Monday will be a big day for the Baha'i religion (pronounced Bah-HIGH). It will be the birthday of the Bab.

And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, stay with me for a moment.

Forty years ago while visiting a post office in rural Bolivia, I met my first Baha'i. Or I should say my first Baha'is. There were two of them.

My missionary companion and I were going in as they were leaving. We ended up face to face. We felt like we'd met ourselves. They were young, like us. And like us, they were pleasant and earnest. I liked them right away. And that first impression has made me a fan of the Baha'is for four decades now.

The four of us chatted for a spell. It was soon obvious they knew much more about my religion than I knew about theirs — a running theme in my life, I'm afraid.

They said they admired Joseph Smith because, as Baha'is, they believed you could tell true men of God because they always left behind a book of teachings. I thought of Moses, Muhammad — even C.S. Lewis. It kind of made sense.

When I got home to the states, I studied up on the Baha'is. I learned it was a fast-growing faith with (now) almost 6 million followers. Their goal was to create a universal community of the human race. It was a plan fostered by a man named Baha'u'llah in the mid-1800s. He was a nobleman from what is now Iran. He left a life of luxury to live a life of wandering and teaching. His followers today look at him the way Buddhists look at Buddha.

And, yes, he did leave a book — a bunch of them, in fact. He was famous for saying things like, "You are the fruit of one tree and the leaves of one branch."

The goal of the Baha'i faith — uniting the world — is ambitious. But they go about it cheerfully.

I wish them luck. It can't be any more daunting than baptizing everyone who's ever lived.

Now, as for the "Bab" and the birthday celebration this Monday, the Bab was really a teacher named Mirza Ali Muhammed. He was martyred in 1850 for holding the outlandish notion that people should be kind. Some 20,000 of his followers were killed along with him, just to punctuate the message being sent.

I've learned since that the Baha'i faith has a fondness for the number 9 (their Illinois temple has nine pillars, nine sides, nine doors — you get the picture). There are nine people leading the Baha'is. Mostly, however, the Baha'i people keep things simple and flexible — no official clergy, no ritual. The religion, however, does condemn idleness, divorce, alcohol and drugs. And they celebrate compassionate service wherever they see it. They also put a lot of trust in fasting, prayer and study.

As for those two young Baha'i guys I met in Bolivia, they would be about 60 years old now. I sometimes wonder if they stuck with it. Being a part of anything for 40 years takes some real starch.

Still, if my first impression means anything, they were the kind of men who are capable of doing whatever they set their hearts on.

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E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com