Running Head: THE BAHA’I FAITH FRAMEWORK AND 1

The Baha’i Faith Framework

and a Comparative Analysis of the Role of Jesus In

Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Baha’i

Ian Sheldon Banwell

Grand Canyon University

INT 463 – World Religions

November 14, 2008

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The Baha’i Faith Framework

and a Comparative Analysis of the Role of Jesus In

Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Baha’i

The religious movement we deem the Baha’i faith comprises an understanding encompassing

a transformation through many messengers, not merely Jesus, towards a God seen as the one

deity. Holiness is achieved through transformation accomplished over spiritual growth and good

assistance all over the surface of our Earth. This includes the improvement of a unified or global

Conscinous covering a one world type of governing body formation.

Today, while there may be a great emphasis placed on individual considerations throughout

man’s life, the Baha’i faith around the world continues its vigilance in spreading a unique

unification message; however, with the (Baha’i International Community (Ed.), 2008)

listing that, “humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one

global society. God, Baha’u’llah said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down

traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal

civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their

oneness and to assist the processes of unification.”

While Islam continues to make up some degree of the Baha’i faith members around the

world, as the youngest yet second largest faith located within thousands of communities all over

the world, the Baha’i faith comprises many types of individuals. There continues for much a part

of the faith’s overall tenets an inclusion for those with a wide variety of beliefs. According to the

authoritative Baha’i web resource Baha’i Topics, the organization (Baha’i (Ed.), 2008) points to

the fact that,” founder, Baha’u’llah (1817-1892), is regarded by Baha’is’ as the most recent in the

line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham,

Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.”

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The faith has accepted many peoples into its once smaller faith, though means of accepting all

Religions as important, as documented on one of their websites produced by a Baha’i group

(Baha’i (Ed.), 2008), which states flatly concerning their leader and the faith itself that

“Baha’u’llah claimed to be nothing less than a new and independent Messenger from God. His

life, work, and influence parallel that of Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ,

and Muhammad. Baha’is’ view Baha’u’llah as the most recent in this succession of divine

Messengers. The essential message of Baha’u’llah is that of unity. He taught that there is only

one God, that there is only one human race, and that all the world’s religions represent stages in

the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity.”

The faith is a religion based on one, single body, almost absent of divisions or splinters found

in most every other organized belief system. There are many groups represented in that many

types of ethnocentric centers are the membership from tens of thousands of areas all over the

Globe’s surface, itself.

The faith holds that human beings, or mankind itself, is maturing into what is hence

forth a whole or greater humanity possessing a peaceful resolve towards a truly more globall

society. There would be many improvements, both in our spiritual tenure on Earth and in our

daily lives. As recounted through the means of the internet by the Bahia International

Community website The Baha’i’s`, the organization (Baha’i (Ed.), 2008) points out that, “Since

it also forms a single community, free of schism or factions, the Baha’i Faith comprises what is

very likely the most diverse and widespread organized body of people on earth.” This

Community (Baha’i (Ed.), 2008) also similarly contends that, “the Faith’s most distinctive

accomplishment by far, however, is its unity. Unlike every other religion — not to mention most

social and political movements — the Baha’i community has successfully resisted the perennial

impulse to divide into sects and subgroups. It has maintained its unity despite a history as

turbulent as that of any religion of antiquity.”

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This includes tenets that preclude any and all racism, inequality, the facilitation by any means

as poverty or too much excess and any lack of overall religious unity. It incorporates the

doctrines that desire truth, togetherness between religion and scientific teachings, the

mantainance of universal levels of teaching throughout the Globe on a stated more equal level

as well as a need for a great body of nations to rule as a joint exercise (Baha’i (Ed.), 2008).

Certainly, it can be added here in addition, that the Baha’i faith is mainstream Islam itself in

at least one sense, that of the mutual acceptance among its members in the Islam beliefs, as

pointed to by the Baha’i International Community, itself, where it states on its comprehensive

(Baha’i (Ed.), 2008) website, “baha’is believe in the Oneness of God. This leads them to believe

in the Oneness of Religion, the "changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the

future." In this sense, the Baha'i Faith is related to all past religions. Its roots however, are in the

religion which immediately preceded it, Islam. This relationship is analogous to that between

Christianity and Judaism. This has led sometimes to the inaccurate perception of the Baha'i Faith

as a sect of Islam. Before we go any further, it should be stated that the Baha'i Faith,

unequivocally, and without any hesitation, teaches and asserts the divine origin of Islam. It

affirms that the Holy Qur'an is God's revelation, pure and unaltered, and that Muhammad

(PBUH) is God's Servant and Messenger and the Seal of the Prophets. People from every

religious and ethnic background who embrace the Baha'i Faith, embrace this belief.”

ROLES FOR JESUS THROUGHOUT FOUR FAITHS

ROLE # 1 - Savior -Christianity

ROLE # 2 – Excluded as Savior - Judaism, Islam, and Baha’i

ROLE # 3 – Pathway to Communion with God - Christianity, Baha’i

ROLE # 4 – Partial Means Towards Communion with God -Judaism

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ROLE # 5 - Prophet - Christianity, Islam, Baha’i

ROLE # 6 – One of Many Prophets -Islam, Baha’i

ROLE # 7 – Excluded Entirely as Prophet -Judaism

ROLE # 8 – Spiritual Guide to Life - Christianity, Islam, Baha’i

ROLE # 9 – Only Spiritual Guide – Interpretations except for Christianity

(Holds True Prophet)

ROLE # 10 – One Part of Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Christianity

ROLE # 11 – Not Part of Any Known Trinity –Judaism, Islam, Baha’i

ROLE # 12 – One God- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Baha’i

ROLE # 13 --Born to Virgin- Christianity, Islam (Baha’i-Not addressed), (Judaism-Normal Birth)

(Religion Facts 8 Feb. 2007)
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References

Bahá'à International Community, ed. "Basic Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh."

Baha`i' Topics. 15 Nov. 2008. 15 Nov. 2008

<http://info.bahai.org/bahaullah-basic-teachings.html>.

Bahá'à International Community, ed. "The Baha'i Faith." Baha'i Topics. 15

Nov. 2008. 15 Nov. 2008 <http://info.bahai.org/index.html>.

Bahá'à International Community, ed. "What is the Bahai Faith?" The

Bah`a'i`s. 16 Nov. 2008. 16 Nov. 2008

<http://www.bahai.org/faq/facts/bahai_faith>.

Boggs, Micheil. "Module 3 - Lecture." INT 463 - Lec ture 3. 16 Nov. 2008

<http://angel.gcu.edu/section/content/default.asp?wci=pgdisplay&wcu

=crscnt&entry_id=f9fd8886424437e4ab01f2af508f007e>.

Boggs, Michiel, ed. "INT 463 - A Framework for Understanding and

Comparing Religious worldviews." 27 Oct. 2008. 16 Nov. 2008

<http://angel.gcu.edu/section/default.asp?id=56756>.

"Compare: Bahá'à Faith, Islam, Christianity, Judaism." Chart. Religion Facts.

8 Feb. 2007. Religion Facts.com. 16 Nov. 2008

<http://www.religionfacts.com/bahai/comparison_chart.htm>.