What if we accepted each others Religion?

[Trailblazer]

Nothing in this world is permanent including religion. Religions are born and die.

The religion of God is eternal, although man corrupts individual religions and then they die.

“This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future. Let him that seeketh, attain it; and as to him that hath refused to seek it—verily, God is Self-Sufficient, above any need of His creatures.” Gleanings, p. 136

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The religion of God is eternal, although man corrupts individual religions and then they die.

“This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future. Let him that seeketh, attain it; and as to him that hath refused to seek it—verily, God is Self-Sufficient, above any need of His creatures.” Gleanings, p. 136

It's wild to me - though not exactly surprising - that a thread about "accepting all major religions" would devolve into a couple of Baha'is trying to dictate to others what their religion is really about and quoting Baha'i religious works.

If you really want to accept other religions, then here's a challenge for you: quit it with the Baha'i quotes. Instead, support your points with quotes from, say, the Bible, the Qur'an, the Vedas, and Buddhist scripture. Can you do it?

 

[Trailblazer]

So basically, only the ones your Baha'i beliefs accept?

No, the religions that are considered major by those who study religions.

What are the 12 major religions of the world?

The world’s faithful account for 83% of the global population; the great majority of these fall under twelve classical religions–Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. These twelve religions are the most prominent spiritual traditions that still exist. However, due to how much (or how little) different religions are represented in different communities, the layperson might not know much about the beliefs and traditions held by religious people worldwide. Infoplease is here to help with our overviews of nine of these classical religions.

Major religions of the world - Issues Online​

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

No, the religions that are considered major by those who study religions.

What are the 12 major religions of the world?

The world’s faithful account for 83% of the global population; the great majority of these fall under twelve classical religions–Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. These twelve religions are the most prominent spiritual traditions that still exist. However, due to how much (or how little) different religions are represented in different communities, the layperson might not know much about the beliefs and traditions held by religious people worldwide. Infoplease is here to help with our overviews of nine of these classical religions.

Major religions of the world - Issues Online​

Why on Earth would you count the Baha'i faith as one of the "major religions of the world"?

And if you're going to include the Baha'i faith, how could you justify not including, say, Voodoo, which is about 10 times as large as the Baha'i faith?

 

[Trailblazer]

Yet all those faiths see Baha’u’llah as heretical.

And for obvious reasons.... They want their Prophet to be the Promised One who will return and fulfill the prophecies.
but it's too late for that.

 

[Trailblazer]

We need tolerance not acceptance.

I fully agree. To accept a religion you do not believe is true is dishonest.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

And for obvious reasons.... They want their Prophet to be the Promised One who will return and fulfill the prophecies.
but it's too late for that.

No, it's because the idea that Baha'u'llah is a prophet is incompatible with those religions.

(Their actual religions, not the Baha'i-redacted version of them)

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I fully agree. To accept a religion you do not believe is true is dishonest.

Kind of a self-own there, no?

 

[Vinayaka]

Why on Earth would you count the Baha'i faith as one of the "major religions of the world"?

And if you're going to include the Baha'i faith, how could you justify not including, say, Voodoo, which is about 10 times as large as the Baha'i faith?

The only group of people that think that are the Baha'i themselves. Don't get me going on the exaggeration of number of adherents. Voodoo is far more likely to be 50 times the size of Baha'i. They put a ton of effort into making themselves sound significant.

 

[Vinayaka]

No, it's because the idea that Baha'u'llah is a prophet is incompatible with those religions.

(Their actual religions, not the Baha'i-redacted version of them)

And about half of those don't even have prophets. Who is the prophet of Shinto, Confucianism, Hinduism? It's laughable, frankly.

 

[Trailblazer]

This has been my overall experience here on RF.

That depends upon what you mean by tolerant.
Atheists certainly to not tolerate the beliefs of Christians very well and many atheists are intolerant of Baha'i beliefs.

 

[McBell]

Kind of a self-own there, no?

Not when you take into consideration that that particular poster never makes claims, proclamations, statements, or anything ever that is anything other than a belief.

Since they are merely typing words into the box and pressing the pretty little blue button, there is no reason to even acknowledge their posts.

 

[Trailblazer]

Perhaps you should edit your thread title because, in the light of your OP, it appears to be misleading. If I understand your OP correctly, you're not suggesting accepting the spiritual truths of non-Abrahamic religions.

The OP says:

Firstly I am only referring to the major religions.

Next I’m speaking of accepting the Founder and the spiritual teachings such as virtues and prayer etc not the laws. The administration of each faith would remain.

So Christians would accept Buddha and Muhammad, Buddhists would accept Christ and Baha’is etc

That includes non-Abrahamic religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism since they are major religions.

 

[Trailblazer]

But they are considered spiritual teachings by the religions that @loverofhumanity suggests should be accepted.

Accepting those religions would require accepting those religions' position on this issue.

That's true. It would require at least agreeing on what those spiritual teachings are.

You're saying the quiet part out loud. @loverofhumanity was trying to maintain the pretense that this thread isn't about Baha'i proselytizing. You're blowing his cover.

