Monday, May 7, 2007
The Baha'i Faith
The Bahai Faith to me seems so far to be the most tolerant of the faiths that I have read about in this class. A unification of faiths seems to be an intuitive conclusion about God and his prophets. Reading about the intolerance within Christianity to the point where it caused torturing was enough to question relying on one religion to explain the world. If people are sentenced to hell because they are not within a specific sect of a religion -that only its members call the true religion- then everyone else would go to hell as well because they are not Christian. This is a very narrow and impossible way of thinking about the world. However, I can see why the Baha'i Faith is persecuted in the Islamic world. The acceptance of many religions in one religion is not consistent with Islamic views. Many of the tenets of Islam, Christianity and Judaism were fashioned after the best practical way to live in ancient times. A rejection of living with just one religion to teach how to live life is more of a modern approach considering the global nature of present day religion. This is what the Baha'i Faith seems to have done in the 19th century in order to evolve to the changing ways of explaining the world. Religion developed today will also reflect the times. The two tenets I do not agree with in the Bahai Faith are belief in a god, and obedience to the political party in power. This leaves Buddhism, Daoism, and any polytheistic religions out of the equation. Therefore the Baha'i Faith still reflects the time it was founded by ruling out non-monotheistic religions, despite the very liberal unification of religions.
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I've read with interest your overview of the Faith. A look at where in the world the Baha'i Faith has taken hold might surprise you. Those parts of the world where Buddhism, Daoism, and polytheistic religions are well-represented - Southeast Asia including Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, as well as India and China, and those places the world over where indigenous religions are practices - have all been fertile ground for the growth of the Faith. Becoming a Baha'i for a Buddhist, Daoist, or indigenous religionist, is not a denial of faith but a fulfillment. For these peoples, too, it's not a matter of of "either/or" but "and".
With your permission I would like to excerpt from this post on my blog Baha'i Views and link.
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