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In the lyrics to the song "Imagine", John Lennon wrote, "and the world will live as one" (Lennon, 1971) which is a perfect way to describe the Bahá'àFaith. Just as John Lennon wrote in "Imagine", Bahá'àfollowers believe in unifying all humans under one vision for the "purpose of life and of the future of society" (Bahá'àInternational Community, 2012). Bahá'àfollowers believe, "that there is only one God, that all the world's religions are from God, and that it is now time for humanity to recognize its oneness and unite" (Bahá'àInternational Community , 2012).
The Bahá'àFaith is the world's youngest independent religion having only been established 150 years ago (Bahá'àInternational Community, 2012). It is a Middle Eastern faith that grew out of the Shi'ite branch of Islam (BBC, 2009).
The history of the Bahá'àfaith begins with the Báb which means, "The Gate" (Bahá'àInternational Community , 2012).
Siyyid Ali-Muhammed was born in 1819 in Persia a Shi'ite Muslim. On May 23, 1844, the Báb announced the impending arrival of "the Messenger of God" who would be the latest in a line of messengers sent from God that included Moses, Jesus Christ, and Muhammad (Bahá'àInternational Community , 2012). He declared that His purpose was to prepare humanity for this arrival (Bahá'àInternational Community , 2012). He was quickly arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and on July 9, 1850, he was executed by Muslim clergy who were dominate in Persia at the time, because his teachings contradicted a central point of Islamic faith, that Muhammad was the final prophet (Bahá'àInternational Community , 2012).
On November 17, 1817, in Tehran, Iran, Husayn...