The problem really is the balance between literalism and spirit. There is no balance at the present in the Bahai community. It has turned more and more to a literalist approach mimicking Christian evangelical churches. For instance, if an atheist wants to marry a Bahai, they can’t have a Bahai wedding. Unless the atheist lies and utters the words “We shall verily abide by the will of God”. So if no Bahai wedding, then what? Remove the Bahai’s voting rights? In the environment today that would be done in the Bahai community. Instead of finding compromise and working within the spirit of whatever “law”. This is biggere than the gay issue my friend. It is about the future of this small declining religion.

And speaking of declining…I asked my nephew today why he didn’t go to Sunday classes. He told me that they are cancelled. There wasn’t anyone who wanted to teach the classes and not enough kids- so they didn’t start them back up this Fall. This is a good size city and capital in the South with a Bahai center. Truly sad! In a weird way, I’m actually heartbroken. This is not what I want to see, but oh well….

I am proud to say that I have been a Bahá’i since the
age of eleven when I first received my first personal revelation of the Faith.
I still consider myself imperfect and by no means fully knowledgable on all
aspects of the Faith and its teachings, when I compare myself to many of my
more learned Bahá’í Friends. When I became a Bahá’í I was fully informed of the
rules and laws of the Faith, which I wholeheartedly accepted. I would presume
that anyone else who wandered the same path as I have would have done the
same. 

“… Therefore, in the beginning the believers
must make their steps firm in the Covenant so that the confirmations
of Baha’u’llah may encircle them from all sides, the cohorts of the Supreme Concourse may become their supporters and helpers,
and the exhortations and advices of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, like unto the pictures
engraved on stone, may remain permanent and ineffaceable in the tablets of all
hearts.”  (”Tablets of the Divine Plan Revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Baha
to the North American Baha’is” rev. ed. (Wilmette: Baha’i Publishing Trust,
1977), p. 49)

The purpose of this comment I would like to make is this: 

If one is fully aware that in the Hindu religion the
cow is sacred and that Hindu’s are forbidden to eat of its meat or kill a cow
or mistreat a cow, how totally absurd it would be to suggest that one would
become a Hindu, fully conscious of these sacred rules, and then seek to change
these sacred rules of that religion to suit their own personal needs and/or
requirement(s). 

“That the forces of irreligion, of a purely
materialistic philosophy, of unconcealed paganism have been unloosed, are now
spreading, and, by consolidating themselves, are beginning to invade some of
the most powerful Christian institutions of the western world, no unbiased
observer can fail to admit. That these institutions are becoming increasingly
restive, that a few among them are already dimly aware of the pervasive
influence of the Cause of Bahá’u'lláh, that they will, as their inherent
strength deteriorates and their discipline relaxes, regard with deepening
dismay the rise of His New World Order, and will gradually determine to assail
it, that such an opposition will in turn accelerate their decline, few, if any,
among those who are attentively watching the progress of His Faith would be
inclined to question.

This menace of secularism that has attacked Islam and
is undermining its remaining institutions, that has invaded Persia, has
penetrated into India, and raised its triumphant head in Turkey, has already
manifested itself in both Europe and America, and is, in varying degrees, and
under various forms and designations, challenging the basis of every
established religion…” (In a letter
written by Shoghi Effendi, 11 March 1936 to the Bahá’ís of the West, published in
“The World Order of Bahá’u'lláh: Selected Letters”, pp. 180-81)

Therefore, the same applies to the rules of my Beloved
Faith! For anyone to become a Bahá’í of their own accord and having full
knowledge of the basic rules of the Faith to expect that such a Great
Revelation and Institution will change its rules merely to suit the wishes of
any individual would be equally absurd! Acceptance of and obediance to The
Cause of God which has been sent down by the Pen on High is a basic principle
of the Bahá’í Faith. 

“The Baha’is must cling firmly to the knowledge
that the Cause is safely in God’s hands, that the Covenant of Baha’u’llah is
incorruptible and that they can have complete confidence in the ability of the
Universal House of Justice to function “under the care and protection of the
Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the
Exalted One”….” (28 May 1975, from a letter written on behalf of the
Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

and

“The Covenant is the “axis of the oneness of the
world of humanity” because it preserves the unity and integrity of the Faith
itself and protects it from being disrupted by individuals who are convinced
that only their understanding of the Teachings is the right one — a fate that
has overcome all past Revelations. The Covenant is, moreover, embedded in the
Writings of Baha’u’llah Himself. Thus, as you clearly see, to accept
Baha’u’llah is to accept His Covenant; to reject His Covenant is to reject
Him.” (3 January 1982, from a letter written on behalf of
the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

The reason why certain behaviours are forbidden have
clearly been laid down by Bahá’u'lláh, being that they are unacceptable,
rather, abhorrent in the eyes of God, and I for one would not remain
a member of this Faith if that were by any means to suddenly be changed by
anyone. For me the sactity and preservation of the Faith is primary. 

