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Some conclusions can be drawn from this fundamental belief (that they are renewed). First, all religions are divine in essence and consequently there are no religions which contradict or exclude each other, but only one indivisible divine religion which is renewed periodically and according to the requirements of the age, in cycles of about a thousand years: "Our command was but one word." It is therefore hardly surprising if many of Baha'u'llah's teachings are to be found in former religions either expressly or in an embryonic form. As 'Abdul-Baha says, the Baha'i Faith is "not a new path to immortality". On account of this transcendent oneness of all religions, Baha'u'llah exhorted His people to associate with followers of all religions in a spirit of loving-kindness and to make of religion a cause of harmony and peace, not of discord and strife, of hate and division. (25:1) The second conclusion is that we cannot perceive what the essence of religion is and what it has the power to achieve if we examine the traditional great religions in their present form. They have achieved much but have reached the end of their road; they were the foundation of great cultures and for thousands of years they were the guiding-star of millions of people in their everyday life and activities. But during the course of history they have also accumulated large amounts of historical ballast. They have moved a long way from their origin and are burdened with their follower's misdeeds and cravings for power. They are no longer (a) pleasant sight today, least of all to young people, who no longer see in these religions the "salt of the earth" as Jesus called his disciples, but rather the "opium of the people" (Karl Marx). And one is easily inclined to pass judgment on religion as a whole, and to see in it an anachronism of past times, long since overcome, like the belief in demons in former times. But a withered plant does not give us the faintest idea of its blossoming time. In reality, religions are the "light of the world" and, according to Baha'u'llah's teachings, the foundation of human culture. It is important to understand that they are as necessary for mankind as sunlight for the plant. Without divine revelation, there would be neither progress nor culture: "Were this revelation to be withdrawn, all would perish."
(25:2)
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