As I was thinking about the concept of the Baha'i faith, I went to their international website to see how they present themselves in the very public context of the internet. Their short explanatory blurb on the homepage sums up, in brief, all the detailed accounts of their faith, culture and message that we have come across in the Baha'u'llah's biography. (the Baha'i international web site) It is clear from both the biography and the web site that unity is a concept that is at the forefront of Baha'i faith : "Baha'i believe the crucial need facing humanity is to find a unifying vision of the nature and purpose of life and of the future of society". What I find interesting about this idea is that the "unifying vision" that we need to find is the vision explained by Baha'u'llah. This is interesting to me because, in effect, the Baha'i are not just saying we need to unite, but that we need to unite under the flag of truth--under the flag of Baha'u'llah. For some, they make this acceptance easier than others. By claiming that religions such as Christianity and Judaism are just chapters and components of the one true religion, it becomes slightly easier for someone of this faith to accept their claim. However, if an individual falls outside of this spectrum, say an Atheist, for them, unity (in this context) also means a complete reform of their personal beliefs.
This sense of unity reminds me very much of the ideals of the Unitarian Universalist church. The difference I see, however, is the way the unity is attained. With the UU, they ask that any and all faiths come together, not under one universal truth, but that whatever your truth is, it can live in unity with other truths. This differs fundamentally from the Baha'i approach, as they feel that everyone can attain unity by accepting the one truth I have mentioned above.
I would have said, that all religions can come together under the flag of unity - which is flag of Baha'u'llah in the sense that unity is his main message. It doesn't mean all becoming Bahais, but all recognising their kinship with one another. The kinship of religions does not exclude other kinships, such as the unity of the human race (species unity) and a world political order (political unity) etc... so the atheist and agnostic do not have to become believers to be part of the project of world unity. What is important is that those who *do* have a religion, should not make it a cause for putting up barriers and spreading distrust. Those who don't have a religion, don't themselves have the problem of religiously based disunity (tho' they do suffer from its effects.)
ReplyDeletethere are a couple of postings on my blog that give a Bahai-based approach to the unity of religions and the superiority of one/none:
ht tp:/ /tinyurl.com/futureofreligions
and
htt p://ti nyurl.com/BahaiEcumenics
(remove the spaces)
And a recognition that the Baha'i Faith is itself also another chapter in the eternal story of religion.
ReplyDelete