The unity of all religions

Life in 160 AD

For the educated Roman:Privileged and mobile eliteSafeguards for those at the coreClean waterSix-storey buildingsSome democracyA pride in logicAdvanced History, Science and Medicine

Religion had become a tradition or literary device

“Those whom the Gods love die young”Upsurges of popular new faiths, e.g.

Manicheanism, MithrasianismNo valuesCentralised yet unstable, 238AD

6 emperorsCorruption, grain tributes, degrading

shows, military takeovers

What was the heir to the Roman Empire?

ChristianityWould the educated Roman in 200AD,

secure in his superiority, have imagined that the glue, the unity which would hold Europe together, would be supplied by a man from an obscure corner of the Empire from which the Romans had driven out the locals a century before?

Our own time

The educated Roman would feel at home todayTechnological giants, spiritual midgets, and

proud of itWe are convinced that our science leaves no

room for a GodBig Bang, who made the space and combustible

matter?Khruschev and Sputnik, “We have chased God from the

Heavens”

Half Marx?

“The opium of the people” Yet, like Roman society, without spiritual

values, our society cannot sustain itselfThose who criticise religion’s social effects still

understand its value.“Religion is the heart of the heartless world, the

soul of the soulless world. It is the opium of the people.”

Voltaire: “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him”.

What is happening?

Religion has made incorrect assertions about science, and as these assertions are found wanting, people wrongly assume that religion is disproved.

Notwithstanding that the worst mass murderers of the past century have been secular, there is a widespread perception that religion creates discord.

People revel in their freedom from personal restraint and yet regret the lack of predictability and security of their own lives, without seeing the connection.

Marcuse: “Ni Marx, ni Jesus”The Promise of World Peace”: “No serious attempt to set

human affairs aright can afford to ignore religion.”

The spiritual springtime

“The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land, nothing short of His wholesome medicine can restore it.”

From age to age, when evil increases, I make myself a body.

The Qua’im, the MahdiThe Shah Bahram“I have many things to tell you, but you cannot

bear them now. However, when the Spirit of Truth is come, He will lead you into all truth.”

The renewal of religion

A retreat into intellectually unsatisfying “fundamentalism”

The loud repetition of a few selected textsIgnoring subtleties of meaning and the historical

and cultural contexts in which they were revealed

Religion is becoming something one dies for or kills for rather than lives for

As religion becomes more ridiculous, rationalists dislike it more.

Fundamentalism shows a lack of faith

It suggests that the power of the spirit to inspire people has faded, and that religion is about coercion, meanness and exclusivity.

Luckily this isn’t the case, religion will move humanity forward in the way it has always done, by renewing people’s spirituality, bringing back ethical behaviour, and binding people together across classes and ethnic groups.

To the Baha’i…

We are like the educated Roman of 200AD, confident yet searching for a new message appropriate to this age

Baha’u’llah has brought the seeds of this renewal

O Son of Spirit! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly

and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient,

imperishable and everlasting

Baha’u’llah

“That one today is a man who dedicateth himself to the service

of the entire human race”

Baha’u’llah

The seed becomes a tree

The Baha’i Faith is established in every country in the world, and is a true world community

Its teachings can play a part in discussions on most RE themes

Religion, prayer and meditation, the nature of God, priesthood, men and women, family life, the environment, peace, alcohol and drugs, science and religion

Baha’i scripture is extensive, beautiful and accessible

The Baha’i Faith affirms the essential truths of all religions

That the diverse communions of the earth and the manifold systems of religious belief should never be allowed to foster the feelings of animosity amongst men is, in this day, of the essence of the Faith of God and His religion. These principles and laws, these firmly established and mighty systems, have proceeded from one source and are the rays of one light.

The Baha’i Faith…

Has a heroic history

We have our martyrs and persecutions

We have our holy places

We have distinctive houses of worship

We have hundreds of socio-economic projects around the

world

Agricultural

Educational

Community-building

And fun!

And His teachings are relevant

“Of one tree are all ye the fruit and of one bough the leaves…The world is but one country and mankind its citizens…Let not a man glory in that he loves his country, let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”