The Baha'i Studies Listserv You seem to be intent on categorizing the Faith. It's not going to work.
Why is the Faith referred to as a "liberal" or "progressive" group? Because when Abdu'l-Baha was here 100 years ago and emphasized what are now commonly referred to as the Baha'i Principles (all 12 or 15 or however many), most of them were the ideas espoused by secular liberals. The assumption was made that the Faith adapted/adopted these ideas from the liberal elements of society around them. This led to a further assumption that as these ideas evolved and new ideas adopted by liberal and progressive thinkers, that the Faith would likewise adopt them also. There is an element of commonality that is little discussed among Baha'is which it has in common w/ many liberals - the resolution of the old debate between absolutism and relativism. The Faith is more openly relativistic than many religious groups, but it must be remembered that there are certain laws and principles that can not be abrogated before the advent of the next Manifestation. How these laws and principles are implemented can vary greatly, thus giving an air of relativism, but the principles themselves are sacrosanct, absolute. Don C On Apr 24, 2013, at 12:06 01PM, Stephen Kent Gray wrote: > Liberal religion is a religious tradition which embraces the theological > diversity of a congregation rather than a single creed, authority, or > writing. Because it may draw resources from many traditions, it cannot > normally be characterized as Christian, Jewish, or any particular religious > faith. > ----------- It doesn't matter whether the sun shines if you never go outside. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-699023-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@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
