Doctrines of an Obscure Faith: Baha'i

In my earlier article on the Baha'i faith, titled The Baha'i Faith-An Overview, I touched on the doctrines of that faith. However, I feel that I need to expand on that brief description, and I have chosen to take some time to do so. I'm going to need to do this in several articles on AC, as I will also include my own observations of the way in which I saw these doctrines and principles implemented on a practical level.

On the Usenet newsgroup soc.religion.bahai, I learned something which was not disclosed to me when I was active in the Baha'i Faith - that there is some evidence which would seem to suggest that there is no formal doctrine in the Baha'i faith, per SE. However, that doesn't mean that there are no formal ideas as to who God is, what the afterlife is all about or how one should live one's life.

Let's start with "the God bit." God is considered to be a unified, unknowable whole, who is omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful) and who created the Earth and everything in it by means which are increasingly being learned by scientists. (This is one of the principles of the faith, at least officially - the unity between science, religion and reason. Therefore, an implied belief of the Baha'i Faith is a belief in theistic evolution, because scientists consider evolution to be a fact.)

God has, according to Baha'i belief, sent down people called Manifestations from time to time, each of which has founded a major religion. Manifestations have been officially likened to mirrors; they reflect the attributes of God perfectly, but are not themselves God. (For those knowledgeable about Christianity, this is a direct contradiction to Christian beliefs - Jesus is regarded as a Manifestation equal to all other Manifestations according to the Baha'i faith, meaning that he is officially regarded as someone who perfectly reflects God but is not himself God in Baha'i terms. However, Christians see Him as the Son of God and part of the Trinitarian Godhead, perfect due to his station as the Son of God, and therefore superior to all other founders of religions, who are themselves mere mortals.)