On a Nagging Thought About the Baha’i Religion: Hey hive, where are the crowds?
By george wesley dannells on Sep 5, 2008 in Baha'i Views
Baha’is are into community, ultimate community, community at every level, community through all the worlds of God. MetaFilter is community blogging. Look at this “Ask MeFi” entry. -gw
I have spent the past two years doing on-again, off-again research into the Baha’i religion. I really like what I see - I’m on the verge of conversion. There is one problem - something that’s nagging at the corners of my mind: Why isn’t this religion more popular? Is there something that I’m missing that everyone else is seeing? … Help?
posted by unixrat to religion & philosophy (22 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
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On Sep 5, 2008, Martin Bebow said:
Actually you should look on it’s lack of popularity as an opportunity. All world religions that don’t use force of any kind start out slow (like Christianity) and so it shouldn’t be surprising that the Baha’i Faith is still small numerically. You also have to consider how revolutionary the Baha’i teachings really are. The oneness of mankind and the common origins of all major world religions. When you look at the divisions in the world these are hard concepts to accept. It takes real faith to believe that now but that is what religion is all about - faith. Bahais believe that eventually people will enter the Faith in masses. But you don’t want to wait for that do you?
On Sep 6, 2008, Harlan Lang said:
The fact that the Baha’i Faith is not as popular as you might expect, especially in Western countries, is a reflection of our culture. If you grow up in a materialistic culture which values material wealth and power, then you are not particularly inclined to investigate a religion which does not offer these things. People tend to favor the statis quo.
On Sep 7, 2008, Bill said:
Always be aware of the problems of Biased Samples, my friend.
If you want to look at the deeds of Baha’is, you need to look at the deeds of Baha’is as a whole and not isolated pockets of dissatisfied people.
Take care
On Sep 7, 2008, george wesley dannells said:
I hope Bob (who goes by unixrat), who posed the question on MetaFiler, comes over to Baha’i Views to see these responses.
Reviewing the 22 responses that his questions garnered on the original site, it struck me that they are typical of the diversity of opinions the subject of the Faith can bring up currently, some sympathetic and some critical. There is something to be learned from the entire mix.
One thing I glean from the responses is that The Baha’i Faith doesn’t seem to be so obscure anymore.
On Sep 16, 2008, Unixrat said:
Hey, it’s unixrat from Metafilter. Really it is, I promise.
“I hope Bob (who goes by unixrat), who posed the question on MetaFiler, comes over to Baha’i Views to see these responses. ”
I’ve been studying the Baha’i faith for nigh on two years now and am ready to convert. I was simply doing some last-minute sanity checks to make sure that I really was seeing what I was seeing.
I have met with a local member of the Baha’i community here and conversion is at hand.
Many thanks to all.