Ernie Rea

Most general media audiences are not familiar with the Baha’i Faith making it a low priority for most journalists. Even more esoteric are the relatively new challenges and frictions within the worldwide Baha’i community.

This program features Denis MacEoin, a Babi, Baha’i and Muslim scholar who left the Faith in the 1980′s as a result of the infamous clashes that occurred between academics and various persons within the Baha’i institutions at the time. Although he was half a world away, MacEoin participated in the LA Baha’i Study Class of the mid to late 1970′s. Ernie Rae’s panel also includes Moojan Momen and Lil Osborn, both Baha’is. As well as Fidelma Meehan, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom who recounts how she learned of the Faith in university. The complete audio of the program and transcript is below. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

It make more sense to listen or read the program before reading my reactions. Several important points jumped at me as I listened. First, I’m surprised that someone as knowledgeable as MacEoin would claim that the Bab wasn’t really concerned about the next Manifestation of God. I’m also surprised that MacEoin says that the Bab was the first to lay claim to being the “Mahdi” or Qaim, the 12th Imam or the Hidden Imam. There were in fact 8 previous claimants going back as far as the 8th century and 6 other claimants after the Bab – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyyiha movement being the most famous and successful among this group. Even today there are people making the claiming.

It is also surprising that neither Momen nor MacEoin take this opportunity to raise the issue of Momen’s irredeemable paper “Marginality and Apostasy in the Baha’i Community” which resulted in an unprecedented editorial response from the publication declaring:

This incident clearly points to the absence of a code of research ethics in our field. The fact that so many individuals felt a need to protest against what they perceive as misrepresentation illustrates the need to take potential dangers to the in-tegrity of persons more actively in to account in the review process and editorial decisions. Possibly, we need to change our procedure in cases where people are targeted in ways that go beyond the usual forms of scholarly discussion (such as in reviews). The editors of Religion have begun discussing the possibility of dedicating a special issue on research ethics in the study of religion(s).

Religion subsequently published several responses, including one from Denis MacEoin, (as well as Momen’s own rebuttal): Challenging apostasy: Responses to Moojan Momen’s ‘Marginality and Apostasy in the Baha’i Community’

It is unfortunate that the discussion about the “paradox” of the exclusion of women from the House of Justice does not touch on the points raised in such papers as The Service of Women on the Institutions of the Baha’i Faith. Of course I don’t expect Momen, Osborn or Meehan to bring it up but MacEoin doesn’t either.

Momen’s defense of the Baha’i institutions is equally puzzling when he claims: “All of the institutions of the Faith are elected…”. Only one pillar out of two is elected, the other is appointed. Furthermore, in recent years we have seen a phenomena where the appointed bodies have come to have more prominence and clout. And the members of the Universal House of Justice sourced from the very same group of individuals the House of Justice itself appoints! This circular administrative order at the top of the Baha’i leadership is most definitely not “democratic”. Point to MacEoin – if anyone is keeping score.

The claim that the Baha’i Faith envisions the world governed by one world government does not mean that that government would be either Baha’i in nature or a theocracy. For more, see Baha’i Views on Church and State. The treatment of Baha’i publication review is equally superficial with no acknowledgement that the Faith is now engaged with a dynamic global audience that is able to ascertain fact from fiction and to differentiate between a person’s opinion or actions and the official policies of their respective religious authority. Do you think any of the 99% of the Catholics who use contraception need to be coddled about how one individual Bahai’s opinion about a matter may not necessarily match with that of the Universal House of Justice?

Another golden opportunity would have been the paper written by another member of the NSA of the UK, Barney Leith arguing that it is now time to do away with publication review (written in 1995!): Baha’i Review: Should the ‘red flag’ law be repealed?

Of course many other fascinating points of discussion were also ignored. For example, the view of the Baha’i Faith on homosexuality.

Audio:

Transcript:

Ernie: Hello, members of the Baha’i Faith hold to three cardinal beliefs: the unity of God, the unity of religion and the unity of humankind. Human beings are here to learn to love God and to be of service to others; universal principles. But Baha’is have suffered dreadful persecutions for their beliefs in places like Iran, Egypt and Afghanistan. So who are the Baha’is? what do they believe? and why do they attract such opposition in some Islamic countries? and what challenges does modernity pose to their own principles of equality and tolerance?

Joining me to discuss the Baha’i Faith are Lil Osborn, herself a Baha’i and whose book on the Baha’is in Britain will soon be published. Moojan Momen a Baha’i researcher and writer and Denis MacEoin a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly who used to be a Baha’i but has left the Faith.

Lil, you’ve taught religious studies in schools, when you introduce your students to the Baha’i Faith do you present it as one of the major world religions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or do you compare it with what we might call new religious movements like Jehova’s Witnesses or Mormon’s?

