From: aull@ll.mit.edu (Brian Aull)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.bahai
Subject: The Process of Social Change - Part 2 of 5
Date: 30 Jul 92 06:00:25 GMT
Organization: <none>

Religion, the Baha'i Faith, and Social Change 

Religion is upheld in the Baha'i writings as an indispensable force 
for social progress, and the eclipse or corruption of religion is held 
to be socially as well as spiritually destructive.

A fundamental Baha'i teaching that bears on the role of religion in 
social change is progressive revelation.  Historic religions are all 
divine in origin, and each has played a unique historical role in a 
progressive civilizing process.  The Founders of the religions of 
humankind, in their capacities as God's spokespersons, have been the 
primary Educators of both the individual and of society.  These 
spiritual luminaries, to whom Baha'is refer as Manifestations of 
God, have each stirred a spiritual reawakening, an enkindlement of 
the love of God, among the people to whom they gave their messages.  
Each also stimulated the social and cultural development of 
humankind as a collective organism.

Moses, for example, stressed the concept of law.  The Ten 
Commandments that He revealed are still widely regarded as 
principles of civilized life and a safeguard against anarchy.  Jesus 
Christ stressed love and spiritual devotion in His message to the 
heirs of Moses' revelation, many of whom had become mired in cold-
hearted legalism.  He rejected one of the weightiest laws of the 
Torah by picking corn on the Sabbath.  In one sense He annulled the 
revelation brought by Moses, but in another sense He fulfilled it by 
continuing the divinely ordained educative process of humanity to 
the next stage.

The primary historical mission of Baha'u'llah is to bring about world 
unity by teaching the knowledge of the oneness of the human family.  
Shoghi Effendi elaborates:

"The principle of the Oneness of Mankind-the pivot round which all 
the teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve-is no mere outburst of ignorant 
emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope.  Its appeal is 
not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of 
brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the 
fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and 
nations.  Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any 
which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance.  Its message is 
applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily 
with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all 
the states and nations as members of one human family.  It does not 
constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably 
associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, 
demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence.  It implies an 
organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change 
such as the world has not yet experienced.... It calls for no less than 
the reconstruction and demilitarization of the whole civilized 
world-a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its 
life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and 
finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of 
the national characteristics of its federated units." [10]

Shoghi Effendi also points out that organic unity should not be 
confused with uniformity.  Speaking of the teaching of Baha'u'llah, he 
explains:

"It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine 
essential loyalties.  Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a 
sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the 
system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive 
centralization are to be avoided.  It does not ignore, nor does it 
attempt to  suppress,  the  diversity  of  ethnical origins, of climate, 
of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that 
differentiate the peoples and nations of the world.  It calls for a 
wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the 
human race.  It insists upon the subordination of national impulses 
and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world.  It 
repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all 
attempts at uniformity on the other.  Its watchword is unity in 
diversity."[11]

This concept of unity in diversity, though paradoxical, is a pervasive 
aspect of reality.  The human body, for example, contains an 
extremely diverse collection of organs and tissues, each functioning 
in a unique way.  Yet diversity is the basis for the healthy 
functioning of the body as an integrated system, as a whole that is 
more than a sum of parts.  The Baha'i teachings foster a political and 
social climate that reflects unity in diversity in the realm of human 
relationships.

The Baha'i Faith's vision of unity in diversity, which is the content 
of the desired social change, is intimately related to its vision of 
process, of how this unity will be achieved in practice.  Any attempt 
to anticipate the process must start with a disclaimer, which has 
best been expressed by Shoghi Effendi:

"To claim to have grasped all the implications of Baha'u'llah's 
prodigious scheme for world-wide human solidarity, or to have 
fathomed its import, would be presumptuous on the part of even the 
declared supporters of His Faith.  To attempt to visualize it in all 
its possibilities, to estimate its future benefits, to picture its 
glory, would be premature. . ." [12]

All one may hope to do, then, is to achieve a limited understanding of 
the "Baha'i model" of the processes of social change.

Features of Change Shared with Other Religions.   The Baha'i model
of change shares certain features with other major religions, all of 
which stress a synergistic relationship between spiritual 
development and social progress.  Each religion has facilitated a 
bond of love between the individual and his Creator.  This devotion 
gives a unique force of motivation to the process of ethical 
reorientation called for in the teachings of the religion.  The 
resulting transformation is reflected in deeds and in the patterns of 
social life, especially in the early history of the religion.  Thus not 
only does the individual change the society by force of example, but 
so does the entire body of believers in its functioning as a 
community.  When the religion is young, the community of believers 
becomes a model subculture that stands in stark contrast to the 
prevailing culture of the society at large.  At first this causes 
persecution, because the power structures of the society perceive 
the community of believers as a threat.  Ultimately, however, the 
salutary characteristics of the model subculture win over the hearts 
and minds of members of the larger society, resulting in the rapid 
expansion of the new religion.  Anyone who has studied the early 
history of Christianity will find these stages of development 
familiar.  A key point is that the model subculture does not achieve 
its transformative power by manipulating or subverting the political 
power structures within the prevailing society.  Rather, it models a 
positive alternative by force of individual and collective example 
that persuades the rest of society to aspire to the same path of 
transformation.
--
Brian Aull						aull@ll.mit.edu