Exaltist Ethan
Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
The Baha'i Faith is a very interesting religion. It allows its members to do virtually anything they want and remain a Baha'i. If you are gay and want to have a gay marriage, you cannot have a gay Baha'i marriage, but you can get married the secular way if your government permits it. There's a lot list of things Baha'is aren't supposed to do. Smoke, drink alcohol, gamble, even joining a political party is a big no-no from the religion. However, all of these things are NOT considered what is called "covenant-breaking" in the religion. That means, even though it is looked negatively from God's point of view, you can do all of these things and still remain a Baha'i.
So what is covenant-breaking in the Baha'i Faith? The only absolutely forbidden act in the Baha'i Faith is creating a religion that is considered a denomination of the Baha'i Faith. In fact, if you try to create a sect of the Baha'i Faith instead of joining its main religion, you are basically ignored and treated like you don't exist from the other Baha'is. It is because of this strict policy that the Baha'i Faith, which has at least five million adherents, has no divisions in the religion. Yes, some people have tried to make other denominations in the religion - Orthodox Baha'is and Unitarian Baha'is come into mind. However, the amount of people in these sectarian religions is a few hundred people at best.
So the question then comes down to: is the Baha'i Faith doing the right thing by trying everybody who is involved in this religion to be part of the overwhelming size of the main group? Upon research I found that Orthodox Baha'is actually call the main wing of the religion "Haifa Baha'is" as if it were its own denomination by itself. Although these divisions do exist, they don't seem to be much different from the main group.
Orthodox Baha'is don't believe in the divinity of Abdul Baha, whereas the Unitarian Baha'is, also known as the Beha'is, was started by one of Baha'u'llah's other children. According to normal Baha'is, this person actually tried to kill Abdul Baha to gain power over the religion. Unitarian Baha'is are interesting because they believe one should find religious ground from the UUs. What's even more interesting is that even though Unitarian Baha'is is a taboo subject from Baha'is, it is fully possible and permittable to be both Unitarian Universalist and a Baha'i, which I've known a few. You just can't officially combine the new groups into its own separate religion from the Baha'is.
Over 99% of Baha'is are part of the main group due to this covenant-breaking provision of the religion. What's also interesting, though, is that Islam has a very similar rule about this - but for the Baha'i Faith. Although many Baha'is who join the Faith were never Muslim, the Baha'i Faith is considered a political apostacy religion and is forbidden to join in Muslim and Sharia Law countries throughout the Middle East. So in a very real way, Islam treats Baha'is similarly to how Baha'is treat the covenant-breakers. The difference however is, Baha'is may cut ties from you if you try to do this, but they won't cause any actual conflict or otherwise actually hurt the people who have tried to do this.
This is a very touchy subject for the Baha'i Faith. I've been part of the Baha'i Faith Discord server and if there is any promotion for covenant-breaking it is immediately deleted. I've seen this censorship first hand. So in this way, the Baha'i Faith is similar to Islam in this fashion. But another interesting thing is that there are religions who literally take the complete opposite approach to this. The most famous example of this is Christianity. There are literally hundreds of ecclesiastical traditions and yes, thousands of denominations inside those traditions, all practicing Christianity in their own ways.
In fact, this sectarianism inside the Christian religion has caused some religions to leave Christianity entirely, like the Unitarian Universalist religion. Others have distanced themselves from the core of Christianity but still remain inside of it, like various groups inside the Quaker religion. And then there are debates of what actually makes a Christian and what groups represent Christianity, as many Christians distance themselves from Jehovah Witnesses and the Latter-Day Saints church.
And Islam itself seems to fall somewhere in the middle of this. Yes, Islam does have various denominations - the three largest being Shi'a, Sunni and Sufis, but they are nowhere near the level of sectarianism as Christianity is as a whole. In fact, there was a whole movement in Christianity trying to create "Christian" sects inside of Christianity, due to how many people felt like it was blasphemy to call yourself anything different as a Christian.
So, the debate that I want to bring up here is: who does it right - the Baha'is and their internal unity of Faith, or Christianity, who has thousands of ways to practice the same religion? The Baha'is themselves will become sectarian themselves, as their prophet Baha'u'llah himself has said there will be a new religion that rises from the Baha'is. However, this is not supposed to happen for a thousand years after his death, and since this will be apparent to all Baha'is during that future, all Baha'is at that time are supposed to accept this new incarnation of God when He comes.
Despite this prophecy by Baha'u'llah, I believe there will be internal arguments inside of the religion as to who will take that mantel, to replace Baha'u'llah as the next Messenger of God for them. And I believe many people inside the Baha'i Faith will remain as Baha'is even after a sizable portion of them accept the next prophet.