Lil: I think I tend to put it somewhere in the middle really. It’s a world religion in so far as it is spread worldwide; whether its major or not at this stage in time is debatable. But it certainly doesn’t conform to the stereotype of new religious movement. It’s too early to conform to Eileen Barker’s definition of a new religious movement.

Moojan: Eileen Barker being a sociologist who has done a lot of work in this.

Ernie: Denis, where do you stand on that? new religious movement or world religion?

Denis MacEoin

Ernie: I suppose Moojan it can be said that it is very widespread. Maybe small in numbers but they spread to virtually all corners of the earth.

Moojan: Yes, there are Baha’i communities in virtually every country of the world.
And there has been for several decades now. I think this question of new religious movement or world religion really depends on how you define those two terms. I would agree with Lil that its a new religious movement that’s moving towards being a world religion. It hasn’t got to that stage yet. And I agree with Denis, it hasn’t gotten cultural depth and history behind it because it is only a hundred and sixty years old. But on the other hand it certainly isn’t a sect of another religion. For example, its not a sect of Islam, its not a sect of any other religion. It is gradually evolving for itself the beginnings of a culture in terms of art and music and so forth.

Ernie: You say it is not a sect of another religion but I want to look at history. It emerged out of Islam, it emerged out of Shi’ite Islam in Iran. And it began with a person called the Bab who became convinced that he was the Mahdi – a great religious leader – the twelfth or missing Imam. Just explain a little about the Bab, put it into context for me Moojan.

Moojan: In both Sunni and Shi’ite Islam there is an expectation of the Mahdi. But in Shi’ite Islam, which is the form of Islam that predominates in Iran, this figure of the Mahdi relates to one of the early religious leaders who is said to have gone into occultation and they are expecting his return. The Bab initially put forward a claim of being the representative of this Imam. But then came out and said no he is actually the twelfth Imam, this figure that was being expected, this Imam Mahdi. On the basis of this claim he created quite a stir in Iran. Quite a large number of people from all walks of life, from the royal court circles down to the humble villagers became followers of this figure in a very short space of time.

Ernie: Lil, he appears to an outsider to be a sort of John the Baptist figure. Somebody who prepared the way for the great prophet Baha’u'llah.

Lil: In many ways he does perform that function within this tradition. But he is himself a manifestation of God. So it is slightly a different status from the way that Christians, for example, perceive John the Baptist.

Ernie: But he did say that one would come who…

Lil: Indeed.

Ernie: … who God will make manifest, I think was the phrase. Denis, he was executed. Why?

Denis: Because of his claims. On the one hand his claims and because his followers in many areas were armed and getting into conflict with state forces. Therefore Babis were seen as disruptive and dangerous elements to society. That itself has a lot to do with the execution. Beyond that his teachings were eccentric in the extreme. Modern Baha’is would often be quite shocked to learn how very very bizarre some of them were.

Ernie: Give me one illustration.

Denis: He has regulations about how you should eat an egg. Or that a man and a woman can only exchange only, I think its, 19 words between them. He had laws for fighting holy war and for conquering various countries in the neighborhood. He was an unusual character and I don’t think really had the least idea of prophesying the coming of somebody after him. His ideas were frankly a lot more complex than that.

Ernie: Moojan.

Moojan: I would first of all disagree with the idea that he didn’t prophesy this figure, “He Whom God Shall Make Manifest”. His major book which is called the Bayan, in that book practically every chapter has mentions of this figure, “He Whom God Shall Make Manifest”. He was certainly putting forward to his followers the fact that this person would come. That’s evidenced by the fact that after him quite a few of his followers actually claimed to be this figure before Baha’u'llah made the major claim and attracted most of the Babis to his claim.

Ernie: I want to turn now to this great figure, Baha’u'llah, who is the founder of the Baha’i Faith, tell me a little about him Lil.

Lil: He was a Persian, he lived in the 19th century. He was a follower of the Bab but never actually met him. He declared himself as the one that the Bab had prophesized to come, of course after that huge persecution rained down upon him and he and his family were forced to leave Persia. They traveled across, finally settling in what is modern day Israel.

During his lifetime he revealed huge amounts of scripture, which Baha’is believe to be directly from God, if you like, directly revealed through a manifestation. And these were written down at the time, and the came in both Persian and Arabic, so there is no question of authenticity being at stake over these writings.

Ernie: Denis, I suppose it is hardly surprising there was persecution because here was somebody, a Persian, an Iranian who was actually saying “I’m a prophet after Mohammad” and Islam believes that Mohammad is the last of the prophets.

Denis: Well, yes, he is the first person to do this, to make that claim of being a prophet after Mohammad. That is something that is utterly unacceptable to Muslims. The whole very thought of that; Mohammad is the last prophet, the Koran the final revelation. Therefore for someone to stand up and say “Well, I’m a prophet and here is another revelation” was and is very very shocking and as we know, basically, the punishment for apostasy in Islam is death. And that has therefore sparks off the kind of persecution, the violent persecution, that we have seen somewhat particularly in recent years but certainly beginning at the time of Baha’u'llah as well.

