I’d like to say I’ve had a religious awakening, but it’s actually much simpler than that.
This doesn’t say much for me, my college friends, or my college education, but there is this Baha’i temple near the Evanston campus of Northwestern, and I’ve always wondered exactly what went on there. How much? Well, apparently enough to ask a bunch of my friends, who also had no idea, but not enough to actually look it up.
My buddy Tim and I were just up at the local Borders, so I could purchase my really expensive copy of Mojo magazine and there was a meet up group of people discussing the Baha’i religion.
Seizing the opportunity to finally quench this luke warm curiosity that I’ve had all these years we sat down and learned about the Baha’i religion, and by the end of our discussion I was able to tell them with no guile or venom that for my money of all the religions that I ignore, I dislike theirs the least. Actually, I don’t really dislike theirs at all.
As it was explained to me they sort of believe a little of everything, as long as everyone manages to get along. They feel that Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and even Mohammad are all part of this golden thread of spirituality and that there are no real differences between the messages of any of them.
Essentially, they believe that everybody is a little bit right and a little bit wrong and that we should all accept the beauty in each other and stop fighting. They were all very nice people and weren’t offended at all by my half genuine interest and the other half of me that fails to take anything all that seriously. They definitely don’t have the aggressive recruiting policies that hinder other religions, and we had a fun discussion about a bunch of topics that included the various scriptures, the after life, persecution of Baha’is, the religious conversion of Tex Watson, and ethnic assimilation.
The Bahai’s were very cool. They don’t argue. They don’t prosetelize. They just want people to get along and enjoy the beauty in the world, which is something I can get behind. It was probably the best religious conversation that I’ve ever had.
I asked them if L. Ron Hubbard and his scientologists were part of the golden thread and they all pretty much agreed that no, those dudes were just wicked crazy.
No, actually that’s a lie, they haven’t a clue what those people believe in either.
So for you all scoring at home. If I were forced under penalty of death to join a church, my ranking is now:
1. Saint John Coltrane Church in San Francisco
2. Any Baha’i Church
3. Whatever other group has the best music
4. All the rest except;
5. Whatever Mel Gibson is currently into
