Answer: During his talks in Paris
(1911-1912), following his liberation from 40 years of exile,
persecution and house-arrest, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921), the son and
successor of Bahá’u’lláh (1817-1892), the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í
Faith, spoke these words which are a direct and succinct answer to
today’s question: “Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and
disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to
spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart. If religion
becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be
without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly
religious act. For it is clear that the purpose of a remedy is to cure;
but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint it had better be
left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity is no
religion. All the holy prophets were as doctors to the soul; they gave
prescriptions for the healing of mankind; thus any remedy that causes
disease does not come from the great and supreme Physician” (Paris
Talks, p. 130).
In ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s prescription, the Prophets are considered to be
divine physicians who prescribe various remedies to humanity, through
their divine teachings, as contained in the world’s holy books. If the
remedy is refused or abused, that is, if the so-called religious use
religion as a pretext for coercion, discord, killing and war, then
clearly they have put themselves at odds with the purpose of their own
scriptures. Religion then becomes a perversion of the purpose for which
it was originally intended.
For a Bahá’í, the phrase “holy war” is an oxymoron. The first scripture
revealed by Bahá’u’lláh after the declaration of his mission to his
closest followers in a garden outside Baghdad (1863) was the
categorical annulment of any “rule of the sword”. Bahá’u’lláh exhorts
his followers to abandon religious fanaticism and prejudice and “to
consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness
and fellowship” (Tablets, p. 35).
In the past, religion has both divided and united humanity. In this
day, it should serve the cause of unity for the followers of all faiths. - Jack
McLean
