Today is a family reunion. And, as at all family reunions, some of the guests and celebrants are close relatives and know each other very well. Others are distant relations and may just be getting to know each other or may not even have met. As at any family reunion, some of the guests may appear to be dressed strangely to us or have an odd demeanor or odd turn of speech. However eccentric or different some may strike us, we are all part of this one big family. And today we will share wonderful stories and tales at our reunion.
The family reunion we celebrate today is World Religion Day, established by the Baha'is of the United States in 1950 to call attention to the essential oneness of the world's religions. As the Baha'i writings state, "the gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the fundamental oneness of religion." World Religion Day is now observed around the globe by many faith traditions with conferences, interfaith activities and prayer services.
Today, on World Religion Day, we affirm the beauty, love and peace of all the world religions. We affirm their divine origin and their essential oneness. We affirm our respect for and our solidarity with them, "religion should be the cause of love and agreement, a bond to unify all mankind for it is a message of peace and good-will to man from God." Baha'is are commanded to "consort with all religions and nations with the utmost friendliness and love."
All created things are a revelation of the beauty and love of God. Through Baha'u'llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i Faith, God speaks, "Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty."
The highest expression of God's love and the most potent revelation of His beauty is the Divine Messenger, the Prophet-Founders of the world religions, including Moses, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad and, for this day, Baha'u'llah. One of the Names that God, speaking through the revelation of Baha'u'llah, gives to these Messengers is "the Ancient Beauty." The greatest beauty in the Universe is the person of the Divine Messenger. Although these Messengers have different human personalities and portions of their messages may be suited to the age and to the people to which they are revealed, the Messengers bring the same Light and reveal the same basic eternal truths.
"Men at all times and under all conditions stand in need of one to exhort them, guide them and to instruct and teach them. Therefore He hath sent forth His Messengers, His Prophets and chosen ones that they might acquaint the people with the divine purpose underlying the revelation of Books and the raising up of Messengers, and that everyone may become aware of the trust of God which is latent in the reality of every soul."
The physical universe is "the transfiguration of His Beauty, the reflection of Himself in the mirror of His Creation." His creation includes not only the wonders and signs of the physical universe, but also includes the peoples of the Earth in all our diversity. Each woman, each man, each child, each nation, each culture, each race, each is a love letter -- an invitation -- from God to us. Because God loved us, He created us in His likeness and revealed to us His beauty through His creation and through the peoples of the Earth.
Baha'is assert not only the oneness of religion, but through it the oneness of humanity. We call for an end to all forms of prejudice, bigotry and hatred. "The spiritual brotherhood which is enkindled and established through the breaths of the Holy Spirit unites nations and removes the cause of warfare and strife. It transforms mankind into one great family and establishes the foundations of the oneness of humanity." Through the establishment of the oneness of humanity will come the long prophesied day of peace and the advancement of global society.
I woke up dead once so my experiences may have just a tad bit more to do with my beliefs than those of many others. The second most important important thing I learned is that EVERYBODY IS WRONG! But there is also something right and much to learn in and from all the worlds religious teachings.
There's God, in whatever form of he, she, they, or it, that you choose to view the infinite as, and then there is religion. Try not to ever confuse the two.....
Since I'm neither a theosophist; a theologian nor an ontologist or for that matter an etymologist or an epistemologist and surely not as erudite as yourself. I admit that I find myself at a loss. Perhaps you could elucidate on the difference between certitude and knowledge? While you're at it, if you woudn't mind? I'd also be thrilled to learn the nature of the "historical proof" you have uncovered which clearly refutes the existence of a singular diety and the religions which so remarkably echo each other in their insistent belief in life after death, fellowship and amity among men and espousing principles of spiritual upliftment and moral rectitude. Thinly veiled indeed! One could almost be deluded into thinking they were one and the same.
Those who have studied the historical side of Judaic history, for example, know that the Moses depicted in the scriptures could not have existed, and yet he remains on Baha'u'llah's list of manifestations. The biblical stories at the very base of the Abrahamic religions are all without historical basis.
As to refuting a deity, that's an easy enough task, but before that even becomes necessary one must be provided with a reason to do so - the evidence of such a deity is sorely lacking. The law of parsimony is sufficient to refute a deity - a god is neither necessary nor a reasonable explanation for existence of anything else. And that deity's existence is unexplainable. We storytellers may love simplistic and heartwarming explanations, but they're the lazy route to comprehending our existence.
Joshua didn't fight a battle at Jericho and none of Egypt's pharaohs were drowned.
The deeds and thoughts of men and women can be written and re-written and unwritten by other men and women. Thus we must take all texts and narratives with a grain of salt.
