You may have missed the fact that last Sunday was World Religion Day. It hasn鈥檛 quite crept up the hierarchy of holidays. It鈥檚 not accompanied by fireworks or a countdown of shopping days. In fact, there is no proscribed way of marking it at all.
World Religion Day was launched in 1950 by American Baha鈥檌s and, in many ways, reflects the broad principles of the Baha鈥檌 faith.
鈥淚t is to celebrate that spiritual principles are universal and that all world religions are fundamentally one,鈥� says Susan Ardekany, a member of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha鈥檌s of Vancouver. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all intended to unify and to bring people together.鈥�
The Baha鈥檌 faith emerged in 19th century Persia, but persecution there (which continues under the Islamic Republic of Iran today) resulted in the global headquarters of the religion being in Haifa, Israel.
Baha鈥檌s, she says, believe in 鈥減rogressive revelation,鈥� the idea that, as mankind matures, God renews his covenant. This is consistent with the Christian view that Jesus represents the manifestation of God and supersedes, if you want to look at it that way, the covenant with Moses that is the foundation of Judaism and the Muslim view that Muhammad was the last prophet sent by God. Baha鈥檌s view Bah谩鈥檜鈥檒l谩h (1817-1892) as God鈥檚 prophet.
Unlike some other religions, though, Baha鈥檌s are not evangelical.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have that concept where everyone who is not a Baha鈥檌 is damned,鈥� says Ardekany. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have that concept because we believe that everyone, all souls, are loved by God.鈥�
There is no denying the differences between religions, especially it seems at this moment in history, yet Baha鈥檌s cleave to the view that 鈥渢he earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.鈥�
Regardless of theological division, Baha鈥檌s believe that all religions are unified by connection to a single deity and that, Ardekany says, 鈥淕od will never leave humanity and humanity will follow God鈥檚 spiritual principles.鈥�
鈥淭here are fundamental verities that are spiritual in nature and that all faiths follow,鈥� she adds.
Still, it must be hard to look at the state of inter-religious warfare in the world and try to see the manifestation of these good ideas, I suggest.
鈥淲hen Baha鈥檌s look at the condition of the world, we see that there are two processes going on, one is integrative and one is disintegrative,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hile there is this tremendous societal disintegration, there is also kind of an efflorescence of light and good that you can also see. We tend to focus on the dark side of what鈥檚 going on and we look at it as human nature has both those aspects to it. It has a higher nature and a lower nature.
鈥淲e think all men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization and so I think that the message that the Baha鈥檌s have is really one of hope and love,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut having said that, in order to achieve that, what we have to look at what needs to be done.鈥�
To bring to fruition their ideals, Ardekany says, Baha鈥檌s teach the equality of men and women, the harmony of science and religion, that human rights need to be recognized. The goal is for people to recognize the fundamental humanity in one another and that we are all spiritual beings, find that human connectedness and then stop focusing on the things that divide us, our different cultures, the different places that we come from, she says.
鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely not there yet,鈥� she admits, but Baha鈥檌s take a hopeful outlook. 鈥淢any people think there鈥檚 a lot of evil in the world, there鈥檚 a lot of darkness. Well what is it that dispels the darkness? We need the light. The absence of light is darkness. If we can create the conditions of light in the world, then it dispels the darkness. The more fear and hate and all these very dark emotions, the antidote to them is love.鈥�
She quotes Abdu鈥檒-Bah谩, the son of Baha鈥檌鈥檚 founder Bah谩鈥檜鈥檒l谩h and his anointed successor as head of the faith: 鈥淲hen a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace.鈥�
World Religion Day may have been last weekend, but Ardekany says the ideas it perpetuates can be practised any day, in any way.
鈥淭here is no right way to commemorate World Religion Day,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t would be great for more people to know about World Religion Day and feel free to observe it in their own way. Initiate an open invitation to one another as neighbours to come together and celebrate our diversity and look at that concept of unity in diversity.鈥�
It is, she says, exactly what the world needs now. The world headlines may be bad, but look at the positive work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she says, or the welcoming way Canadians have responded to refugees from Syria and Iraq. 聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing that distinguishes Canada as a nation too, that sense of pluralism,鈥� Ardekany says. 鈥淲e have it faith-wise and we have it culture-wise to really just embrace one another in our humanity.鈥�
@Pat604Johnson