“It should also be borne in mind that the
machinery of the Cause has been so fashioned, that whatever is deemed necessary
to incorporate into it in order to keep it in the forefront of all progressive
movements, can, according to the provisions made by Baha’u'llah, be safely
embodied therein. To this testify the words of Baha’u'llah, as recorded in the
Eighth Leaf of the exalted Paradise: “It is incumbent upon the Trustees of
the House of Justice to take counsel together regarding those things which have
not outwardly been revealed in the Book, and to enforce that which is agreeable
to them. God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth, and He,
verily, is the Provider, the Omniscient.”… the House of Justice [has]
been invested by Baha’u'llah with the authority to legislate whatsoever has not
been explicitly and outwardly recorded in His holy Writ… Such is the
immutability of His revealed Word. Such is the elasticity which characterizes
the functions of His appointed ministers. The first preserves the identity of
His Faith, and guards the integrity of His law. The second enables it, even as
a living organism, to expand and adapt itself to the needs and requirements of
an ever-changing society.” (Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u'llah, p. 22-3)

The reason why most other religions are in so much
chaos today is because they have been bowing to political and social pressures
and have deviated far too much on far too many of their basic principles, which
has cause division among their ranks.

“Today, the most important affair is firmness in
the Covenant, because firmness in the Covenant wards off differences.

. . .Baha’u’llah covenanted, not that I (’Abdu’l-Baha)
am the Promised One, but that ‘Abdu’l-Baha is the Expounder of the Book and the
Centre of His Covenant, and that the Promised One of Baha’u’llah will appear
after one thousand or thousands of years. This is the Covenant which
Baha’u’llah made. If a person shall deviate, he is not acceptable at the
Threshold of Baha’u’llah. In case of differences, ‘Abdu’l-Baha must be
consulted. They must revolve around his good pleasure. After ‘Abdu’l-Baha,
whenever the Universal House of Justice is organized it will ward off
differences.”  (’Abdu’l-Baha, cited in “Star of the West”, vol. 4,
no. 14 (November 1913), p. 237-38)

and

“Inasmuch as great differences and divergences of
denominational belief had arisen throughout the past, every man with a new idea
attributing it to God, Baha’u’llah desired that there should not be any ground
or reason for disagreement among the Baha’is. Therefore, with His own pen He
wrote the Book of His Covenant, addressing His relations and all people of the
world, saying, “Verily, I have appointed One Who is the Center of My Covenant.
All must obey Him; all must turn to Him; He is the Expounder of My Book, and He
is informed of My purpose. All must turn to Him. Whatsoever He says is correct,
for, verily, He knoweth the texts of My Book. Other than He, no one doth know
My Book.” The purpose of this statement is that there should never be discord
and divergence among the Baha’is but that they should always be unified and
agreed…. Therefore, whosoever obeys the Center of the Covenant appointed by
Baha’u’llah has obeyed Baha’u’llah, and whosoever disobeys Him has disobeyed
Baha’u’llah….

Beware! Beware! lest anyone should speak from the
authority of his own thoughts or create a new thing out of himself. Beware!
Beware! According to the explicit Covenant of Baha’u’llah you should care
nothing at all for such a person. Baha’u’llah shuns such souls. “ (”The Promulgation
of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Baha during His Visit to the
United States and Canada in 1912, 2nd ed. (Wilmette:
Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1982), pp. 322-23)

and

“Numerous and powerful have been the forces that have
schemed, both from within and from without, in lands both far and near, to
quench its light and abolish its holy name. Some have apostatized from its
principles, and betrayed ignominiously its cause. Others have hurled against it
the fiercest anathemas which the embittered leaders of any ecclesiastical
institution are able to pronounce. Still others have heaped upon it the
afflictions and humiliations which sovereign authority can alone, in the
plenitude of its power, inflict.

The utmost its avowed and secret enemies could hope to
achieve was to retard its growth and obscure momentarily its purpose. What they
actually accomplished was to purge and purify its life, to stir it to still
greater depths, to galvanize its soul, to prune its institutions, and cement
its unity. A schism, a permanent cleavage in the vast body of its adherents,
they could never create.

They who betrayed its cause, its lukewarm and
faint-hearted supporters, withered away and dropped as dead leaves, powerless
to cloud its radiance or to imperil its structure. Its most implacable
adversaries, they who assailed it from without, were hurled from power, and, in
the most astonishing fashion, met their doom…

Meanwhile the Faith that had been the object of such
monstrous betrayals, and the target for such woeful assaults, was going from
strength to strength, was forging ahead, undaunted and undivided by the
injuries it had received. In the midst of trials it had inspired its loyal
followers with a resolution that no obstacle, however formidable, could
undermine. It had lighted in their hearts a faith that no misfortune, however
black, could quench. It had infused into their hearts a hope that no force,
however determined, could shatter.” (Shoghi
Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 195)

and

“…the believers need to be deepened in
their knowledge and appreciation of the Covenants of both Bahá’u’lláh and
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This is the stronghold of the Faith of every Bahá’í, and that
which enables him to withstand every test and the attacks of the enemies
outside the Faith, and the far more dangerous, insidious, lukewarm people
inside the Faith who have no real attachment to the Covenant, and consequently
uphold the intellectual aspect of the teachings while at the same time undermining
the spiritual foundation upon which the whole Cause of God rests.” (Written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, The Light of Divine Guidance v II, p. 84)

My personal suggestion to anyone who cannot accept the
principles of this Great Cause of God to simply reevaluate your own motives and
act according to your own conscience!

” I would presume that anyone else who wandered the same path as I have would have done the same.”

This is one of the basic problems with fundamentalist bahais, they assume that the satisfaction they get from being narrow-minded conformists is “normal”, and as such should be imposed on people, even if coercion is necessary.

Cultural imperialism and medieval thinking.