Love this essay even though I am a Baha’i I identify strongly with the early church and believe that the teachings of Baha’u’llah continue and carry forward those ideals to the present day. I think part of the big issue facing all the major religions is coming to terms with the facts of modernity and understanding what occurred around the middle of the 19th century. This has lead to an intellectual dissonance between faith and reason which has pealed away many who embraced science and reason yet found religion unable or unwilling to adapt.

There was a seismic change in human affairs in the 19th century which can safely be said to be the single greatest event in humanty’s recorded existence. This event unleashed wonderful and dangerous powers. These powers have allowed humans to touch another world and yet are capable of driving the next mass extinction or ending life, as we know it. While secular thought has acknowledge this remarkable event, for the most part established religious thought is silent on this issue. If you look at any graph of economic, scientific, artistic or literary output over time it is hard to miss the inflection point one observes in the 19th century. Every aspect of human society was up-ended from race, class and gender roles to political structures. The secular point of view and the narrative that we are taught is that this was all the result of the industrial and scientific revolution.

However if one subscribes the point of view that the Divine has guided humanity in the past, as do all the major religions, then you are faced with an important question. If the scriptures which humanity holds to are really divinely inspired, why do they not warn humanity about this event? It should be clear that if the sacred scripture from any of these traditions had any valid claim to divine inspiration, they would have, at the very least, foreseen this event and warned humanity. If one maintains that such warnings do not exist in their sacred texts, then one must question the validity of these texts.

What is interesting is that many living in the 19th century and prior actually believed that their scripture was indeed warning humanity of a great pending event. There were many Christian and Islamic scholars who, based on their studies of scripture and tradition, believed God’s promise would be fulfilled in the mid 1800’s. Clergymen like Miller in America or Sayyid Kazim in Persia. So we had the birth of many millennialist movements in the Christian world predicting the imminent return of Christ, likewise many in the Muslim world awaited the coming Mahdi and descent of Christ. (For details see presentation: Messianic Expectations in Nineteenth Century Christian and Islamic Communities). In fact a quick perusal of the major world religions from Hinduism and Buddhism to Islam and Christianity show that their scriptures all foretell of a great end time, or day of judgment. Indeed the divine scriptures of the past are actually dominated by the theme of the coming day of judgment.

However since fulfillment didn’t occur in the literal manner they expected, today many followers of these mainstream religions maintain that the prophecies were not realized in the 19th century. They dispute the conclusions of these of these older interpretations and maintain that God’s promise has yet to be fulfilled. For them earth did not physically get destroyed, a luminous being did not actually descend from the sky. The stars did not physically fall down to the earth. With this literal interpretation of scripture, the problem that they are faced with and the important question they then must address is how can one claim any validity of the scripture since it completely missed the fact of the greatest change in human affairs ever?

It would seem if one wants to maintain consistency between these two ideas:

1. That your scripture provides for the guidance of humans,

2. The fact of monumental change in human affairs in the middle of 19th Century.

One should look very carefully and reconsider the literalist point of view. Perhaps it makes sense to consider intently the claimants of a new revelation around the mid 19th Century. If one looks one will find many new religious movements emerging at this time, from Mormonism to the Ahmadiyya’s in Islam. Many of them actually were built around the idea of this imminent fulfillment. For example Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses and even Mormons where born out of belief that God’s promised return of Christ was at hand and the church should be reformed and prepared for this event.

Then there is the unmistakable claim made by Baha’u’llah the prophet founder of the Baha’i faith and his predecessor the Bab. They both unequivocally claimed to be the bearers of a new revelation from God designed to guide humanity in this new age, fulfilling the promises revealed in the Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita and Avestan of the coming day of redemption. The coming change in human affairs and expansion of science is squarely identified and foretold as due to the impact of the revelation, which Baha’u’llah brought.

“In the days to come, ye will, verily, behold things of which ye have never heard before. Thus hath it been decreed in the Tablets of God, and none can comprehend it except them whose sight is sharp. In like manner, the moment the word expressing My attribute “The Omniscient” issueth forth from My mouth, every created thing will, according to its capacity and limitations, be invested with the power to unfold the knowledge of the most marvelous sciences, and will be empowered to manifest them in the course of time at the bidding of Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Knowing.”

Or in another passage:

“The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System — the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.”

Baha’u’llah posits that, the central requirement this New World Order presents is that of the unity of the human race. This entails the elimination of barriers to that unity such as race, religion, creed, gender and nationality. Also the abandonment of wars and violence in the name of religion and the reconciliation of science with religion:

“The Purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost selves. That the divers communions of the earth, and the manifold systems of religious belief, should never be allowed to foster the feelings of animosity among men, is, in this Day, of the essence of the Faith of God and His Religion. These principles and laws, these firmly-established and mighty systems, have proceeded from one Source, and are the rays of one Light. That they differ one from another is to be attributed to the varying requirements of the ages in which they were promulgated.

Gird up the loins of your endeavor, O people of Bahá, that haply the tumult of religious dissension and strife that agitateth the peoples of the earth may be stilled, that every trace of it may be completely obliterated. For the love of God, and them that serve Him, arise to aid this most sublime and momentous Revelation. Religious fanaticism and hatred are a world-devouring fire, whose violence none can quench. The Hand of Divine power can, alone, deliver mankind from this desolating affliction….

The utterance of God is a lamp, whose light is these words: Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship. He Who is the Day Star of Truth beareth Me witness! So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth. The one true God, He Who knoweth all things, Himself testifieth to the truth of these words.”