After the first Ask-a-Baha’i post, a reader asked what the Baha’i Faith is and what are some of its teachings.
The Baha’i Faith is the youngest of the major world faiths. Like other faiths, it has a Prophet-Founder who claims to have a revelation from God. Our Prophet-Founder, Baha’u’llah, received His call to prophethood in 1853, in a Tehran dungeon called “The Black Pit”. He announced it in 1863, in Baghdad, where He had been exiled, right before He was exiled again.
His Forerunner, whom we call the Bab, which means “gate”, had been martyred in 1850, shot by a firing squad of 750 rifles. The Bab taught that He was the Herald of “He Whom God shall make manifest”, the Promised One of all religions. We believe that the One He foretold was Baha’u’llah.
Baha’u’llah had been a follower of the Bab, and had been caught up in the wave of persecution that fell upon the Bab’i community. That is why He was in the dungeon.
Persecution of Baha’is in Iran continues to this day.
Here are some Baha’i teachings:
• The pivotal Teaching of the Faith is that humanity is one.
• All races are equal. We all have to work consciously to overcome racial prejudice, especially implicit prejudice.
• Gender equality. Women and men are of equal value and are entitled to the same dignity and rights. The two genders are described as two wings of a bird. The bird cannot fly unless both wings are equally developed. The education of girls, who are the first teachers of the next generation, is so important that daughters have a prior right of education over sons.
• The oneness of religion. All religions come from the same Source. So why do they differ and why do they often conflict? An important concept is what we call “progressive revelation”. That is, God reveals His Word periodically through history, in accordance with the needs of a particular time and place. Although the need for prayer and self-reflection is common to all religions, the social teachings needed for Jews wandering in the desert, for example, are not the same as those needed for an interconnected world community, in possession of a high level of technology. This is one reason why religions disagree or appear to disagree. Another is that, although revealed religions come from the same Source, their teachings are corrupted over time by cultural influences, and also by religious leaders who, driven by ego, greed or the lust for leadership, regard their own personal views as definitive and impose them on others.
• The adoption of a universal auxiliary language, so that all people from all regions can communicate with each other. Many people see English as fulfilling that function right now.
• A world federal government. We are lurching towards that now, with the evolution of United Nations.
• Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty. Of special note in the current social climate, the Baha’i Faith teaches that no one should live in want, while others live in luxury. There are teachings that can be seen in support of that, such as:
• Universal Compulsory Education, through which all people are trained both spiritually and materially.
• Everyone will be taught a trade or profession, so one can be self-supporting and support a family.
• Work is regarded as a form of worship and a religious duty.
• Businesses will engage in fair wages and profit-sharing.
• A graduated income tax. The tax would include a kind of negative tax for people who need financial assistance.
• The essential harmony between science and religion. It is said that religion without science degenerates into superstition and that science without religion becomes materialism.
• Finally, for now, is the need to investigate truth independently. One should not blindly follow a leader or follow tradition. You do not have to follow a particular religion or ideology because you were born into it. That includes the Baha’i Faith. Even if one grows up in a Baha’i family, one cannot become a Baha’i until the age of 15. Not every Baha’i child does.
For a more detailed discussion of this, see the Wikipedia article, “Baha’i Teachings”. The article also describes the mystical teachings, which I have not gone into here. In fact, there is a lot in Wikipedia on the Baha’i Faith. It has its own portal, and is an excellent way to learn about the Faith online.
You can also check out the following websites:
United States Baha’i Community: www.bahai.us/
Worldwide Baha’i community: www.bahai.org/
I hope this has helped as a general introduction.
Any questions or comments can be addressed to the comments section of this article, or to brattleborovtbahais@yahoo.com.
