Two acoustic guitar-wielding, bearded men helped expand the Baha’i faith. Popularized in the 1970s by the soft rock band Seals and Crofts, Baha’i is a modern religion with five to six million followers.
The Baha’i faith is a monotheistic religion founded in the mid-1800s, emphasizing world peace with the goal “to create a peaceful harmonious global civilization,” said Dan Enslow, a Bloomington member of the Baha’i faith.
The Baha’i faith seeks to eliminate social prejudices and focus on the deep spiritual reality of each human soul, Enslow said. Sex and gender are irrelevant and race is a figment of our imagination, he said.
“The greatest gift of God is the gift of understanding and the power of the mind to create a better world,” Enslow said.
Enslow, who became part of the Baha’i faith in the 1970s, said the Bloomington Baha’i Center consists of 40 members and has a weekly congregational meeting Sunday mornings at 10:30.
Due to “the anxiety in the world” during the ’70s, specifically during the Vietnam War and after the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy, there was a spike of interest in the Baha’i faith, Enslow said.
Enslow has invited people to challenge traditional thinking and consider the fact that every thousand years there may need to be a “software upgrade.”
“Things have changed,” Enslow said. “The core of my belief is that as the human species advances, there’s a new message to move with it.”
The Baha’i faith is the second-most widespread religion in the world, after Christianity, but it is just spread very thin, Enslow said.
The Baha’i faith has a strong tradition of advancing society, dating back to their founding at a similar time to a major technological advancement, the telegraph, Enslow said.
“All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization,” Enslow said, quoting the writing of one of the founders, Bahá’u’lláh.
There will be a festival celebrating the Baha’i faith at the end of February and a New Year’s Celebration March 20. Anyone with questions is encouraged to call for details at 812-331-1863, Enslow said.
