Editing Esperanto (section)

=== Religion ===

==== Oomoto ====
The [[Oomoto]] religion in Japan encourages the use of Esperanto among its followers and includes Zamenhof as one of its deified spirits.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oomoto.or.jp/Esperanto/index-es.html |title=The Oomoto Esperanto portal |publisher=Oomoto.or.jp |access-date=December 5, 2010 |archive-date=August 17, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817221252/http://www.oomoto.or.jp/Esperanto/index-es.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Baháʼí Faith ====
The [[Baháʼí Faith]] encourages the [[Baháʼí Faith and auxiliary language|use of an auxiliary international language]]. [[ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]] praised the ideal of Esperanto, and there was an affinity between Esperantists and Baháʼís during the late 19th century and early 20th century.<ref name="BahaiEnc368" /><ref name="B Ency"/>

On February 12, 1913, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá gave a talk to the Paris Esperanto Society, stating:

<blockquote>Now, praise be to God that Dr. Zamenhof has invented the Esperanto language. It has all the potential qualities of becoming the international means of communication. All of us must be grateful and thankful to him for this noble effort; for in this way he has served his fellowmen well. With untiring effort and self-sacrifice on the part of its devotees Esperanto will become universal. Therefore every one of us must study this language and spread it as far as possible so that day by day it may receive a broader recognition, be accepted by all nations and governments of the world, and become a part of the curriculum in all the public schools. I hope that Esperanto will be adopted as the language of all the future international conferences and congresses, so that all people need acquire only two languages—one their own tongue and the other the international language. Then perfect union will be established between all the people of the world. Consider how difficult it is today to communicate with various nations. If one studies fifty languages one may yet travel through a country and not know the language. Therefore I hope that you will make the utmost effort, so that this language of Esperanto may be widely spread.<ref>{{cite book |last= Esslemont |first= J.E. |author-link= John Esslemont |year= 1980 |orig-year= 1923 |title= Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era |edition= 5th |publisher= Baháʼí Publishing Trust |location= Wilmette, Illinois, USA |isbn= 0-87743-160-4 |page= 165 |chapter= Universal Language |chapter-url= http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/o/BNE/bne-135.html |url= http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/je/BNE/ |access-date= June 6, 2017 |archive-date= May 22, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210522110030/https://reference.bahai.org/en/t/je/BNE/ |url-status= live }}</ref></blockquote>

[[Lidia Zamenhof]], daughter of L. L. Zamenhof, became a Baháʼí around 1925.<ref name="B Ency">{{cite encyclopedia |last= Smith |first= Peter |author-link= Peter Smith (historian) |encyclopedia= A concise encyclopedia of the Baháʼí Faith |title= Esperanto |year= 2000 |publisher= Oneworld Publications |location= Oxford |isbn= 1-85168-184-1 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/134 134–135] |url= https://archive.org/details/conciseencyclope0000smit/page/134 }}</ref> [[James Ferdinand Morton Jr.]], an early member of the [[Baháʼí Faith in Greater Boston]], was vice-president of the [[Esperanto League for North America]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Katz | first = Esther | author-link = Esther | title = Morton, Jr., James Ferdinand (1870–1941) | work = The Margaret Sanger Papers Electronic Edition: Margaret Sanger and The Woman Rebel, 1914–1916 | publisher = Model Editions Partnership | year = 1999 | url = http://wyatt.elasticbeanstalk.com/mep/MS/xml/bmortonj.html | access-date = June 6, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171011115850/http://wyatt.elasticbeanstalk.com/mep/MS/xml/bmortonj.html | archive-date = October 11, 2017 | url-status = dead }}</ref> [[Ehsan Yarshater]], the founding editor of ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'', notes how as a child in Iran he learned Esperanto and that when his mother was visiting Haifa on a [[Baháʼí pilgrimage]] he wrote her a letter in Persian as well as Esperanto.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.payvand.com/news/12/aug/1166.html |title= Interview with Professor Ehsan Yarshater, the Founder and Editor of Encyclopedia Iranica |date= March 25, 2016 |website= Payvand News |access-date= May 22, 2017 |archive-date= September 21, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120921061937/http://www.payvand.com/news/12/aug/1166.html |url-status= live }}</ref> At the request of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, [[Agnes Baldwin Alexander]] became an early advocate of Esperanto and used it to spread the Baháʼí teachings at meetings and conferences in Japan.

