Sen McGlinn and Vouthon:
Thanks so much for this information! You know, I wasn’t going to “go there” anymore with him, I had nothing to say except what I knew from the Catholic side of things, which seemed irrelevant as my brother is no longer a practicing Catholic. I didn’t know how disparaging their beliefs about Catholics are–I guess the “use tact” adage works, as he never has revealed any of those teachings, except for the warped world and Church history which my husband and I refute and he doesn’t bring it up anymore. I know his future wife is heartbroken that her minister has declined to be involved in the wedding. God bless you!
:tiphat:
Dear Tiphat
I am glad I could be of assistance!
All the Baha’is I have encountered have been lovely people, and except the ones who come from anti-Catholic protestant backgrounds - and who therefore carry prejudice with them into their new faith - the ones I have met are not anti-Catholic.
Abdu’l-Baha (in my opinion erroneously but nevertheless sincerely) attacked Catholic history, but he did not attack the Catholic “faith” itself. And although Shoghi Effendi said that the Catholic faith was “outdated”, Baha’is would say the same about all previous faiths including Islam! That’s because they believe in Progressive Revelation. It is not meant offensively, but rather in a manner similar to how Christianity views the Kosher and other non-moral rules of the Torah that do not apply to Christians.
Shoghi Effendi was actually complementary of the Catholic Faith. He did not allow Baha’is to criticize or to attack Catholicism. This is because he believed that the Catholic Church was the “inheritor” of Christ’s teachings and the “direct line”, the Church most true to Christ’s teachings, the actual DIRECT LINE going straigtht back to Jesus and the Apostles!
He said that people who come from Catholic backgrounds should be “gratified” (grateful) for having had them, since Catholic moral teachings are very IMPORTANT, very advanced and very close to Baha’i teachings. He also said that the Baha’i Faith in “several” areas was in “complete” agreement with the doctrines of the Catholic Church (not the Protestant or Orthodox Chhurches NOTE).
And Abdu’l-Baha also proved anti-Catholic bigots wrong. He proved that the Catholics in Montreal were the most open, receptive, enlightened, kind and welcoming people in the entire North American continent.
Generally speaking, the Baha’i teachings are very positive about Catholicism. Yes Abdu’l-Baha unfortunately lambasted Catholic history, but he relied upon biased Protestant and other sources of his time. If Baha’is take his words literally - word for word - then they will come away with a very negative understanding of much of Catholic history. However not all will, and they should have a positive understanding of the Catholic
faith, its doctrines (generally apart from say the Eucharist) and its moral teachings!
You should maybe show him some of the more positive things that the Baha’is have to say about Catholics. He has probably only read SAQ which is why he has developed such an anti-Catholic view.
You should focus on the commonalities between your two faiths. Holy Mother Church, in its Sacred Tradition preserved by the Apostles, teaches us that “
all truth wherever it is found belongs to us as Christians” (Justin Martyr) and according to Nostra Aetate (Vatican II), “
The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in [other] religions” but rather the Church exhorts her sons to “
recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men” since they, “
often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men”.
Do that with your brother’s faith
Study it, learn about it. And encourage him to do the same with the faith of his birth. If he refuses to do this, then demonstrate how the Baha’i Faith teaches that the Catholic Church has a lot in commmon with his faith. It should thus be incumbant upon him to search for these “commonalities”, if he is so tolerant as he claims.
