From time to time one comes across heartwarming initiatives by peoples from various religions such as the one below by Christian minister Dr Ben Johnson, retired professor of Christian spirituality at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur reported by an ajc.com article which can be read
here. 1
'During lunch 18 months ago, Dr. Ben Johnson had an epiphany as Dr. Aisha Jumaan, a Muslim, spoke to him about her faith and her experience of God.
"It came to me that this woman loves and worships the same God I do," says Johnson, a Christian. "I had this sharpened awareness that in that moment she was in touch with God, just as I was. It was a dawning and an awakening, and it was liberating because it liberates you from standing on a pedestal and looking down on someone else."
It also inspired Johnson to take on a life-changing mission.
At a time when many Christians, including some in his own church, were openly hostile towards a religion they believed advocated terrorism and was at war with the United States, Johnson initiated a dialog aimed at bringing Christians and Muslims together.'
Dr Johnson is an accomplished and distinguished gentleman of the type who I imagine brings much prestige to Christianity in particular and religion in general.
It is humbly hoped that Dr Johnson will also consider extending an invitation to this interfaith initiative to any willing Baha'is who are in the area also.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Baha'i faith, it is a religion which considers the world religions to be inspired by God.
Regarding Christianity the Baha'i writings state;
"As to the position of Christianity, let it be stated without any hesitation or equivocation that its divine origin is unconditionally acknowledged, that the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus Christ are fearlessly asserted, that the divine inspiration of the Gospel is fully recognized, that the reality of the mystery of the Immaculacy of the Virgin Mary is confessed...
... The Founder of the Christian Faith is designated by Bahá'u'lláh (founder of the Baha'i faith) as the "
Spirit of God," is proclaimed as the One Who "
appeared out of the breath of the Holy Ghost," and is even extolled as the "
Essence of the Spirit." His mother is described as "
that veiled and immortal, that most beauteous, countenance," and the station of her Son eulogized as a "
station which hath been exalted above the imaginings of all that dwell on earth," whilst Peter is recognized as one whom God has caused "
the mysteries of wisdom and of utterance to flow out of his mouth." "
Know thou," Bahá'u'lláh has moreover testified, "
that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and resplendent Spirit. We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified.... He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him."
Indeed, the essential prerequisites of admittance into the Bahá'í fold of Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, and the followers of other ancient faiths, as well as of agnostics and even atheists, is the wholehearted and unqualified acceptance by them all of the divine origin of both Islam and Christianity 2
Kind regards,
Daniel De Mol
1 http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/stories/2008/08/01/ben_johnson_christianity_islam.html
2 Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 109
