A piece from the Baptist Press (Jesus, ritual, Earth, Kingdom)

[Booko]

FIRST-PERSON: Baha'ism: nudging toward becoming America's religion

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=14850

Here's a piece I ran across. It's by a Baptist minister and I thought I'd toss it out here for general interest and also to look at what he's gotten right and maybe what isn't quite accurate.

Personally, I don't think we need to "downplaying images of the founders, what with their fezzes, turbans and long beards."

Coming from a minister, that seems kind of odd. Are Christians going to swap the image of Christ with a beard long hair and robe and maybe kit him out in a black 3-piece suit and shave Him now? Seriously. That part struck me as really really...odd.

Much of the rest of it he seems to have down pretty accurately, though.

[jonny]

He doesn't seem to care for your religion much. I guess that's what you'd expect from the Baptist Press though.

It was an interesting article though. I don't know much about Baha'i.

[Katzpur]

Sharon, I would love for you to take each of his points individually and tell us how well he did. I don't know enough about your beliefs to be able to determine what's factual and what isn't. Would you mind doing that?

[MidnightBlue]

They need to swap the weird name for something like "Consultation of Glory."

What a maroon.

[Popeyesays]

1) Baha`u'llah did not FLEE to Baghdad the Shah of Persia exiled Him and the Ottoman Turks agreed to take Him in. It was like a long prison sentence out of the country where the "crime" had been committed. The enthusiasm of the public for this new religion which now seemed to center it's focus on Baha`u'llah was perceived as a great threat to the government of religious leaders of Persia.

2) He says: "1. There are many ways to God. Baha'is affirm Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and aspects of animism. This is normal for a nation where Oprah leads post-9/11 spiritual rallies and PBS' Bill Moyers hangs on the late syncretist Joseph Campbell's every word."

There's really only ONE way to God and all the Great Prophets preached the same religion. So no different paths, just ONE path with information booths along the way to keep people moving along.

3) World Peace is within our grasp. All we have to do is assemble the kit provided by God. God brings the Kingdom (some assembly required).

4) He's right as far as he goes. God does not have gender. Man and women possess souls of equal value to God and a marriage is a partnership. These are good things.

5) Science does not dominate religi0on, but religion and science must be brought together to hope to describe Creation. Yes, when religion puts forth a "MUST believe" annoncement that cannot stand up to rational examination 5that announced is mere superstition. But when science advance a decree that says we must ignore religion that is not good science, but crass materialism and should be avoided.

[Popeyesays]

Sorry, hit the button to soon

6) He says the afterlife is not feared by us, and that's true. God's justice brings all to9 life and kills us all at the decreed time. That is ultimate justice. Heaven and Hell are metaphors, and Baha`u'llah did not say much about the afterlife--but then again neither did Jesus.

His other points are again mostly true but his approach is to bring the ideas to some kind of ridicule, which falls pretty flat.

His summary is: "His other points If so many Americans are virtual Baha'is, why aren't there more actual Baha'is? Well, first, their faith needs a public relations makeover, downplaying images of the founders, what with their fezzes, turbans and long beards. They need to swap the weird name for something like "Consultation of Glory." And it wouldn't hurt to showcase a celebrity Baha'i or two, the sort of thing the Scientologists do with John Travolta and Tom Cruise."

Well, we do not need to play public relations games, we have a fine example of a living faith progressing toward a divine civilization without having to turn Baha`u'llah in to Tom Cruise.

The first Baha`i born in America declared his faith in 1892--today there are about 200,000 in the U.S. and seven million in the world.

One heart at a time . . . like it should be. By the way this is a reprint of an editorial from about four years ago. It's not new.

Regards,
Scott
"

[UnityNow101]

It's not that the Bahai Faith is moving along with the ways of the world and the unifying theme that runs throughout the psyche of humankind, but rather that the world is moving more and more towards the world that Baha'u'llah, among other Manifestations, foretold in the past. Most of Baha'ullah's teachings are generally accepted by all the peoples of the earth nowadays, but in the 1800's, they were unheard of.

[arthra]

I read this article a few years ago ... Its by a Baptist clergyman whose Church is near the Wilmette House of Worship in Wilmette Evanston area... Some of his points are of course from his view as a Baptist and that's to be expected.

But the article at the end says something about Baha'is not having a Merry Christmas ...and I thought this was an interesting comment to make.. True Baha'is among themselves do not observe Christmas as we are not Christians but Baha'is who have Christian relatives can participate in the celebration with their families... We of course do not take Communion in a Church service as we are not members of Christian churches but we can attend a service of a church.

Baha'is believe that Jesus was a Manifestation of God and we respect the right of Christians to observe His birth.

The other kind of thing we can do for Christians is help them celebrate their Holiday by working their shifts during the Season.

We also have our own Ayyam-i-Ha which is a time of community socializing and some gift exchanges but nothing on the scale of Christmas. Some of our children have Christmas with their Christian relatives and also have Ayyam-i-Ha so they have the advantage of both seasons!

Finally you'll not have Baha'is writing put downs of Baptists or other Christians and this I think is a significant distinction.., You'll not find a Baha'i site that attacks other religions.

- Art