‘A world-devouring fire…’

Stephen Fuqua’s April editorial on InterfaithNews.net airs a concern that the whole world faces, whether we like it or not. Threats to religious freedom and the growth of religious fanaticism.

Of course, there are many in the world who consider religion a thing of the past and are confirmed in their belief by current outbursts of religious fanaticism. But whatever they may think, religion is back in the public domain for good or for ill. And religious freedom is essential because it enables all of us to explore truth for ourselves, to adopt the beliefs that make sense to us – whether religious or not – to join the communities that we find sympathetic, and to share our beliefs with others. This is actually pretty fundamental to allowing the full development of human potential.

Freedom of religion or belief is under threat today in a multitude of ways and by a multitude of agents, including the religious fanatics, who would wish to force us to acknowledge, if not to accept, their vision of the world.

Another thing the religious fanatics threaten all of us with is a ‘world devouring fire’ – a phrase taken from the writings of Bah?’u'll?h – of religiously fuelled hatred, conflict and, ultimately, war. It’s as threatening to the world as climate change – and it betokens a kind of cultural climate change.

Bah?’u'll?h forbids Bah?’?s to be religious fanatics and bids us associate with people from all faiths in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship. The logic is that all the great faiths have a single Transcendent source, so religion should not become a source of conflict. Furthermore, we all have the right and obligation to investigate reality for ourselves through the world’s two great knowledge systems, science and religion. That reality is beyond the ability of any of us to fully comprehend, so none of us has the full picture. Ergo none of us can claim to have the full measure of truth, to be so right that we can force our ‘rightness’ on others.

Many years ago in a wonderful series on BBC television, called The Ascent of Man, the presenter, Jacob Bronowski quoted Oliver Cromwell, who, speaking to parliament, said, ‘I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be wrong.’ Since then I have always been conscious that I may be wrong, that I probably am wrong in much of what I believe and say; that it behoves me to remain humble and always seeking to understand reality more accurately and in greater depth.

This kind of humility – and I should emphasize here and now that I struggle to live according to my own understanding of the importance of humility in the face of the Transcendent – seems to me to align well with the great mystical traditions. But how to ensure that people embrace this spiritual virtue and do not go down the path of blind unreason?

Education, inter-faith encounter and dialogue, making opportunities to explore our own spiritual reality and our spiritual journey and inviting others to joint us in this exploration. Above all, opening ourselves to the raw power of what I, as a Bah?’?, think of as the Word of God – that is to say, what we encounter when we read the world’s sacred texts with an open heart and not with the intention of abusing the Word to ‘prove’ what we think we already ‘know’. The following statement is made In One Common Faith:

While the mind seeks intellectual certainty, what the soul longs for is the attainment of certitude. Such inner conviction is the ultimate goal of all spiritual seeking, regardless of how rapid or gradual the process may be.

Now, certitude might on the face of it seem to be another word for the kind of religious fanaticism that I am decrying, but I suggest that the opposite is the case. ‘Certitude’ – the way Bah?’u'll?h uses the term – is a spiritual state in which the individual has a faithful and whole relationship with God, trusts in God, knows God’s love by experience, but never never regards that love has his or her own exclusively, nor ever comes to believe that God’s love is his or her just dessert. That kind of relationship allows us to sail more safely on the ocean of the Word of God and to allow that our understanding of that mighty ocean, its winds and currents, is always limited by our own horizons.

If so, religious fanaticism is not countered by secular or liberal fundamentalism, nor by denial, nor indeed by returning hatred for hatred – although the state has an undeniable responsibility to protect its citizens from the outrages carried out by fanatics. I think something more fundamental is required – an invitation to walk alongside us on the path of spiritual self-discovery. Needless to say, this presupposes that we are ourselves already walking that path.

And there are no guarantees that the hardline fanatic doesn’t already believe him/herself to have attained to all knowledge.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, religious freedom, religion

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