Date sent: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 09:23:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: bn872@freenet.carleton.ca (McKenny Michael)
To: bahai-st@johnco.cc.ks.us
Subject: Letter to UHJ and Reply
Copies to: talisman@umich.edu
Send reply to: bn872@freenet.carleton.ca
Greetings from Ottawa.
Here's a copy of the letter sent to the Universal House of
Justice on March 23rd and the reply. I've not studied the reply,
so I have no comment at this time. I believe the appendices to
the reply are already well-known. If not, I'll post them soon.
If anyone wishes a copy of one or more of these and doesn't see
the desired appendex (ices) within say 24 hours, simply ask me
to send it (them).
Happy Reading,
Peace,
Michael
To the Universal House of Justice
Greetings from Ottawa.
In January when Auxiliary Board Member Susie Tamas met with
me she warmly encouraged me to present my concerns about the
Universal House of Justice to you. Throughout February she very
attentively considered the preliminary drafts of the letter I
began to compose in response. On reflection, moved by the spirit
of this special period of the Fast, I came to perceive from her
considered comments that I was trying to write to you from the
head and that this was not enough.
Aware of my imperfections, here I try also to open to you my
heart.
In the darkest hour before the dawn, when war seemed inevitable
and the prime minister of this country travelled to the capitals of
the nuclear powers to plead for peace, I prayed to the beloved
Guardian:
"Dearest Shoghi Effendi, my understanding is that you have said
quite clearly this cataclysm will come. Your words depict the
falling of fearsome weapons of destruction upon our cities and the
deaths of two thirds of the people of the world. Please, I beg you,
would it not be better for us to be spared this devastation, for
us to find a symbolic explanation of such frightful words than
for you to be confirmed as completely and literally correct by
means of the murder of these billions of people?"
My ardent prayer, often repeated at that time, was that God
demonstrate His all-compelling authority and might by inspiring us
peacefully to transform this planet into that reflection of heaven
foretold in Sacred Scripture. I asked Him: "Is it not a greater
sign of divine power and love to grant human leaders the imagination and
will to move ever more peacefully towards world peace than through
inaction to provide the opportunity for the indescribable agonies of such
a holocaust? Is it not more befitting the Almighty, the Most Munificent
Creator of the Worlds to lead us to transform with our own hands
physically and spiritually the dark landscapes around our bodies and our
souls into the perfumed gardens visualized in the Writings than to watch
the burning craters appear, radiation ride the winds and the minority of
survivors driven rather than guided into the Cause of God?"
I was not alone. In every Terran language, from every land on Earth
the pleas for peace were raised to Heaven.
And the Prime Mover, to the astonishment of the nations of the
world, answered. That mortal man portrayed by Cold War rhetoric as
the Evil Emperor was inspired to lead the way in the move to peace,
even at the cost of his position and his Empire itself, an event
perhaps without parallel in the annals of this world. And the very
precious soul we call the Priceless Pearl did not insist on
inflicting humanity with the literal fulfillment of his
authoritative statements about weapons and death.
Auxiliary Board Member Susie Tamas in response to concerns I
raised at what I considered a dangerously divisive impression that
the definition of a true and loyal believer consisted in one's
literal interpretation of the Word of God shared with me this
passage which you wrote on March 6, 1982:
"In considering the whole field of divinely conferred
infallibility one must be careful to avoid the literal understanding and
petty mindedness that has so often characterized discussions of this
matter in the Christian world. The Manifestation of God (and to a lesser
degree, Abdul-Baha and Shoghi Effendi) has to convey tremendous concepts
covering the whole field of human life and activity to people whose
present knowledge and degree of understanding are far below His. He must
use the limited medium of human language against the limited and often
erroneous background of His audience's traditional knowledge and current
understanding to raise them to a wholly new level of awareness and
behaviour. It is a human tendency against which the Manifestation warns
us, to measure His statements against the inaccurate standard of the
acquired knowledge of mankind. We tend to take them and place them within
one or the other of the existing categories of human philosophy or science
while, in reality, they transcend these and will, if properly understood,
open new and vast horizons to our understanding.
