The Baha'i Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience

From: jrcole@umich.edu <jrcole@umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Freedom of Conscience
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 11:09 AM

Dear Kathy:
There is a third possibility you are not accounting for.  It is that my
information comes from an impeccable eyewitness whom I know was there and is
completely credible;  but that if I revealed the person's name, the Baha'i
authorities would come down on her like a ton of bricks.  The Baha'i
institutions, including the counselors that say they have no authority, use
threats of shunning and ostracism to control people.  It can have serious
consequences.  What if this person were shunned or forced out of the faith
and it broke up her marriage and badly affected her children?  Why should I
do that to someone, just to prove that what I am saying is credible?  People
who don't want to accept my credibility won't accept it anyway.
However, just because I cannot reveal my source does not mean I should not
reveal my information.	I know it is not gossip. The Baha'i electoral system
at the national level in the U.S. has been subject to all sorts of
manipulation for at least 30 years, and this is widely known by insiders and
condoned by most of them.  Dissatisfaction with this situation was one of the
reasons that the house of justice basically threatened to dissolve the US NSA
in May, 1994, if it did not shape up.
Journalists frequently go to press with information they are sure of, even
when they cannot in good conscience reveal their sources.  I am a full
professor of history at a major university; my dossier was intensively
scrutinized numerous times by academics at other universities and at my own
in several divisions before I was put in my present position.  I didn't get
here by publishing false or unsubstantiatable information.  And anyone who
wants to disregard what I say is welcome to.
cheers   Juan
In article <36e76943.381914935@news.newsguy.com>,
  kathy@scconsult.com (Kathy Pascoe) wrote:
> On Tue, 09 Feb 1999 05:24:50 GMT, jrcole@umich.edu wrote:
>
> > A high African-American official in Wilmette, I am reliably informed, once
> > considered having Ms. Deas prevented from coming out on the stage at the
> > National Convention before the vote, which would have been a signal to the
> > delegates to elect someone else.
>
> I noted in another post that I feel a certain amount of inherent
> sympathy for anyone questioning your actions, given that strong faith
> won't be swayed.  The reason you might have some difficulty swaying the
> faith of others would be the use of unsupported innuendo.  You need to
> either name the person who shared that piece of information, or you need
> to discard it as the gossip it is.
> --
> Kathy Pascoe ~ kathy@scconsult.com (at home)
> Confused about newsgroups?  Visit <news:news.newusers.questions>
>
Juan Cole
History, U of Michigan
https://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai.htm
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