Other faiths

Bahá'ís and other faiths

Bahá'ís believe that there is only one real religion, which is the religion of God. The different faiths we see in the world are different approaches to that religion.

From the beginning, Bahá'u'lláh taught that the great world religions are different conceptions of and reactions to the same divine reality.

Bahá'ís and other faiths

Bahá'ís have a very open attitude to other faiths, and are expected to treat members of other faiths with friendship and peace.

There are no rules in the Bahá'í community that disadvantage non-Bahá'ís.

There is no compulsion on the children of Bahá'ís to accept their parents' faith, although the comprehensive spiritual education they receive means that they are likely to stay Bahá'í.

Seeking peace

The Bahá'í community explicitly seeks to eliminate conflicts between religions, and to encourage cooperation between different faith communities.

Comparing beliefs

Bahá'ís do not believe that their faith contains the final and complete truth of religion. They think it is the most complete set of truths available in our present time, which is not at all the same thing.

Since Bahá'ís believe that all religions come from a single source they are happy to study other religions as 'earlier chapters of the same changeless faith of God'.

The Bahá'í faith is not an imperialist faith - it does not seek to end religious differences by getting the members of other faiths to become Bahá'ís.

Transforming each other

While Bahá'ís don't believe they have the final truth, they do believe that by engaging in dialogue with other faiths they create the opportunity for the other faiths to be changed in ways that promote the Bahá'í idea of unity.

They also accept that the Bahá'í faith can benefit from the insights of the other faiths.

Why religions differ

There are two reasons why religions are different, despite springing from the same source:

• Different societies and different times had different needs
  • The great religions present themselves to suit their context
• Humanity is developing
  • as time passed, humankind became more spiritually aware, and able to understand more of the truth
  • Different religions were founded at different times, and so they presented the truth in ways that human beings could understand at the level of spiritual maturity humanity possessed at that time

Shoghi Effendi taught that the different religions were like "stages in the eternal history and constant evolution of one religion".