TL;DR - What are your opinions regarding the lack of denominations in the Baha'i Faith, and the complete widespread of them in Christianity? Is it better to have many different sects who believe in the same general message, or should there be more unity among people in the same religion? What are your general feelings about denomination differences within religions as a whole?
I myself take no view on this, but I'm looking forward to what people have to say about this. This is inside debates so please feel free to share your opinion and debate with others on this subject.![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
So what is covenant-breaking in the Baha'i Faith? The only absolutely forbidden act in the Baha'i Faith is creating a religion that is considered a denomination of the Baha'i Faith. In fact, if you try to create a sect of the Baha'i Faith instead of joining its main religion, you are basically ignored and treated like you don't exist from the other Baha'is. It is because of this strict policy that the Baha'i Faith, which has at least five million adherents, has no divisions in the religion. Yes, some people have tried to make other denominations in the religion - Orthodox Baha'is and Unitarian Baha'is come into mind. However, the amount of people in these sectarian religions is a few hundred people at best.
So the question then comes down to: is the Baha'i Faith doing the right thing by trying everybody who is involved in this religion to be part of the overwhelming size of the main group? Upon research I found that Orthodox Baha'is actually call the main wing of the religion "Haifa Baha'is" as if it were its own denomination by itself. Although these divisions do exist, they don't seem to be much different from the main group.
Orthodox Baha'is don't believe in the divinity of Abdul Baha, whereas the Unitarian Baha'is, also known as the Beha'is, was started by one of Baha'u'llah's other children. According to normal Baha'is, this person actually tried to kill Abdul Baha to gain power over the religion. Unitarian Baha'is are interesting because they believe one should find religious ground from the UUs. What's even more interesting is that even though Unitarian Baha'is is a taboo subject from Baha'is, it is fully possible and permittable to be both Unitarian Universalist and a Baha'i, which I've known a few. You just can't officially combine the new groups into its own separate religion from the Baha'is.
Over 99% of Baha'is are part of the main group due to this covenant-breaking provision of the religion. What's also interesting, though, is that Islam has a very similar rule about this - but for the Baha'i Faith. Although many Baha'is who join the Faith were never Muslim, the Baha'i Faith is considered a political apostacy religion and is forbidden to join in Muslim and Sharia Law countries throughout the Middle East. So in a very real way, Islam treats Baha'is similarly to how Baha'is treat the covenant-breakers. The difference however is, Baha'is may cut ties from you if you try to do this, but they won't cause any actual conflict or otherwise actually hurt the people who have tried to do this.
This is a very touchy subject for the Baha'i Faith. I've been part of the Baha'i Faith Discord server and if there is any promotion for covenant-breaking it is immediately deleted. I've seen this censorship first hand. So in this way, the Baha'i Faith is similar to Islam in this fashion. But another interesting thing is that there are religions who literally take the complete opposite approach to this. The most famous example of this is Christianity. There are literally hundreds of ecclesiastical traditions and yes, thousands of denominations inside those traditions, all practicing Christianity in their own ways.
In fact, this sectarianism inside the Christian religion has caused some religions to leave Christianity entirely, like the Unitarian Universalist religion. Others have distanced themselves from the core of Christianity but still remain inside of it, like various groups inside the Quaker religion. And then there are debates of what actually makes a Christian and what groups represent Christianity, as many Christians distance themselves from Jehovah Witnesses and the Latter-Day Saints church.
And Islam itself seems to fall somewhere in the middle of this. Yes, Islam does have various denominations - the three largest being Shi'a, Sunni and Sufis, but they are nowhere near the level of sectarianism as Christianity is as a whole. In fact, there was a whole movement in Christianity trying to create "Christian" sects inside of Christianity, due to how many people felt like it was blasphemy to call yourself anything different as a Christian.
So, the debate that I want to bring up here is: who does it right - the Baha'is and their internal unity of Faith, or Christianity, who has thousands of ways to practice the same religion? The Baha'is themselves will become sectarian themselves, as their prophet Baha'u'llah himself has said there will be a new religion that rises from the Baha'is. However, this is not supposed to happen for a thousand years after his death, and since this will be apparent to all Baha'is during that future, all Baha'is at that time are supposed to accept this new incarnation of God when He comes.
Despite this prophecy by Baha'u'llah, I believe there will be internal arguments inside of the religion as to who will take that mantel, to replace Baha'u'llah as the next Messenger of God for them. And I believe many people inside the Baha'i Faith will remain as Baha'is even after a sizable portion of them accept the next prophet.
TL;DR - What are your opinions regarding the lack of denominations in the Baha'i Faith, and the complete widespread of them in Christianity? Is it better to have many different sects who believe in the same general message, or should there be more unity among people in the same religion? What are your general feelings about denomination differences within religions as a whole?
I myself take no view on this, but I'm looking forward to what people have to say about this. This is inside debates so please feel free to share your opinion and debate with others on this subject.