Ernie: I want to turn to the teachings, Moojan. I’ve mentioned one or two of them: the unity of God, the unity of religions, the unity of humankind. Just fill that out a little for me.

Moojan: Well, I think Baha’u'llah’s vision was that we’ve now moved to a new era in the progress or development of humanity which is a global era; that we must start thinking of the world as a whole and we must put aside narrower more parochial concerns and start thinking in terms of what is in the interest of the world. So for example, He says all humanity are the citizens of one country.

He, as it were, brought these teachings which were mainly focused on this idea of unity. Uniting humanity, bringing together, really removing all the causes of separation whether those are religious causes, racism, all of these sorts of different aspects that divide humanity and keep humanity apart, He was trying to remove.

Ernie: And one consequence of that unity to the world is that one day Baha’ullah promised, there would be a world government, Denis.

Denis: Yup, absolutely. There are people who disagree with that but I think that is absolutely true. The reason for this is, again it goes back to Islam. Islam is not just a religion, its religion plus politics; Its an ideology in that sense. Therefore for Baha’is, just to be a religion, again, is not appropriate. They need to bring into being a whole international system so that ultimately the Baha’i Faith is the religion of the entire world and there are no other political systems in power at all. Its an undemocratic system so we have to take it seriously as a threat to open, free, democratic governing that we have, at least, in the West at present.

Ernie: Moojan.

Moojan: Well, I again, I don’t recognize this at all. All of the institutions of the Faith are elected therefore democracy is at the heart of the Baha’i Faith. And there is no question of Baha’is imposing their system on others.

Ernie: Well, let me remind you that you are listening to “Beyond Belief” and today we are discussing the Baha’i Faith which emerged out of Iran in the 19th century and now claims to be the second most widespread religion in the world. And with me are Lil OSborn, Moojan Momen – both members of the Baha’i Faith – and Denis MacEoin.

Fidelma Meehan

Fidelma: Well, I first heard of the Baha’i Faith when I was at university in Coleraine, the University of Ulster. I was on a course with a person called Omid Djalili who is now very well known as a comedian here in Britain and an actor in Hollywood as well.

Omid introduced me to the idea of the Baha’i Faith, the idea of the oneness of religions and the inclusivity of all the religions. He said it was like seeing religion as chapters of one book and I got very excited about that. So my journey on faith really was a journey of laughter of discovery and really embracing spiritual realities that I guess probably always believed in.

Ernie: But at the time you met Omid you were a Catholic.

Fidelma: At the time when I met Omid and I was still a practicing Catholic I was a questioning Catholic and I was really wanting to find answers to my questions that weren’t always forthcoming within my own faith. And then to have actually Omid recast the whole understanding of what religion is for me was an eye opening moment.

I had never seen religion like this before because initially it was different religions all often fighting or arguing among each other. Now this eye opening moment brought an understanding that all religions could be progressive stages of one faith. And that they all had connections, they were all from one source. That their founders were divine educators such as Moses, Christ, Krishna, Mohammad. So that really made a lot of sense for me.

Ernie: Now you’re a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is in the United Kingdom. What’s your role in that body?

Fidelma: Well, there are nine members on that body and we consult about all the issues that are pertaining to the spiritual rejuvenation of the United Kingdom. To how we really get out those beautiful spiritual teachings of Baha’u'llah out to the people of the UK and that they are there to be applied and to put into action.

Ernie: Now you are clearly a person of some standing in the Baha’i movement in the UK and yet you can never be a member of the Universal House of Justice which is the overall body that exercises leadership in the Baha’i movement in the world and you can’t be because you’re a woman. How do you feel about that?

Fidelma: Well absolutely fine about it actually. Baha’u'llah has clearly said that there won’t be women admitted to be elected on the Universal House of Justice. But this doesn’t in any way indicate that men and women are not equal. The wisdom we are told from the Baha’i Writings, the wisdom of this, will be manifest as clearly as the sun at high noon.

Ernie: But not yet.

Fidelma: But not yet. And I think it wouldn’t be correct to deduce from this any implication of inequality between the sexes because the Baha’i principle of the equality of men and women in clearly stated in the teachings.

Ernie: It strikes me though that you’ve left one patriarchal organization, the Catholic Church, for another one, the Baha’i movement.

Fidelma: Well this clearly isn’t the case. I think today there are systems and laws that when we align ourselves to them will bring out the potential of every human being. Most of those laws we can make great sense of today, in this age, others become clear over time.

I think that we are all equal in that we all an opportunity to grow spiritually and contribute to an ever advancing civilization and bring about the kind of community, the kind of world, Baha’u'llah had envisaged in His writings over a hundred years ago.

Ernie: That was Fidelma Meehan, and Denis it strikes me that Fidelma’s clearly an intelligent, powerful woman and yet she got no problem with her exclusion from the Universal House of Justice.

