انتقاد از آیین بهائی را متناسب و دقیق نگه داشتن

Hi everyone, quick thought I wanted to share. Occurs to me that coming after the Baha’i Faith for being a secretive, evil monolith intent on shaping the world in it’s own insidious image or framing it as a dreadful cult wherein unfathomable atrocities are perpetrated is a bit like a hysterical parent in the nineties launching a campaign against Bryan Adams for attempting to corrupt the nation’s youth by shredding on his electric guitar and playing Rock Music.

Yes the Baha’i Faith is committing grave crimes against music with their unholy belief that they can create hip hop, yes they try and get anyone interested to undertake study materials that tragically almost always results in someone bringing out an acoustic guitar to Put The Writings To Music and yes Justin Baldoni is intense and creepy.

And on a serious note, yes, their intent is global governance, yes they are behind the eight ball regarding progressive thought concerning women in leadership and homosexuality and are reluctant to discuss that openly and yes they are aggressively evangelical.

But do you know what these people mostly do? Most of their time is spent in small local gatherings reading their guidance a paragraph at a time and then trying to use discussion to analyze what’s essentially a repetitive combination of repeated calls to teach and a promise of spiritual fulfillment if they do so. Then they go and do it and tend to achieve relatively small scale local success doing basic charitable work. Litter-picking in American parks being on one end of the spectrum and little projects promoting things like education and equitable approaches to agriculture and farming in places like Africa and the Pacific Islands on the other.

I see a lot of the same arguments. Some valid, some hilariously wide of the mark. If you really think there's any validity to the argument that there's some fifth Guardian out there I've got some magic beans with your name on it. Behave yourself. If you think the House of Justice will one day be usurped and that some fabulous Baha'i international commonwealth will arise in it's stead, ain't gonna happen.

Yes they invent language to create a group-think that represses critical thought. ‘Maintaining coherence’; ‘false dichotomy’; ‘enriching capacity’.

Yes they mostly obfuscate their beliefs concerning women in power and homosexuality but I think it’s often because these teachings give’em the ick and they just don’t like it so it’s easier to talk around it and then get back to safe and familiar topics instead.

Yes there’s often internal familial or social pressure to remain within the community and fulfill their obligations.

But I’d argue that if you’re standing near the centre of any western city you’re never more than a couple of minutes walk from a church, mosque or synagogue that, if you’re applying the criteria typically used to criticize the Baha’i Faith, is doing the same or worse.

Hell anytime people arrange themselves into any kind of group: families; book clubs; soccer teams; train enthusiasts; Doctor Who fan clubs, whatever, there’s going to be a degree of internal pressure to use certain language, to think a certain way, to achieve certain outcomes and there’s going to be an implied or stated requirement to conform and contribute.

Basically I’m saying I think it’s a waste of time to make hating the Baha’i Faith your personality. So if that's what you're doing have a word with yourself. Sure there’s a lot to dislike about it but there’s lots to dislike about other things too. Maybe think about WHY you hate it? Was your ex-wife a Baha’i and now you’re sad and angry and so you’re blaming the Baha’i Faith (don’t be that guy), maybe you went to a meeting because a pretty girl invited you and then she sat next to the guy with great hair and didn’t really talk to you and an old guy in a Pink Floyd t-shirt and sandals tried to get you to read a prayer and you didn’t get the girl's number and now you feel silly (don’t be that person either) or maybe it’s just fun having a go at something that is admittedly annoying and weird (be that person you like but keep it real and understand it in relation to other things that are annoying and weird).

Keep it proportional is what I’m saying. I’ve lived among them and Baha’is are gonna Baha’i regardless of what you post for one another on a message board. Rage against the machine by all means but don’t limit it to Bryan Adams because we all secretly know that Run To You is an absolute fucking classic.