Baháʼí Faith and science

Baháʼu'lláh taught that the universe has "neither beginning nor ending",[13] and that the component elements of the material world have always existed and will continue to exist.[14] In the Tablet of Wisdom ("Lawh-i-Hikmat", written 1873-1874). Baháʼu'lláh states: "That which hath been in existence had existed before, but not in the form thou seest today. The world of existence came into being through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and that which is its recipient. These two are the same, yet they are different." The terminology used here refers to ancient Greek and Islamic philosophy.[15] Jean-Marc Lepain, Robin Mihrshahi, Dale E. Lehman and Julio Savi suggest a possible relation of this statement with the Big Bang theory.[16][17][18][19]

Baháʼís believe that the story of creation in Genesis is a rudimentary account that conveys the broad essential spiritual truths of existence without a level of detail and accuracy that was unnecessary and incomprehensible at the time.[14] Likewise, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá said that literal story of Adam and Eve cannot be accepted, affirmed, or imagined, and that it "must be thought of simply as a symbol".[20] And rather than accepting the idea of a Young Earth, Baháʼí theology accepts that the Earth is ancient.[21]

Charles Darwin, the famous 19th-century English naturalist who proposed a naturalistic mechanism for evolution.

In regards to evolution and the origin of man, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá gave extensive comments on the subject when he addressed western audiences in the beginning of the 20th century. Transcripts of these talks can be found in Some Answered Questions, Paris Talks and the Promulgation of Universal Peace. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá describes the human species as evolving from a primitive form to modern man, but that the capacity to form human intelligence was always in existence.

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's comments seem to differ from the standard evolutionary picture of human development, where Homo sapiens as one species along with the great apes evolved from a common ancestor living in Africa millions of years ago.

While ʻAbdu'l-Bahá states that man progressed through many stages before reaching this present form, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá states that humans are a distinct species, and not an animal, and that in every stage of evolution through which humans progressed, they were potentially humans.

But at all times, even when the embryo resembled a worm, it was human in potentiality and character, not animal. The forms assumed by the human embryo in its successive changes do not prove that it is animal in its essential character. Throughout this progression there has been transference of type, a conservation of species or kind. Realizing this we may acknowledge the fact that at one time man was an inmate of the sea, at another period an invertebrate, then a vertebrate and finally a human being standing erect. Though we admit these changes, we cannot say man is an animal. In each one of these stages are signs and evidences of his human existence and destination.[22]

Mehanian and Friberg wrote a 2003 article describing their belief that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's statements can be entirely reconciled with modern science. Mehanian and Friberg state that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's departures from the conventional interpretation of evolution are likely due "to disagreements with the metaphysical, philosophical, and ideological aspects of those interpretations, not with scientific findings."[6] Gary Matthews argues that it was to this end that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá suggested that a missing link between human and apes would not be found.[23]

There are some differences between ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's statements and current scientific thought. The Baháʼí perspective that religion must be in accordance with science seems to suggest that religion must accept current scientific knowledge as authoritative; but, according to Mehanian and Friberg, this is not necessarily always the case as in their view the present scientific point of view is not always correct, nor truth only limited to what science can explain.[6]

Oskooi chose the subject of evolution and Baháʼí belief for his 2009 thesis, and in doing so reviewed other Baháʼí authors' works on the subject. He concluded that, "The problem of disharmony between scripture and science is rooted in an unwarranted misattribution of scriptural inerrancy."[24] In other words, he believes that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá made statements about biology that were later proved wrong, and that ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's infallibility should not be applied to scientific matters.

Several authors have written on the subject of evolution and Baháʼí belief.

• Craig Loehle (1990), On Human Origins: A Baháʼí Perspective
• Eberhard von Kitzing (1997), Is the Baháʼí view of evolution compatible with modern science?
• Courosh Mehanian and Stephan Friberg (2003), Religion and Evolution Reconciled: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Comments on Evolution
• Bahman Nadimi, Do the Bahaʼi Writings on evolution allow for mutation of species within kingdoms but not across kingdoms?
• Keven Brown (2001), Evolution and Baháʼí Belief: ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Response to Nineteenth-Century Darwinism
• Fariborz Alan Davoodi, MD, Human Evolution: Directed?
• Salman Oskooi (2009), When Science and Religion Merge: A Modern Case Study

The luminiferous aether: it was hypothesised that the Earth moves through a "medium" of aether that carries light

Aether, or ether, was a substance postulated in the late 19th century to be the medium for the propagation of light. The Michelson–Morley experiment of 1887 made an effort to find the aether, but its failure to detect it led Einstein to devise his Special theory of Relativity. Further developments in modern physics, including general relativity, quantum field theory, and string theory all incorporate the non-existence of the aether, and today the concept is considered obsolete scientific theory.

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's use of the aether concept in one of his talks - his audience including scientists of the time - has been the source of some controversy. The chapter in ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's Some Answered Questions which mentions aether differentiates between things that are "perceptible to the senses" and those which are "realities of the intellect" and not perceptible to the senses.[25] ʻAbdu'l-Bahá includes "ethereal matter" (also translated as "etheric matter"), heat, light and electricity among other things, in the second group of things which are not perceptible to the senses, and are concepts which are arrived at intellectually to explain certain phenomena.[25] The Universal House of Justice referring to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's use of the word state that, "in due course, when scientists failed to confirm the physical existence of the 'ether' by delicate experiments, they constructed other intellectual concepts to explain the same phenomena" which is consistent with ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's categorization of aether.[25]

Robin Mishrahi wrote a 2002 paper in the Australian Baháʼí Studies Journal, arguing that Baháʼu'lláh and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá were using already existing concepts and terms to accurately explain what they had in mind, "in such a way that they would neither offend Their addressees who believed in certain (erroneous) contemporary scientific concepts, nor make use of a terminology that had not yet been developed by contemporary scientists."[17]

Baháʼu'lláh wrote:

Strange and astonishing things exist in the earth but they are hidden from the minds and the understanding of men. These things are capable of changing the whole atmosphere of the earth and their contamination would prove lethal."[26]

Baháʼís later pointed to this as a statement about the discovery of nuclear energy and the use of nuclear weapons.[27]

Bahá'u'lláh in the early 1860s, claimed that Copper can be turned into Gold and that its secret lies hidden in his knowledge. He also claimed that changing of one element into other (transmutation of elements) would become reality.[28]

Some Bahá'is take this as metaphorical,[29] while others claim that Baháʼu'lláh was narrating the beliefs of others.[30]

‘Abdu’l-Bahá claimed that “bodily diseases like consumption and cancer are contagious” and that a “safe and healthy persons” must guard against it.[31][32]