"And yet, each person schemed after his own desire, and pursued his own ideal fancy, until the hour when, from the Mystic Source, there came the summons bidding Us return whence We came. Surrendering Our will to His, We submitted to His injunction" (42, Momen).
This quotation comes from Baha'u'llah's writings about returning to Baghdad despite original intentions. While it has very specific context, the writing style can be extended to his teaching about universality and the togetherness of people in general. This is most obviously exposed by his capitalism of His and God's pronouns, but also the capitalism of "Our" and "We," representing the human race. Baha'u'llah does speak for only himself when referencing God, but rather everyone together following his rule. This makes every individual feel important and worthy of worshipping God, but also part of something greater that is a community. The way Baha'u'llah writes facilitates and encourages the participation of all.
His connection to God and the use of Baha'i also makes it much more applicable to the modern world than the surrounding Muslim religions. During conflict pertaining to the usual oppression of Baha'i, he exclaimed, "Have I at any time transgressed your laws, or disobeyed any of your ministers in Iraq? Inquire of them, that ye may act with discernment towards Us and be numbered with those who are well-informed" (71). This brings God into the modern era as an acting witness to current injustice. He is making his Baha'i faith a current religion in which God takes care of people that do right. He is also providing an example for his followers and exposing an example of injustice for his followers to avoid.
The Baha'i faith connects to the compassion video in many ways. Its concept of commonality among people and pursuit of peace is crucial; the faith is about avoiding intolerance and accepting everyone into a community in which all can take part and be constructively religious. Being constructively religious, according to the video, also means being compassionate to people in need regardless of their intolerance or religious beliefs. Both of these sources are a means of bringing people together through a panacea faith that accepts all.
This idea of “constructive religion” is one I am very interested in. Certainly the Baha’i’s acceptance of previous faiths before it seeks to unite many people and religions under one universal goal of peace. In a way allowing a diverse body of religion to work together towards a common goal is a pragmatic approach to a universal institutionalized peace. I think you have defined one of two relatively modern trends in religious thought, a calling for universal participation in religion despite varying traditions to advance ourselves where as others have called for an elimination of religion from our ontology.
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