50th ABS Annual Conference: Full Schedule

You will be able to validate your attendance (Check-In to sessions) using your personal schedule.

9:00am EDT

How Trust Became Equated with Truth in Modern Media

Saturday August 8, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am EDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Skepticism of mainstream media and uncertainty about which publications are reliable have reshaped how people understand government, society, and community in the modern age. As a result, the media itself is in the midst of a radical transformation in how journalists tell stories and how audiences consume them. The Bahá’í writings offer a variety of insights into the challenges facing the media and how journalists can secure their audiences' trust.

Speakers

Jason Hiner

Jason Hiner is an award-winning journalist and editorial leader who has been running newsrooms for over two decades. He has been at the forefront of digital journalism at leading media organizations, including CBS Interactive and Ziff Davis.

Saturday August 8, 2026 9:00am - 10:15am EDT
205

Media, Breakout

10:30am EDT

Reframing Achievement in Education

LIMITED

Saturday August 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:45am EDT

205

Limited Capacity seats available

This session explores how nurturing moral education can move students beyond seeing results as the main measure of learning and toward developing virtues, skills, and a sense of purpose. Grounded in a Bahá’í perspective on human progress, it highlights how educators can foster meaningful dialogue, build community, and empower learners through inquiry, project-based learning, and problem-seeking that sparks curiosity. Practical tools will be shared to help classrooms support self-actualization, sense of belonging and reflective, forward-looking learning.

Speakers

Nazli Ighani

I view education as transformative, empowering students to connect learning to real-world issues and meaningful social action. I center learner agency, cultural knowledge, belonging, and emotional safety, creating inquiry-driven, inclusive spaces grounded in justice. With an M.Ed... Read More →

Saturday August 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:45am EDT
205

Education, Breakout

2:00pm EDT

Social Media Awareness in the Age of AI

LIMITED

Saturday August 8, 2026 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT

205

Limited Capacity seats available

This presentation explores social media awareness in the age of artificial intelligence through digital literacy, cognitive science, and Bahá’í ethical perspectives. Drawing on Bahá’í writings, it frames the internet and AI as tools for global connection that require moral responsibility. The discussion examines how algorithms and dopamine reward loops influence attention and behavior, while addressing embedded bias and inequity. Emphasizing accuracy, kindness, forbearance, and unity, the presentation encourages students, educators, and communities to engage social media and AI in ways that advance justice and collective well-being.

Speakers

Timothy Conley

Timothy L. Conley is an educator, academic leader, filmmaker, and media professional with experience in Communication Studies, Film Studies, Africana Studies, and digital media. He has taught at colleges and universities across California and served in leadership roles advancing curriculum... Read More →

Saturday August 8, 2026 2:00pm - 3:15pm EDT
205

Technology, Breakout

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3:30pm EDT

Baha’i Perspectives on the Ontology of Law and Justice

Saturday August 8, 2026 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT

205

This presentation explores Bahá’í conceptions of law and justice as fundamentally ontological rather than merely normative or juridical. Tracing a trajectory from ancient Greek notions of nomos and dike as the discovery of being, through Abrahamic debates between legalism and mysticism, it shows how Bahá’í writings restore and deepen law’s relation to ontology, in contrast to both natural and positive law traditions in Western jurisprudence. Drawing especially on Bahá’u’lláh’s Garden of Justice Tablet and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Marriage Tablet, the presentation highlights how divine laws articulate the essential relationships that constitute reality itself, such that justice becomes the lawfulness of being and obedience a participation in cosmic harmony.

Speakers

Ali Rod Khadem

I am a tenured professor at Suffolk Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. I hold a PhD in Islamic intellectual history as well as a JD and MA. My research/publication history concerns law and religion, with a focus on Islamic intellectual history. I am also a regular consultant to... Read More →

Saturday August 8, 2026 3:30pm - 4:45pm EDT
205

Study of the Writings, Breakout

50th ABS Annual Conference

9:00am EDT

Jason Hiner

10:30am EDT

Nazli Ighani

2:00pm EDT

Timothy Conley

3:30pm EDT

Ali Rod Khadem

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