The University of Toronto will be hosting a significant, historic international symposium on the persecution of Baha’is in Iran, July 1-3:
“Intellectual Othering and the Baha’i Question in Iran” (
http://iranianstudies.ca/bahai/)
.
PROPOSED AGENDA FOR TORONTO CONFERENCE
The central purpose of the conference is to enrich the mind by stimulating and sustaining a spirit of free inquiry directed to understanding the various aspects of the Baha’i Question in Iran over the past century and a half, the scholars participating in this international conference will critically reflect on a wide range of issues related to the similarities and differences of Shi'i Islam and Baha’i Faith, the role of Baha’is in Iranian cultural and intellectual life, and the fact of their continued repression and intellectual.
We FREE BAHA’IS of Singapore believing in Bahaullah and Abdul Baha earnestly request the university of Toronto holding the conference, the Speakers and the distinguished audience to reflect upon some of the very important and critical aspect of Baha’i Faith itself so that they can enhance their understanding of the Baha’i Faith with an expanded knowledge . If you so seek to be liberal and want to understand the Baha’i Faith then we do not deprive ourselves of thinking about some very important aspect of the Baha’i faith currently prevalent in the Haifan Baha’is.
After all, thinking is our freedom to investigate the truth and follow it. If one is truly liberal then his approaches will not suffocate the human mind to certain ideals only. The conference must encourage the audience to seek out the truth in their investigation. After all, Liberal education demands to have students learn, and learning means to seek out truth. If you desire knowledge then you encourage students to apply truth in their investigation.
The few important aspect which the conference should reflect upon:
1. BAHA’I FAITH PAST AND PRESENT
2. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN BAHA’I FAITH
3. EXCOMMUNICATION IN BAHA’I FAITH
1. BAHA’I FAITH PAST AND PRESENT
“The Baha’i Cause, as founded by Baha’u’llah nearly a century ago and as interpreted by his son Abdul Baha, was and still is a UNIVERSAL RELIGION. Its principles were intended to safeguard the conscience of man from interference by any hierarchical organization; to spiritualize society and to socialize religion; to unify the fundamental ideals of the World Faiths; to bestow upon every child of God the precious gift of liberty and to harmonize the conflicting interests of nations, races and peoples of the earth with the power of spirit. However, the present day Baha’i Administration under the title of the Universal House of Justice has, through its dogmas and creeds frustrated the aims of the Founders of the Baha’i Faith.”
“After the demise of the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith in 1957, certain reactionary and dogmatic forces began to make their appearance in the Baha’i Faith in the form of Universal House of Justice. Almost unnoticeable at first, they, little by little, gained ground until at present, this movement, which was the most universal and liberal of all movements, past and present, has been reduced to a sect, while its spirit is all but extinguished. The principles of Baha'u'llah are forgotten and instead we see nothing but a mass of rules and regulations that duplicate, to say the least, the ecclesiastical paraphernalia of previous organized religions”
It is clear from the writings of Baha’u’llah and Abdul Baha that the Cause that they envisaged and for which they suffered is quite different and totally at variance with the one that is being taught today.
“The Baha’i organization (UHJ, ITC, NSAs) is not a religion, nor a spiritual renaissance, nor the spirit of the age, but is a full-fledged corporation which, while it engages itself in marketing the principles of Baha’u’llah for the establishment of Universal Peace, through its various branches in the United States, Canada and in other parts of the world, has protected these goods by taking out a trade-mark on the very name. Threatening their fellow believers with Court cases.
2. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN BAHA’I FAITH
The people in the Baha’i Faith seem so loving to a casual observer. But underneath there is this cult-like atmosphere in which people are not free to be themselves. They are constantly answering to their Administration for everything.
There is so much irrational fear in the community that they could not bring themselves to consider any of the arguments or even to read their own writings on the subject. All that they knew was that the so-called "Counselors" had decided that a certain Baha’i is a covenant-breaker and therefore that he was spiritually diseased and must be shunned. Any Baha’i associating with covenant Breakers will be at risk being shunned as well. "Bahá'ís" of the Baha’i Administration were not truly Bahá'ís at all but were cult members driven by fear and manipulative coercion rather than true faith. The Baha’i Administration is a complete fraud.
