hab's world, and finish the job of saving it, in a thoroughly peaceful manner. Tom Ligon

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the fate of mankind. Without wanting to spoil the ending, he comes up with an alternate, and much more hopeful, interpretation at the end, and also manages to replant a little seed of faith.

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The last time was Game #4812 - Tuesday, July 5, 2005, Double Jeopardy! Round, Beliefs for $ 2000 - "Incorporating elements of Islam & others, this religion was founded in Iran in 1863".

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that has been presented on stage several times in small productions. I beleive there was also one called the King Fisher as well that I recall seeing referenced as a traveling play.... --

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I can think of a couple of plays written by or about the Baha'i Faith that deserve a section - A Dress for Mona which is an account of the martyrdom of a Baha'i in Iran in the '80's -

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of the Baha'is Faith, teachings or notable figures, or individual Baha'is in the realm of fiction. I've even gone back and put in references to where they say they are Baha'is.--

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has summary of the story with an angle on the context of the religion and a quick summary statement about what the context or distinguishing quality of the covereage was....--

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Hope people enjoy the adventure - form what I've talked with other Baha'is about it seems few know of these references except for those in the mass media like the Simpsons.

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I wasn't meaning that we can't use them in this discussion space, but as editors we cannot make our own reviews of work and post them in articles. Ideally there should be

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point of this to be an avoidance of the original work issue and also to avoid simply self-agrandizing but then there is stating something that is simply true. --

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seems to refer to some possibly fictional references to the religion. Not sure though and darned hard to find I'll bet. But I thought to mention it here....--

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One of the curiousities is a ref in the introduction for "Found in World Order, Pages 29 to 31, Volume 12, Number 4" which seems to have been misplaced...--

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If we want to be completely abiding by Knowledge policy, then we should not state things that are just facts, but instead things that are verifiable (see

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planet with the Baha'is. Did "For A Little Price" come before or after "The Devil and the Deep Black Void"? BTW, I noticed a "Tom Ligon" in the cast of

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which again is not really the aim of this article as it stands. Does anyone know how substantial or important the mention is? I don't have the book. --

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Actually, I just looked at how they are organized now, and usually that's not the way External links works. I would change to a suggested reading. --

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I recall some announcement from External Affairs to not respond to such "errors" and let them handle such issues as it is of national importance. --

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after the link to keep me from modifying it, if I keep adding bad data, but formatting bugs should be reported instead. Alternatively, you can add

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exactly what they are supposed to be for, but only the most relevant. It should not become a link farm. More information can be found at

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A kind reader emailed me the basic ref but I think she's written two fiction books but can't find too much about the second one - Paper.

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as part of reviewing the whole article I ran across some curiousities as well as stylistic innovations I'm looking at encorporating...

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J.D. Albert wrote a fantastic book in 1986 published by George Ronald about the the trials of the persecutions in Iran on one man:

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In William P. Collins' 'Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Bábí and Bahá'í Faiths 1844-1985' I found the following:

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I removed the section since he doesn't mention the Baha'i Faith in his work, which is the subject of this article. --

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Confirmed the author is not the actor. I'm waiting on a reference depending on how the author wants this clarified.--

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New York: Ace Books, c1957. Science fiction novel which includes lenghty section on followers of 'The Second Bab'.

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and Kerstin is also the name of the illustrator of the book.... but here's a link to a fello that lives in Missouri

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to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the

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to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the

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to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the

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to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the

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to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the

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to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the

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https://web.archive.org/web/20120815065748/http://users.whsmithnet.co.uk:80/ispalin/heritage/pictures/dis05.htm

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policy, and thus we can't put up our own reviews of books, etc. Facts, statements, etc, have to be cited. --

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https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010605/http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=1&ID=1042&CATE=4

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https://web.archive.org/web/20080120002312/http://www.jazmaonline.com:80/interviews/interviews2.asp?intID=271

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https://web.archive.org/web/20060904013524/http://www.electricpenguin.com/filking/articles/jeffbohnhoff.html

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even references Mr. Collins' research as it was donated to Adherents.com. However I am interested in the

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to keep me off the page altogether, but should be used as a last resort. I made the following changes:

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https://web.archive.org/web/20120205195657/http://www.planetbahai.org/cgi-bin/articles.pl?article=319

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states: "Gregory's journey is marked by the contending philosophies of his mother's Bahai faith..."

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https://web.archive.org/web/20101227153439/http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=72933

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