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Is the Baha’i Faith genuine?
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Many Baha’is have embraced the Baha’i system in large part because of the claim that the Baha’i Faith is a religion composed of the teachings that are common to all the major world religions. This is a compelling reason, indeed, if true. The Baha’i Faith sees itself as a kind of collection of common teachings from all the major world religions. More importantly, many Baha’is see this alleged unity as strong evidence for the authenticity of the Baha’i Faith. If this evidence can be effectively challenged, then perhaps some Baha’is will rethink their commitment to the Baha’i Faith. Perhaps some of them will chose the genuine Jesus and embrace the biblical faith, the faith that was once, for all, delivered to the saints.
Ask your Baha’i friends if they believe in the unity of all major religions. Expect a simple affirmative answer, or a complex answer that includes the hypothesis that all the present teachings of the major world religions are not authentic. Follow-up by asking them to provide supporting evidence for their claim that the present teachings of the world religions are not the authentic teachings of their founders. More importantly, ask them to provide supporting evidence for their claim that the present teachings of evangelical Christianity are not the authentic teachings of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Do not expect a valid answer to this request. Most Baha’is hold this position wholly on the basis that Baha’u’llah taught it, not on the basis of any independent evidence to support it because the latter does not exist.
Try to demonstrate to your Baha’i friends that there is compelling evidence to support the proposition that the present teachings of the major world religions are authentic teachings of their founders. That does not mean that all their teachings are true. It just means that they are authentic, as far as anyone knows. Try to help them see the brute fact that there is absolutely no evidence to support their hypothesis. In other words, claims that Moses, or the Buddha, or Muhammad taught something other than what appears in the present record is simply not supported by one single piece of evidence. If you successfully convince your Baha’i friend that there is no valid reason for claiming that the present state of the teachings of the world religions are different from the original teachings, then you may want to return to your question about the uniformity of the major world religions.
Ask your friend again if they are aware of the mutually excluding differences between world religions. Try to help your friend see that there are many evidences that show that several fundamental teachings of the major religions are mutually exclusive. For instance, Vedantic Hinduism is polytheistic (many non-creating gods); Bhakti Hinduism is henotheistic (devotion to one non-creating incarnation of god among many gods), and Buddhism is atheistic (no god, no creator, no creation). Zoroastrianism and Islam are monotheistic (one creator God who is so transcendent that he cannot become in-fleshed) and Christianity is a Trinitarian-monotheistic religion (one God who is three eternal persons and one essential being, one of these persons becoming in-fleshed). All of these various teachings on the number and nature of God exclude all others. This is only one of the different teachings among the major religions about arguably the most fundamental religious topic-the number and nature of God.
Additionally, in Buddhism, the Ultimate Reality or “God†is described as “no-thing†(non-existent or non-being). In Hinduism, Ultimate Reality or “God†is “one-thing†or “some-thing†(Brahman). It is very reasonable to suggest that Ultimate Reality or “God†is either “some-thing†or “no-thing.†Whatever Ultimate Reality or “God†may be, it cannot both exist and not exist. You may want to consult Neighboring Faiths by Winfried Corduan to help you identify several other important differences between the major world religions that are mutually exclusive.
If your friend will not concede that the present teachings of the major world religions are the same as the original teachings, then you may still be able to produce a crisis of belief in the heart of your Baha’i friend. Whenever the observation is made by a challenger that some feature of the Baha’i Faith is in direct conflict with the teachings of some major world religion, Baha’is will usually answer that the teaching in question was a corrupted teaching and not an authentic one. Baha’is believe that the authentic teachings of all the world religions were basically the same as the present teachings of Baha’u’llah. Many Baha’is will not be diverted from this claim, no matter how much evidence you produce to the contrary. In this case try to help your friend see that the necessary consequence of this Baha’i belief is that the Baha’i Faith is the only fully genuine religion in its present form that is composed of truth alone with no error. This is a necessary conclusion that will be difficult for some Baha’is to admit. The realization of this necessary conclusion, however, may produce a crisis of belief and a teachable moment. You can expect this realization of effective Baha’i exclusivity to result in a retreat to a claim for the truthfulness of the Baha’i Faith on the basis of mere belief in the authenticity of Baha’u’llah rather than the evidence for the unity of religious truths. This last refuge of belief can be effectively challenged as well with the strategy suggested above.
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