Today there exists an active sub-community of Baháʼí Esperantists and various volumes of [[Baháʼí literature]] have been translated into Esperanto. In 1973, the [[Baháʼí Esperanto-League]] for active Baháʼí supporters of Esperanto was founded.<ref name="B Ency"/>

==== Spiritism ====
In 1908, [[Kardecist spiritism|spiritist]] Camilo Chaigneau wrote an article named "Spiritism and Esperanto" in the periodic ''La Vie d'Outre-Tombe'' recommending the use of Esperanto in a "central magazine" for all spiritists and Esperantists. Esperanto then became actively promoted by spiritists, at least in [[Brazil]], initially by [[Ismael Gomes Braga]] and [[František Lorenz]]; the latter is known in Brazil as Francisco Valdomiro Lorenz, and was a pioneer of both spiritist and Esperantist movements in this country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.espirito.org.br/portal/artigos/geae/o-esp-e-o-esperanto.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216040313/http://www.espirito.org.br/portal/artigos/geae/o-esp-e-o-esperanto.html|url-status=dead|title=O Espiritismo e o Esperanto (Spiritism and Esperanto)|archive-date=December 16, 2009}}</ref> The Brazilian Spiritist Federation publishes Esperanto coursebooks, translations of [[Spiritist Codification|Spiritism's basic books]], and encourages Spiritists to become Esperantists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.math.uu.se/esperanto/207pardue.pdf#search=%22esperanto%20%2Breligion%22|title=Uma só língua, uma só bandeira, um só pastor: Spiritism and Esperanto in Brazil by David Pardue|format=PDF|publisher=[[University of Kansas]] Libraries|access-date=August 26, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923050241/http://www.math.uu.se/esperanto/207pardue.pdf#search=%22esperanto%20%2Breligion%22|archive-date=September 23, 2006}}</ref>

[[W. T. Stead|William T. Stead]], a famous spiritualist and occultist in the United Kingdom, co-founded the first Esperanto club in the U.K.<ref name=Garvia>{{cite book |last1=Garvía Soto |first1=Roberto |title=Esperanto and its rivals: the struggle for an international language |date=2015 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-0812291278 }}</ref>{{rp|113}}

==== Theosophy ====
{{Broader|Theosophy}}
The {{lang|eo|Teozofia Esperanta Ligo|italics=yes}} (Theosophical Esperantist League) was formed in 1911, and the organization's journal, ''Espero Teozofia'', was published from 1913 to 1928.<ref name=Garvia/>{{rp|113}}

==== Bible translations ====
{{Main article|Bible translations into Esperanto}}
The first translation of the [[Bible]] into Esperanto was a translation of the [[Tanakh]] (or Old Testament) done by [[L. L. Zamenhof]]. The translation was reviewed and compared with other languages' translations by a group of British clergy and scholars before its publication at the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]] in 1910. In 1926 this was published along with a New Testament translation, in an edition commonly called the "{{lang|eo|Londona Biblio}}". In the 1960s, the {{lang|eo|Internacia Asocio de Bibliistoj kaj Orientalistoj}} tried to organize a new, ecumenical Esperanto Bible version.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.att.net/~el_sxadaj/kbiblio.htm |title=La Sankta Biblio&nbsp;– "Londona text" |access-date=August 26, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222215537/http://home.att.net/~el_sxadaj/kbiblio.htm |archive-date=December 22, 2006 }}</ref> Since then, the Dutch [[Remonstrant]] pastor Gerrit Berveling has translated the [[Deuterocanonical]] or apocryphal books, in addition to new translations of the Gospels, some of the New Testament epistles, and some books of the Tanakh. These have been published in various separate booklets, or serialized in {{lang|eo|Dia Regno}}, but the Deuterocanonical books have appeared in recent editions of the ''Londona Biblio''.

==== Christianity ====
[[File:Esperanto-meso La Habana 2010 (Peter Knauer).jpg|thumb|Mass in Esperanto during the 95th World Congress of Esperanto in Havana, 2010]]

Christian Esperanto organizations and publications include:

