"Treat the human race as one family." L.L. Zamenhof
1 The essential unity of the human race.
2 All religion has a common foundation.
3 Religion is the cause of unity.
4 Religion must be consistent with scientific and rational thought.
5 Independent investigation of the truth.
6 The equality of women and men.
7 The abolition of prejudice.
8 Peace for everyone.
9 Education for everyone.
10 A universal auxiliary language.
11 A spiritual solution of economic problems.
12 An international tribunal.
The first point in this list corresponds to Zamenhof's idea that the human race should be treated as one family. The seventh point is more or less the same as Zamenhof's view that we should not judge any individual according to his racial origin but according to his behaviour and actions. And point ten, the need for a universal auxiliary language is obviously common to both sets of principles.
Point eight above does not have a corresponding dot point in the summary of Homarismo. But it is well-known that Zamenhof wished for peace among hostile nations...which decent person does not?...and he fully recognised the importance and value of education in the battle against ignorant prejudice and the destructive consequences of irrational hatred.. Finally, there is some agreement between point 4 above and Zamenhof's belief that your own religion ought to be a matter of personal choice and not something forced on you by your ethnic background.
So half of the principles listed above match views held by Dr. Zamenhof. But after that it seems to me I that the two systems begin to diverge. The Bahai faith moves in a direction which I would describe as spiritual, even mystical, while Homarismo shows that Zamenhof belongs to an ancient and honourable line of humanistic thinkers.
Initially, Lidia probably shared her father's views and was not sympathetic to any religion but given the extent to which the basic principles of the Bahai faith matched those of Homarismo, she probably found it easy to listen courteously to the proselyting of Martha Root. But, as Lidia grew older, she became first a sympathiser and then a fervent convert to Bahai and, indeed, showed in her writings and her speeches that she herself had a very strong spiritual or mystical side to her nature. For clear evidence of this, see in particular:
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