The Bahá'í pride themselves on being a very accepting religion. They have many aspects that I really like such as their attempt to create unity and peace. However I think when it comes to equality there are some aspects that lack depth. In some places the Bahá'í don’t promote unity very well.
A very important aspect of Bahá'í religion is unity. The oneness of God is a multifaceted aspect that the Bahá'í simplify almost too much. I think it is strange that the Bahá'í compound some religions which are polytheistic like Buddhism and Hinduism. I don’t understand how the Bahá'í can compound these polytheistic religions into a monotheistic religion. It seems like they are taking away the importance of Hinduism’s gods by not giving them a place in the Bahá'í religion.
Because there is only one God it puts religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam above Hinduism and Buddhism. The Bahá'í faith is biased because it acknowledges Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as having a figurehead who is more important than the Gods in Buddhism and Hinduism. In a sense I see a contradiction because while they preach unity the Bahá'í don’t cohesively unify all the religions.
In class we also talked about how there is not unity among the profits. While the Bahá'í do acknowledge profits from many religion not all profits are equal. The Bahá'í think that each profit came with a refined message from God. Krishna was the first known profit from the Hindu faith and Muhammad was the last profit drawn from an ancient religion. This means that Muhammud has the most valuable and relevant message besides The Bab and the Baha’u’llah who came after Muhammud. Again we see a reoccurring theme, not of unity but division, Hinduism is at the bottom of the totem pole while Christianity and Islam are close to the top.
Another easily foreseeable division in the Bahá'í faith is what to do when it’s time for the next profit. The Bahá'í procrastinated on developing a solution for this problem by saying he will not come for one thousand years. But assuming the Bahá'í are still around there could be a division between people who accept the word of the profit and people who do not. There is not an immediate solution to this problem, but it will not be relevant for a long time, regardless it is still important to mention because the Bahá'í faith is not complete unity as it first appeared.
Given these misconceptions I think the Bahá'í are still founded on positive ideals however like any religion, it’s not perfect and in some ways it does confine members of its faith.
I think that you are correct in saying that the Baha'i are not perfect in displaying unity in their ideas. Compared to some religions, the Baha'i are extremely tolerant and I think that must be kept in mind when looking at the Baha'i.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think of these implications when I was reading the book. It is a good point that the Baha'i seem to value a newer religion more than an older one. Their logic does not make sense because all these religions tend to have different beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI know you said "assuming Baha'i is still around" regarding what to do when the time comes for another prophet, but I can't get past it. While widespread, this religion doesn't seem to have the roots required to last as long as its allowed itself. It feigns a broad and all-encompassing acceptance, but forces followers to accept a prophet higher than what they were originally putting all stake into.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think of any of the things you mentioned in your blog. You're blog helped me realize that while I was wrapped up in the fact that they preach unity, I didn't catch that they are also confining themselves, and show a bit of bias throughout their acceptances of other religions.
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