Denis: Well, I can see that. It’s quite common for Baha’is to think that way. It does rather worry me because there’s failure perhaps to say what the House of Justice stands for. The House of Justice isn’t just a sort of governing administrative body; it is in fact the body endowed with the right to make laws. Now most of the Baha’i laws that have been written already by Baha’u'llah can never be changed which is one of the reasons I talk about it being undemocratic if you can’t change the law.

But the only person or body that has the right to add new ones is the Universal House of Justice. And if you stop and think about what that means. The implication that a woman is not fit to be in the body that makes the laws is yet another indication of how lacking it is in genuine democratic spirit.

Ernie: Lil.

Lil: I always find it quite strange that people talk about patriarchy and so on and then get worried about leaderships which strikes me as a terribly patriarchal way of looking at things. The Universal House of Justice does exclude women, I don’t know why. I think it is a kind of anomaly, in some level if you look at the roles of men and women as being one about being the same rather than ones about being equal.

Because the Baha’i Faith has got a tremendous track record on working in projects with women in raising the attainment of women in all sorts of projects around the world.

Ernie: But the principal point that Denis is making is that when it comes to being able to make rules that are going to govern the behavior of people, Baha’i people today, women have no part in that body.

Lil: They don’t have part in that body but they have a huge part in the organizations that elect that body and in the teachings committees… women

Ernie: So Baha’is are all equal but some Baha’is are more equal than others?

Lil: No, I don’t think that’s a fair analysis. People don’t go to church on the off chance they might become the Archbishop of Canterbury. Women don’t become Baha’is on the off chance of… anybody become Baha’i on the off chance they might become a member of the House of Justice.

Ernie: Moojan.

Moojan: I think we should not overlook the vast contribution that the Baha’i community has made towards the equality of men and women. For example, one of the fundamental Baha’i teachings that is in the scripture of the Faith is if you are in a situation where you have children and you can’t afford to educate all of your children you should educate the girl child before educate the boy child. So in that area women actually have superiority over men in that particular field and that’s because…

Ernie: I don’t dispute that for one moment and I’m sure Baha’is have done enormous things to bring about a greater role for women. But in an organization that actually prides itself on its egalitarian principles it seems very strange that a half of the human race should be excluded from its governing body.

Moojan Momen

Ernie: Denis.

Denis: I don’t deny that. I think the Baha’is have done a lot of good for egalitarianism of that particular kind. I think the problem for me is just a little bit wider. And that is, to see how the system works in its entirety you’ve got to understand Baha’is are not allowed to form any kind of parties. They, even at whatever level of the administration…

Ernie: Politial parties, you mean Denis?

Denis: Political or religio-political parties. They are not allowed to have an opposition to any of the institutors. In other words, basically, one common agreement on everything particularly with God and administration. That is why I call it authoritarian. Just having elections doesn’t actually make any movement democratic. But there is no opportunity whatsoever to disagree with decisions, that are made, particularly by the Universal House of Justice.

Ernie: Moojan.

Moojan: The fact is that we don’t have political parties precisely because we are, as it were, focused on the idea of unity therefore what we do is come together and consult about matters and come, as a community at a local level, to a decision at a local level and then we all support what that decision is – whether we agree to it when it first was being discussed or not, the important point is create unity and to have unity in action. So that you then… If it is the wrong decision it becomes clear all that much more quickly if people are not constantly sniping away at it.

Ernie: Denis, as I understand it, if a Baha’i is writing about their faith in a publication, book or magazine, they must first submit that to their Local Spiritual Assembly for their OK.

Denis: Well, I think it is the National Spiritual Assembly. Most National Assemblies have committees. I used to be in one of these committees myself. A committee which basically approves or disapproves or demands changes in texts.

That principle has continued to the present day and it does mean that people writing quite honest and often academically about the religion, but saying something that is slightly controversial may find that they are forbidden to publish or that they have to remove material. And if people do publish something and Baha’is don’t like it, then they will write refutations and it can sometimes get quite unpleasant.

Ernie: Lil, did you have to submit your book?

Lil: Books are submitted for review by a reviewing office. Its time consuming and I’m not saying that it makes publication easy but you can’t be forced to change things. They can suggest and they can say that they disagree but they’d have to give reasons if they disagree on something factual.

Ernie: Can you remain a Baha’i if you write something they don’t like?

Lil: Yeah. I have.

Ernie: Moojan.

Moojan: Let’s go back to what the idea of review is. The Baha’i Faith is a young religion. Most of your listeners will not have heard anything about it at all. So if some Baha’i were to write an article that Baha’is believe in, uh, I don’t know, suicide… or…

Lil: Child sacrifice.