"Some sayings of the Manifestation are clear and obvious.
Among these are laws of behaviour. Others are elucidations which
lead men from their present level of understanding to a new one.
Others are pregnant allusions, the significance of which only
becomes apparent as the knowledge and understanding of the reader
grow. And all are integral parts of one great Revelation intended
to raise mankind to a new level of its evolution."
This uplifting of humanity is a process which seems to be
continuing outside the Faith.
The beloved Guardian says, "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."
(WOB 22-23)
In 1988 in response to your call to summon the troops into the
Cause of God by sharing with them the Peace Message, I presented a
copy of this document to almost everyone I knew. I invited many of
them to regular followup "Peace Talks" at my place. This resulted
in some keen consideration of this Faith by people of capacity,
members of many circles and organizations. Whatever the probability, it
was not impossible that some of these very active and capable individuals
could have ignited the fire of the love of the Glory of God within troops
of souls. When a non-Baha'i exposed that this Faith does not practise the
full equality of the sexes, none of these people could accept that the
Will of God for this Age could be so far from the forefront of all
progressive movements as to perpetuate the concept and the practice of
women being excluded from highest office.
The spirit of this very communication, "The Promise of World
Peace", moved the leaders of the Cold War beyond mistrust and the
paralysis of will which had so divided and threatened humankind for
decades. It would appear that the Cause of God today needs to be
uplifted above such mistrust and paralysis of will.
You called for: the submergence of theological differences,
identification of and guidance by principle, the sweeping away of
assumptions and formulae ceasing to promote the welfare of a
continually evolving humanity, women to be welcomed into full
partnership.
Indeed, you advised the rulers and peoples of this world:
"The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality
between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less
acknowledged prerequisites of peace." I am delighted to be able
to tell you that almost everyone I know seems to agree with you
on this point. The openness of my heart compels me to add that
apparently no non-Baha'i I know accepts that the Baha'i Faith
may claim to practise what it is preaching until women may serve
on the Universal House of Justice. An assertion that somehow there
may be equality of men and women with the highest positions
reserved for men, draws forth scorn and demonstrates that this is
a false religion ("By their fruits shall ye know them") of people
"whose words exceed their deeds", a people given to Orwellian
Newspeak, doubletalk and euphemism.
Last year I learned of some of the energizing discoveries
made which facilitate our demonstration of the clearly expressed
principle of the equality of men and women that we may surpass
that petty minded preference of an interpretation which not only
tasks reasonable thought when read in full, but tests souls
beyond their capacity, something God has urged us not to do. If
there is to be a choice between a literal application of the
concept of infallibility and the implementation of such a basic
principle as the equality of men and women, bearing in mind your
own words concerning literalism and infallibility quoted above
and the quote that "It is incumbent upon them who are in authority
to exercise moderation in all things" (THE PROCLAMATION OF
BAHA'U'LLAH p. 113) are we truly powerless to be people whose
principled deeds clearly match our words? There is also the warning: "In
all matters moderation is desirable. If a thing is carried to excess, it
will prove a source of evil." (Quoted in BAHA'U'LLAH p. 46.) The chief
tidings in my prayer to you is that, in the estimation of troops, for us
to refuse to moderate our attachment to literal infallibility even when
this leads us to subservience to previous levels of understanding at
variance with Baha'u'llah's fundamental principle exposes the
unworthiness, the hypocrisy, the falsity of this Faith.
Many and varied are the words possible and my heart is
overwhelmed. How may I proceed when these eyes dim with tears?
Still, how may I not continue to pray as I prayed for the
protection of this world and its peoples from impending
devastation?
You yourselves have drawn the connection between the full
equality of the sexes and peace, and presented the choice as to
"Whether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors
precipitated by humanity's stubborn clinging to old patterns of
behaviour, or is to be embraced now by an act of consultative
will."
