Sheep and Goats
So the San Diego Reader has been doing this weekly thing called Sheep and Goats about the livestock religious community in the San Diego Area. Just a couple of days ago they added the Baha’i Faith to the growing list of churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, and others. They exhaustively document every aspect of the religious experience including annual budgets, dress codes, diversity (persian, white) and whether or not there’s a singles program. Man, we really need a singles program.
September 20th, 2005 at 2:16 am
That is quite honestly the most disappointing thing I have ever read about the Faith. “The Scriptures of other religions have been corrupted. We can’t trust them.” “One day Baha’is will rule the world, and you WILL like it.” “After we unify Earth, we will make friends with aliens.” “There are an infinite number of infinite planets.”
That article does not make us look good.
Also, “Persian and white”? Is that REALLY all the diversity in the San Diego Community?
September 22nd, 2005 at 1:16 am
Oh.
Oh. no.
September 27th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
I think it’s an honest measure of the manner in which many Bahá’ís speak about their own religion. And a painful reminder that when a reporter is standing there with a tape recorder, no amount of charm is going to help your awkward, tumbling-out phrases sound like they make any more sense than they do.
If every person I’ve ever run across and mentioned the Faith to had tape-recorded every word I’d ever said in an attempt to explain its teachings, I’d probably sound kind of silly, too. Especially if I were quoted slightly out of context. Or if I happened to ramble on a bit long and loud about things that I wasn’t asked about directly.
Sometimes it’s helpful to know when to stop talking.
In any case, it’s a reminder that we could all use a firm foundation of knowledge and fact, as well as a few practiced brief statements in answer to basic questions about the Faith.