Moojan: …child sacrifice, or something outrageous – the fact is, because a Baha’i has said that, people will assume that’s the truth. If some were to say the same thing about Christianity, everyone knows that’s nonsense and dismiss they’d it. If someone says that about the Baha’i Faith people would assume its the truth. The whole point of this review process – which is a temporary thing, it’s not a permanent feature of the Baha’i Faith – is that while the Baha’i Faith is obscure and people don’t know what it actually stands for, people who are writing about the Baha’i Faith who are Baha’is are asked to submit this to the reviewing committee. The point of it is not to censor or anything. It’s just to make sure that what is being written about the Baha’i Faith is, in broad terms, compatible with the broad Baha’i teachings. And that’s the rationale for it.

Ernie: Denis.

Denis: I can see the rationale for it but I think Moojan, is perhaps, gliding over problems that have certainly surfaced. I think a lot of American Baha’is who have come under heavy pressure about books they have written. I’m not saying it can lead to expulsion but there are things like having voting rights removed. Not only that, publishing a book without authorization, being defiant of the Baha’i institutions is going to get you into a lot of trouble. So I think its not quite as simple or as benign as Moojan makes it seem to be.

Moojan: First of all, if people flout Baha’i procedures and laws, they don’t get expelled straight away. They get counseled, it gets pointed out to them what the problem is that they’ve produced and so forth. It is only repeated, flagrant, willful breaches of Baha’i procedures and laws that brings about any sanctions.

Ernie: As we bring this program to close I’d like to ask each of you a question: Lil, what must the Baha’i Faith do in the next few years to progress its mission? most important thing it has to do?

Lil: I think it has to break out of its bubble where it tends to be very middle class. Quite often it projects itself… bringing up the stuff about the equality of men and women is an interesting one. The trouble is that they’ve never really distinguished what they mean by “equality of men and women” from say, secular feminism. Those lines need to be drawn because one of the problems is that the Baha’i Faith can come across as a liberal-social-kind-of agenda. When in fact its actually very much more.

The problem is at the moment it attracts people who are looking for something different from what its actually offering. Those people may well find themselves disappointed. I would like to see the Faith actually root itself more in the spiritual and mystical approaches rather than its social and quasi-political ideas because most of those have been won now anyway.

Ernie: Denis.

Denis: I don’t think there is a great deal that the Baha’is can do. They will probably go on growing at the extremely slow rate – because it is one of the slowest growing religions in the world. They are trapped by things like the unchangeable laws, by the their administrative order which is not deemed to be man made but divine and can not be changed. As time goes by, the Baha’i Faith is gradually getting more and more out of date and in conflict with progressive ideas in the world at large, at least certainly with the West.

Ernie: Moojan.

Moojan: Yes, I think what the Baha’i community is doing, as well as developing the spiritual side of the Baha’i Faith and the Baha’i community, it is coming out of its bubble, if you like, in terms of reaching out into the community, becoming more active in the community so as to engage the whole community in the sort of goals towards unity to which Baha’is are striving.

Ernie: Well that’s all for this edition of “Beyond Belief”. My thanks to Lil Osborne, Moojan Momen and Denis MacEoin. I’ll be back next Monday with another edition of “Beyond Belief”.

Related posts:

1. Omid Djalili Talks About His Faith With BBC Radio
2. The Concept of Infallibility In The Baha’i Faith
3. BBC: Around the World in 80 Faiths – Baha’i Faith

We don’t have the actual question but from the reply we can infer that it juxtaposed the prominence that Shoghi Effendi placed upon it with the more recent exhortations from the UHJ and ITC on the “framework for growth”:

You indicate that some friends wonder whether the Guardian’s statement characterizing racial prejudice as “the most vital and challenging issue confronting the Bahá’í community at the present stage of its evolution” still applies to the racial situation in the United States, since it was written so long ago. The House of Justice has determined that it is not productive to approach the issue in this manner, as it gives rise to an implicit and false dichotomy that, either what the Guardian said is no longer important, or it is so important that it must be addressed before or apart from all other concerns

Ultimately the House sides with themselves on the issue, writing that the framework for growth takes precedence:

Only if the efforts to eradicate the bane of prejudice are coherent with the full range of the community’s affairs, only if they arise naturally within the systematic pattern of expansion, community building, and involvement with society, will the American believers expand their capacity, year after year and decade after decade, to make their mark on their community and society and contribute to the high aim set for the Bahá’ís by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to eliminate racial prejudice from the face of the earth.

I’m a bit puzzled by their claim that:

Even if such a community were to focus the entirety of its resources on the problem of racial prejudice, even if it were able to heal itself to some extent of that cancerous affliction, in the face of such a monumental social challenge the impact would be inconsequential.

