Has the “day of God,” when humanity finally realizes its capacity for love and unity, arrived?
A new-age sense of gentleness, amity and peace seems to exist among Baha?is ? followers of a mid-19th-century Persian visionary called Baha?u?llah, who proclaimed the epoch with his own persecuted coming-out.
And this likely is due to Baha?is? emphasis on the principle of unity ? the oneness of God, religion and humanity ? and their disciplined personal efforts to promote unity among the religion?s 6 million adherents across 155 countries.
In the United States, there are about 170,000 Baha?is, with about 175 in Howard County, Baha?i Community spokesman John Watson said. Each nonclerical community is administered by an elected local spiritual assembly, which has counterparts at the national and international levels. The faith?s supreme administrative body, the Universal House of Justice, is located in Haifa, Israel.
“I don?t believe in conversion. I believe in enrichment,” Joe Aissi, president of CSO Computers of Ellicott City and a Baha?i of 13 years, said of his transition from Islam. “Being Muslim-born and having confirmation of my [Muslim] beliefs in the Baha?i faith enriches my values.”
Aissi?s point is not a flippant one, as another Baha?i understanding is in the evolutionary nature of humankind, history and religion itself ? as in the “progressive revelation” of God?s nature across time.
Accordingly, Baha?is believe their faith fulfills the teachings of Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and the Bab ? a forerunner of Baha?u?llah ? and best articulates God?s nature and call to holiness for the present age.
When asked how the teachings of Baha?u?llah refined those of Christ, who had already commanded followers to “love your neighbor as yourself,” Aissi said that “neighbor” pertained to the tribe or the national community ? and that “the notion of [loving] humanity did not arise until the time of Baha?u?llah.”
World unity, thus, is paramount to the religion. “I was looking for those who were trying to unite mankind,” Geoffrey Hougland, a Howard County Baha?i of 37 years, said of his transition.
“In finding the Baha?is, I not only found people who agreed to be united, but who also had a framework for it throughout the entire world,” he said.
