….Pretty interesting on how the stuff backfires on the BF seeing that the Bahai’s are shedding thier innocent blood for the delusion that are “Bahai”…. while the leaders pick out marble for the palace… such irony for sure…

Bird! You cut right to the bone

Bahá’u’lláh especially emphasized international peace. He declared that all mankind is the one progeny of Adam and members of one great universal family. If the various races and distinct types of mankind had each proceeded from a different original paternity—in other words, if we had two or more Adams for our human fathers—there might be reasonable ground for difference and divergence in humanity today; but inasmuch as we belong to one progeny and one family, all names which seek to differentiate and distinguish mankind as Italian, German, French, Russian and so on are without significance and sanction. We are all human, all servants of God and all come from Mr. Adam’s family. Why, then, all these fallacious national and racial distinctions? These boundary lines and artificial barriers have been created by despots and conquerors who sought to attain dominion over mankind, thereby engendering patriotic feeling and rousing selfish devotion to merely local standards of government. As a rule they themselves enjoyed luxuries in palaces, surrounded by conditions of ease and affluence, while armies of soldiers, civilians and tillers of the soil fought and died at their command upon the field of battle, shedding their innocent blood for a delusion such as “we are Germans,” “our enemies are French,” etc., when, in reality, all are humankind, all belong to the one family and posterity of Adam, the original father. This prejudice or limited patriotism is prevalent throughout the world, while man is blind to patriotism in the larger sense which includes all races and native lands. From every real standpoint there must and should be peace among all nations. Paris Talks

….Pretty interesting on how the stuff backfires on the BF seeing that the Bahai’s are shedding thier innocent blood for the delusion that are “Bahai”…. while the leaders pick out marble for the palace… such irony for sure…

anonymouz wrote:

Craig: You keep making references to individuals House members which means nothing to me, nor should it to you.

Sorry. I disagree. I hold these people personally responsible for what comes out of their hapless mouths. Especially when a thoughtless public comment of a major figure in the AO destroys a very successful 12 year teaching project I had going.

Unquestioned devotion and acceptance. Do I always understand it? No. `God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth’.

God has apparently inspired these men to COMPLETELY DESTROY the Baha’i Faith. And they are doing a damn good job of it!

These opinions and efforts to use independent investigation of truth, if done in the spirit they were intended and with a solid foundation grounded in spiritual understandings, would eventually lead back to the realization that one can never completely understand the reasons or nature of perceived realities. It always comes back to personal interpretation, backed up with more human reasoning or understanding. this is where we enter Faith…

Questioning or complaining about the UHJ decisions in counterproductive and runs against the grain of the very nature and essence of what it means to have Faith. Often times this leads to individuals experiencing an enormous amount of pain and spiritual upheaval. This happens only when we refuse to give up our own inclinations and ideas. They take a misplaced sense of refuge in going back to saying they believe in Baha’u'llah or whatever. That doesn’t cut in in this dispensation. This whole religion is about unity and yielding the individual perception to that of the actions of the group.

If we are just supposed to passively accept everything that these people say to do ON BLIND FAITH, then why did Baha’u'llah give the rank and file of His system THE VOTE? If we are not supposed to ever use prayerful critical thinking in the Baha’i Faith then why do we have THE VOTE?

Baquia, I regret often when I reply with my head here because it so often is corrupted by my personality and its flaws. I have a sharp tounge and I am sorry. If I seem combative, its for good reason. I will continue to practice my honey dispensing.

When I read these clearly politically motivated and influenced opinions seated in liberal ideology I understand the consequences of such routes and where they will eventually lead…Rarely is it toward Faith in God.

If you leave here, I will follow you and join your blog so I can keep getting some good film ideas. The Middle Eastern “I am the center of the Universe” mindset may just be the NEXT BIG THING in comedy. “Religious” discussion groups could well be gold mines for some new script ideas.

Here are some more trailers on “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” - In Theaters June 6th!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijTgHhJC5k0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rQiEUHOmYc&feature=related

Everyone keep posting. This place is a gold mine for the new Middle Eastern mentality comedy stylings.

