Welcome to Commonalities!

I named this Medium publication after my book, Commonalities: A Positive Look at Latter-day Saints from a Baha’i Perspective. As a member of the Baha’i Faith who was married to a Mormon for over 20 years, I wrote the book to help my fellow Baha’is understand and appreciate LDS beliefs and practices so they would feel free to associate more closely with Mormons. Its purpose is to highlight some of the things Mormons and Bahá’ís have in common, and provide an in-depth look at the very core of Mormon belief. My continued hope and expectation is that the increased understanding gleaned from the book will motivate Baha’is to reach out to their Mormon family, friends, neighbors and co-workers in a spirit of true friendship, and thus to contribute to the promotion of religious harmony.

But this Medium publication casts a much wider net.

When my book was published in 2009, I started a Facebook page by the same name: Commonalities. Although I had initially intended this page as an online presence for information and questions about my book, which concerned two specific and not particularly well-known religions, it quickly took on a wider role of promoting interfaith dialogue and understanding in general — an important objective of the Baha’i Faith, which accepts the divine origin of all major religions, and whose Founder, Baha’u’llah, exhorted: “O people! Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.”

In creating this publication on Medium, I made two decisions: firstly, it would promote dialogue among people of all religions, not just the two that were the subject of my book; and secondly, it would use the title of my book, which reflects the verity that whatever differences may separate us, they are negligible compared to the countless things we have in common.

And although I haven’t yet found a way to capture this in a brief description, the conversation is in no way meant to be limited to people of faith. Some of the most thoughtful people I know are atheist or agnostic; although individuals with high morals, committed to doing their part in creating unity and harmony in the world, they either don’t believe in a Creator or simply don’t see religion as being capable of offering a lasting solution to what ails the world. Despite being a person of faith, I’m quite sympathetic to the latter view, in light of the religious animosity and hatred, violence and destruction that has been a constant blight on world history, and has to this day not shown much abatement. In fact, this was much like my own view prior to encountering the Baha’i teachings, which I came to believe offer a perspective on religion, and its role in the world, that is so revolutionary it might actually work.

And so it is in that spirit — of finding common ground among people from diverse backgrounds — that I’m hosting this forum. I will be the sole contributor for a while to set the tone, and naturally my writing will be informed by my Baha’i Faith. However, I look forward to opening it up to additional contributors who, while like-minded in their search for commonality, can enrich the conversation with their own unique perspectives.

Finally, I want to make it clear that I do not want this to become a space that “begins with words and ends with words.” Rather than talking about religion, we should talk about solutions to the world’s problems from the perspective of our religious or philosophical world-views.

Advancing interfaith dialogue, understanding and collaboration can be broken down as follows:

• Advancing means that we are all on a continuum toward unity and moving forward. It doesn’t matter where on the continuum we find ourselves; progress toward the goal is the objective.
• Dialogue refers to a meaningful and distinctive conversation between individuals that is devoid of the rancor, bickering and — God forbid — criticism, ridicule and demonization that characterizes so much of what poses as public discourse nowadays. I do not think it necessary to post a FAQ here of what constitutes acceptable discourse.
• If our dialogue is truly advancing, it inevitably leads to greater understanding among the participants. This of course presupposes a receptivity to viewpoints that differ from our own. However, it does not require, nor would it be wise to permit, persuasive argument. We are not here to convert each other, but to better understand each other.
• Once we begin to understand each other, a unity of thought emerges, and this unity of thought will, it is my ardent hope, evolve into a unity of action, expressing itself in collaboration. What that looks like we have no way of knowing at this point; the seed does not reveal the nature of the fruit.

These related components I feel are absolutely necessary to make an actual difference in the world, or at least our own small corner of it. Respectful dialogue will lead to understanding, which in turn must lead to people actively working together to create and spread unity.

This is an experiment, and I invite you to respond with your ideas. You can also contact me on Twitter @Commonalities.