Being very open minded and willing to explore new horizons, I study various world cultures, as well as religions. Recently my attention was drawn to Baha'i. Dictionary gives the following definition to this religious flow: “a monotheistic religion founded in the 19th century as a development of Babism, emphasizing the essential oneness of humankind and of all religions and seeking world peace. The Baha'i faith was founded by the Persian Baha'ullah (1817–92) and his son Abdul Baha (1844–1921).” Nowadays Baha’i unites five million religious followers. The center, so to say Baha’i’s Mecca, is in Haifa. The main dogma of this religious flow is that all religions worship the same God, and the ideology of all world religions talks about the same things. In the way that religions have a lot in common, but that Muslims worship the same God as Christians and Buddhists do. Various religions are humans’ invention and the fact that there several Gods. I actually asked myself this question when I was a child. I asked my mother why Muslims believe in Allah and not in Jesus Christ and so forth. Even being a little kid I was wondering why different people worship different Gods. In Baha’i the God is one for every body, despite of race, ethnicity and other attributes of our physical casing. This God is the God’s Envoy.
Another aspect proclaimed by Baha’i faith is that it is impossible to prove that there is God or there is no God. The fact that God exists must be taken as axiom, something that cannot be questioned. Well actually, I have the same attitude to God. I believe that our planet, we, animals, and everything around us were created by God. When I was abroad and started saying that I do not believe in Darwin’s Theory, one old woman told me that it was silly, that I never questioned religion. But no scientific theory, even the coolest one will not change my opinion.
Baha’i also talks about human nature. According to their religious ideology, our body is the form of our existence on this planet. The original substance of a human being is a soul, which is immortal. Soul in Baha’i understanding is what makes a human different from an animal. Such an explanation closely correlates with Christian understanding of human race. And the fact that there is Heaven and Hell, and life after death, also justify existence of a soul.

Here are the main principles of this religion:
1. One God for all
2. Unique individual approach to religion from each religious person
3. Giving up any kind of biases (religious, racial, etc)
4. Significance of education and personal growth and development
5. Democratization of wealth
6. Gender equality
7. Each individual must follow high moral and ethical standards
8. No alcohol, smoking, and drugs
9. No fanaticism

What is also interesting about this religion is that they have their own calendar. There are 19 months, with 19 days each. Each month has a name of God’s qualities: Power, Honor, etc. The year starts from the day of vernal equinox, 21st of March. Each year the quantity and Baha’i increases by approximately 5 %.

Sounds like a very reasonable religion. And seems like it's based on basic principles of New Age system. My wife has been to the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa, says it's something unforgettable.
Their ideas could have become a good compromise for Christians, Muslims and Jews to unite around common grounds. Actually, there are very few things each religion has to sacrifice with, so such a unification could be easy and logical if not for the conflict of interests of the people that make their living out of religion and do not want to change the course of events.
Still, maybe Baha'i was what Lennon sang about in Imagine?
And as I remember he said: You might think I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

Some ago I have found a quotation belonging to the eldest son of Bahaullah, the founder of the Baha'i religion. Here it is:

"Religion should unite all hearts, and vanish wars and disputes from the face of the Earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to every heart. If the religion becomes a cause of disliking, hatred and division, it was better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. It is clear that the purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate the complaint, it had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of love and unity - is not a religion".

Wonderful words, isn't it? I think there is no more better words what the religion should be.

Yes, this religion is very reasonable.
And do you know that in Israel in city Haifa very big temple of Baha'i exists.
I have been in there.
And it is really incredibly beautiful. With a lot of gardens and parks. And huge beautiful temple in the middle.
And a lot o lot of people visit Haifa in order to see temple. The admission is free.
Look at the photo. Is this place incredibly beautiful, isn't it?

Thanks for the picture, Doctor who, it's beautiful. I have just started to read about this religion, and Baha'i seems to me very positive in many ways. For example their aims are to eliminate the extremes of wealth and poverty, to eliminate all forms of prejudice, to get the world peace, to provide education worldwide.

I even didn’t know before that American jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie is Baha’is and amazed that even Royal person such as Queen Marie of Romania was Baha’i too. Many other outstanding people support this religion.

Purple_Rain, I'm really glad that you liked the photo.
If you have any possibilities you should visit this place. It's extremely beautiful and on place you can get information about religion and speak directly with people who adhere to this religion.