Bahai Faith; Peace -- Religious aspects -- Bahai Faith
The second teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is the oneness of the world of
humanity. Every human creature is the servant of God. All have been
created and reared by the power and favor of God; all have been blessed
with the bounties of the same Sun of divine truth; all have quaffed from
the fountain of the infinite mercy of God; and all in His estimation and
love are equal as servants. He is beneficent and kind to all. Therefore,
no one should glorify himself over another; no one should manifest pride
or superiority toward another; no one should look upon another with scorn
and contempt; and no one should deprive or oppress a fellow creature. All
must be considered as submerged in the ocean of God’s mercy. We must
associate with all humanity in gentleness and kindliness. We must love all
with love of the heart. Some are ignorant; they must be trained and
educated. One is sick; he must be healed. Another is as a child; we must
assist him to attain maturity. We must not detest him who is ailing,
neither shun him, scorn nor curse him, but care for him with the utmost
kindness and tenderness. An infant must not be treated with disdain simply
because it is an infant. Our responsibility is to train, educate and
develop it in order that it may advance toward maturity.
The third teaching or principle of Bahá’u’lláh is that religion and
science are in complete agreement. Every religion which is not in
accordance with established science is superstition. Religion must be
reasonable. If it does not square with reason, it is superstition and
without foundation. It is like a mirage, which deceives man by leading him
to think it is a body of water. God has endowed man with reason that he
may perceive what is true. If we insist that such and such a subject is
not to be reasoned out and tested according to the established logical
modes of the intellect, what is the use of the reason which God has given
man? The eye is the organ of sense by which we view the world of outer
phenomena; hearing is the faculty for distinguishing sounds; taste senses
the properties of objects, such as bitter, sweet; smell detects and
differentiates odors; touch reveals attributes of matter and perfects our
communication with the outer world; yet after all, the circle and range of
perception by the five senses is exceedingly limited. But the intellectual
faculty of man is unlimited in its sphere of action. The eye views details
perhaps a mile, but the intellect can perceive the far East and West. The
ear may hear tone modulations at one thousand feet, but the mind of man
can detect the harmonies of the heavenly spheres as they swing in their
courses. Mind makes geological discoveries in subterranean depths and
determines the processes of creation in the earth’s lowest strata. The
sciences and arts, all inventions, crafts, trades and their products have
come forth from the intellect of man. It is evident that within the human
organism the intellect occupies the supreme station. Therefore, if
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