You people may get me to Hollywood and Vine yet!

You wrote to Baquia:

I am still waiting for you to back up your highly poisonous and extremely prejudicial categorization of tens of thousands of Baha’i youth in Iran as being rampantly engaged in drug-use, prostitution and corruption.

Here’s what Baquia actually wrote:

…you should know that the Baha’i youth in Iran are as much polluted with the filth of the society they inhabit as other youth. Corruption, prostitution, drug-use, etc. are rampant on a scale that you can not imagine.

Baquia made no mention of tens of thousands of Baha’i youth. What Baquia said, if I can paraphrase it, is that Baha’i youth in Iran are getting up to the same things Muslim and other youth in Iran are getting up to, and that it’s wild/depraved. Has Baquia offered any evidence? No, but that’s par for the course around here.

Here’s some evidence supporting Baquia’s statement. It’s from Jared Cohen, a young and evidently very talented Westerner, who infiltrated the Middle East youth culture amd lived to tell the tale:

You said there was a sort of wild social scene in all of these countries.

Cohen: They’re all wild in their own way. Lebanon has the most open party scene. Lebanon has the most sort of free culture in terms of young people being able to do what they want. Iran is the most closed, but has the craziest underground.

What do you mean by underground?

Young people will find ways to rebel and put aside their political, ethnic, national, and religious identities and just behave as young people. On the sort of more superficial side, they had these wild and crazy parties in alleyways and private homes, where they make alcohol in bathtubs and sinks.

I hear you saying that Baha’i youth are different, and they wouldn’t be included in the Iranian underground party scene, anyway, due to religious prejudice on the part of other youth in Iran. I think Jared Cohen would disagree:

There’s a chapter in my book called “Democracy After Dark.” I argue that the darker it is outside, the less names, religion, and politics matter. All of that is overshadowed by a common desire to act like a young person. Depending on where you are and what community you’re in, people rebel in different kinds of ways. Every now and then I’d catch Hezbollah guys out in Christian nightclubs pretending they were something else. Even though they’re Hezbollah and would never want to get caught doing this, they’re still just young men.

ka kite
Steve

I agree with you. Religious fanaticism, which is one form of broader dogmatic thinking, is inextricably linked with psychopathology. The psychology of religion has produced a lot of good literature on the subject.

Anonymouz,

Your unfortunate but predictable misconstrual of my remark has been sufficiently addressed by Baquia.

Instead of actually addressing my comment, you’ve once again succumbed to a sudden onset of quoteitis. Uh-oh, I think it might be contagious!

Furthermore, know ye that God has created in man the power of reason whereby man is enabled to investigate reality. God has not intended man to blindly imitate his fathers and ancestors. He has endowed him with mind or the faculty of reasoning by the exercise of which he is to investigate and discover the truth; and that which he finds real and true, he must accept. He must not be an imitator or blind follower of any soul. He must not rely implicitly upon the opinion of any man without investigation; nay, each soul must seek intelligently and independently, arriving at a real conclusion and bound only by that reality.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 73)

I am still waiting for you to back up your highly poisonous and extremely prejudicial categorization of tens of thousands of Baha’i youth in Iran as being rampantly engaged in drug-use, prostitution and corruption. Where are your facts? You do not have any. You are deliberately carrying on a smear campaign against these youths based solely on your own prejudiced perceptions.

Carmen

“Why does this occur? Because devout religious people can never step back and objectively look at the evidence if it conflicts with their world view. They get angry, go into denial, and become aggressive.”

Grover, this is the subject treated by FAIR Charles, in “The New Nonsense, The End of the Rational Consensus”, New York ; Simon and Schuster, 1974.

My answer to your question is that it is difficult for us all to harmonise our left and right brains, and when discrepancies arise, we feel insecure. This is the whole point in meditation where you confront and harmonise the rational and emotional data. It is also more reassuring to exchange with those who help you harmonise your rational and emotional faculties than with those who foster conflict.