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From: Fran Baker <fran@gershwin.dgii.com> Subject: Re: Spiritual civilization Date: Thursday, August 27, 1998 11:44 AM "Barry Gerstner" <gerstner@bart.nl> writes: >Hi Fran, >I hope you don't mind if I put in my two cents in this conversation. Please do. > "A race of men," is Baha'u'llah's written promise, "incomparable in >character, shall be raised up which, with the feet of detachment, will >tread under all who are in heaven and on earth, and will cast the >sleeve of holiness over all that hath been created from water and >clay." > (The Advent of Divine Justice, Page: 31) Sorry, but Hitler also said things like this. No, I don't mean that Baha'u'llah was evil like Hitler, I just mean such "fine words" can hide a vision that is not necessarily good for humanity. >>>There is too much dirty laundry, too many medieval notions, >>and too much "bad fruit" among the faithful for this to be >>the next great push for humanity (not that it couldn't use one!). >I can well imagine where you get these ideas -- from reading >alt.religion.bahai. This is not the case. My impressions were well formed before ARB even existed. Mainly they came from attending Baha'i events open to the public, participating in SRB and other (rather high level) Baha'i forums, observing the behavior of my community's LSAs, reading Baha'i literature, reading the American Baha'i and Baha'i youth-oriented publications, etc. I might add that I know several extrordinarily admirable Baha'is, not the least of whom is my father-in-law, Dr. William Baker of Bolivia, son of Dorothy Baker, and the whole Baker family actually, of which I am proud to be a member. I originally regarded this religion as a benign, ecumenical movement; I know see it as, for the most part, a largely fundamentalist movement like born-again Christianity with a different Jesus or Hasidic Judaism with a different Rebbe. Maybe something like a TRB forum will open it up and it will become more spiritual and tolerant, less arrogant (less "teaching") and less paranoid (less focus on CBs and censorship), less materialistic (less relentless fundraising). As Owen Fiss (of Yale Law School) points out in "The Irony of Free Speech," there is libertarian freedom (wherein he who screams the loudest drowns out the other) and democratic freedom (wherin a full and balanced range of expression is maintained). The latter is what moderators are supposed to achieve, but often do not because they are not committed to freedom at all. Something in between SRB and ARB/TRB would be the best in my view, but alas, that isn't an option. This is a balance we each have to achieve for ourselves by selecting from the libertarian clamor, as Roger has wisely suggested. --Fran >Warmest regards, >Suzanne Gerstner >The Hague, The Netherlands >"Where there's love nothing is too much trouble, >and there's always time." -- 'Abdul-Baha Homepage |