I am not trying to blow his cover. No comment on that, except to say that some Baha'is are more single-focused than others.

Since I am a Baha'i I was just trying to clarify what he means by spiritual teachings, because people define those differently.

So I was right: we're only talking about accepting the parts of each religion that agree with the Baha'i faith.

I was not talking about accepting anything, I was only defining what Baha'is mean by spiritual teachings.

I try to accept everyone's right to believe what they believe, but that does not mean I accept their beliefs as true.

Things would go much more smoothly if you and @loverofhumanity were open and honest about what you were doing.

I was not doing anything but trying to clarify what Baha'is mean by 'spiritual teachings.'

To be honest, I got tired of discussing the same things on the other threads I am on so I went shopping around for a new thread. That was the last thing I needed since I am already overloaded with unanswered posts. But you know what they say. When you go shopping you always pick up some things you don't need.

 

[Trailblazer]

It's wild to me - though not exactly surprising - that a thread about "accepting all major religions" would devolve into a couple of Baha'is trying to dictate to others what their religion is really about and quoting Baha'i religious works.

If you really want to accept other religions, then here's a challenge for you: quit it with the Baha'i quotes. Instead, support your points with quotes from, say, the Bible, the Qur'an, the Vedas, and Buddhist scripture. Can you do it?

I was not dictating to others what their religion is really about. I was just me correcting what @loverofhumanity said about religion not being eternal, since I remembered the quote where Baha'u'llah said that religion is eternal.

I was not making the point that religion is eternal. I believe that religion is eternal because that is a Baha'i belief, but I am not going to find quotes from other religions that say religion is eternal since other religions do not teach that.

 

[Trailblazer]

Why on Earth would you count the Baha'i faith as one of the "major religions of the world"?

And if you're going to include the Baha'i faith, how could you justify not including, say, Voodoo, which is about 10 times as large as the Baha'i faith?

Size has nothing to do with whether a religion is major or not.
The Baha'i Faith is now recognized as a major religion. You will never see Voodoo on CBS morning news.

 

[Trailblazer]

No, it's because the idea that Baha'u'llah is a prophet is incompatible with those religions.

And it is incompatible because they want their Prophet to be the Promised One who will return and fulfill the prophecies, making them superior to all the other religions.

(Their actual religions, not the Baha'i-redacted version of them)

That has nothing to do with anything we are talking about.
It is incompatible because these religions want to be the only true religion for all of time, and now the Baha'i Faith comes along and says there is more than one true religion, a new religion for every age, and the other religions don't like that.

 

[Trailblazer]

Kind of a self-own there, no?

No, I do not accept religions that I do not believe are true because that would be dishonest.

 

[Trailblazer]

The only group of people that think that are the Baha'i themselves.

No, not exactly. #117

 

[CG Didymus]

The basic concept of progressive revelation, a core principle of the Baha'i faith, does the same thing. It says that with each new age there is a new prophet and new revelations, and this age is the age of baha'ullah, updating or 'progressing' from previous existing faiths that are now outdated. So although they claim to encourage tolerance, in actuality they don't as other faiths are all now 'outdated'. Lots of talk without substance.

It is of course great when people who come from contrasting environments and teachings find common ground.

But attempting to gloss over the very significant differences of values (and dogmas) is simply not very defensable.

It causes confusion and compromises the ability to achieve true religious insight.

I believe LH truly wants for all of us to love, respect and get along with each other and accept the things in each religion that are common in all of them. Which he says is the virtues. Okay, so we don't focus on our different man-made and dogmatic beliefs, but all start loving and being kind to each other. Great... then what?

Unfortunately, we all know all religions that seek new converts first shower them with love and acceptance. Are Baha'is one of those types of religions? I think so. Because the real barrier between being able to love one another and accept one another is that we must accept God's messengers... all of them. And who is the latest and newest messenger that we must all accept? Hmmm? Could it be Baha'u'llah?

And once again here is a quote from Abdul Baha' on Buddhism with the added bonus of his thoughts on Confucianism....

Buddha also established a new religion, and Confucius renewed morals and ancient virtues, but their institutions have been entirely destroyed. The beliefs and rites of the Buddhists and Confucianists have not continued in accordance with their fundamental teachings. The founder of Buddhism was a wonderful soul. He established the Oneness of God, but later the original principles of His doctrines gradually disappeared, and ignorant customs and ceremonials arose and increased until they finally ended in the worship of statues and images" So it is with religions; through the passing of time they change from their original foundation, the truth of the Religion of God entirely departs, and the spirit of it does not stay; heresies appear, and it becomes a body without a soul. That is why it is renewed. The meaning is that the Buddhists and Confucianists now worship images and statues. They are entirely heedless of the Oneness of God and believe in imaginary gods like the ancient Greeks. But in the beginning it was not so; there were different principles and other ordinances. ('Abdu'l-Bahá, "Some Answered Questions", (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1984), pp. 165-166​

​

It's hard to take a Baha'is seriously, when they talk of accepting the other religions, when one of their leaders says things like that. I wonder... will Baha'is be the first to dump their man-made beliefs and dogmas for the sake of love and unity between the other religions?