Beware of joining partners with God[edit]
"And now concerning thy reference to the existence of two Gods. Beware, beware, lest thou be led to join partners with the Lord, thy God. He is, and hath from everlasting been, one and alone, without peer or equal, eternal in the past, eternal in the future, detached from all things, ever-abiding, unchangeable, and self-subsisting. He hath assigned no associate unto Himself in His Kingdom, no counsellor to counsel Him, none to compare unto Him, none to rival His glory. To this every atom of the universe beareth witness, and beyond it the inmates of the realms on high, they that occupy the most exalted seats, and whose names are remembered before the Throne of Glory."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, sec. 94, p. 192)
Abandonment to bring unity[edit]
Following superstitions/idols prevents one from finding unity with other religions[edit]
"If a man would succeed in his search after truth, he must, in the first place, shut his eyes to all the traditional superstitions of the past.
"The Jews have traditional superstitions, the Buddhists and the Zoroastrians are not free from them, neither are the Christians! All religions have gradually become bound by tradition and dogma.
...
"We must abandon the prejudices of tradition if we would succeed in finding the truth at the core of all religions. If a Zoroastrian believes that the Sun is God, how can he be united to other religions? While idolaters believe in their various idols, how can they understand the oneness of God?"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 136)
An idol was seen by the Egyptians as a miracle whereas it was just a stone; necessary to cast aside non-scientific beliefs and this will remove differences of belief and unity and demonstrate susceptibility to divine bounty among all people[edit]
Consider the superstitions and mythology of the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians; all were contrary to religion and science. It is now evident that the beliefs of these nations were superstitions, but in those times they held to them most tenaciously. For example, one of the many Egyptian idols was to those people an authenticated miracle, whereas in reality it was a piece of stone. As science could not sanction the miraculous origin and nature of a piece of rock, the belief in it must have been superstition. It is now evident that it was superstition. Therefore, we must cast aside such beliefs and investigate reality. That which is found to be real and conformable to reason must be accepted, and whatever science and reason cannot support must be rejected as imitation and not reality. Then differences of belief will disappear. All will become as one family, one people, and the same susceptibility to the divine bounty and education will be witnessed among mankind."
Past religions praiseworthy in teaching against idolatry[edit]
Islam deserving of praise for teaching that idol worship was wrong[edit]
"Among these half animal people Muhammad was sent with His divine Message. He taught the people that idol worship was wrong, but that they should reverence Christ, Moses and the Prophets. Under His influence they became a more enlightened and civilized people and arose from the degraded state in which He found them. Was not this a good work, and worthy of all praise, respect and love?"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 48)
Christ rescued nations from idolatry[edit]
"Christ educated and developed mankind universally. He rescued nations and peoples from the bondage of superstition and idolatry. He summoned them all to the knowledge of the oneness of God. They were dark, they became illumined; they were material, they became spiritual; earthly they were, they became heavenly. He enlightened the world of morality. This general, universal development is not possible through the power of philosophy. It is only attainable through the pervading influence of the Holy Spirit."
Degeneration of previous religions[edit]
Some still worship idols even though their teachings forbid it[edit]
"...The real teaching of Buddha is the same as the teaching of Jesus Christ. The teachings of all the Prophets are the same in character. Now men have changed the teaching. If you look at the present practice of the Buddhist religion, you will see that there is little of the Reality left. Many worship idols although their teaching forbids it.
- (Attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 'Abdu'l-Bahá in London: Addresses, and Notes of Conversations", Commemorative ed. (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1987), pp. 63-64; also in Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster and Related Subjects, no. 6)
Original principles of some past religions disappeared and worship of statues/images/gods arose[edit]
"Buddha also established a new religion and Confucius renewed the ancient conduct and morals, but the original precepts have been entirely changed and their followers no longer adhere to the original pattern of belief and worship. The founder of Buddhism was a precious Being Who established the oneness of God, but later His original precepts were gradually forgotten and displaced by primitive customs and rituals, until in the end it led to the worship of statues and images...
"...So it is with the divine religions: With the passage of time, their original precepts are altered, their underlying truth entirely vanishes, their spirit departs, doctrinal innovations spring up, and they become a body without a soul. That is why they are renewed."
