What do the Prophets of the the World's Religions know, and when do they know it?


I was participating in a discussion concerning religious belief on an online forum---a third rail thread topic that quickly get locked.  People just can't seem to keep civil when discussing their religious convictions.  In this particular thread, the participants included Christians, agnostics, atheists, a Buddhist, a Jew, a pagan, at least one new-ager, this Bahá'i, and the curious.  Surprisingly, the thread went on for at least a month, despite its share of friction generated by the clash of differing opinions and one zealot.  I'm not sure what would have happened had there been a Muslim participating, but t would have been interesting

One topic that was brought up by an atheist concerned how religious doctrine follows scientific discovery.  The persecution of Galileo by the Roman Catholic church was cited as an example of how religion is a hindrance to knowledge.  I offered the Bahá'i point of view that what the Prophets (or Manifestations of God as they are referred to in the Bahá'i Faith) reveal is limited not by what they know, but rather what we are capable of understanding.



Consider: This was written over 1200 years ago.


Split the atom's heart, and lo!
Within it thou wilt find a sun. 


Qur'án 67:3  (Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 11)