The Baha'i Studies Listserv The thread is mostly about the scriptures, but also covers religions and their founders. The question wasn't about the word unity in unity of religion, but the word religion in unity of religion? Do Bahai's mean unity of religion or unity or "Judaism/Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, Bab(i)ism/Bayan(i)ism, Baha(i)ism, Buddhism, and Hinduism/Vishnuism/Krishnaism"? Also, Sabianism is also an enumerated religion, but it's identity is uncertain of Hermeticism, Mandeaism, or any other religion. When Baha'is speaks of unity of religion, they mean unity of seven or so enumerated religions rather than religion itself or all religion. Even if unity of religion means religions were aligned with the will of God at the time of their founding, that leads to implications for omitted religions. The blog post was about how Baha'i Houses of Worship have strict limitations on what scriptures can be read. I'm not sure what exactly is on and off the list, but I can make guesses. No you can't read the Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing depending on romanization), because Taoism (or Daoism) was never aligned with the will of God. This has nothing to say with the state of the religion today to not even allow the scripture to be read at all. No you can't read the Guru Granth Sahib, because Sikhism was never aligned with the will of God. This has nothing to say with the state of the religion today to not even allow the scripture to be read at all. No you can't read the Analects, because Confucianism was never aligned with the will of God. This has nothing to say with the state of the religion today to not even allow the scripture to be read at all. No you can't read the Agamas, because Jainism was never aligned with the will of God. This has nothing to say with the state of the religion today to not even allow the scripture to be read at all. No you can't read the Orphic Poems, because Orphism was never aligned with the will of God. This has nothing to say with the state of the religion today to not even allow the scripture to be read at all. No you can't read the Kojiki, because Shintoism was never aligned with the will of God. This has nothing to say with the state of the religion today to not even allow the scripture to be read at all. The above examples are implications due to the limitations of the list. Don C, you confused which word I was emphasizing in the question. I was questioning wether the word religion was used in the sense of all religion or in the sense of only an enumerated list of seven or so religions. I wasn't asking if the other religions are currently in accord with the will of God, or even if they were ever in accord with the will of God for that matter, but: Why do Baha'is act as if the seven enumerated religions were the only seven religions that ever existed effectively? Why do Baha'is even keep list of approved scriptures to be read from in the first place? If unity of religion means that these religions were rather than are aligned with the will of God, why would there be a scripture list? Is the Baha'i Faith in accord with the will of God? (because there is the Mission of Maitreya, Eternal Divine Path) http://www.maitreya.org/ http://www.maitreya.org/english/INDEX.HTM It seems when Baha'is use the word religion, they mean enumerated list of religions. When they say scripture, they mean enumerated list of scriptures. This can confuse people like the Unitarian Universalist minsiter for example. The Bahai House of Worship probably assumed based on demographics of the religion that he'd either read from the Bible or a Buddhist text, since Christianity and Buddhism are the religions that make up most Unitarian Universalists. But he read from an unaprroved religious text, it doesn't say in the blog what it was exactly, but clues are given of the Baha'i position. It's probable that the list of scriptures is limited to the Bible, the Quran, Hindu texts, Buddhist texts, Babi/Bayanii texts, and Bahai texts. In the apology letter to the UU minister: “Although it may not be possible for us to change the directives which govern our devotional services, be assured that we will make certain that neither we nor Bahá’í communities planning programs at the House of Worship offend any other religious community, even inadvertently.”
Ommissions from enumerated lists is an implicit inadvertent offense against any religious community, their scripture, and their founder. Don C., have you read the full blog post: http://bahaitheway.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html ??? ________________________________ From: Don Calkins <[email protected]> To: Baha'i Studies <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 12:16 AM Subject: Re: Manifestations, Scriptures, and Houses of Worship The Baha'i Studies Listserv On Aug 27, 2012, at 2:41 39PM, Stephen Gray wrote: >Here's the story that this topic is based on below. >http://bahaitheway.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html First off, I think it bears repeating that nothing any individual says, regardless of their position or status, is authoritative unless it is explicitly supported by statements by the Central Figures of the Faith, the interpretations of Shoghi Effendi or the elucidations of the House of Justice. Are Baha'i House of Worship really non-denominational or particularly Baha'i? If the reading of scriptures / religious texts is soposed to nondenominational, why limit them to only Bahai approved religious traditions? There is no authoritative statement to the effect that the Houses of Worship or the services therein are or should be non-denominational. They are non-denominational in the sense that non-Baha'i Scriptures may be read during services. How does one know if any given individual is a Manifestation? What are the criteria? How does one validate or falsify if one has any one of the criteria if not all of them? (This means just saying that someone doesn't meet the criteria without explaining why doesn't mean one doesn't meet the criteria, it means you rigged the test so that anyone and everyone would fail other that the enumerated list of Manifestations that Baha'i use.) Only those individuals identified as such by the Central Figure of the Faith are accepted as Manifestations. However, it is explicitly stated that there have been Manifestations in addition to the ones so identified. Neither Shoghi Effendi nor the House of Justice have the authority to identify Manifestations, therefore no additional ones will be named, at least not til the advent of the next Manifestation. If you want to believe that we have "rigged" the system, that's your prerogative as a non-Baha'i. Do many of us believe we know who some of other Manifestations were? Yes. Personally, I believe that most of the individuals identified as Culture Heroes were in fact Manifestations of God. Does the unity of religion mean unity of religion or unity of Bahai authorized list of a dozen or so religious tradtions and only these? You are, I believe, conflating or confusing a number of meanings for the word "unity". I would say that generally an all-purpose synonym is "harmony". Such ideas as uniformity, identity, or congruity are not part of the meaning of unity in the Baha'i perspective. More specifically, unity refers to a condition in which one's will is aligned w/ the Will of God. In the case of the various religions, it means that the teachings of the Founders of each of them was in conformity with the Will of God. It certainly does not mean that everything currently taught or believed by it's members is consistent w/ the Will of God. Don C ------------ He who believes himself spiritual proves he is not. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-661643-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@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]