Because one of the most famous quotes from Shoghi Effendi on teaching is this:

Not by the force of numbers, not by the mere exposition of a set of new and noble principles, not by an organized campaign of teaching – no matter how world-wide and elaborate in its character – not even by the staunchness of our faith or the exaltation of our enthusiasm, can we ultimately hope to vindicate in the eyes of a critical and skeptical age the supreme claim of the Abha Revelation. One thing, and only one thing, will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahá’u'lláh.
The Bahá’í Magazine – Star of the West, September 1925, Vol. 16 No. 6, page 538

Doesn’t that explicitly contradict the UHJ? Especially since Shoghi Effendi excludes “an organized campaign of teaching – no matter how world-wide and elaborate in its character” and posits that the extent to which we live the Baha’i principles in our lives is the key? wouldn’t a community that “mirrors forth” the principle of the unity of mankind, with no racial prejudice, ultimately “secure the undoubted triumph” of the Cause?

As always, I’d like to hear your thoughts. For your consideration, here’s the full letter:

No related posts.

There isn’t much remarkable about it but if you manage to hack through the thick underbrush of verbiage you’ll find that almost at the end Khan says:

The solution is childish simple; the solution is so simple, it [sic] hardly worth mentioning. The solution is no more and no less than unreserved acceptance of whatever the central authority of the Cause, in this case the Universal House of Justice decrees.

Unfortunately Khan doesn’t explain what he really means by ‘decrees’.

Does that mean anything the House decides? every word they write? every answer they give to a questioner? every letter of guidance to members or national administrative bodies? or does it mean what they decree as in their legislative authority within Baha’i administrative structure?

It would seem that Khan has a wide understanding of ‘decrees’ since he mentions the guidance for ‘direct teaching’, as well as the implementation of Ruhi courses as the only option within the institute process.

This obviously opens up the hornets nest of the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice.

Oy vey! Here we go again.

Brendan wrote a commentary: Second Thoughts on Peter Khan.

Karen is dispassionate.

Alison believes that Khan is overstepping.

As for your humble scribe, I’m not sure what else I can add to what has already been written before here and elsewhere on this topic. I’m not comfortable with the conviction that Khan has in an absolutist understanding of the decrees of the House of Justice and can’t help but think of this gem of a quip:

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.
Bertrand Russell

No advancement in any field would be possible if at least one person did not doubt if there was a better way to do things. If one person didn’t doubt the dogma of their day. If one person did not have so much doubt that they investigated other potential answers and avenues.

This is true for scientific advancements of course. But it is equally valid in any field of human endeavor.

Do you think that anyone would have believed in the Bab if they first hadn’t a seed of doubt regarding the commonly accepted notion within Islam that Muhammad was the ‘last prophet of God’?

So I respectfully submit to you that believing that we can simply put away questions and do without further investigation of truth is the biggest mistake that Baha’is make.

No related posts.

To find out more about why this document is so important, you can read more about it here. Interestingly enough, there are many discrepancies between the contents of the Codex and what we consider as the Bible today. For example, it has no mention of a resurrected Jesus – a pivotal component of modern Christian doctrine.

I took the image you see above while playing around with the controls at the Codex Sinaiticus website. As the image shows, you can zoom in to see quiet a lot of detail.

Even you are not a librarian or a photographer or an archivist, it isn’t difficult to imagine the daunting task of digitizing a 1,600-year old manuscript that is literally falling apart.

This monumental achievement reminded me of the massive volumes of Baha’i texts which are hidden away in vaults and not accessible by scholars (or anyone else). To give you an idea of what a similar project for Baha’i texts would look like, here is a low resolution image of an excerpt from the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf by Baha’u'llah (written in the handwriting of Mirza Aqa Jan, Baha’u'llah’s amanuensis):

It is difficult to estimate the sheer magnitude of material that is locked away right now. But I would estimate that less than one percent of the total is currently published. Most are kept in special archival vaults under Mount Carmel but there is also an impressive collection in the Afnan Library in England.

Sadly, the website of the Afnan Library is merely a bookmark on the internet rather than the storehouse of information it could be if it were used as a portal to the contents of the documents held there.

The Baha’i Faith is the only world religion which has verified and authentic religious texts. As well we have an untold wealth of secondary documents. So it is frustrating that they are not shared freely with the world. After all, the documents are intended for all of humanity. So it would follow that they should be made available as widely as possible. Before, this meant either publishing the content as books in their original language – which had limited market and was an expensive undertaking – or translating them to English or other languages to open up a larger market – but this meant expensive and protracted translation projects.

With the advent of the internet, we have the solution. When texts are published online in digital format, as with the Codex Sinaiticus, they are available to as many people as possible for the least per unit cost. This opens up an incredible panorama of possibilities and advantages. Not only for scholars and others who are interested in the text but also for the dissemination and scholarly advancement of the content itself.

The Baha’i Reference Library is a good step towards this end but it is infinitesimally small compared to what could be done. For the price of one translation project, all Baha’i texts could be digitized and made available online in their original format.

Because the Baha’i texts are so young, they are in very good condition and could be digitized much easier than the Codex. As it stands now, a person would have to request permission (something that is not always given – especially if the person’s views vary at all with that of the UHJ/ITC) and then physically go to Haifa and London. This cumbersome and anachronistic process need not continue.

