The Remedy for Irreligion

From Mahmúd's Diary, Friday, 11 October 1912, San Francisco:

Some physicians were in His presence today. The Master spoke with them about the use of diet to heal diseases. He then dealt with the spiritual remedy for the intellectual diseases of the people and nations:

Today, the greatest and speediest remedy and the sole effective antidote that the Divine Physician has prescribed for the world's ills is the oneness of humanity, universal peace, the explanation of the principles of the divine religions and the removal of dogmatic imitations and customs which are contrary to science and reason. Indeed, one of the chief reasons for irreligion among people is that the leaders of religion, such as the Catholic priests, take a little bread and wine, blow a breath over it and then say that the bread is the flesh of Christ and the wine is the blood of Christ. Of course, a man of understanding would not accept these dogmas and would say that if this bread and wine is turned into the flesh and blood of Christ by the breath of a priest, then the priest must be superior to Christ. Thus Bahá'u'lláh has said, ‘Every matter that is contrary to sound reason and science and is opposed to the fundamental principles of the divine religions is an obstacle to progress and a cause of people avoiding and rejecting the laws of God.’

Source: Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, Mahmúd's Diary, entry for 11 October 1912; also quoted in Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, pp. 224–225

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: dogma).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/dogma