Christians and Baptists convert to Bahá’í because of the religion’s ideals of equality, and now members can share these ideals through worship and study at a local Sycamore house.

Connie Bressler holds a welcoming session the last Saturday of every month in her home, 1347 Prosser Drive, for people interested in the Bahá’í religion.

Bahá’í is the newest form of “the religion of God.” Other religions of God include Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Zoroastrianism.

Bahá’í started when Persian nobleman Bahá’u’lláh claimed he was a messenger of God. He stated there is one God, one religion and one human race.

Bahá’u’lláh also taught the equality of people and religion, which is what attracts so many to the religion today. There are more than five million Bahá’í followers.

Bressler, raised Presbyterian, said she converted to Bahá’í when she asked herself, “How can I think I’m the only one going to heaven?”

Other members of the faith asked themselves the same question.

NIU history professor Taylor Atkins, raised as a Baptist, said he converted to Bahá’í at 26 because he couldn’t agree that non-Christians wouldn’t be saved.

Atkins said he found his new faith when he visited the Bahá’í temple in Wilmette and read the articles of peace and social justice posted on the walls of the temple. Those justices include the impartiality of gender.

“What really attracted me was the teaching of equality between men and women,” he said.

The concept of male or female clergy in Bahá’í does not exist. In fact, there isn’t clergy.

Bressler said people who come to the study or meditation sessions equally contribute.

She hosts deepening and devotion study sessions every Tuesday and Friday night. Members bring prayer books and share ideas with the group. Member Karen Burgess said she brings “The Interfaith Prayer Book” to the devotion meetings Friday nights.

The book, organized by religion, explains the belief structure of six major world religions and relations to each other.

Burgess’s conversion to Bahá’í is similar to Atkins’ and Bressler’s.

At the age of 12, she started questioning her Christian faith. She said the minister didn’t give good answers, so she left the religion.

Through her teens, Burgess said she spent more time partying than worrying about her faith. When she turned 21, she said she needed something more in her life. Burgess checked out religious books, went to religious-related plays and attended lectures until she finally stumbled upon Bahá’í.

The religion is very inviting to new and old ideas from other religions, Burgess said.

Although the different religions which make up Bahá’í may seem conflicting, Bressler said, the religions are like building blocks and work off each other to compose the overall structure of Bahá’í.

In other words she said, “God’s teachings are progressive.”