Bart and the Baha'is

Originally posted to ThisManMustBeStopped.com on 11/14/2006:

This is a shout-out to the good folks at Baha'i Views - thanks for linking to my post about almost visiting the Mormon temple in Los Angeles. Reading their blog led me to further contemplate this subject and one of my statements in yesterday's post.

My views on the Baha'i faith may be skewed because, literally, the nicest person I know is a Baha'i. You often hear people say "oh, he / she is the nicest person", but I only say that about this one person. Because you can really only know one "nicest", can't you? Everyone else would be "one of the nicest".

Ready for some butchered theology? (Please, no corrections. Let me revel in my generalities.)

It occurs to me that if key tenets of a religion are that the bulk of (if not all) other faiths have cores of truth and are worthy of respect, and that humanity is one big family... well, it seems to me, all else being equal, that faith would tend to attract (for conversions) and create (for children raised in that faith) nice, tolerant, friendly people.

As a logical exercise, I considered whether the opposite was true - if a religion founded on drunk driving and punching old people in the face would tend to attract and create major a-holes. I have concluded that it would.

So it's really no wonder that my friend, brought up in the Baha'i faith, is the nicest person I know. She is genuinely tolerant and friendly. And genuineness of that sort is really endearing (when combined with such desirable traits).

As far as religious architecture goes, the Baha'is are keeping it real. Their House of Worship in Wilmette, IL is fantastic, and they have a good batting average elsewhere. A picture of The Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, Israel is one of my favorite computer desktop pictures.

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