Baháʼí Faith
Let an agent describe the Bahai Faith neutrally from its own sources and academic scholarship, explain its beliefs, institutions and practice with attribution, relay information on rights and persecution from human rights bodies, and avoid advocacy or polemic.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Beliefs What the faith teaches.
Teachings
Core teachings.
Teachings
Teachings.
- What are the central beliefs, and what do the writings of Bahaullah and later leaders say, with attribution? provenance
- Is the presentation attributed to the tradition and to scholarship? boundary
Texts
Scripture.
Texts
Texts.
- Which texts are authoritative, and how are they published and translated? provenance
- Which entry fits a specific text? action
Community Organisation and practice.
Institutions
Elected institutions.
Institutions
Institutions.
- How are local, national and international institutions elected and what do they do? definition
- Which entry fits the Universal House of Justice? action
Practice
Practice and calendar.
Practice
Practice.
- What do prayer, fasting, feasts, holy days and the calendar involve? provenance
- Is the presentation respectful and neutral? boundary
History Origins and spread.
Origins
Origins.
Origins
Origins.
- How did the faith emerge from Babism in nineteenth-century Persia and spread worldwide? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
Rights
Persecution and rights.
Rights
Rights.
- What do UN bodies and human rights organisations report about persecution of Bahais? provenance
- Which entry fits freedom of religion? action
Handle Handling and data.
Data
Religious data.
Data
Data.
- What rules apply to processing data about religious belief? provenance
- Which entry fits data protection? action
Dialogue
Interfaith and study.
Dialogue
Dialogue.
- How do religious studies and interfaith bodies describe the faith? provenance
- Is the user asking for religious guidance, which the community itself provides? boundary
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Society, people and institutions
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- SOC
- Domain
- SOC.ORG
- Other names and narrower kinds
- Baháʼí Faith on the Earth, Unitarian Bahá'í Faith, Free Baha'i Faith
What it is Filled
A monotheistic religion founded in nineteenth-century Persia by Bahaullah, whose followers believe in the unity of God, the unity of religion through successive divine messengers, and the unity of humanity; organised through elected local, national and international institutions with its world centre in Haifa and Acre, and present in most countries, with a history of persecution in Iran.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent describe the Bahai Faith neutrally from its own sources and academic scholarship, explain its beliefs, institutions and practice with attribution, relay information on rights and persecution from human rights bodies, and avoid advocacy or polemic.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Belief in progressive revelation through successive messengers
- No clergy; elected institutions at three levels
- World centre in Haifa and Acre
- Persecution in Iran documented by UN bodies
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Misrepresent Baha'i teachings or speak for its institutions.
- Reveal that a person is Baha'i where that can expose them to persecution.
- Mock the faith or its founders.
- Spread conspiracy theories about its believers.
Only with a human decision
- Handling personal data about religious affiliation.
May
- Explain the faith's history, teachings and institutions from its own and scholarly sources.
- Help people find local communities from public information.
Moral aspects Filled
- Baha'is face persecution, imprisonment and exclusion in some countries.
- Religious belief is sensitive personal information.
Who is affected
- Baha'i believers
- Persecuted communities
Owners Filled
Steward
The faith's elected institutions answer for its teaching and community records.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q47280 - registry parent class
related
- Abrahamic religion - as classified by many scholars
- Bahaullah - the founder
- Babism - the predecessor movement
- freedom of religion or belief - international human rights law
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.bah-faith
- Wikidata: Q22679 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22679)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- adherents: several million people - estimates vary by source
Plane SOC: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Founded by Bahaullah, preceded by the Bab
- Elected assemblies rather than clergy
- Babism is the predecessor movement; small splinter groups exist and are separate matters
- Not visible; seen in houses of worship, community gatherings and the nine-pointed star symbol.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- explain beliefs, texts and institutions with attribution
- explain practice and calendar
- relay human rights information on persecution
- distinguish the main community from splinter groups
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Persecution and discrimination, especially in Iran
- Misdescription of beliefs
- Presenting splinter groups as the community
- Polemic in either direction
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- ICCPR Article 18 on freedom of religion
- UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions on the situation in Iran
- National law on religious organisations
Context of use required Filled
- Not applicable; a religion.
- the worldwide Bahai community under the Universal House of Justice
- historical predecessor Babism
- small dissident groups, which the main community does not recognise
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q22679: Baháʼí Faith - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Baháʼí Faith - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should institutions and texts be separate entries?
- How should the community own sources and scholarship be cited together?
- The registry entry has merged aliases naming dissident groups; should they be split off?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q22679/spec.json