BRITAIN: With its emphasis on the unity of science and religion and its staunch support of the UN, the Baha'i faith fitted British weapons expert Dr David Kelly like a glove.
Dr Kelly converted to Baha'i in 1999 while in the US. "It really was a spiritual revelation for him," his widow, Janice, told the Hutton Inquiry on Monday. "He . . . was perhaps becoming gentler in his ways."
Baha'i describes itself as the youngest of the world's independent religions. Founded in the late 19th century by a Persian nobleman, its central tenet is that humans should work for a global society.
The world's five million Baha'is regard the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, as the most recent in a line of prophets including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mohammad. The faith calls for an end to prejudice, full sexual equality and an end to extremes of poverty and wealth.
Baha'i teaching condemns suicide but does not castigate those who, like Dr Kelly, take their own lives. "The act of suicide is strongly condemned, but we in Baha'i do not take a condemnatory attitude to those that do it," Mr Barney Leith, head of the Baha'i faith in Britain, said before testifying to the inquiry yesterday.
"It's not for us to judge," said Mr Leith, who knew Dr Kelly. "We would have great sympathy if people are overwhelmed by some pressure."
He said the scientist had enjoyed praying with fellow Baha'i in his Oxfordshire home, and even sent an e-mail to them on the day he took his "fateful" walk and ended up dead.- (Reuters)