Editor’s Note:
Most established religions and spiritual traditions offer some vision of religious unity—though in practice, this may carry the hope that others will eventually embrace their own particular beliefs.
The Baha’i Faith, a relatively young world religion, has a different perspective. It teaches that the world’s great religions come from a common Divine source and represent successive stages in humanity’s spiritual development.
Guest writer Marty Schirn, a longtime follower of the Baha’í Faith, expounds on its origins and its teachings on the unity of humanity and the essential unity of religion.
Golden Age Now does not endorse the Baha’i Faith or its worldview. We offer this article as one perspective on humanity’s continuing quest for spiritual unity.
What is the Baha’i Faith?
The Baha’i Faith, founded by Baha’u’llah (1817-1892), considers itself the latest of the major world religions. It began in Persia (Iran) in 1844. “Baha’i” means “follower of Baha’u’llah,” just as “Christian” means “follower of Christ.” “Baha’u’llah” is an Arabic title that means “Glory of God.”
Baha’u’llah was a Muslim, just as Jesus was a Jew. Just as Christianity is not a sect of Judaism, the Baha’i Faith is not a sect of Islam. Rather, the Baha’i Faith is an independent world religion. It has its own Holy Books, Holy Days, Holy Places, laws, teachings, administrative institutions, and even its own calendar.
Baha’is come from every background you can imagine and reside in over 100,000 localities in virtually every country and territory on the planet. The majestic Baha’i World Center is located on the slopes of Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel.
Baha’u’llah declared He was God’s latest Messenger to humanity, having the same Divine authority as Moses, Christ, Muhammad, and the other Founders of the major world religions.
His Mission is nothing less than the spiritual transformation and unification of the entire human race into an all-embracing spiritual world civilization, whose watchword will be “unity in diversity,” whose foundation will be undeviating justice and unconditional love, whose blossoming will represent the coming of age of humanity, and whose glory and majesty we cannot even imagine right now.
Persecution of Baha’u’llah and the Baha’i’s
Because of His challenging claim and universal teachings, Baha’u’llah was condemned and severely persecuted as a heretic by the Muslim clergy and the masses. He never ran away. He never wavered.
His possessions were taken from Him, He was spat upon, ridiculed, stoned, poisoned, bastinadoed (which means He was severely whipped on the soles of His feet). He was thrown into a pitch black underground dungeon, which was icy cold, damp, foul-smelling, infested with vermin. A heavy chain was placed on His neck; His feet were put in stocks. He was in this condition for four months. He was exiled four times from Tehran in Persia: to Baghdad in Iraq, to Constantinople and Adrianople in Turkey, to Akka in Palestine. And, He spent most of His life as a Prisoner.
It’s not that He did anything wrong. Rather, the Muslim clergy collaborated with the Persian and Turkish governments to do everything in their power to try to destroy what they felt was a very dangerous, fast-growing heresy.
In spite of extremely intense persecution, Baha’u’llah wrote over one hundred volumes revealing God’s plan for the achievement of a universal lasting peace.
His life was a shining example of unconditional love, kindness, integrity, dignity, and humility. He was known as “Father of the poor.” He welcomed people of all backgrounds into His Presence. He insisted on unity and harmony at all times. His immeasurable love for God was demonstrated in His daily life.
Over 20,000 men, women, and children who became His followers were severely tortured and then martyred because they, too, were condemned as heretics.
In present-day Iran, the Baha’i Faith is the largest religious minority in that nation. Yet solely because they are members of the Baha’i Faith, the Iranian government has stripped all the Baha’is in that nation of their constitutional rights.
Consequently, they have been expelled from schools, fired from their jobs, their marriages have been annulled, their cemeteries have been desecrated, their homes have been burned, they’ve been thrown into prison, they’ve been executed without trials.
Baha’i communities
Baha’i communities everywhere are all united. There are no sects or denominations in the Baha’i Faith.
Baha’is of all ages are focused on helping its members, and those who are interested, become spiritual human beings by developing close relationships with our loving Creator, and eliminating all prejudices—racial, gender, religious, national, tribal, political, economic, cultural, etc.
Three basic principles of the Baha’i Faith
Baha’u’llah taught three basic principles. Most of the Baha’i teachings revolve around these three principles. These three principles provide an imperative need for today and the future: a universal perspective that is world-embracing.
1. There is only one Creator, though He has been called different Names throughout history, such as Brahma, Ahura Mazda, Adonai, Father, Allah, Great Spirit, God.
2. Humanity is one family. There is only one race—the Human Race. We are all one beautiful human flower garden. As different as we are, we are all equal and the same: we all have the same human bodies, the same human emotions, the same human need for love, the same human dignity, the same God-given human rights.
Our diversity is to be valued and appreciated, not condemned and destroyed.
Although celebrating diversity and advocating co-existence are important, a shared identity based on the principle of the oneness of humanity is essential for lasting progress.
Moreover, women and men are equal wings of the bird of humanity. For humanity to thrive, women must be given equal rights with men. The equality of women and men is not merely a goal to be achieved, but a truth about human nature to be acknowledged and embraced. Women not only deserve equal rights, but the entire human race is being held back by women not being given equal rights.
Establishing peace and unity on our planet is the responsibility of all humanity, and to achieve this requires the abandonment of every kind of prejudice and passionate hatred that allows people to consider themselves superior to others, and that they are right and everyone else is wrong.
