There are numerous problems with the concept of the unity of religions. In the philosophy of religion, a distinction is made between syncretism and ecclecticism. Although the Baha'i Faith, the organization, is not syncretistic, it is, and, IMO, should be, ecclectic.
Here is a posting I made to an interfaith list on this subject: The followers of certain religions might be able to work together in community service projects and to learn from one another, but the actual religions, the systems of faith and praxis, themselves obviously cannot be united into one. It seems to me that those who talk about creating or recognizing a oneness of religions either: 1. Are only including a narrow range of phenomena under the rubric of religion. 2. Have not really thought the subject through. 3. Are speaking or writing purely on the basis of emotion. 4. Are talking about some type of interfaith cooperation (which would only include those religious organizations which have chosen to participate). As a sociologist of religion, I have no problem applying the same word, religion, to various and often hugely dissimilar faith systems, as long as the term is defined carefully and not confused for a common structure or, worse, for sharing a metaphysical "essence." Part of the reason the so-called New Age Movement of the 1970s has continued to decline, IMO, is that the basic irrationality of its syncretism has become obvious. Mark A. Foster * http://MarkFoster.net http://CompuServe.m.foster.name ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
