Is Baha'i an Abrahamic faith? Please start your answer with Yes or No.

[Boojatta]

Please provide enough information about the Baha'i faith and about the concept "Abrahamic faith" to explain your answer.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. I did some research but don't

have enough to really answer. Evidently they believe they are an evolved faith, and I suppose the Abrahamic faiths (the ones that trace their origin back to Abraham of the OT)would be some of the primary faiths they would have evolved from.

I'll be interested in seeing how this discussion develops.

[lindisfarne]

7. This is also what I understand from what an (ex)-Baha'i friend told me.nt

[electropop]

2. I've known one Baha'i follower,

and from what I recall, it predates the Abrahamic religions, and I think has its origins farther to the East. It struck me as not so much a theistic/worship thing but a philosophical thing.

[Finder]

3. Yes...

since they worship the same deity as Abraham, Jesus, Mohammed, etc...

They are less dogmatic than the big 3 though. They tend to be more spiritual than religious.

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

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. No, I would say

because they do not believe that Abraham received a special message from the one god, from which all the subsequent religious beliefs flow. Instead, they think that Buddha, Krishna and Zoroaster were also messangers of god. Therefore they should not be classed as 'Abrahamic' any more than 'Zoroastrian'.

[Karmakaze]

5. Yes or No...

Sorry I had to :)

[Dorian Gray]

6. Sort of...

They adhere to Western Ideologies, but they also bring in some Eastern Ideologies.

I read once that Baha'i is an offshoot of Islam, but their philosophy is so ideologically divergant from Islam, I have trouble believing that. It's sort of an evolved theological philosophy that embraces truths in many other faiths.

[saltpoint]

8. I'll begin my answer by saying that answers are not always Yes or No

propositions.

I frankly distrust most answers that pretend to be that reduce-able.

No religious tradition should subtract from itself the various riches and complexities of its past, present or future. When you do that, you get Jim Dobson Christianity, for example.

Puke City.

[saltpoint]

9. I feel I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Seals and Crofts,

the musical duo from the 1970s, were then practitioners of Baha'i. For all I know they still are. Wonderful musicians, and they had some great songs. This was some years ago now, but some of their on-air interviews suggested a philosophic slurry informing their faith, rather than a descendency from one or another prophet.

One of the U.S. consultants to world-wide breeders of Arabian horses is also Baha'i. This particular tradition traces cultural antecedents to the Middle East, or the part of the world we call the Middle East. Said antecedents are not confined to only one of the prophets, but represent manifestations of many, or if you like, all.

[Dogmudgeon]

10. Baha'i could be described as a syncretist faith

Syncretism -- for which Wikipedia is your friend in the Lord(s).

I learned of it around age 13, while I was studying Esperanto in junior high school. The Baha'is strongly support the idea of an international language, and many of them have learned Esperanto. There are also at least two Baha'is who have studied the Level I Lojban material, and one was a long-time Volapük speaker, but died in the 1980s.

I also have two fairly close friends (with whom I have been out of touch for some years now) who are Baha'i -- he was raised by Baha'i parents, and his girlfriend accepted the faith before they married. There were no trappings of Islamic culture about it -- they were "100% Amurrican". It's a lot like being a Quaker.

But ... if you think you're being oppressed by being called a "whackjob atheist", you might want to take a good stiff drink before reviewing the situation of Baha'is in radical Muslim countries and in China. It's downright dangerous to even think Baha'i thoughts in many places around the world; they are one of the most oppressed religious groups in the world.

By the way, here's the website for the Baha'i International Community.

--p!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Yes

It's an offshoot of Islam.

[Odin2005]

12. It's a mystical offshoot of Shia Islam

It's a very intersting, humanitarian faith.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith

[H2O Man]

13. Correct. n/t

[davidinalameda]

14. it's homophobic

The Baha'i Faith teaches beliefs about homosexuality that are quite similar to those of many conservative religions. They teach that:
bullet The only acceptable form of sexual expression is between a one man and one woman after marriage.
bullet Homosexual feelings and behavior are improper, and in opposition to God's plan for humanity.
bullet Homosexuality as a disability for the individual to overcome. Through prayer, medical treatment, counseling, and much personal effort, they believe that a homosexual can become "straight."
bullet Unless gays or lesbians can convert their sexual orientation to bisexuality or heterosexuality, and enter a marriage with a person of the opposite gender, they are expected to remain celibate.

The Baha'i faith has traditionally valued and accepted the findings of science. Their beliefs about to sexual orientation appear to be an exception to this policy. The major medical and mental health professional associations have issued statements declaring sexual orientation to be normal, natural, and unchangeable (or essentially so) in adults.

[carolinayellowdog]

15. Yes, although it claims to transcend the east/west divide

Hi,

Baha'i proclaims its intention to unite all faiths, but its founders were profoundly ignorant of Indic or other non-Abrahamic traditions. It is totally steeped in Islamic assumptions and what little treatment there is in its writings of Hinduism, Buddhism, et al is cursory and disrespectful.

CYD