Anyone heard of these people before?

[jackshoegazer]

The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.

The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God, Bahá'u'lláh said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.

One of the purposes of the Bahá'í Faith is to help make this possible. A worldwide community of some five million Bahá'ís, representative of most of the nations, races and cultures on earth, is working to give Bahá'u'lláh's teachings practical effect. Their experience will be a source of encouragement to all who share their vision of humanity as one global family and the earth as one homeland.

Basic Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh...

-the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
-assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
-recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth
-the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth
-the realization of universal education
-the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth
-the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations
-recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge

Thus the principle of the unity of religion means that all of the great religious Founders--the Manifestations--have come from God, and that all of the religious systems established by Them are part of a single divine plan directed by God.


http://www.bahai.org

Comments

[3starsinmyeyes.livejournal.com]

This is actually a really interesting proposition, so to speak. But I think most people are to happy thinking that we've accomplished most of these things already that they would just dismiss it.

-the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
-assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
-the realization of universal education

people are actually thick enough to think public grade school and highschool qualify

-recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge

and while some religions do teach this, the ones that don't really, are the ones that spout it the most ;)

don't you just love our world?

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine use to be a member of the Bahá'í...but when he started complaining about how they were treating their women...they kicked him out! As far as he knows, he is the only person to be kicked out of the Bahá'í.

Of course, now he is a Druid, and runs a (soon to be) Provisional Grove.

ttyl

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

Why do organizations that promote equality always fall short of their own vision?

[ceolnamara.livejournal.com]

Yep. One of my old friends from community college was Baha'i. Nice girl, if a bit strange and draining. That wasn't due to her religion, though.

[bythebootstraps.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy their philosophies, but I found all the B'hais I've ever met either "strange and draining" or sort of creepy, in that creepy wholesome, glaze-of-the-true-believer way.

But they were very nice and brought good food to potlucks.

[antarcticlust.livejournal.com]

My good friend Todd's mother-in-law is Bahai, and has a Bahai library here on the island. I find them utterly fascinating (you'll eventually stumble on my post about this from last fall if you haven't already)...definitely need to delve into this more deeply.

[jackshoegazer.livejournal.com]

The more I read about them, the more I realized they are like a lot of religious orders.. it sounds great on paper, but the actual implementation is flawed. Ah, humans.. the creatures with such good ideas but not the will power to live up to them.