I went to Chicago with my Living World Religions class last weekend. It was enlightening, but challenging, to say the least. This seems like as good a place as any to share some thoughts and reactions from the six different religions that we witnessed there. Note that we did not witness TO any of the other faiths, excepting the respect and hopefully love that we expressed toward their adherents.
The first place we went to was a Baha'i temple, the only one in the United States of America. It is a beautiful piece of architecture, planted in the middle of a subdivision. As you walk up to it, the walls are adorned with symbols from several different faiths, representing Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and others (including Zoroastrianism, which surprises me in a way that betrays my subtle bigotry).
We went inside and were warned not to say a word. We sat as two women and a man took turns at the microphone, reading or singing short psalm/hymns. One of them was from the Old Testament Psalms. The service was suddenly over after about ten minutes, and we were herded to a Q&A session.
Our hosts, Jeremy and Samar were pleasant, personable, and cogent. They discussed that their faith is a mixture of the teachings of nine great men, some of them founders of past religions. Baha'i does not replace these old faiths, but rather is the culmination of them.
The strong emphasis on tolerance makes clear why this faith would be considered delivered from God as "THE religion for today." I cannot think of another possible faith that would better match our culture.
Jeremy, our guide, had been a Christian in the past. He said that he found some philosophical questions on the character of God for which he could find no "Christian educators" to answer. So he began to seek elsewhere.
How convicting this is. I am convinced all the more that I must work toward 1 Peter 3:15, being ready to give an answer to those that ask. If I am not ready, others will look until they DO get an answer, even if it isn't the right one.
Oh, to be pluralistic. How much simpler life would be!
4 years ago
1 comment:
Alan and I went on that trip last year, and I still think of it often. I decided (regarding the Baha'i) that believing in everything is like believing in nothing at all. I was sad for them. For me, that trip was as eye opening as our trip to Tanzania.
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