Unfortunately, the Wilmette NSA (UHJ) remains a threat to the Freedom of Expression in Baha’i Faith unless it gives up its mania for squelching the religious freedoms of those who disagree with it. It is our hope and wish that the Wilmette NSA will finally realize that you cannot enforce unity with a court order. The UHJ simply must tolerate the existence of other groups of Bahá'í at least in the United States or it runs the risk of forever ruining the name of the Faith making synonymous the word "Bahá'í" and "enemy of freedom of speech and religion." I certainly would be happy to tolerate and co-exist with all of the other Bahá'í groups in existence regardless of whether I agree with their beliefs. How could it possibly be that tolerance for others' religious views cannot be attained by a group of people who call themselves Bahá'í?
3. EXCOMMUNICATION IN BAHA’I FAITH
There were number of educated sincere and devoted Baha’is individuals like Sen McGlinn, Frederick Glaysher, Professor Juan Cole , Alison Marshall, Michael McKenny, Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand all were shown the door and are erased from Baha’i membership rolls as though they never existed, They have all been declared Covenant Breaker a term used to signify Enemy of Faith . Their Wife and Chidren have been asked to shun their husbands and Fathers .It is a clear indication that the Baha’i Faith is in deep denial of basic human values.
The Baha’i Faith, as an organization, is so far from reality that the "self appointed" members of the Universal House of Justice cannot even see how their own words apply perfectly to themselves.
We present some of the important experiences of learnt Baha’is with the Baha’i Adminstration.
1 Frederick Glaysher
……But the Faith harbors lots of big egos (everyone has one). You won't notice them until there is a major disagreement. Having a sin-covered eye will not prevent the existence of backbiting and prejudice by those in the community doing it. It just means one is not looking hard enough to notice. It will always be there, though, like ego. Again: >"the Baha’i Faith doesn't harbor people with big egos. They end up either losing their egos or losing their faith."
……. But I've witnessed huge egos in the Baha’i Faith that received the VIP treatment because of their relationship to famous Baha’is who knew Baha'u'llah. Part of the reason I'm no longer a Baha’i is because of this hypocrisy. These particular people were, in my direct observation of them, a great cause of disunity. For instance, one "big ego" (who was good at feigning humility) that I knew personally--he was Iranian--divided my whole community for ten years. The Iranians all sided with him because of his big-shot family name. He was far more destructive (backbiting, slander and litigation) than any "covenant-breaker."
2 Professor Juan Cole
February 23, 1999:
"There is nothing to be puzzled by. Right wing Baha’is only like to hear the sound of their own voices (which are the only voices they will admit to being "Baha’i" at all). Obviously, the world is so constructed that they cannot in fact only hear their own voices. They are forced to hear other voices that differ from theirs. This most disturbs them when the voices come from enrolled Baha’is or when the voices speak of the Baha’i faith. The way they sometimes deal with the enrolled Baha’is is to summon them to a heresy inquiry and threaten them with being shunned if they do not fall silent. With non-Baha’is or with ex-Baha’is, they deal with their speech about the faith by backbiting, slandering and libeling the speaker. You will note that since I've been on this list I have been accused of long-term heresy, of "claiming authority," of out and out lying (though that was retracted, twice), of misrepresentation, of 'playing fast and loose with the facts,' and even of being 'delusional.' I have been accused of all these falsehoods by *Baha’is*, by prominent Baha’is. I have been backbitten by them. This shows that all the talk about the danger a sharp tongue can do, all the talk about the need for harmony, for returning poison with honey, for a sin-covering eye, is just *talk* among right wing Baha’is. No one fights dirtier than they when they discover a voice they cannot silence and cannot refute....
