Maybe the Baha’i religion and its temple to the Game of Thrones is a contribution to generate more tastes in your social networks, but not to that you find the inner peace that - supposedly - you look for.

As on Instagram everything happens suddenly and in mass - first were photos of people at the top of the hill Manquehue and then, from the drinks made with Aperol Spritz - I could see how since last year the trend was around the Baha’i temple of Santiago.

I went to Peñalolén thinking that I would find inner peace in a religion with a very positive background unlike what I experienced in my religious childhood filled with guilt.

Through various pamphlets that deliver you at the entrance to the compound, it is explained that the Baha’i religion rejects all kinds of prejudices and blindly trusts in the inherent goodness that every human being has in his heart; It also encourages marriages between different races and promotes the empowerment of women. As if the picture could not be better, there are no masses or priests and therefore there are no confessions or punishments imposed by guilt.

In a generation like ours, Baha’i faith seems to fill the spaces that the dogmas imposed by our fathers could not fulfill and it seems that finally we are facing a credo of universal union of tolerance and love.

But it's not like that.

The Baha’i faith is full of contradictions that try to fill the spaces of intolerance that other monotheistic religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam present with a discourse that lacks logic and common sense.

Let's start with the first purpose and teaching of the creed, where in addition to the development of spiritual qualities, respect for and conservation of the environment is encouraged. How is it explained then that for the construction of the temple literally had to destroy half a hill precordillerano to fill it of cars and buses besides introducing plant species with the only and egoistic purpose of making the environment more comfortable for its visitors?

The guide of the place told me that the Baha’i faith indicates as a basic principle the elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty and that the temple was built by anonymous donations from the parishioners themselves. However, the mole that looks like a set of Games Of Thrones and that clearly cost millions of dollars is located in the community of Peñalolén where 10% of its population is poor and presents other priorities quite obvious and not worth mentioning Yes its basic principles are to ensure that equity would not have been opted to contribute to the commune then?

The same guide who spoke to me about the advantages of not having a priest, or rites or masses, commented that although there is no equivalent to a Bible or a Quran, different texts compile the teachings of its leader, Bahá'u'llálah. One of these texts is the Aqdas, which specifically indicates that premarital relationships are discouraged and that the purpose of the union between two people is to have children, clearly rejecting same-sex couples. In fact, the counselor said that she had "many gay friends" and that it does not pressure the person, but the lifestyle. Just like that.

Within the Aqdas also instructions are given for the month of fasting that none of the Chileans would be willing to perform and therefore within the tour is not mentioned; the empowerment of women also has flaws since the system of inheritance is different for them. Marriages must be approved by all members of the family and divorce is valid one year after completion because this space is left in case of possible reconciliation (for whatever reason).

The Baha’i religion indifferently criticizes what other religions should do by implementing rules that ultimately, and not being governed by a leader, are impossible to apply.

Many people told me that they visited the sanctuary for value architectural of the place but inside the temple I saw many couples enjoying themselves, people carrying their cell phone, three blessings running and two others crying. Outside the building there were more people, about 40 people. All of them taking photos with sticks selfies and even saw some guys in the parking lot eating hand roll and smoking weed.

The Baha’i religion is aware of the attraction of its temples as a method of attracting new parishioners (and hence taxpayers). Being a new religion, it understands the different sociological currents of the present where the beautification of our social networks is much more important than to look for our spirituality (cause that is technically given as lost today).

So think twice: maybe a selfie in this place goes against what you really believe, or you just do not care about the above.

http://bahaism.blogspot.com/