Bahaism and Its Claims: A Study of the Religion Promulgated by Baha Ullah and Abdul BahaWilson, Samuel Graham
Religion
Bahaism and Its Claims: A Study of the Religion Promulgated by Baha Ullah and Abdul Baha
Wilson, Samuel Graham
Bahai Faith -- Controversial literature
But the claim of Bahaism is presented in another form. It asserts that
it is actually bringing about this unification. "Abdul Baha is
harmonizing Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, Zoroastrians, Buddhists,
Hindus in the one and true faith."[95] Dreyfus says: "It is uniting all
men in the great universal religion of the future." At Oakland,
Cal.,[96] Abdul Baha said, "The revelation of Baha Ullah is the cause of
the oneness of the world of humanity. It is a unity which welds together
all the races." In illustration of this alleged result, the pilgrims to
Acca express their gratification and amazement that at Acca several
races meet together in love and unity. So in Rangoon, says Mr.
Sprague,[97] "I attended a Bahai meeting at which six of the great world
religions were represented united in the wonderful bond of friendship
and unity." In like manner Mr. Harold Johnson says, "What Christianity
has failed to accomplish, Bahaism has accomplished in uniting men of
different races and religions." If these assertions mean external
association, it may be said that Christians have had their Parliaments
of Religions and Congresses of all faiths, examples of polite toleration
and laboratories of the science of religion. If it means that
Christianity refuses to put itself on a level with other religions and
consort with them as equals, this is true, for Christianity is an
exclusive religion. It has entered the world, as it entered the Roman
empire, to displace all others. It refuses to have Christ occupy a niche
in the Pantheon. But Bahai writers mean rather that Bahaism is to be the
bond of unity by all races and religions accepting Baha. In this sense
their claim is based on very meagre premises. A few thousand only,
outside of Persia, have embraced Bahaism. Harold Johnson says: "The
Non-Mohammedans do not number probably very many thousands." But do we
not see myriads gathering into the Christian brotherhood out of every
race and religion of Asia, including even thousands from Islam. Thirty
thousand Moslems have become Christians in Malayasia in Abdul Baha's
lifetime. In Asia how many races and religions, forgetting their former
antagonisms, are united in the faith and baptism of the Lord Jesus
Christ. As an example of the living power of the Christian faith to
unite the races of men, take the Conference of the International
Christian Students' Federation, held at Lake Mohonk, N. Y. There Hindus
and British, Japanese and Koreans, Russians and Chinese, Greeks and
Armenians, French and Germans, Canadians and Brazilians, Americans and
Mexicans represented the wide world. Mutual esteem, love and spiritual
fellowship united members of the various Protestant Churches with
representatives of the Oriental Churches. The unity in Bahai Assemblies
is on so small a scale as to be not worthy of mention. How little Abdul
Baha knows of or appreciates the reality and power of Christian
spiritual fellowship is shown in his remarks at West Englewood, N.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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