3 Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand
Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand, a Persian Baha’i from Perth, Australia, openly accepted the claims of Mason Remey and Joel Marangella. Joel Marangella appointed him a “Hand of the Cause” and “Vice-President” of the “Third International Bahá’í Council” which Marangella had established in 2006. In May 2007 Marangella appointed him as his successor.Mr. Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand is a writer on the Faith, his articles are well read. Recently he wrote an answer to Ali Nakhjawani article,”THE ILLEGITIMACY AND FRAUD OF THE BOGUS UHJ THROUGH ALI NAKHJAVANI’S BLATANT PERVERSION OF THE TRUTH.” This article has send tremor waves across the Haifian Organization. Nosrat’u’llah Bahremand was declared a Covenant-breaker in 2003.
http://covenantofbahaullah.wordpress.com/
4 Enayatullah Yazdani
A Persian by origin, Enayatullah (Zabih) Yazdani, migrated to Sydney, Australia, accepted the Guardianship of Mason Remey many years ago. In 2004 he openly propagated his long-held view that Remey was the legitimate successor to Shoghi Effendi and, moreover, accepted Donald Harvey as the “Third Guardian” and Jacques Soghomonian as the “Fourth Guardian”. Soghomonian recently appointed Yazdani to succeed him as “Fifth Guardian” upon his death. Enayatullah (Zabih) Yazdani was declared a Covenant-breaker in June 2005.
5 Sen McGlinn
He became a Baha’i in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974 and was part of the small Baha’i community of Kaikoura, a coastal town on New Zealand’s South Island. Later he spent some time as a Baha’i ‘pioneer’ on the Chatham Islands, and was part of the Baha’i communities in various other towns in New Zealand, and later in the Netherlands.
He had served on Local Spiritual Assemblies, as an ‘assistant,’ and on local and regional Baha’i committees. He is currently a moderator for the H-Baha’i discussion list, and can usually be found for a chin-wag on the Talisman9 discussion list (talisman9-subscribe@yahoogroups.com).
In late 2005 He was removed from the rolls of the Baha’i community, following a decision of the Universal House of Justice. He has put up some of the documents on a page here, in response to speculations about the reasons for the decision. He applied to be re-enrolled periodically, and in the meantime continued as a believing and practicing un enrolled Baha’i. There are some informal reflections on being un enrolled in an email in his archive called ‘who belongs.’
He is interested especially in Baha’i theology (theology is what Baha’is usually call ‘deepening,’ but conducted in a systematic and self-critical way) and, within that, in political theology (which Baha’is call ‘the social teachings’). He wrote his MA dissertation on Church and State in Islam and the Baha’i Faith, and is now working on a study of the institutions of the Baha’i community, which is intended to become a PhD thesis.
http://senmcglinn.wordpress.com/about/
6 Michael McKenny
He was expelled from Baha’i Faith as he was member of revolutionary talisman list in 1997. He questioned some intricacies in the Baha’i faith like no women in UHJ, no spirituality or community values in Baha’i society. He was expelled!
bn872@freenet.carleton.ca (McKenny Michael)
7 Alison Marshall
Alison Marshall became a Baha’i in 1980, when she was introduced to it by a Maori couple. She settled in her South Island hometown, Dunedin, serving on its Local Spiritual Assembly for several years. In 1994, she began subscribing to the email forum, Talisman, which was started by University of Indiana Professor John Walbridge for the academic discussion of the Baha’i Faith. The Baha’i leadership, accustomed to carefully controlling information concerning their religion, soon became alarmed at the freewheeling discourse on Talisman and cracked down in 1996, threatening prominent posters with being shunned as "covenant-breakers". (This is the Baha’i term of schismatics. The creation of alternative sects is anathema to a religion that sees world unity as its mission.)
Alison, who had until then been quietly learning from the active Talisman posters began speaking out against what she felt was the unjust treatment of her fellow-believers. In March 2000, Alison was suddenly expelled from membership in the Baha’i community on the instructions of the Universal House of Justice, the religion's governing body with its seat in Haifa, Israel. The only explanation given her was that her "behavior and attitude" disqualified her for Baha’i membership. However, Marshall was able to obtain an explanatory email message from Haifa to the New Zealand National Spiritual Assembly from acquaintances who were given copies when they inquired about her case.
http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/bigquestions/alison.html
8 Mr. Mohammad (Yusuf) Muquit
Mr. Mohammad (Yusuf) Muquit was declared a Covenant Breaker in 2006.Mr. Muquit has affirmed his belief in Charles Mason Remey’s claims to the Guardianship. He visited the United States to study with Neal Chase, a follower of Leland Jensen and a claimant to the Guardianship. Mr. Muquit has also accepted Mr. Neal Chase’s claims.
