The Baha'i Studies Listserv I think the term "devout" is tricky, unless there is a framework for the word to have meaning. For example, which of the two people would you consider more devout? A man with no facial hair, wears a suit to work - holds fundamentalist views of religion. Or a man who grows a beard for religious reasons, wears "traditional" religious clothing whenever he can - is very progressive and liberal in his views of religion. How can anyone judge who is more devout than the other?
On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 3:57 PM, Stephen Gray <[email protected]> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > How devout is devout? Religionists tend to be broken into three > categories of followers: laity, devout devotees, clergy/monastics. > > I will give an example of this negleacted middle category. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up%C4%81saka_and_Up%C4%81sik%C4%81 > > That was the only example I can find because laity is usually the first > category with some rare instacnes of second category. > > It is stratified with various levels sometimes. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratimoksha > > Thet range from widely depending on level of responsibility one undertakes > oneself with. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Precepts > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C4%ABla > > It's done on a daily basis. So statue could fluctuate on a daily basis in > theory. Technically, non-practicing is a below the minimum group that > comprises anyone who identifies with a religion or its accosition, but fails > to meet a minimal threshold for official membership. So, what would set > some laity up to devout devotee status in religion not that systematized? > > The Baha'i Faith has no clergy/monastic category, therefore it has two > rather than three. What pratices would cause a Baha'i to qualify for devout > devotee status? > > A devout devotee of Buddhism is someone who takes the most strict > Pratimoksha avialable to laity each and every day: keeping all five pecepts, > pure conduct, and wearing robes. The second most stirct is that without the > robe requirement. The third most strict is just five precepts daily which is > the definition of laity. You also have the option of only taking x out of 5, > which means some precepts in all honesty you know you won't/can't/etc follow > and won't try. The least strict is just taking refuge, which is nonminal. > Non-practicing is not even taking refuge. Purity of conduct with or without > robes seems to be the main difference, but I'm not an expert. > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] > > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to > mailto:leave-537075-953325.e9a9b042dd227e4657deb0ff0d384...@list.jccc.edu > > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:[email protected] > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-537078-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