The Baha’i Faith is the youngest of the world religions and as such it is only natural that we should be at the vanguard of realizing the full potential of the internet. I hope to see this fulfilled in my lifetime.

Related posts:

1. An Alternative Understanding of the Bible
2. Baha’i Blogs & Other Online Baha’i News

Now that statement may seem ridiculous, especially when you consider that everything in our Western society demonstrates and magnifies the divide between the two sexes.

Boys are given toy trucks, girls? Barbies. Even if the politically correct parents of today have moved beyond such cliches, I’m willing to bet that they may have read books like, Men are from Mars, Women from Venus.

There are two sexes: men and women. But is it that clear cut?

Turns out… no.

Science is slowly beginning to come to grips with the question of gender and the discoveries are nothing short of astonishing. Whereas we once thought of the world divided between two halves, the new paradigm is one where there is a continuum.

Recently I stumbled on this article: We’re all intersex where Gerald N. Callahan, the author of Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes is interviewed about his research:

In between what we call the ideal biological male or ideal biological female, there’s a whole range of other possibilities that don’t differ from our basic preconceptions to the extent that we have names for them or call them a disorder. Just like with every other human trait, there are an infinite number of possibilities.

Of course this is nothing really new. There are other books, like Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach, from 1978 which expound more or less the same ideas.

We’ve all heard of ‘hermaphrodites’ – persons which have both sexes. By the way, recently, intersexuality has replaced the more familiar, hermaphrodite, as the word of choice within the medical field. In any case, all of this made me think of an uncomfortable question:

Of what significant is the limitation of women’s capacity to serve on the House of Justice when the very definition of ‘woman’ is not black and white?

Can an intersex person be eligible? what if a person has both sets of genitalia? and biologically is both man and woman?

Would that mean that they are eligible? or ineligible? or both?

Huh?

If the Baha’i Faith didn’t have the principle of the unity of religion and science, we could easily brush this off; just like a fundamentalist Christian decrying the fossil records as ‘Satan’s trickery’. But, as Baha’is we have an incredibly high standard which requires us to abide by scientific truths, just as much as religious truths. They are, after all, twin paths to the same truth (or is it Truth?).

I’m not sure if this question has already been asked of the Universal House of Justice. If anyone knows, drop me a note so I don’t have to bother them by asking again. I’ve looked around the internet and haven’t been able to find anything substantial but that doesn’t mean something of significance isn’t out there somewhere floating about.

The only things I’ve found are others over the years wondering the same question and one Baha’i blogger who wrote such a bigoted tripe of an ‘essay’ that it deserves to not even be dignified with detailed mention.

For those that are new to this topic, currently, membership to the Universal House of Justice is restricted to male adults. But there is some disagreement with others believing that there is a sound theological basis for both women and men being eligible for membership to this institution.

But if science shows that gender isn’t that clearly defined into two subsections, doesn’t that make all this a moot point? that is, rendered irrelevant?

Let me know what you think about all this. I’m sure someone out there knows much more about this than I do.

No related posts.

This reminded me of the continuing court case between the NSA of the Baha’is of the United States and the Orthodox Baha’i group in the US. The NSA lost the case last year and has appealed the case – everyone is waiting for a decision any minute (day, month, etc.) now.

Similar to the Muslim Malaysians, the NSA is asking the Court to enforce a previous ruling which gave them the sole and exclusive rights of the word “Baha’i”.

I’m not making this up. How I wish I was!

They’ve gone after them in fine litigious style befitting Scientology. The NSA’s aim is to prevent a small group of people from using the word Baha’i – claiming in the presented evidence before the court that it would ‘confuse’ people.

The NSA has already lost once. And once the appeals court ruling arrives, they may very well lose again. But I’m not referring to an unfavorable verdict. Although by any sane stretch of the imagination, one wonders how in the world the term “Baha’i” can be the sole exclusive property and trademark of an organization when other words like Christian, Muslim, Jew, etc. are in the public domain.

No, what I mean is that the Baha’is of the US will lose the PR battle – as they already have. Take a look at this article from the Chicago Tribune (thanks to Baha’is Online for highlighting this article).

“The word Baha’i carries with it implications for a certain sets of beliefs — and we have to protect that,” said Robert Stockman

Can you imagine for one second the Roman Catholic Church suing the Protestant Church over their concern that they had the monopoly on what the word “Christian” means, and that this means it has to be protected?

For some strange reason the Office of Public Information from Wilmette refused to talk to the newspaper about this article. Instead they turned to Robert Stockman, a US Baha’i. For all his best intentions, Stockman comes across as loonie as a Scientologist. I can’t imagine he would have gone on the record unless he was given the approval from the NSA to talk to the press. Which makes his ramblings all the more odd.

If you’d like to know what this is all about, read this original post with detailed background information about the Orthodox Baha’i court case.

