The oneness of religion

Now on to the second part of this series of posts on the oneness of religion from the Baha'i perspective. In yesterday's post, I tried to show how the Baha'i teachings define religion - in terms of the relationship between God and humanity - and the how it views religious revelation as way to understand reality (just like science).

This then leads us to where this principle of the oneness of religion comes from – religion is a reflection of reality, and reality is one – therefore the essence of religion is one.

First, it is incumbent upon all mankind to investigate truth. If such investigation be made, all should agree and be united, for truth or reality is not multiple; it is not divisible. The different religions have one truth underlying them; therefore, their reality is one.
-- Abdu’l Baha

The key point is this – the oneness of religion is seen by Baha’is to be a reflection of reality. All religious systems come from the same one Source. The principle of the oneness of religions, therefore, is NOT an a posteriori pronouncement that attempts to find that which is common between varied religious systems, and arrive at some kind of least common denominator amongst them. Instead, the Baha’i writings advance this principle as an a priori claim, as a claim about how things are, rather than how they should be, and urge us to use this principle as a filter that can help us better understand the teachings propounded by different religious systems.

The vision, therefore, is not that people will discard all the things they disagree about, and just find the lowest common denominator that they can all agree on, and live based on that. The Baha’i Faith makes no attempt to do this, and does not try to be selective in choosing principles that people can agree on today as a basis for its teachings. It is not a syncretic religious system, nor is it just some interfaith project attempting to focus on commonalities and ignore differences.

The Revelation, of which Bahá’u’lláh is the source and center, abrogates none of the religions that have preceded it, nor does it attempt, in the slightest degree, to distort their features or to belittle their value. It disclaims any intention of dwarfing any of the Prophets of the past, or of whittling down the eternal verity of their teachings. It can, in no wise, conflict with the spirit that animates their claims, nor does it seek to undermine the basis of any man’s allegiance to their cause. Its declared, its primary purpose is to enable every adherent of these Faiths to obtain a fuller understanding of the religion with which he stands identified, and to acquire a clearer apprehension of its purpose. It is neither eclectic in the presentation of its truths, nor arrogant in the affirmation of its claims. Its teachings revolve around the fundamental principle that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is progressive, not final. Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind.
-- Shoghi Effendi

However central the ideal of the oneness of religion unquestionably is, therefore, the task of sharing Bahá’u’lláh’s message is obviously not an interfaith project.
-- Universal House of Justice

From this viewpoint, the Baha’i Faith should be considered a distinct religious system, and this is why we don’t just have Baha’is in different religious groups trying to get them to talk to each other. Interfaith dialogue and an understanding of commonalities is certainly an effort in which Baha’is participate strongly – but this is not the fundamental purpose.

Interestingly, the realization of the oneness of humanity itself is something that has received far greater credence in the world today, than the claim of the oneness of religion.

In contrast to the processes of unification that are transforming the rest of humanity's social relationships, the suggestion that all of the world's great religions are equally valid in nature and origin is stubbornly resisted by entrenched patterns of sectarian thought. The progress of racial integration is a development that is not merely an expression of sentimentality or strategy but arises from the recognition that the earth's peoples constitute a single species whose many variations do not themselves confer any advantage or impose any handicap on individual members of the race. The emancipation of women, likewise, has entailed the willingness of both society's institutions and popular opinion to acknowledge that there are no acceptable grounds — biological, social or moral — to justify denying women full equality with men, and girls equal educational opportunities with boys. Nor does appreciation of the contributions that some nations are making to the shaping of an evolving global civilization support the inherited illusion that other nations have little or nothing to bring to the effort.

So fundamental a reorientation religious leadership appears, for the most part, unable to undertake. Other segments of society embrace the implications of the oneness of humankind, not only as the inevitable next step in the advancement of civilization, but as the fulfilment of lesser identities of every kind that our race brings to this critical moment in our collective history. Yet, the greater part of organized religion stands paralyzed at the threshold of the future, gripped in those very dogmas and claims of privileged access to truth that have been responsible for creating some of the most bitter conflicts dividing the earth's inhabitants.
-- From a letter written by the Universal House of Justice to the world’s religious leaders in 2002

I leave it to the reader to reflect on why it might be the case that the world has shown more openness the principle of the oneness of humanity than the oneness of religion.

Hopefully this short overview provided a peek into the Baha'i understanding of the oneness of religion. We'll stop here for today - tomorrow we'll look at how this principle can be applied in practice, and how we can understand the very real differences that people have in their belief systems.