Reading about the Baha’i faith has been nothing but eye-opening and interesting for me. There is much that is unknown about the faith, which was why it was a great topic of discussion on Monday. For those who would like to know more, here’s some information–
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 people’s of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.
Among the principles which the Bahá’í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are:
- 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
Looking at these principles, we can relate them back to different faiths and practices that encourage service and giving what you can to the community. One thing that is interesting is that the self discovery of faith is up to the individual. Through these principles, you can grow as a person who is Baha’i, Bettering the world results in bettering yourself. Some of the questions that we were exploring were things like if it’s actually achievable to live your life by those principles fully and to consistently have the values in your mind. It’s one thing to believe in these and other practices and principles, but it’s put on a whole different level when you begin to do these things in your daily life and have them in your mind.
These principles, although not exactly identical, are very similar to those of other religions and beliefs. To some of us though, the difference was that the core of this belief system is serving people and trying to better society through the actions in your life. If all faiths, beliefs, and religious systems were as explicit in laying out the obligations or guidelines of the faith to serving and bettering the community, how would that shape the world in the future? Would there be more collective action to eliminate certain things that are so prominent in our society today like discrimination and poverty?
If you’d like more information on the Baha’i faith, visit the website– http://www.bahai.org/
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