Bahá'í apologetics
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Shoghi Effendi |
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Apologetics is the branch of theology which seeks to defend a religion's tenets through reasoned argument.
Many apologetic books have been written in response to attacks on the religion's history and teachings. The religion's founders themselves wrote several books in response to such questioning, among them are the Báb's Seven Proofs and Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-Íqán. Later Bahá'í authors wrote prominent apologetic texts, such as Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl's The Brilliant Proof and Udo Schaefer et al.'s Making the Crooked Straight[1]; and today there is an extensive library of such resources.
Schaefer's book was written to refute a polemic supported by the German Protestant Church[2]. Scholarly reviews styled Schaefer’s book as “an important contribution to the critical study of the Bahá’í religion”[3] “clarifying many misconceptions” and presenting “a picture of the Baha’i Faith that no future researcher in the field can afford to overlook”[4]. Since its publication the German Protestant Church has revised its own relationship to the German Bahá’í Community and came back to dialogue.[5]
This page attempts to provide a broad overview of some of the issues in question that may be considered challenging in nature. This page has been divided into sub-categories that go into more detail.
Contents |
[edit] Central teachings
Bahá'í Faith and the unity of religion
- Bahá'ís believe in the fundamental agreement in purpose of all the major world religions. Naturally, a large amount of apologetic literature has been published on how these diverse philosophies are reconciled in the Bahá'í point-of-view.
Bahá'í Faith and gender equality
- Bahá'ís assert that gender equality is an incontrovertible reality of the human condition. However, certain teachings seem to favor one gender or the other in education, inheritance, and membership on the Universal House of Justice.
- Bahá'ís believe that science without religion leads to materialism, and religion without science leads to superstition. The idea that these two seemingly opposite forces are in harmony is fundamental to Bahá'í teachings.
Bahá'í Faith and auxiliary language
- Bahá'ís call for a universal auxiliary language, meaning in addition to one's native tongue.
[edit] Issues discussed elsewhere
Homosexuality and Bahá'í Faith
- Bahá'í teachings only permit sexual relationships between a married husband and wife.
- A survey of disputes in leadership, including small groups that are excommunicated by the majority.
- The Bahá'í Faith identifies itself as the fulfilment of the Bábí Faith. The separation of the two, beginning in 1863, was accompanied by conflict and murders.
- Bahá'ís wishing to publish books about the Bahá'í Faith must first submit their work to their respective National Spiritual Assembly for approval.
- Critics of the Bahá'í Faith, especially in Iran, have stated that Bahá'ís are Zionists and enemies of Islam and Islamic states, and point to the location of the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, which is in present-day Israel, as proof.
- Although polygamy is forbidden, Bahá'u'lláh had three concurrent wives.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Bahá'í Studies Review, Volume 8, 1998, [1]
- ^ More precisely: by the Evangelische Zentrale für Weltanschauungsfragen (EZW); cp. A paper about the EZW by Silja Joneleit-Oesch (University of Heidelberg, Germany) for the Center for Studies on New Religions
- ^ Manfred Hutter (Dep. of Religious Studies, Graz) in Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 12, 1997, pp. 437-439
- ^ Heshmat Moayyad in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 8, 1998, pp. 451-454
- ^ Ulrich Dehn in Materialdienst der Evangelischen Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen (EZW), 1/1997, pp. 14-17: “Baha’i und EZW”
[edit] References
- Abrahamian, E. (1993). Khomeinism: Essays on the Islamic Republic. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
- Friedrich W. Affolter. The Specter of Ideological Genocide: The Bahá'ís of Iran. War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, 1(1):59– 89, 2005.
- Christopher Buck. Islam and Minorities: The Case of the Bahá'ís. Studies in Contemporary Islam, 5(1): 83–106, 2003.
- Effendi, Shoghi (1974). Bahá'í Administration. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0877431663.
- Schaefer, U.; Towfigh, N.; Gollmer, U. (2000). Making the Crooked Straight: A Contribution to Bahá'í Apologetics. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0853984433.
[edit] External links
- The Bahá'í Faith as Panopticon, by Juan Cole, detailing his criticisms of the American Bahá'í community.
- The Myth of the Objective Observer, reviewing the above article
- Review of The Bahá'í Faith as Panopticon, also reviewing the above article
