This thread is part of my response to what looks to me like misrepresenting the Baha’i Faith as nothing more than a belief system competing with other belief systems. That might be what it is to some of its members, but I see that as only a marginal part of the worldwide community called “the Baha’i Faith,” and not any part of the purposes of its founders. Bahá’u’lláh says that His mission is to seize and possess people’s hearts. Maybe to some people that means promoting a belief system competing with other belief systems, but not to me.
Part of what I think the world needs most, to heal and recover from its illnesses: and to bring out the best possibilities in people, in society and in the world around us, is economic and social development with love for God, revolving around self improvement and guided by spiritual values and principles. I see what thousands of Baha’i communities are doing around the world, in response to what their Universal House of Justice is calling for them to do, as responding to those needs of the world today. I don’t see any beliefs as an obstacle to participating honestly and responsibly in that work. For example, I don’t claim to know, and I don’t care, if there really is any such being as a creator of the universe. I don’t claim to know, and I don’t care, if the earth is billions of years old, or less than 10,000 years old. I don’t claim to know, and I don’t care, if there ever really was such a person as the Jesus of the Christian gospels, or even such a person as Baha’u’llah. None of that keeps me from wanting to participate as a member in what Baha’i communities are doing around the world, and I don’t think that any of that, or anything in my views about homosexuality or Baha’i administration, disqualifies me from being a member or makes me unfaithful to the Baha’i Covenant.