Bahaism

Bahaism - Bahá'u'lláh
Many philosophers highly respect the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh. He taught that there is one God Who progressively reveals His will to humanity. Each of the great religions brought by the Messengers of God - Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad - represents a successive stage in the spiritual development of civilization.

Bahá'u'lláh followers believe that he was the most recent Messenger in this line "to that date". He brought teachings that address the moral and spiritual challenges of what was considered the modern world during his lifetime, 1817-1892.

The Baha'i Faith began in Persia in 1844 when a man who called Himself the Bab ("the Gate") arose to proclaim a new revelation from God and the coming of the Promised One of all religions. He was imprisoned after a few years and then executed in 1850 for these teachings, which many Islamic leaders considered heretical. Bahá'u'lláh spent 40 years teaching His message of peace and unity, for which He was repeatedly imprisoned, banished, and under the threat of death from members of His own family. He died near Haifa, Israel, in 1892. Baha'i World Center is now located nearby, on Mt. Carmel.

Baha'u'llah's message is, at its root, simple: God is one, all religions are one because they all were established by God's Messengers and humanity is one. Individually, our purpose in life is to acquire perfections, or spiritual qualities, so that when we die we might "ascend" to the next world in a state of purity and enjoy closeness with God. Collectively, this is the time for humanity to finally achieve the dream of world unity and world peace.