Trailblazer
Veteran Member
No, that is not what the word religare means:Religion wants people to be obedient. The word itself is derived from the Latin "religare," which means to bind or restrict. Religion wants people to be blindly obedient, following the dictates of the Church and their feudal lords without question. It's a political tool intended to induce conformity and compliance.
The Latin verb religare means to 're-bind'. The Latin noun religio referring to obligation, bond, or reverence is probably based on religare, so religio and its English derivation religion connote a 're-binding'.
Peter Hulen - Religion
http://persweb.wabash.edu › facstaff › hulenp › religion
It implies binding together in unity, which is the primary teaching of the Baha'i Faith. Obviously religion has gotten away from its original purpose, which is to unite humanity.
“The Great Being saith: O ye children of men! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity. This is the straight Path, the fixed and immovable foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this foundation, the changes and chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor will the revolution of countless centuries undermine its structure.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 215
You are correct that the older religions such as Christianity and Islam have been and still are used as a political tool intended to induce conformity and compliance, but the Baha'i Faith is not like the older religions. We do not need conformity and compliance anymore. This is a new age and a new religion was needed to suit the needs of humans in this age.
I fully agree with that and this is what religions such as Christianity and Islam do to their flocks, but the Baha'i Faith should not be implicated for something it does not do as it is not fair to lump it together with these older religions. Christianity in particular has held back the progress of humanity by teaching their followers that Jesus is going to return someday "in the clouds" and rescue humanity from all the problems we now face all over the world - environmental, social, and economic. I consider this an travesty, even immoral, but you cannot stop Christians from waiting for Jesus to return because it is a time-honored teaching of the Church. The irony is that nowhere in the New Testament did Jesus ever promise to return to earth, and in fact Jesus said that His work was finished here and He was no longer in the world.You're correct in that human suffering has nothing to do with God, but by imposing religion on humans to bind and restrict them from thinking freely and exercising true free will, it has made it all the more difficult for humans to alleviate the sufferings of other humans.
This is the real problem with God; not so much with God Himself, but many of the people who believe in God and religions which propagate such beliefs. They have been barriers to progress and only serve to perpetuate and increase human suffering.
It is not fair to blame God for what humans have done in the name of religion because God had nothing to do with what humans did after the religions were revealed by His Messengers..
People are moving towards secularization because they are fed up with religions having power over them.The only real progress we've made has been within the past few centuries, once we started becoming more secular and slowly removing the bonds and restrictions of religious dogma. Some religions have also become progressive, so I don't discount them or condemn all who follow a religion. But all in all, I think humans have outgrown God.
By the way, the downfall of religious leaders was predicted by Baha'u'llah in the latter half of the 19th century. He warned all of them that if they did not heed His call they would fall from power and everything He predicted happened. He also warned the kings and rulers of the earth that they would fall from power and not long after that they all did. This history is all documented in the Writings of the Baha'i Faith, in a book entitled The Promised Day Is Come.
In short, the primary goal of the Baha'i Faith is to build a new world order and put an end to these kinds of suffering and we have complete faith that it will end eventually, although it will take a very long time, especially of the Christians and even the Muslims continue to wait for Christ to return.As for the cause of suffering, I agree that there are many humans out there who are malignant and cause much needless suffering throughout the world. In fact, one can draw a common thread throughout all of known human history and see it as one long struggle to end human suffering, in one form or another. Technologically, scientifically, politically, socially, culturally - all because none of us want to suffer or endure hardship. We all need food, water, shelter, and some measure of security from predators - and other humans as well.
Toward a New World Order?
Baha'is believe that all this progress is the result of the coming of Baha'u'llah, because although most people have not recognized Him, His coming which was the return of the Holy Spirit, has effected the entire world.One can see over the span of time how we've slowly improved our living conditions - built better shelters and enhanced our agricultural capabilities to be able to feed more people. This also meant people having to learn to fight and build better weapons, since being conquered by an enemy was another form of suffering humans wanted to avoid. Those who endure suffering at the hands of others might want revenge, and suddenly human "free will" shifts to an intentional desire to inflict suffering upon others.
I believe that humans are powerless to do it without the intervention of God, and I believe God intervened when He sent Baha'u'llah who revealed the blueprint instructions that will be necessary to build the new world order, whcih Christians refer to as the Kingdom of God on earth.So, it seems that ending human suffering is probably far more difficult than it looks, and maybe humans are just too puny, powerless, and hapless to really do it on their own (due to limitations of our design). Either we have quite a bit more evolving to do, or perhaps we could use some help from...somewhere.