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                                                                                                                                            Note
   Progressive Religion
 
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Abdu'l-Baha says:

                            "  From the seed of reality religion has grown into a tree which has
                               put forth leaves and  branches, blossoms  and  fruit. After a time
                               this tree  has  fallen into  a condition  of  decay. The leaves  and
                               blossoms have  withered  and  perished; and  tree  has  become
                               stricken and fruitless. It is not reasonable that man  should  hold
                               to the old tree, claiming that its life forces  are  undiminished, its
                               fruit unequalled, its  existence  eternal. The seed of reality  must
                               be sown  again  in  human hearts  in order that  a new tree  may
                               grow therefrom and new divine  fruits  refresh  the world. By this
                               means the nations and peoples  now divergent in religion will be
                               brought into unity, imitations  will  be  forsaken  and  a universal
                               brotherhood in the reality itself will be  established. Warfare and
                               strife  will  cease   among   mankind ;  al l will  be  reconciled  as
                               servants of God... "

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Religion is a spiritual school in which  mankind receives divine teachings and progresses in body and soul. The founder of this school is God. The children of men have to pass through  this divine school if  they seek progress and happiness. In the beginning, one has to go to
the first standard of a school, and there the loving  teacher  starts  with  alphabets and elementaries. When, through  the  care  and  kindness  of our teacher, our mind is
sufficiently developed, we  are  sent to the  second standard where we  find
 another teacher basing his teachings on what we have already learnt
in the previous standard, but adding to them new measures
of knowledge. Our mind and body thus grow in this
school under the guidance of our teachers.
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