3. One Creator has only one religion. He is not in competition with Himself.
However, God, out of His infinite love for humanity, has revealed His one religion many times throughout history. God’s Messengers have been the Founders of the major world religions: Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, and Baha’u’llah.
Hence all the major world religions are Divine in origin, one in essence, equally true, equally important, equally valid, and all part of one progressive Divine process.
A universal loving Creator does not play favorites by elevating one religion above all the others, but rather, out of His infinite love for humanity, God has always revealed His Will throughout history, and will continue doing so indefinitely.
Causes of the differences between world religions
The differences in the major world religions are a result of three factors:
- God, through His Messengers, has adapted His one religion to meet the needs of each age in which it has been revealed. Each age has had different social conditions and requirements.
- The major world religions are like equal chapters of one book. If a chapter were missing, the book would be incomplete.
Each chapter emphasizes a different principle. Moses emphasized justice, and devotion to God by obeying God’s Covenant. Christ emphasized love and forgiveness. Muhammad emphasized submission to the Will of God. Baha’u’llah emphasized unity.
- God’s Messengers have revealed the infallible Word of God. But the clergy, with their fallible minds, have tried to interpret the Word of God, resulting in conflicting man-made interpretations. Often the clergy have then imposed their interpretations on their followers saying in effect, “My interpretation is true and all others are false.”
The result has been the creation of countless sects and denominations, each having its own dogmas, rituals, and interpretations of the teachings of the Founders.
The followers have not independently investigated truth for themselves and reached their own conclusions, whatever their conclusions might be.
Instead they have blindly followed the clergy because they figure the clergy have studied the religion and therefore thoroughly understand it.
However, all the Holy Books of the world’s great faiths contain the same spiritual teachings, e.g., the Golden Rule, love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, justice, etc.
Hence to overcome their many differences, we must distinguish between their Divine teachings and the man-made dogmas, rituals, and interpretations.
Above all, we must focus on their Divine origin, basic oneness, and their being equally true.
Religion and science
Baha’u’llah taught that religion must agree with science and reason. As there is only one Creator, spiritual truth cannot conflict with scientific truth. If religion goes against science and reason, the religion degenerates into superstition. And science without religion leads to materialism and unethical behavior.
Why are there so many religions?
Before I discovered this universal view of religion, I was obsessed with this question: Why does one God have so many religions?
- With so many religions and denominations claiming to be God’s one true religion, this made no sense to me. I felt it was an illogical contradiction.
- Furthermore, I realized that usually our religion is determined by the country where we are born and how we are raised by our parents. Often we are then taught that our religion is true and all others are false.
I felt the universal view of religion I just described was a totally logical answer to my question.
This universal view goes against the current disjointed view of religion.
How are the followers of the major world religions ever going to come together in genuine love, lasting peace, and true unity if they harbor in their hearts the belief that their religion is true and all others are false, that they are right and everyone else is wrong, that they are saved and everyone else is going to hell?
For thousands of years this view of religion has failed to bring people together. On the contrary, it has created destructive barriers resulting in disunity, hatred, self-righteousness, prejudice, fear, fanaticism, and wars fought in the name of religion.
The two-pronged process toward unity
The Baha’i Faith teaches there are two simultaneous processes occurring on our planet. Both are affecting each other; both are increasing at an accelerating rate.
The first process is disintegrative. Disunity is the disease of our time. All the countless problems we are dealing with, extremely severe though they are, are merely symptoms of this increasingly destructive disease.
The second process is integrative. Unity is the Spirit of this New Day in human history! Due to advances in communication, transportation, finance, trade, and other factors, all the nations are becoming increasingly interdependent. No one has the power to stop this process, just as no one has the power to stop the rising of the sun.
The more humanity tries to resist this irresistible integrative process, the greater the suffering that will be required to unite us.
Two stages of peace
These twin processes will eventually lead to what Baha’u’llah called “the Lesser Peace”—the political unification of the human race. Conditions will have become so terrible that the world’s leaders will have no choice but to bring this about just so we can survive as a species. This will be a time in which the world’s leaders will enforce the teachings revealed by Baha’u’llah in the 1800s—without knowing their Source—regarding justice and collective security.
Over a period of centuries, “the Lesser Peace” will evolve into what Baha’u’llah called “the Most Great Peace”—the spiritual unification of the human race, based upon the three principles of the Baha’i Faith: the oneness of God, the oneness of humanity, the oneness of religion—a solid foundation for permanent spiritual world peace through world unity. Humanity will have become so spiritually mature that everyone will unhesitatingly embrace these three vitally imperative principles.
The evolution of human society
As the human race goes through these very radical changes, there will be fits and starts. It will not be a smooth process. Nevertheless, humanity as a species will continue to grow and develop.
Like an individual, we have grown from infancy to childhood to adolescence. We are now living in an age of transition from adolescence to our long-awaited Age of Maturity.
Human society has evolved from families to the formation of tribes, to city-states, to independent nations. We are now, slowly and painfully, becoming a spiritual planetary civilization.
Throughout this entire evolution of human society, we will learn how to love ourselves and each other unconditionally, as we also learn how to love our loving Creator.
Humanity is birthing! Our labor pains are becoming increasingly severe. But we can look forward with great optimism that our new baby will be beautiful!
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