The Bahai Faith on Politics
(Posted November 22, 2016)
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Last Monday night at the Unity House, Debra Kirchhof-Glazier, professor of biology, gave the seventh talk in her series on the Bahai Faith.
The Bahá’í faith started in 1844, and is the newest independent religion in the world. “All the religions are considered a part of one progressive revelation from the same source that wants us to understand different things in human history,” stated Kirchhof-Glazier. “What is really pivotal and unique about the Bahai Faith is that every other religion had only one person such as Jesus, Buddha or Mohammad, etc. But in the Bahai dispensation there are two manifestations of God.
The one is called the Bab, which means the gate, and he was basically the person that signalized the end of the age of prophecy and said the age of fulfillment was coming. This age would bring that person who was going to be the promised one of all religions and that was who Bahá’u’lláh was,” she explains. The people of this faith believe that there are three unities that connect all other religions. “The first is the oneness of God, whatever people call it. The second unity is the unity of religion. And the third unity is the unity of humanity,” says Kirchhof-Glazier. “Bahai gatherings do have diversity, because we embrace unity in diversity. One of the principles is the elimination of prejudice of all kinds.”
Kirchhof-Glazier goes on to explain that there are no clergymen or women in this religion. It is up to Bahais to talk about their Faith. She states that, “the Bahais do not convert people, we discover them. I enjoy talking to atheists, people from different religions, or agnostics- it doesn’t matter because the principles, when they are applied, would in fact fix some of the world’s deepest problems. It is very holistic and comprehensive”.
The seventh talk in her series was about the political process. The Bahais have a unique political process. “We are not talking about harmonizing everyone into one thing, but there is unity with a diverse aspect. And part of the process of politics is consultation,” Kirchhoff-Glazier says. She went on to explain how the Bahai political system works. Despite the lack of clergy, there is still a unity among the followers. “The local Bahai community gets together once a year to elect the nine members of the Local Spiritual Assembly. We always begin with prayer to get rid of all the veils that come between you and whatever you think the truth is. You then open yourself up and think, who is the most spiritual person and who would be the best qualified to be on the Spiritual Assembly. You write one name down and the nine names that have the most votes will be on the assembly.”
Politics are run through a process called consultation. “You separate the person from the opinion. You put your opinion out there or an opinion that happens to come from you and then the consultation happens. And often the truth comes out after a clash of differing opinions,” she explains. Everyone has a right to say whatever they want to say about the issues being discussed. However, at the end of the consultation, if the decision is not unanimous, the majority will rule and everyone must follow that decision. If it is wrong it will become readily apparent and they can consult again and change their decision. The beauty is that in Bahai communities we are doing this and it is working.”
By Marlene Matula, Juniata Online Journalist
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