The connection of these two points, the necessity of this
species to will to arise above old patterns of behaviour in order
to avoid unimaginable horrors and the necessity to move beyond the
period of the restriction of women in order for there to be peace
convulses my soul, because it is evident to non-Baha'i observers
that the community to which you directed the scrutiny of the
nations is still bogged down in that anachronistic pattern of
behaviour which has supreme authority in the grasp of men alone.
My heart is very perturbed both because I fear this has to
a significant extent delayed the creative and positive forces from
taking full advantage of the unexpected opportunity provided by
the courage and vision of the Soviet leadership and because I am
aware of what seems a very unhealthy anticipation within the Faith
for the chastisement of the peoples of the world who largely have
ignored this latest Revelation.
The anguished questions that follow may seem truly amazing.
However, I would not be opening fully to you my heart were I to
leave them unspoken. Is it really so unspiritual, is it worth the
death penalty for individuals and the burning of cities that the
literal words of the fundamental principle of the equality of the
two sexes be seen as taking precedence over a narrowly literal
perception of the Guardian's interpretation of those words of the
Master which appear to refer to the House of Justice in Chicago?
Is humanity to experience that catastrophe that the so-called Evil
Emperor delayed, if he did not overcome it, or some other one, to
cleanse the world of those so influenced by the Prince of Peace
that they expect Baha'is to comply fully with His fundamental
principle, although the world in the lifetime of the Blessed
Beauty did not follow this principle, one reason, perhaps, for its
gradual implementation? How may the troops pour in through the
open gates of this Faith, while this drawbridge remains raised in
their faces?
At this point I feel I must mention my father. You know I did
receive some advice that it was not a good idea to write to you,
and that if I did I ought to say what you'd find pleasing, as you
may otherwise respond in the manner of historical Terran monarchs
and view one daring to impart information you may not like to hear
as quite a presumptuous fellow. Yet, how would I contribute to the
proof we are leaving behind anachronistic habits if I remained
silent or, according to past patterns of behaviour, concealed from
the Source of All Good the real news of how this Faith is now
becoming perceived by ordinary people?
Although I lived in the same house as my father until I was
twenty-three years old, I heard him say almost nothing about how
he spent his early 20s. This was a time of such intense experience
for him that he still does not speak of it, not even after the
passage of fifty years. He, as so very many people at that time,
had his life greatly impacted by events in the world at large. He
left the family farm to participate in the defence of the Free
World from one of this Century's most notorious examples of
totalitarianism.
The relevance of this is that this country, so extolled in the
Tablets of the Divine Plan for, among other things, its freedom,
others in the Free World and those lands which experienced
totalitarian regimes contain a lot of people who are quite
unsympathetic to certain characteristics of those unpleasant
administrations inflicting such anguish upon both their citizens
and foreigners.
Among these features is that old pattern of behaviour which
involves the control of information. My weeping heart leads me to
tell you very bluntly that my perception of people here is that no
alleged details unflattering to this Faith can exceed in negative
impact the fact that there is control of information within the
Baha'i Faith. Forbidding the use of the word "censorship" and
insisting upon the term "review" only seems to underline the
very distasteful impression this gives of our Faith. It is the
same with the term "exemption" being insisted on as a substitute
for "excluded" in reference to women hitherto being prevented
from serving on the Universal House of Justice.
Very frankly, it is very difficult to see the distinction
between such Baha'i practices and those directed by Goebbels
which at length required the intervention of my father and many
millions like him. I can not describe for you the extent of the
impact it had on me when I learned that your initial response to
the reception of the information that the Writings contain
passages in which women are referred to as "men/rulers" and that
it is quite likely that Abdul-Baha was speaking about the House
of Justice in Chicago and not the Universal House of Justice at
all was to prohibit the publication of this data. It may suffice
for you to know that this was the principle reason I told
Auxiliary Board Member Susie Tamas that a literal understanding of
the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice would be
contrary to the evidence of my senses.
