DR DAVID Kelly would have found nothing in his Baha’i religion to suggest suicide was morally acceptable, Lord Hutton will be told when he takes evidence next month. Barney Leith, the head of the UK Baha’i community’s governing council, is expected to tell the inquiry that his religion - to which Dr Kelly converted - explicitly condemns suicide as it curtails the chance for spiritual improvement. Writing exclusively for The Scotsman, Mr Leith suggests that the Baha’i faith would, if anything, have provided a religious dimension for Dr Kelly’s continued work for the United Nations as a means of promoting international community. Mr Leith, the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the UK, said his faith’s key goal is for the people of the world to unite in a social, humanitarian order - a goal reflected in the ideals of the UN. The faith is centred around Baha’u’llah, born in Persia in 1817. He is regarded by his followers as God’s latest, but not last, prophet - following a line which includes Abraham, Moses, the Budda, Jesus and Muhammad. The central message of Baha’u’llah is that personal prejudices and international discord should be conquered - and that work towards this goal can be regarded as the moral equivalent of prayer. Read Full Story

Baha'i Religion