The views of Bahá'u'lláh and the views of Karen Armstrong expressed in her short YouTube video "Charter for Compassion"are very similar. Both are looking for a way to unify the faiths of the world to create a better place for everyone to live. However, the Bahá'i method of achieving this is through more of a spiritual view and Armstrong's view is through more of a political view.
The Bahá'i believe that there is a fundamental unity of many of world religions. They accepts this on the basis that the central figures of many of the world's religions are all manifestations of God. They believe that perhaps the different religions are different stages of the constant evolution of the one religion; like each religion has grabbed on to one messenger in the long line of messengers throughout history and has focused on their teachings. There will always be another messenger of God for every generation, who will present teachings more relevant to the times. They are able to change many of the teachings of the previous messenger, though some things that cannot be changed. Armstrong's view of the issue of the issue of unifying world religions comes from a more political approach with an absence of a focus on God and his messengers.
Armstrong says the task of our generation is to build a global community in which all beliefs can live together in peace and harmony. The best way of going about this is to follow the golden rule; love your neighbor; treat others as you would want to be treated. We need to change the conversation from a narrow understanding of religion resulting in intolerance, and the rage in religions against each other. She would like to see the golden rule implemented globally. This is definitely similar to what the Bahá'i strive for, just with a different approach, spiritual vs. political. The Bahá'i believe that the evolution of their religion comes over years in the messengers of God. However, Armstrong, I feel is promoting more of an evolution within the self, through compassion.
They are both different paths to the same goal.
I appreciate that you not only pointed out both Baha'u'llah and Armstrong advocate the unity of different faiths but also see the differences between them. Indeed, Baha'u'llah's approach sounds more spiritual and acceptable for those people who have faiths in God; his explanation to religious differences and conflicts really digs into the common origin of world religions. However, i am not really sure that Armstrong's approach is more political. Armstrong thinks the importance of unity of different religions but she does not see the real difference among different religions and therefore cannot give an effective way to conciliate religious conflicts.
ReplyDelete