Baha'i Faith St Petersburg Center

Baha'i Faith St Petersburg Center
676 2nd Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 894-5791
http://stpetebahai.org

Contact: Multiple

Book Recommendation: The Baha'i Faith: An Introduction

Religion: Baha'i

You can listen to the interview with members of the Baha'i Faith St Petersburg Center here.

One of the things that's been fascinating me about this project is the way that each group creates community. Some churches do it by having large families and prohibitions against birth control (aka the "Multiply and Replenish the Earth" tactic). Others are highly evangelic, spreading the message of their faith door to door or through other methods.

One thing that has interested me is not just the creation of community, but the maintenance. And the most effective way to maintain community is to say "Our religion is right, and other religions are wrong. If you go to the other religions, then you're wrong. Or you're going to hell. Or you're going to have a bad reincarnation. Or you'll have to attend a Carrot Top show. Or - any number of horrible things."

It's probably the most common tactic. For the Christians, part of their message was "the Jews got it wrong, and we have it right." The message from Islam? We have it right, and the Jews and Christians have it all wrong. The Lutheran message started with "There's something wrong with the Catholic church." When Joseph Smith went to go pray in a grove of trees about which church to join, his instruction was "Well, all of them suck, so you'll have to start (aka "restore") the One True Church upon the earth."

Then - I reach the Bahai faith late one Saturday night. Like many other religions, they were full of warm, friendly people who was very glad to see me and other visitors. The night that I went was an introduction night - have some dinner, sit in and learn what the Bahai's are all about and what their aims are.

At the heart of the Bahai method is unity. By their religious beliefs, it isn't that they hold the One True Faith upon the Earth. Instead, they hold that actually, the other religions got it right. The prophets of the Old Testament and the New Testament are all just as valid to the Jews and the Christians. The story of Muhammad and Islam is also true, and it all leads to the message of the Bahais, which seek to unify all people and all faiths. From their beliefs, the story of Bahá'u'lláh, born in Iran as the latest Manifestation of God, one of a long line of Manifestations from the Old Testament.

The central message of Bahá'u'lláh is that God loves his creation called mankind, and that God wants mankind to be joined together.

Just looking around the room, I could tell how serious they took that message. The room held maybe 30 or so people, but even in that small population was a mixture of old and young, white, black, and all shades between.

So many ways the Bahai's show this message of unity. Truth didn't belong to just the Bahai's, but also to Science and Reason in equal measure with Faith. Their goals are evident in the way to work to negotiate for peace between their members (including commandments against ill speaking against each other), and even in the world (with organizations that set out to bring peaceful negotiations to conflicts).

I'm still struck at the simple beauty - with so many faiths out there that hold that Their Way is The Way to Truth, the Bahai's come along and say that actually, we're all seeking and reaching for the same Truth in the end.