The Baha'i Studies Listserv This reminds of of religious trends towards traditionalism versus liberalism, fundamentalism versus humanism.
Within religions, traditionalism is a common reaction to rapid changes in the surrounding world. Traditionalists maintain older forms of belief and practice regardless of new social norms. All religions have factions that tend toward traditionalist interpretations. Fundamentalism refers to an intensely traditionalist form of religion, reacting against modern forces and the religious reforms they encourage. It rejects a diversity of interpretations in favor of an authoritarian dogmatic approach that insists on one true interpretation. Liberalism holds that religions should adapt to society's changes. Humanism is the worldview that ultimate value is grounded entirely in the human realm, not in the divine or supernatural. Religious Humanism is a trend in various religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and Unitarian Universalism. Humanism provides answers to life's most basic questions. It can be used alongside religion or without religion, becoming Secular Humanism. Humanism embraces the modern emphasis on science and on the intellectual pursuit of truth. It rejects traditionalist and fundamentalist forms of Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism. Humanists find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of the supernatural and the divine. Nature is seen as being deeper and broader than we currently think, new discoveries will enlarge our knowledge of nature. Humanists find there is no credible data to support belief in life after death. Humanists focus rather on our progeny and the ways our lives have influenced others. Humanist ethics tends to be based on Christian, Buddhist, and Jewish ethics. Humanists believe that ethics derive from human experience. Ethics is autonomous and situational, needing no ideological or theological justifications or sanctions. Ethics stem from human interest and need. To deny this distorts the whole basis of life. Human life has meaning because we create and develop our futures. Notice, Religious Humanists and Secular Humanists will interpret the above data differently. Religious Humanists may believe despite said acknowledged lack of evidence. Secular Humanists may believe that lack of evidence is evidence of lack. Both camps may believe that supernatural versus natural, divine versus natural are false dichotomies and embrace pantheism. I find the Baha'i Faith to be traditionalist and fundamentalist given the data above. Just Google Baha'i Traditionalism and Baha'i Fundamentalism to see. Baha'is tend to be hostile to the non-Baha'i world. They are hostile towards rapid changing in the surrounding world since Baha Allah's time. They maintain old forms of belief and practice regardless of society's norms. They are intensely traditionalist, extremely hostile to any religious reforms. They are extremely authoritarian and dogmatic. Sent from my iPad On Apr 16, 2013, at 20:20, Skygram <skyg...@gmail.com> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > Gary, > > You have prodded the sleeping elephant in the room! > > I recall many years ago there was a Bahai bumper sticker that read, "Human > Rights are God Given Rights". But now that sexual preference is considered a > human right by many countries along with the United Nations, you don't see > this bumper sticker any more. > > Over the years having known a number of gay Bahais, both male and female, > who have struggled with their issues of sexual identity, most have ended up > leaving the Bahai Faith because in it they found no sense of spiritual > refuge. Instead most encountered a lot of mean spirited behaviour of self > righteous Bahais of which unfortunately, there are more than a few. > > Then there is another group of Bahais who marry into relationships with > other gay Bahais of the opposite sex. They do this to "pass" as straight for > various reasons and they also struggle with the inherent conflicts of being > homosexual in the Bahai Faith. > > It is all very sad for these human beings and I have discovered that there > is little compassion found in our communities for these people. I cannot > imagine that this is what Baha'u'llah had in mind nor how Abdul Baha would > want us to treat these children of God. > > I am sure that some of the Bahais will comfort themselves with Bahai > scripture as a way of justifying their behaviour. But it shouldn't take > scripture to love all of human kind without exception. > > Bill > > > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:skg_z...@yahoo.com > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to > mailto:leave-697342-1719008.2a3842ae5b2f7d34dd5fdfc724616...@list.jccc.edu > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-698630-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
