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From: <questioner33@my-deja.com> Subject: Another Inquiring Mind Date: Monday, June 28, 1999 1:23 PMI have been following with interest the recent controversies within the Baha'i Faith. I empathize with those who have asked sincere questions about matters of great personal and social importance, and who have sought to illuminate the roots of the Faith via academic research (which inevitably involves differentiating between hagiography and history, and not taking anything "on faith"), only to be spied upon and rebuked by Baha'i authorities, and threatened with excommunication and social ostracism.Some twenty-eight years ago, in my late teens, I "declared," and became very active in my local Baha'i community. I devoured as much Baha'i literature as I could, including, of course, the Kitab-i-Iqan. One day I came upon a reference to the covenant, passed from Abraham to Ishmael. But wait a second -- according to the Bible, hadn't it been Isaac, ancestor to the Jewish people, rather than his brother, later sent out into the desert to become the forebear of the Arab people? I checked my Bible and sure enough, I had remembered correctly. At this time in my life I might look at such a discrepancy as a difference that doesn't make much of a difference, the purpose of which might be to highlight the historical "sibling rivalry" between the Jewish and Arab peoples. However, back then it mattered a lot to me. The Covenant, after all, was no small matter; I sought to understand it as well as to support it; and a scriptural discrepancy that pertained to the Covenant was no small discrepancy. I presented my question to senior members of my community, but the best that they could do was to say, "the Baha'i revelation is the most recent revelation, so go with the Baha'i version." I felt that they did not understand the significance that this question had for me, but I did not fault them for it -- I knew more about the Bible than they did, anyway! So I wrote to the NSA a thoughtful and respectful letter. Surely someone in Wilmette must be able to offer a detailed explanation. Several weeks later I received a response. The essence of it was the same as the response I had received from the LSA (only in more high-flown language) -- to paraphrase, "if there is any discrepancy between any scripture and the writings of Baha'u'llah, you should believe the latter, because it is the most recent revelation, and less subject to historical distortion, mistranslation, etc. etc."In response to an intelligent question, I was given an answer that neither acknowledged the validity of my concern or addressed the substantive questions that I had raised; rather, I was encouraged to _believe_.Some time later I paid a visit to a large graduate research library. As always, I went straight to the Baha'i shelves. There were all of the books that I had on my own bookshelf, and many more -- including an English-language translation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas! I was quite stunned, as I had been told that none existed. (This was the Miller translation, of course, published in the early '60's.) I flipped through it quickly, then turned my attention to the bottom shelf of books, much of it "covenant-breaker" material. I had been given dire warnings to avoid having anything to do with covenant-breakers -- including reading their literature -- but my inquisitive nature got the better of me. After skimming over a number of titles, I settled on Ruth White's book, _The Questioned Will and Testament of Abdul Baha_, and read it from cover to cover. Regardless of her argument's validity or lack thereof, I was struck by her devotion to Abdul Baha, her sincerity, and her passionate commitment to the independent investigation of truth. It was obvious that the experience of being named a covenant-breaker was an extremely difficult one -- cast out for asking sincere questions, for expressing her conscience, and for attempting to share sincerely held beliefs with those to whom those questions and beliefs might matter the most -- other Baha'is.The whole shunning bit began to taste very sour to me, as did the assumption that those who asked difficult questions about their religion and its institutions were maliciously and selfishly motivated. I had been attracted to the Faith by its public image of concern for peace, social justice, racial and gender equality, and the independent investigation of truth. However, the ideal of "world unity", to be attained within the framework of a Baha'i theocracy, began to look more and more undesirable when I saw what kind of repression would inevitably be needed to achieve it -- thought police, not a whole lot different from the kind of repression employed by totalitarian regimes.I began to pull back from my involvement, but not before attending the first Baha'i Youth Conference in Oklahoma City. During the conference, the codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas was released. I stood there waiting for the boxes to be opened, and bought the first one out on the table. I stayed up all night poring through it. Laws pertaining to the length of men's hair. Laws pertaining to virginity at marriage that applied to women but not to men. Laws, laws, laws -- laws that were probably progressive in the context of nineteenth-century Persia, but that did not seem to present a viable model for social organization in a modern, multicultural society. I had many questions to ask, and the answers I received boiled down to, "these are mysteries that will only be understood in hundreds of years -- you have to deepen your faith."When I moved, I made no effort to connect with the Baha'i community in my new home. So many years later, when I learned of the Talisman controversy, and read the UHJ's April 7 letter, and Juan Cole's article "The Baha'i Faith in America as Panopticon", I was dismayed but not terribly surprised.My purpose in making this post has been to tell some of my own story, and to express my solidarity with those sincere Baha'is who have been alienated from the Baha'i organization because of its repressive tactics that serve to discourage the independent investigation of truth.Sent via Deja.com https://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't. Homepage |