"We're not saying, 'everybody, go hide in your basements.' [We're saying] just try to love each other a little so the lesser peace won't be so bad," she says.

But Harrison says beliefs concerning the intensity of the lesser peace vary among the Baha'i and are very much a matter of self-interpretation. "Some people believe it'll just be bad weather," she says.

Although public awareness of the faith is not great, Cook says he feels people on campus react positively to Baha'i ideas. "I think our ideas are of such a nature that they don't really conflict with anyone's viewpoints enough to cause hostility," he says.

Save for a symbolic ring which many members wear, there are no outward traits which imply membership in the Baha'i; but that doesn't mean there are not distinguishing features of the faith which set members apart.

Social Restrictions

Practicing Baha'is are forbidden to drink, smoke, take drugs, or engage in premarital sex. Marriage itself is only sanctioned if it has the approval of both partners' families, because of the importance of family unity within the faith, Andrews says.

But there is also a Baha'i law against being fanatical, Diessner says. "We do seek advice of physicians when ill and consider anything a physician prescribes [to be] okay."

Baha'is on campus say the ability to deal with the restrictive laws varies according to one's background. "If you were a party animal before you realized that you should get serious about your life, then I'd see that could be a problem," Diessner says.

"All of these laws have reasons behind them," Harrison says. "Baha'i writings say the bond between two sexual partners is stronger than any other bond that can be imagined," which explains the ban on premarital sex.

"My understanding of the laws [against drinking and drugs] is the principle that drugs that intoxicate the brain have an effect of not letting your behaviors interact with your soul," Diessner says. "They interrupt the dialectic between the soul and the body."

Reasons do not eliminate the difficulty of dealing with social restrictions, however. "It's hard, especially [at] college where so much of the social life is based on drinking," Andrews says. "But it seems like such a little sacrifice when you realize what God has done for you."

"Giving up drinking was something I had to consciously go through, and I haven't been perfect about that. It's not something that's immediately ended," Jull says.

Jull says that when he first became a Baha'i a year ago he faced some skepticism from friends whom he'd gone drinking with before, but adds that he thinks their cynicism soon changed to respect."

Premarital sex is "one of the most frequently discussed topics of college-age Baha'is Mohadjer says, adding that when in college, she foundthat to be the area of most peer pressure. "Peopledidn't understand that for me it was never anissue," she says. "You have to be very careful howclose you get to people. You have to be firm aboutit earlier rather than later because later is muchtoo late."

Others view the restrictions with greaternonchalance. Nikki Abrashamian, who comes from aBaha'i family in Iran where the prevailing Muslimculture also exercises strict regulatory laws,says the restrictions pose no problems for her.

"It didn't matter at all when I came [toAmerica]," she says. "I guess my beliefs werestronger than the peer pressure so it was veryestablished in me that I should abide by the lawsthat I believe."

Chen also says the laws are no problem for her."Before I became a Baha'i I partied so hard--thenI got it out of my system so there's absolutely notemptation now."

Even the restrictions can serve as a way ofspreading the faith, Sadeghi says. "I think thebest way to teach is to be a good example. Whenpeople see me not drinking they're curious andthat in itself is a teaching method.