Narrative Summary
Interview with Janet Haworth by Holly Higgins
Janet Haworth had an interesting journey to get to where she is now in her religious life.
She was raised in a Christian, Bible-teaching, non-denominational church; however, when Janet
was 14 years old, her father told her that she could be whatever religion she wanted to be. She
took that to heart and set out to find the religion that felt right to her.
Social pressure was high because most of her peers were churchgoers. So, when Janet
moved back to the area with her new family, she took her kids to the same church she grew up
in. She looked into other churches, but none of them seemed any better than the one they were
currently attending. For example, Janet had a problem with some of the things that one church
was teaching. The preacher said that God allowed Satan to put dinosaur bones on the earth so
that people would have something to believe in if they didn’t want to accept the divine creation
theory. Janet wanted to find a place where not only she felt comfortable but also believed in the
teaching. She started to ask a lot of questions during these years, many for which she got into
trouble. As a result, she stopped going to church for a while.
The man that would eventually become her husband introduced Janet to the Baha’i
religion. Her basic religious beliefs were ingrained in her from childhood, so it took her awhile to
feel comfortable with the Baha’i teachings. The more she researched the religion, the more Janet
came to believe in them.
Janet is now on the local Spiritual Assembly, which is a group of people elected to lead in
the church and handle different matters that come up. There are twelve people on the assembly.
Historically, the Baha’i faith was male dominated, but as of this past election, nine members that
were voted into the assembly were female and only three were men. The Baha’i faith has turned
Janet’s life around and has given her something she can believe in.
Missouri State University
Spring 2009
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women