Promoting freedom from sectarian attitudes and practices
For some time after I first studied "One Common Faith," a feeling was growing on me that came into focus one morning as a need to raise up a standard of freedom from sectarianism, and hold it up in the face of the opposition it is sure to arouse.
In its message to the World's Religious Leaders, April 2002, the Universal House of Justice wrote:
With every day that passes, danger grows that the rising fires of religious prejudice will ignite a worldwide conflagration the consequences of which are unthinkable.
In "One Common Faith," the Universal House of Justice wrote
At Ridvan 2002, we addressed an open letter to the world's religious leaders. Our action arose out of awareness that the disease of sectarian hatreds, if not decisively checked, threatens harrowing consequences that will leave few areas of the world unaffected.
I don't see that as merely a rhetorical device. I see the House of Justice telling Bahá’ís that efforts to check the disease of sectarian hatreds might help prevent or alleviate some of those harrowing, unthinkable consequences, and that those efforts are urgently needed.
As I see it, although racism and nationalism are still being used as levers to promote global violence, they've lost most of their popularity for that purpose. Religious prejudices are still popular, maybe increasingly so. That's where efforts to prevent or alleviate the impending disaster might do the most good.
As I see it, multiplying our core activities, and including non-members in those activities, will do a lot to help free all people from their sectarianism. I imagine every other part of the goals and plans being promoted by the House of Justice will help, more or less. That may be more than enough responsibility for most Bahá’ís.
Beyond that, I see more that can be done, and that might interest Bahá’ís and others who would like to do more. What I'm thinking of is raising up a standard of freedom from sectarian attitudes and practices, and holding it up in the face of all opposition. I've decided to practice that myself, put it on display, and talk about it incessantly.
I'm trying to eliminate two kinds of practices from my thinking, and from my conversations with others:
- Associating religious labels for categories of people with favorable or unfavorable thoughts and feelings about people.
- Viewing and treating people differently according to their beliefs
Along with that, I'm planning to make it known to everyone that I see those practices as wrong and inexcusable, and to clarify what I mean with examples of those practices from every community and circle of friends that I'm part of, including online communities.
Some Ways of Practicing
Here are some ways I'm practicing and promoting freedom from sectarianism:
1. I spend time with people whose ideas and behavior alarm me, trying to see things their way, trying to see the good in what they're doing, and trying to find ways to learn from them and to serve their interests. I did that a long time ago with people who promote their religion in aggressive and invasive ways. I've also done it with people lobbying for and against gay rights, some people promoting some theories in Internet discussions about Bahá'í "fundamentalism" and some Bahá'ís who rise up against them, Bahá'ís campaigning for a local Bahá'í Center, Bahá'ís who never come to anything, Holocaust revisionists, people who promote growth economics, and people who approve of US military campaigns in the Middle East. I tried to do it with white supremacists, but I couldn't find any suitable resources for it.
2. I've been trying to learn to better appreciate initiatives of Bahá'ís that are not derived from community goals, and the work of other people besides Bahá'ís in spreading the knowledge and love of God and serving the human community.
3. I've been trying to learn not to jump all over people when they say things that alarm me.
4. I'm learning about the president's initiatives of the president of my country, so I can promote them.
5. I've thought about how to ferret out and eliminate sectarian and transient considerations in my discussions of religious issues, that I haven't noticed before.
6. I'm looking for ways to participate in the work of other religious communities, spreading the knowledge and love of God. For now I'm trying to work with Pagans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Sufis, and atheists.
7. I'm talking to other Bahá'ís about my Amish/Mennonite heritage, and my born-again Christian views.
8. I'm practicing not thinking of individuals as members of categories of people.
In Internet discussions:
1. I'm learning to resist occasional temptations to contend with one group of people or another, when I see them contending with each other.Using Internet activities to practice virtues and develop capacities.
2. When I see people being maligned, scolded and belittled by Bahá'ís, because of their beliefs, I fraternize openly with them, and if possible display ideas of mine that make me a target for the same abuse.
Facing Opposition
Sectarian
attitudes and practices serve psychological and social purposes that
can be very hard to give up. I imagine that anyone who raises up a
standard of freedom from sectarian attitudes and practices will be
assaulted from all sides, from near and far. It has already happened to
me on the Internet. As a result of some of the activities I've
described, I was removed from an Internet discussion group managed by
one of my dearest lifelong companions, who tried, possibly with some
success, to poison the minds of other group members against me, and
cruelly maligned me in some private messages.
Here are two passages from the words of Abdu'l-Baha that have helped me respond to such assaults in the right spirit:
O army of God! Beware lest ye harm any soul, or make any heart to sorrow; lest ye wound any man with your words, be he known to you or a stranger, be he friend or foe. Pray ye for all; ask ye that all be blessed, all be forgiven. Beware, beware, lest any of you seek vengeance, even against one who is thirsting for your blood. Beware, beware, lest ye offend the feelings of another, even though he be an evil-doer, and he wish you ill. Look ye not upon the creatures, turn ye to their Creator. See ye not the never-yielding people, see but the Lord of Hosts. Gaze ye not down upon the dust, gaze upward at the shining sun, which hath caused every patch of darksome earth to glow with light.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 73)
One of the teachings is that love and faithfulness must so prevail in the hearts that men may see the stranger as a friend, the sinner as an intimate fellow, may count enemies as allies, regard foes as loving comrades, call their executioner the giver of life, consider the denier as a believer and the unbeliever as a faithful one -- that is, men must behave in such a manner as may befit the believers, the faithful, the friend and the confidant. If this lamp may shine in a befitting manner in the assemblage of the world you will find that the regions will become fragrant and the world become a delectable paradise, the surface of the earth will become an excellent garden, the world will become as one home, the different nations will become as one kind, and the peoples and nationalities of the East and West will become as one household. I hope such a day may come and such lights may dawn and such a Countenance may appear in the utmost beauty.
- Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 413
