Pey, wouldn’t this violence be a matter of distortion and manipulation of belief for power issues, and what is so blind in complying with the requirement that the population of enrolled Baha’is residing in the Holy Land needs monitoring? You sound like those who believe that the best remedy for divorce is to abolish marriage.

Where is there any love in the Baha'i religion? It has now become a system of incredible coercion and bullying of people. The same old, same old. It is not spiritual at all. It is a system of loveless witch hunts and the enforcement of groupthink orthodoxy. The same old, same old. It has become the same historical brain chemistry of all organized religions. It is spirituality that matters. Not an “organized” religion of ruthless coercion and bullying by a tiny clique of self appointed incestuous lifetime incumbent neurotics at the top. How can anyone who serves more than two terms on the UHJ get up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror? It is rabid ego at it's worst. Just shameful.

Craig we do need competence (and science) for understanding, organising, canalising and applying religious concepts into every day life, but the religious experience per se, is one of love and emotion, aiming at educating minds and hearts in feelings of love and unity, and not a substitute for reason and wisdom. It so happens that an adequate development of learning is based on adequate emotions without which we would become monstrous machines, including in our ways of organising religious activities. The true danger is when religious activities become void of love and are used as a tool for dominating others, sometimes with great competence.

Whether it is “science” or “religion”, it makes no difference when it comes to the concept of competence. To be effective in life people and systems must be competent. It is now highly debatable if any religion on this planet is competent to do anything on Earth including the Baha'i Faith. The record of all the sorry “religions systems” in human history speak for themselves. I tried for decades to believe a religion could be competent at doing something. I see no evidence that it is possible. I just don't.