What is the Baha'i Faith all about?

Surely there are better places on the internet to discover this information. We are a bookish lot, not known for our piety.

Little known facts about Bahai:

Paul McCartney had a short-lived fling with the Bahai faith in the mid-'60s. The Beatles tune, "Hello Goodbye", was originally to be titled "Hello Bahai", but was changed after McCartney parted ways with the religion.

Following the settlement of a landmark copyright-infringement case, 15% of the rental profits from a certain 70s porn film are now paid to the Honorable Rahul James, author of Bahai: The Green Door. James has pledged to devote those funds to a screen adaptation of his new series of religious thrillers, Left Bahai.

In a reverse twist on the recent Rahul James news, VH1 has forwarded cease-and-desist letters to the Bahai temple in Evanston, Illinois, claiming similar infringement of Viacom copyright by a new CD promoting cultural awareness of the faith, entitled Bahai: The Music.

bahai is just like christanity without the religion part.

It sounds like Unitarianism with slightly more bullshit added. The "12 principles" thing from the Wikipedia page sounds kinda nice, but I'm a sucker for socialist bollocks like that. The only Bahá'í person I ever met was really nice in a vaguely naïve/innocent way. Their temple in Wilmette is pretty cool to look at as one drives past it.

There are many ways of answering your question:

A. There are umpteen websites with enough information to keep you going forever: bahai.org, bahaindex.com and Bahai Studies Review, among others. You can type (a) Baha'i Studies, (b) Baha'i Faiht into a multitude of search engines and Bob's your uncle.

B. Here is an article that will give you a flavour of some Baha'i conceptual material. It's from the BAHÁ'Í STUDIES REVIEW, Volume 7, 1997 by Franklin Lewis.

Abstract:

This paper attempts to trace the genres and styles of various parts of the corpus of Bahá'í scripture to antecedent models in Judeo-Christian and Islamic sacred texts, as well as in Persian and Arab literary texts. It argues that knowledge of the specific scriptural or literary models appealed to by certain Bahá'í texts will provide a deeper understanding of the theological import of those texts. Furthermore, because more is known about the literary milieu in which Bahá'u'lláh's texts were revealed, studying the intersection of Bahá'í scripture and its literary background may help illuminate, by way of comparison, the literary influences which gave shape to the form and style of the Hebrew Bible, the Gospels and the Qur'án.

Blessed is the spot, and the house,
and the place, and the city,
and the heart, and the mountain,
and the refuge, and the cave,
and the valley, and the land,
and the sea, and the island,
and the meadow where mention
of God hath been made,
and His praise glorified.-Baha'u'llah

(This Baha'i prayer)........highlights the essential poetic or literary quality of the prayers, letters, treatises and books written by Mirzâ Husayn-'Alî Nûrî (1817-92), known to history as Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'ís, of course, believe that Bahá'u'lláh was a Manifestation (zuhûr), or major prophet, of God and that the corpus of his writings constitute a revelation (wahy) from God. Among the community of his followers, this speech is endowed with supernatural qualities and therefore enjoys sacred status as scripture. Nevertheless, there is the recognition that the Manifestation must pour divine truth into a particular form, shaped by the vessel of language in which it is contained, which in the case of Bahá'u'lláh's scripture happens to be Arabic and Persian. This paper will attempt to uncover some of the particular literary models which Bahá'u'lláh has chosen as the frame of expression for his revelation or scripture.

Scripture versus literature.....the article is too long to place here but you can get dozens of articles at the sites I have mentioned above.

This is enough of a start for now.

Ron Price Tasmania

Well if you knew then why the fuck did you ask us?

"The Baha'i teaching," such is the Queen of Roumania's written testimony, "brings peace and understanding. It is like a wide embrace gathering together all those who have long searched for words of hope. It accepts all great Prophets gone before, it destroys no other creeds and leaves all doors open. Saddened by the continual strife amongst believers of many confessions and wearied of their intolerance towards each other, I discovered in the Baha'i teaching the real spirit of Christ so often denied and misunderstood: Unity instead of strife, Hope instead of condemnation, Love instead of hate, and a great reassurance for all men."