Doug George Kanantiio and Vine Deloria Jr. make powerful arguments against the "land bridge" theory too. We were not there, thus we cannot be certain. Perhaps there was not a single man called Moses, perhaps there was. Perhaps Joshua didnt fight at Jericho, yet there is clear evidence that someone did and that Jericho's walls were destroyed myriad times... as with Troy. As for the pharaohs, until all autopsies are done, you do not know. We did not know that Hatsheput was diabetic until recently.
I would look into the book ISHMAEL by Quinn, who makes a very compelling argument about "mother culture."
So, there is an insensitivity there that eventually drove us apart. He has a brother who is an Evangelical Christian and who is constantly hammering him on why his belief is wrong, etc. but to my mind, he has treated me similarly.
When I really got into an in-depth discussion with him about the oneness of religion, it became apparent that the oneness of religion really refers to being one under the Baha'i faith.
They try to legitimize themselves by claiming other religion's beliefs as part of their own canon.
Let me be the first to fan you.
I have asked of others if I might join them as a guest to their places of worship for services - many have been beautiful and inspiring for me, as religious worship should be. I have asked others (who are curious - I am no teacher) to come to Baha'i devotionals - and a few have taken me up on my offer, I try fervently to never ask more than once.
Inclusivity of all religions, to me, means I should learn and understand of all other religions (and the wonderfully beautiful diversity of the peoples practicing those religions) or I am doing it wrong.
Please accept that not all Baha'is are thus. We, as like peoples of any other religious grouping, are as diverse and individual in our beliefs as fingerprints. Blessed be.
Please don't spoil my moment with a Bible quote. I'm feeling good here.
The Baha'i Faith has no rituals or costumes, no clergy at all. It does have principles and laws, and the community is governed by elected institutions established by Baha'u'llah himself in his own writings.
The only time religion and or cults should come into to question is when it's practitioners are being exploited financially or psychologically by the regions or cults leaders, a measure of the harm caused by the cult or religion versus any psychological benefit it actually does provide.
On the other hand, religion can also present a great challenge to the believer requiring growth not infantile regression, the facing of responsibility and not escape. Erich Fromm wrote extensively on these themes.
Two good examples of religion in action are the lives of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. I doubt that anyone could ever make a claim that these two leaders needed religion as a crutch. And millions of their followers exhibited great dynamism and courage in changing society.
Well, except for gays. The Bahai still believe marriage is between a man and a woman only. Gays aren't quite so equal. That statement above sounded really good at first, and everyone wants to sound fair and kind, but either you truly believe in ending prejudice, bigotry and hatred, or you just print it in brochures and greeting cards and pretend.
These are not prejudices but rather moral teachings, and since every Baha'i is imperfect, every Baha'i is affected by Baha'u'llah’s teachings in some way. Since everyone has some moral flaw, to be a Baha'i means to focus on one's own faults, not the faults of others.
The Baha'i community includes within it people who morally imperfect. As I understand it, they are welcome in the Baha'i community provided they are making sincere effort to abide by the laws of the Faith.
I'd be careful with this 'holier than thou' crap you people espouse, your skid marks are showing.
The Lord says:
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
Baha'i's do not believe Christ to be the final prophet and Son of God, but rather believe their own prophet, Baha'ullah to be the primary messenger of God and that Jesus was not resurrected from the dead. Baha'ullah retains a position of superiority to Jesus in the Baha'i faith much as Mohammed is to Jesus in Islam. Which, If I may keep speaking in analogies, the Baha'i faith has been compared to Mormonism is to Christianity in comparison to Islam.
Also, Zoroastrian kings did not come visit Christ, they were "Magush" (Magi), members of the Zoroastrian priestly caste.
Everything you quoted essentially says "be nice to others", not "accept their religious beliefs".
You say this as if it is a fact.
Having also been raised Catholic, and reluctantly learned of the RCC's many abuses over the years, I emphasize with the anger with it. And during many of those years, my own anger about these things filled me with indignation that I see in your comments.
But after many such years spent railing against these injustices, and winning few converts to my hate-filled cause, I learned that my anger was instead blinding me to good things that it can foster.
You may not subscribe to its dogma (I surely don't), and you may object strenuously to its methods (I will agree that many are questionable at best), but my own such railings have served too much over the years, and against my own well-intentioned ability to combat it, to merely harden my heart towards those who follow this faith.
The reality of the situation, as I see it, is that what people "believe" is beyond the ability for rational argument to persuade. And all the angry rantings to convince people of how "stupid" or "wrong" their beliefs are only serves to anger them and drive them away.
Instead, I have come to believe it best to demonstrate the merit of my beliefs first by interactions with them, and if the moment seems appropriate in a non-threatening way, to share aspects of my beliefs that might help them in their journey.
If you haven't tried this approach, I invite you to consider doing so.