"Our meaning is that the followers of Buddha and Confucius now worship images and statues and have become entirely unaware of the oneness of God, believing instead in imaginary gods, as did the ancient Greeks. But such were not their original precepts; indeed, their original precepts and conduct were entirely different."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, "Some Answered Questions", Chapter 43, pars. 8, 10-11; older translation also in Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster and Related Subjects, no. 4)
(Monotheistic) religions need to unite to educate those out of idolatry[edit]
"Alas! It is misguided ones like these who are the cause of division and hatred upon earth. Today there are millions of people who still worship idols, and the great religions of the world are at war among themselves. For 1,300 years, Christians and Mussulmans have been quarrelling, when with very little effort their differences and disputes could be overcome and peace and harmony could exist between them and the world could be at rest!"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, pp. 46-47)
Worshipping products of imagination[edit]
Worship of gods/idols (of idle fancies) has brought loss and misery on their worshippers; should resolve to gain victory over selves in order to be freed from servitude to them[edit]
"Arise, O people, and, by the power of God's might, resolve to gain the victory over your own selves, that haply the whole earth may be freed and sanctified from its servitude to the gods of its idle fancies--gods that have inflicted such loss upon, and are responsible for the misery of, their wretched worshipers. These idols form the obstacle that impedeth man in his efforts to advance in the path of perfection. We cherish the hope that the Hand of Divine power may lend its assistance to mankind, and deliver it from its state of grievous abasement."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Lawh-i-Dunyá, in Gleanings, sec. 43, p. 93)
People worship products of their imagination or nature[edit]
"Some worship the product of their own imagination: they make for themselves an imaginary God and adore this, when the creation of their finite minds cannot be the Infinite Mighty Maker of all things visible and invisible! Others worship the sun or trees, also stones! In past ages there were those who adored the sea, the clouds, and even clay!"
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 145)
Worshippers of idols carved by imagination are among the heathen[edit]
"They that are the worshippers of the idol which their imaginations have carved, and who call it Inner Reality, such men are in truth accounted among the heathen."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, cited in Notes to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, no. 60; also in Lawh-i-Shaykh Fání (Gleanings, sec. 160))
Idolatrous world is worshiping gods of its idle fancies, with the chief ones being nationalism, racialism, and communism[edit]
"This vital force is dying out, this mighty agency has been scorned, this radiant light obscured, this impregnable stronghold abandoned, this beauteous robe discarded. God Himself has indeed been dethroned from the hearts of men, and an idolatrous world passionately and clamorously hails and worships the false gods which its own idle fancies have fatuously created, and its misguided hands so impiously exalted. The chief idols in the desecrated temple of mankind are none other than the triple gods of Nationalism, Racialism and Communism, at whose altars governments and peoples, whether democratic or totalitarian, at peace or at war, of the East or of the West, Christian or Islamic, are, in various forms and in different degrees, now worshiping. Their high priests are the politicians and the worldly-wise, the so-called sages of the age; their sacrifice, the flesh and blood of the slaughtered multitudes; their incantations outworn shibboleths and insidious and irreverent formulas; their incense, the smoke of anguish that ascends from the lacerated hearts of the bereaved, the maimed, and the homeless."
- (Shoghi Effendi, Promised Day Is Come, par. 276)
Blessing for strong one who will shatter the gods of vain imaginings[edit]
"Blessed is that strong one who will shatter the gods of vain imaginings through the potency of the Name of his Lord, He Who ruleth over all men."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 231)
Deification of nature a sign of desperation[edit]
"The earnest hope that this moral crisis [the environmental crisis] can somehow be met by deifying nature itself is an evidence of the spiritual and intellectual desperation that the crisis has engendered."
Deification of the state (and partisan agendas to which such beliefs give rise) have been principal enemies of even their own interests[edit]
"Nor does concern to ensure the welfare of society as a whole require a deification of the state as the supposed source of humanity's well-being. Far otherwise: the history of the present century shows all too clearly that such ideologies and the partisan agendas to which they give rise have been themselves the principal enemies of the interests they purport to serve."