And here is another passage which gives you some insight into this newest of the world's religions:

It is incumbent upon the Baha'is to seize the opportunities of the present hour and, with wisdom, firm resolve and cheerfulness, impress the verities of their Faith upon the attention of every reasonable-minded person in whom they find a willingness to listen, explaining to them its noble principles, its universal teachings, its basic tenets, and the fundamental laws of the new era inaugurated by Baha'u'llah. In like manner, they must clearly and convincingly demonstrate to their fellow-citizens, whether high or low, the necessity of accepting and recognizing the resplendent teachings of the Universal Manifestation of God; must show to the leaders of their country that the unity, the strength and spiritual vitality of the Baha'i community are palpable and concrete realities; must eliminate and nullify the effects of prejudices, superstitions, misunderstandings and all fanciful and erroneous conceptions on the hearts of the pure and righteous people; and must attract to the community of the Greatest Name, through whatever channels and by whatever means, persons of capacity, experience and devotion who, joining the ranks of the believers, severing themselves from every extraneous attachment, identifying themselves whole-heartedly with the organized community of the Baha'is in the area, will labour heart and soul to consolidate the foundations of Baha'i belief and proclaim the tidings of the Promised Day.
(2 November 1928 written by Shoghi Effendi to the Iran Central Spiritual Assembly - translated from the Persian).-Shoghi Effendi.
____________
That's all for now!

Although I admit I'm something of a sucker for anyone who uses the phrase "Bob's your uncle", be they cryptoreligiospammer or not.

(xpost!)

This little piece will give you yet another insight into the Baha'i Faith. This will be my last effort, for now, to respond to the question: "What is the Baha'i Faith"
_____________________________________________________
1926

A decision of the Supreme Religious Court of Egypt, announced on 10 January 1926 in a letter of Shoghi Effendi, may be regarded as an initial step taken by the very opponents in the path of the universal acceptance of the Baha'i Faith as one of the independent recognised religious systems of the world. Clearly, the Baha’i Faith is not a part of Islam any more than Christianity is a part of Judiasm, although they all could be said to be Abrahamic religions. -Ron Price drawing on Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration, Wilmette, 1968(1928), pp.100-101.

In 1926 Uum Kulthum(she was very famous in the Middle East) began to sing with professional instrumentalists to back her up. Up until this time, from 1919 to 1926, she had male family members on the stage behind her when she sang. Initially, she sang disguised as a boy. -Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, 17 October 1997; and ABC Radio, 15 October 1998, 11:05-12:00 noon.

Unobtrusive events in Muslim lands,
freeing from the bonds of tradition,
these new stars of the east.

At variance with the accepted doctrines
of Islam; the implications of these events
were unknown, then.

Pure, clear voices, as if from on high,
singing during these embryonic days
of a new Order.1

You have both become models now
for an old world in disarray and your
voices will sing out:

your clarion calls, like sweet, sensitive
birds, traces of gold in centuries to come.

Ron Price
16 October 1998

1 Uum Kulthum sang from 1926 to 1975
2 Baha'u'llah's voice and 'Abdu'l-Baha's sang out through the translations of Shoghi Effendi within the nucleus of a future world Order known as Baha'i administration.

Thanks to "casuistry" I just realized I was the original poser/poster of the question....It must be the teacher in me. I was a teacher in a classroom for 30 years before I retired a few years ago. One of the common techniques of teachers all over the world is to ask questions they know the answer to...

Apologies all round...I'd better get out of here.

Ron Price
Tasmania

Apologies all round. As I said it must be the teacher in me asking questions he already had the answer to.-Ron

yeh that must be it.

i have some cool baha'i records. they aren't as cool as the eckankar records i have though. it's hard to beat the living Eck.

Thus endeth the lesson..-Ron

I'm not reading.

It must be the learner in you coming out.

hey ron! i'm a baha'i too, and a regular of ILX, and i gotta say, ILX is NOT THE PLACE FOR THIS SORT OF SHIT.

also, did you forget our INJUNCTION AGAINST PROSELYTIZING?!?

could someone lock this thread? as a baha'i, it embarasses me.

Hopefully, the other readers of this board aren't judging you or Baha'i based on one spammer.