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Monday, November 5, 2012

The Bahá'í faith


I talked to an interesting young man who holds the following belief.  This description is from the BBC.

Bahá'í at a glance

Bahai House of Worship in Delhi, a white building resembling the petals of a lotus flower
The Bahá'í faith is one of the youngest of the world's major religions. It was founded byBahá'u'lláh in Iran in 1863.
Iran was then mainly a Muslim country, and the faith was proclaimed by a young Iranian, who called himself The Báb. He said that a messenger would soon arrive from God, who would be the latest in a line of prophets including Moses, Muhammad and Jesus Christ.
  • Bahá'u'lláh, which means the Glory of God in Arabic, was born Mirza Husayn Ali in 1817
  • Bahá'ís believe that Bahá'u'lláh is the most recent Manifestation of God
  • Bahá'u'lláh himself stated that he is not God's final messenger
  • The Bahá'í faith accepts all religions as having true and valid origins
  • The idea of progressive revelation is of central significance for the Bahá'í faith
  • Bahá'u'lláh taught that God intervenes throughout human history at different times to reveal more of himself through his messengers (called Divine Messengers, or Manifestations of God)
  • The central idea of the faith is that of unity. They believe that people should work together for the common benefit of humanity
The followers of Bahá'u'lláh were descended from the Bábis - believers in the Báb who foretold the mission of Bahá'u'lláh.
There are 6 million Bahá'ís in the world, in 235 countries and around 6,000 live in Britain.

Posted by Unknown at 6:43 AM

3 comments:

  1. UnknownNovember 5, 2012 at 6:45 AM

    I believe that a religion that accepts the validity of all other religions is a good idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TomNovember 5, 2012 at 9:01 AM

      I am not familiar with this faith. However, looking at bullet point 4 (the 4th one down) I wonder if it does indeed imply (as part of their belief) that valid origins validate the religion. Assuming it does then I can accept that concept in the context of a faith based belief system, just as I can accept the “Trinity” concept in the Christian religion.

      I will agree unconditionally that I too believe that a religion that accepts the validity of all other religions is a good idea with the explanatory note that my agreeing in no way implies that I think all religions are valid, compatible, desirable, or acceptable.

      Delete
  2. BruceNovember 6, 2012 at 9:27 PM

    I first became aware of this faith many years ago in the early 70s when I read that the singer/ songwriter duo Seals and Crofts (Jim Seals and Dash Crofts) were advocates for the faith. I did some reading and was intrigued. I have always been bothered by the purposeful divisiveness of organized religion in general and here was one that was fully accepting and respectful of all faiths. From my way of thinking that is a much healthier way of thinking.

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