Pantheon & Supernatural Beings – Baháʼí Faith

1. Supreme or High Being(s)

• One God: single, transcendent, unknowable Creator.
• Attributes emphasized: absolute unity, transcendence beyond human comprehension.
• God is not incarnate and not directly accessible; known through revelation.

2. Major Deities

• None.
• No secondary gods or divine beings sharing God’s essence or power.

3. Secondary or Local Deities

• None.
• The Baháʼí Faith explicitly rejects local, regional, or household deities.

4. Spirits & Demigods

• Manifestations of God (e.g., Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb, Baháʼu’lláh):
  • Not gods, demigods, or incarnations.
  • Perfect reflectors of divine attributes who mediate revelation to humanity.
• Angels/spirits understood symbolically, not as independent supernatural agents.

5. Ancestors & the Dead

• No ancestor worship.
• Souls persist after death and continue spiritual progress.
• The living may pray for the dead, but the dead are not invoked as powers.

6. Opposing Forces

• No demons, devils, or evil beings as independent entities.
• Evil is understood as privation, moral failure, or distance from divine guidance—not a supernatural force.

7. Hierarchies & Relations

• Strict monotheism with a clear mediating structure:
  • God → Manifestations of God → humanity.
• No pantheon, no divine family, no cosmic bureaucracy of beings.

8. Function in Practice

• Worship directed solely to God.
• Prayers use revealed texts but do not address Manifestations as objects of worship.
• No sacrifices or propitiation of beings.
• Healing, protection, and guidance sought through prayer to God, ethical action, and obedience to divine law.