Further, while the Constitution of the Universal House of
Justice contains as one of your powers and duties, "To safeguard
the personal rights, freedom and initiative of individuals," a
responsibility resonating strongly with peoples in this Century
which has endured such onerous oppression, you have made recent
comments that may be perceived as a denunciation of "liberty",
"liberalism" and "freedom".
I can imagine no more effective means to inflict harm upon
this Faith than for someone to call a news conference and simply
read quotes hostile to liberalism and liberty. Would you not be
understood as demonstrating this reponsibility to protect personal
rights was falling victim to euphemism and cause alarm that were
God to permit you to direct the course of human affairs this would
inflict upon the peoples of this planet a global oppression,
compared to which the regionalized and relatively low tech regimes
of the recent past would pale?
May I not pray that you in future remove such an opportunity
from anyone wishing harm upon this Cause, that however you raise
our understanding of the value of co-operation and harmony, you
keep before our eyes this shining jewel of individual rights and
freedoms for which my father endured so much and many others died?
Will you join me in praying that the Blessed Beauty ever inspire you
to guide humanity through insightful and imaginative vision, embracing
fundamental principle and winning by this means the admiration and
wholehearted support of those comprising a maturing species, as remote as
possible from the totalitarian tendency to focus on literal details
defining legitimate authority and the insistence upon the obedience of
anything at all? So very many people yearn to witness the evidences of the
influence of the Higher Worlds that they may exert all their energies
backing something so constructive and positively creative. Very few of
these can see in the tedious reiteration of an insistence that there is
yet another Centre which must be obeyed whatever it may command anything
more than the basis for the commission of immoral and unethical deeds. The
fact that women have been prohibited from service on the Universal House
of Justice and that Scriptural grounds to lift this prohibition hitherto
have been concealed from the generality of the believers does nothing to
allay what ought to be quite incredible apprehensions about our similarity
to other totalitarian systems uttering such assertions and staining the
annals of history with unprincipled behaviour.
One of the most illuminating events in the more than fifteen
decades of the history of the New Era was that glorious spiritual
act by the Hands of the Cause of God on the occasion of the
election of the Universal House of Justice. In a deed elevated
above traditional human temptation to seek to retain control of
authority, these laudable souls not only permitted the Supreme
Body to replace them in directing the affairs of the Cause of God,
but went so far as to ask not to be elected to the Universal
House of Justice. This happening has a profound influence on the
soul of any seeker of truth receiving word of it. How likewise
must be the impact of each example of the ability of the Prince of
Peace to elevate His declared followers, and, especially, those
wielding authority within His Faith, above the normal manner of
human behaviour. May we not expect the peoples of the world to
respond very positively to every proof that this is indeed a New
World Order?
In conclusion, here is the gist of my ardent prayers for the
progress of the Cause of God and the protection of the peoples of
this planet from cataclysm, death and destruction:
May we please receive the communication that from now on
women may also be considered eligible for membership on the
Universal House of Justice?
May we please be notified of the suspension of the temporary
policy of review?
May we please be guided to an understanding of co-operation
and harmony consistent with "the personal rights, freedom and
initiative of individuals", and sensitive to the significance in
the Free World of the terms and concepts "freedom", "liberty" and
"liberalism"?
May we please delight in the vision of human harmony radiating
from the World Centre, embracing in a wondrously rich garden the
great variety of human thought bestowed upon this species by an
Ever-Loving, Most Bounteous, All-Powerful Creator?
May the Most Merciful Lord allow the intent of this message
to transcend all the barriers to effective communication and permit
you to see what is in my heart that you may know for certain that
the above was written only with the purpose of supporting you in
guiding humanity towards what is truly worthy of being described
as an ever-advancing civilization and a Golden Age.