Related posts:

1. Baha’is on Both Sides of Docket: US & Egypt

With that in mind, I hope the discussion continues from the previous location: The Challenge of Homosexuality.

As I explained, the reason for this change of venue is to rescue my poor, exhausted mySQL database from the non-stop barrage you have put it through. At around 650 comments I was afraid it would finally give way one of these days and take the whole blog with it. I’ve taken other measures to fortify the blog but won’t go into the boring technical details.

We leave the discussion with Steve requesting some clarification from Farhan. Masud suggesting that the UHJ has “self-executing” privileges and does not need to legislate on everything. And we hear that Ted Haggard is not gay! (he just keeps on having sex with men). Oh and Daniel brought to our attention a petition for LGBT rights.

If that isn’t enough to kick things off here, indulge me in sharing something I read recently on Baha’i LiveJournal; suivreletoile wrote…

homosexuality and the Faith
I pretty much know the Faith’s position on homosexuality, I’m just wondering more about the administration side of it.

If somebody is gay, the LSA or NSA can take their declaration card away? And therefor prohibit them from going to Feast, etc?

Someone anonymously wrote a reply which many approved of:

I do not speak for the Administration, but from more than half a century of Baha’i administrative experience, it is my understanding that this problem (if you want to call it a problem) is like any other problem in the Faith. That is, if one disobeys a Baha’i law, it is not of concern to the administration of the Faith UNLESS one does so publicly and in such a way as to bring criticism upon the Faith itself. No one escapes life without breaking some of God’s rules from time to time either deliberately or inadvertently. It is a paramount principle of the Faith that one’s adherence to Baha’i law is between the individual and God. It is no one else’s business. However, if that violation brings disrespect or criticism upon the Faith and the Baha’i community, it becomes the business of the community. In the last analysis, it is between the individual and God. But the Baha’i community has the right to expect those who call themselves “Baha’i” to behave in such a way as to not bring discredit on the Baha’i Faith and its community of believers. We all have our burdens to bear in trying to adhere to Baha’i principles and we should not criticize or judge others for their problems or struggles so as not to invite judgment on ourselves for our own failures. As individuals we need to concern ourselves without our own struggles. The community (through the administrative process) has the responsibility to maintain the public image of the Faith. Even when the community disenfranchises someone by removing their administrative rights, the final judgment rests with God and God alone.

Sadly I didn’t fall over myself in fawning adulation over this reply like some at that forum. My eyebrows wrinkled instead in confusion… I imagined a loving homosexual couple who are married according to the civil laws of the land they live in and who are raising a child or children in a stable and safe home environment. If they declare their faith in Baha’u'llah and join his community…

What Baha’i law have they broken exactly?

How would they be bringing “criticism upon the Faith itself” exactly?

How would they be besmirching the “public image of the Faith”?

I wrote as much to inquire from the “anonymous” contributor on LJ Baha’i. But as is usual with anything that doesn’t meet the hair trigger standards of the fanatical moderators on that forum my comment was censored.

While a scientific challenge may be off in the near or far future, this challenge is right here, right now.

I still wonder though. And my eyebrows remain wrinkled. Won’t you unwrinkle them?

While you’re at it… and I speak now to fellow Baha’is around the world who happen to be heterosexual, please tell me when and under what circumstances you chose to be heterosexual.

You see, if we say that homosexuality is a choice and that it is an “aberration” to be corrected with prayer, meditation, etc. then I can’t help but wonder when it was that you, a heterosexual made the decision to be… well, a heterosexual.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have an issue with you being a hetero nor asking you to justify it in any way. I’m just curious when and where you were when you made the conscious decision to be one.

You did make such a choice, right?

Related posts:

1. The Challenge of Homosexuality
2. Baha’i Chile Temple Construction: Math Challenge

Yale has put quite a few of their world class lectures online for anyone to use. They have quite a few courses with more being added. You can see the complete list here.

I’ve always been interested in studying the Old Testament but have never had access to a quality source. With Open Yale courses, this is no longer a problem.

This course examines the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) as an expression of the religious life and thought of ancient Israel, and a foundational document of Western civilization. A wide range of methodologies, including source criticism and the historical-critical school, tradition criticism, redaction criticism, and literary and canonical approaches are applied to the study and interpretation of the Bible. Special emphasis is placed on the Bible against the backdrop of its historical and cultural setting in the Ancient Near East.

The course is taught by Prof. Christine Hayes:

Here is a comprehensive list of similar courses from some of the best universities around the world: free online courses

Isn’t the internet wonderful?

Related posts:

1. William Hatcher’s Letter to Yale University
2. LA Class Newsletters: Introduction
3. Introduction

If you have not watched from the beginning, Part One and Part Two.

Related posts:

1. Ali Nakhjavani Speaks on the Covenant (Part 2)
2. Ali Nakhjavani Speaks on the Covenant (part I)
3. Reply to Comment on the Covenant