From: David Lubkin (lubkin@unreasonable.com)
Date: Sun Aug 29 1999 - 00:28:20 MDT
>>There is some religious organization called Baha'i here in Denver hosting a
>>Debate between Evolution and Creationism.
>>
>>I'm not sure which side they're on so I sent them an email.
>
>Baha'i is a religion. It seems like a rather mild type of cultish
>christianity, but I don't know much more about it. I'd hazard a guess and
>say they are either creationists or perhaps even in-betweeners.
Baha'i started as an offshoot of Islam, not of Christianity. It is now considered
a distinct religion, not a sect. There are two things I love about the Baha'i that are
largely absent from other religions.
First, they believe that God has appeared to Man many times. Each time, he appears
with a message appropriate to the time and place. Naturally, they think he most
recently appeared to their founder. But they are very tolerant of other religions, since
they believe that Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, etc. all are following the Word
of God -- just an outdated version. None of the all-too-common "kill the infidel" or "you
will burn in hell if you don't believe what we do" that you see in other groups.
Second -- perhaps because it was formed during the Age of Science -- they believe
that when scientific discoveries conflict with religious teachings, the teachings should
be discarded in favor of what science has found. Where some religions feel that
their holy books are the literal word of God, they believe that their books are a fallible
human's best attempt to write down what God said. But science is observing God's
work directly.
Add that their religion was founded a few decades after The Origin of Species
was published. It seems a safe guess that the Baha'i are emphatically pro-evolution.
-- David Lubkin.
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