For my international topic blog, I wanted to do a deep dive into one of the lesser-known religions/faiths in the world. Yesterday, there was an event hosted by the Bahá’í Association, and while I unfortunately could not attend the event, I did want to learn more about the faith as I had never heard of it before. 

The Bahá’í Faith originated in the mid 1800s in Persia, which is now Iran. A young merchant declared he had a message from God and called for spiritual and moral reformation. The merchant is known as The Báb, which translates to “The Gate” in Arabic. The main purpose of this religion is to unite humanity as one and treat one another with respect. The Bahá’í faith also believes that God has sent a series of divine educators to humanity, which include Abraham, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. These divine educators are known as the Manifestations of God, and their teachings have helped the advancement of civilization. The main divine educator of this era is known as Baha’u’llah. As mentioned, this faith believes in unifying humanity. It is believed that every human has an immortal soul, and our purpose is to progress spiritually by serving others. It is also believed that humans achieve their highest purpose through giving, whether that be time, energy, knowledge, etc. 

While this is a very brief overview, I enjoyed learning about this faith, as it is one I had not been familiar with previously. I hope to learn more about this faith by attending the events put on by the Bahá’í Association here at OU!