"I beseach Thee, O my God, by that Letter which, as soon as it
proceeded out of the mouth of Thy will, hath caused the oceans to
surge, and the winds to blow, and the fruits to be revealed, and
the trees to spring forth, and all past traces to vanish, and all
veils to be rent asunder, and them who are devoted to Thee to
hasten unto the light of the countenance of their Lord, the
Unconstrained, to make known unto me what lay hid in the treasuries
of Thy knowledge and concealed within the repositories of Thy
wisdom. Thou seest me, O my God, holding to Thy Name, the Most
Holy, the Most Luminous, the Most Mighty, the Most Great, the Most
Exalted, the Most Glorious, and clinging to the hem of the robe to
which have clung all in this world and in the world to come."
Peace,
Michael.
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 97 13:52:22 IDT
From: secretariat@bwc.org ("Baha'i World Centre")
To: bn872@freenet.carleton.ca
8 April 1997
Transmitted by email: bn872@freenet.carleton.ca
Mr. Michael McKenny
Canada
Dear Baha'i Friend,
The Universal House of Justice has asked us to respond on its
behalf to your email message of 23 March 1997, in which you share
your thoughts and suggestions on a number of issues related to the
development of the Cause. The sincerity of your struggle to
understand, both intellectually and spiritually, the implications
of Baha'u'llah's Revelation is apparent both from your message and
from your desire to respond to the comments of the Auxiliary Board
member Mrs. Susanne Tamas. It is hoped that the comments which
follow and the related enclosures will be of assistance to you in
this effort.
As it is not possible to go into all of the detailed points
raised in your letter, the House of Justice believes that it will
be most helpful to address two specific issues which are clearly of
particular concern to you. These are the question of the
ineligibility of women for membership on the Universal House of
Justice and that of the temporary policy requiring pre-publication
review of works on the Faith written by Baha'is.
With respect to the first of these two subjects, we have been
asked to enclose two documents which you will find especially
relevant:
1. a copy of a letter of 31 May 1988 written by the House of
Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand,
which reviews in detail the documentation related to the
subject of the principle in the Faith's teaching which limits
membership on the Universal House of Justice to men; and
2. a related document recently prepared by the Baha'i World
Centre's Research Department on the concept of "'umumi," a term
which is central to an understanding of this same subject.
With respect to the second of the two issues mentioned, we
enclose a lengthy extract from a letter of 29 December 1988
written on behalf of the House of Justice to the followers of
Baha'u'llah in the United States on the subject of individual
rights and freedoms. As you will note, this statement addresses
directly the question of the continuing necessity at this stage in
the evolution of the Cause, for the policy of pre-publication
review.
Mr. Michael McKenny 8 April 1997
Page 2
The House of Justice believes that, in studying these
documents, you should challenge yourself to reflect deeply on
the vital importance, to one's spiritual life and intellectual
advancement, of the Faith's teaching that each individual must
investigate truth for himself or herself. Specifically, in the
light of current Internet discussions in which you are a
participant, you will want to consider carefully and prayerfully
the extent to which your current thinking may have been
influenced by the views of individuals who have presented
themselves -- and perhaps, to some extent, been accepted by you --
as "scholarly authorities" on the Baha'i teachings. While all of
us can benefit in our study of the Revelation from consulting a
range of views held by other believers, Baha'u'llah calls us to
maintain a condition of spiritual autonomy as a basic prerequisite
for spiritual search, "For the faith of no man can be conditioned
by any one except himself."
note Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 143
The Cause of God, encompassing teachings, laws and institutions,
has been given to us one and whole by its divine Creator. To the
challenge of demonstrating this distinguishing unity of the Cause a
global community has brought the testimony of a century and a half
of heroism and of sacrifice of self. Only those influences which
lead us more deeply into a comprehension of the organic wholeness
of Baha'u'llah's Revelation -- and thus into a fuller consciousness
of our own integrity as individuals -- can rightly claim to merit
our attention.
The House of Justice assures you of its ardent prayers at the
Holy Threshold that Baha'u'llah will surround you with His
blessings and will confirm your devoted efforts to deepen your
understanding of His purpose.
With loving Baha'i greetings,
Department of the Secretariat
Enclosures 3 (appended)
warmest,
Susan
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