Thursday, February 28, 2008

On the Baha'i Religion: Most Organized?

"one of the activities we organized in the summer project 2005, portimao ," uploaded on August 3, 2006 by sahbapasta on flickr, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic


This morning someone came to Baha'i Views via a search for "bahai most organized religion." "Most organized" -- how wonderful to be so identified! I hope it's true. Being most organized is what it takes to unite the world. -gw

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE - Bahá'í World Centre, April 2002 -
To the World's Religious Leaders,
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The enduring legacy of the twentieth century is that it compelled the peoples of the world to begin seeing themselves as the members of a single human race, and the earth as that race's common homeland. Despite the continuing conflict and violence that darken the horizon, prejudices that once seemed inherent in the nature of the human species are everywhere giving way. Down with them come barriers that long divided the family of man into a Babel of incoherent identities of cultural, ethnic or national origin. That so fundamental a change could occur in so brief a period — virtually overnight in the perspective of historical time — suggests the magnitude of the possibilities for the future.
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Tragically, organized religion, whose very reason for being entails service to the cause of brotherhood and peace, behaves all too frequently as one of the most formidable obstacles in the path; to cite a particular painful fact, it has long lent its credibility to fanaticism. We feel a responsibility, as the governing council of one of the world religions, to urge earnest consideration of the challenge this poses for religious leadership. Both the issue and the circumstances to which it gives rise require that we speak frankly. We trust that common service to the Divine will ensure that what we say will be received in the same spirit of goodwill as it is put forward.
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THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Bahá'í World Centre * April 2002 * To the World's Religious Leaders
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So begins the Universal House of Justice letter. Click here for the full text.

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