Bahá'í Faith and education

The theme of education in the Bahá'í Faith is given emphasis. Its literature gives a principle of universal and compulsory education, which is identified as one of key principles alongside monotheism and the unity of humanity.

Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith wrote:

The Bahá'í teachings focus on promoting a moral and spiritual education, in addition to the arts, trades, sciences and professions. The emphasis on education is a means for social and national improvement. Since all Bahá'ís have the duty to do work that is useful to humanity, Bahá'í education is meant to prepare Bahá'ís to perform such work.

One purpose of universal compulsory education is implied in the Bahá'í Short Obligatory Prayer which states that the God's primary reason for creating humanity is so that each of us would come to know and love Him. Clearly one purpose of education would be to facilitate this process. But religious education, however critical, should not lead to division and conflict. Bahá'u'lláh writes:

This principle is most commonly applied by Bahá'ís in the form of social-welfare projects and children's classes. The emphasis on education as a means for social and national improvement is shown in the following quote by `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son and appointed successor of Bahá'u'lláh:

The type of education that is written about in the Bahá'í writings does not point to one particular type or method of education.

The Bahá'í teachings focus on promoting a moral and spiritual education, in addition to the arts, trades, sciences and professions.

Children, and the requirement to give them a proper education, is particularly emphasized in many of the Bahá'í writings. Children's classes have become common-place in most Bahá'í communities, and were named by the Universal House of Justice in 2001 as one of the four core activities that Bahá'ís should focus on.

Bahá'í individuals have created the noted book The Family Virtues Guide, which is dedicated to the spiritual education of children. Its multi-religious content has brought it enough popularity to sell over 100,000 copies and to win the authors an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show. [5]

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