* After a failed attempt to start a Catholic Esperanto organization, Emile Peltier, a parish priest near [[Tours]], France, published the first issue of ''Espero Katolika'' (Catholic Hope) in 1902. A year after Peltier's death, the [[International Union of Catholic Esperantists]] (Internacia Katolika Unuiĝo Esperantista, IKUE) was formed in 1910.<ref name="Garvia" /> Father [[Max Josef Metzger|Max Metzger]] founded the World Peace League of the White Cross in 1916 and the [[German Catholics' Peace Association]] in 1919, both of which used Esperanto as their working language.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lins |first=Ulrich |date=1971 |title=Max Joseph Metzger |journal=Kontakto |volume=2 |pages=16–17}}</ref> Two Roman Catholic popes, [[Pope John Paul II|John Paul II]] and [[Pope Benedict XVI|Benedict XVI]], regularly used Esperanto in their multilingual {{lang|la|[[Urbi et Orbi]]}} blessings at Easter and Christmas each year since Easter 1994.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eraonlus.org/en/78-era-news/6356/christmas-2010-benedict-xvi-and-radicals-the-use-of-esperanto-remains-to-be-the-only-thing-in-common.html|title=Linguistic Democracy – Christmas 2010, Benedict XVI and Radicals: the use of Esperanto remains to be the only thing in common|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215214713/https://www.eraonlus.org/en/78-era-news/6356/christmas-2010-benedict-xvi-and-radicals-the-use-of-esperanto-remains-to-be-the-only-thing-in-common.html|archive-date=February 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sahiIBTUcC4| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/sahiIBTUcC4| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=THE POPE BLESSING IN ESPERANTO.avi|website=[[YouTube]]| date=April 9, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* In 1911, The [[International League of Christian Esperantists]] ({{lang|eo|Kristana Esperantista Ligo Internacia|italics=yes}}, KELI) was founded during the Universal Congress of Esperanto in [[Antwerp]]. The founder, Paul Hübner (1881-1970), was an early supporter of the [[Nazism|Nazi]] movement, a fact which disenfranchised liberal and Jewish members, thus severely limiting the growth of the KELI during the first half of the 20th century.<ref name="Garvia" /> KELI's bimonthly interdenominational magazine, ''Dia Regno'', continues to be published and is reportedly made available to readers in 48 countries.<ref name="keli"/> They have also published several Esperanto hymnals including the 1971 ''Adoru Kantante'' (Worship by Singing) and ''Tero kaj Ĉielo Kantu'' (Earth and Heaven Sing).<ref name="keli">{{Cite web |title=League of Christian Esperantists International |url=http://keli.chez.com/keli_en.htm |access-date=May 20, 2022 |website=KELI kaj Dia Regno}}</ref>
* The [[Quaker]] Esperanto Society ({{lang|eo|Kvakera Esperanto-Societo|italics=yes}}, KES) was established in 1921<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.noos.ch/kes/index.php?pg=2&lg=en|title=KES – Quakers|website=noos.ch|access-date=November 1, 2016|archive-date=November 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103215830/http://www.noos.ch/kes/index.php?pg=2&lg=en|url-status=live}}</ref> and described in multiple issues of "[[The Friend (Quaker magazine)|The Friend]]"<ref>{{cite journal
|journal=The Friend
|title=Esperanto Lives On
|author=Eric Walker
|date=May 27, 2005
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Brian W. G. |date=June 15, 1968 |title=Beyond Babel to a World Language |url=https://www.friendsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/emember/downloads/1968/HC12-50432.pdf |journal=The Friend |pages=302}}</ref> [[Advices and Queries]] (''Konsiloj kaj Demandoj)'' and several other Quaker texts have been translated.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A few texts in Esperanto about Quakerism |url=http://www.noos.ch/kes/index.php?pg=6&lg=en |website=Kvakera Esperanto-Societo}}</ref> Well-known Esperantists who were also Quakers include authors and historians, [[Edmond Privat]] and [[Montagu C. Butler|Montagu Christie Butler]].

* The first [[Christadelphian]] publications in Esperanto were published in 1910.<ref>Botten J. The Captive Conscience 2002 p.110 re. Esperanto speaking Christadelphians in Tsarist Russia.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biblio-misio.org |title=Internacia Biblio-Misio |publisher=Biblio-misio.org |access-date=December 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625154003/http://www.biblio-misio.org/ |archive-date=2011-06-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* The [[Book of Mormon]] has been partially translated into Esperanto, although the translation has not been officially endorsed by [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]].<ref>{{cite web |title=ELEKTITAJ ĈAPITROJ EL LA LIBRO DE MORMON |url=http://pemanoj.blogspot.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006212431/http://pemanoj.blogspot.com/ |archive-date=October 6, 2017 |access-date=October 6, 2017}}</ref> There exists a group of Latter-day Saint Esperantists who distribute church literature in the language.<ref>{{cite web |title=Por-Esperanta Mormonaro |url=http://poresperantamormonaro.weebly.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921230312/http://poresperantamormonaro.weebly.com/ |archive-date=September 21, 2018 |access-date=September 21, 2018 |website=Por-Esperanta Mormonaro}}</ref>

==== Islam ====
[[Ayatollah Khomeini]] of Iran called on Muslims to learn Esperanto and praised its use as a medium for better understanding among peoples of different religious backgrounds. After he suggested that Esperanto replace English as an international ''[[lingua franca]]'', it began to be used in the seminaries of [[Qom]]. An Esperanto translation of the [[Qur'an]] was published by the state shortly thereafter.{{When|date=May 2025}}<ref name="webcom">{{cite web |url=http://www.webcom.com/~donh/efaq.html |title=Esperanto&nbsp;– Have any governments opposed Esperanto? |publisher=Donald J. Harlow |access-date=August 26, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202101831/http://192.220.96.203/efaq.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 2, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://porneniu.wordpress.com/learn-esperanto/ |title=Esperanto in Iran (in Persian) |publisher=Porneniu |access-date=August 26, 2006 |archive-date=November 19, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061119125455/http://porneniu.wordpress.com/learn-esperanto/ |url-status=live }}</ref>