The Bahá'í Faith

Controversial matters: Freedom
of expression; Internal divisions

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Freedom of expression within the Bahá'í Faith:

Although Bahá'ís have been very active in the promotion of freedom of expression around the world, there are significant restrictions on freedoms of individual Baha'i members. _1,2 These are enforced through shunning or expelling non-conforming adherents. Some examples are:

Divisions within the Bahá'í Faith

All religions evolve. It is quite normal for followers of established religions break away and form new sects. Many schisms are triggered by the death of the founder of the religion, or a successor. Typically, the leaders of the splinter group follow most of the beliefs and practices of their religion of origin. They generally regard their own faith group as being the true representative of the religion. In this way, most observers believe that the Bahá'í Faith arose from Islam, Christianity arose from Judaism, and the Mormons split away from Protestant Christianity. Sometimes, the breakaway sect becomes the dominant group. The Bahá'í Faith itself has experienced a number of schisms.

The founder of the  Bahá'í Faith, Baha'u'llah, selected Abdu'l-Baha to interpret the Baha'i writings after his death. Some members refused to accept the authority of the new leader. After the death of Abdu'l-Baha, the authority passed to Shoghi Effendi, "the infallible Center of the Baha'i faith," the "Center of the Cause," and the generally accepted sole interpreter of the Baha'i teachings. Again, some members refused to accept his authority.  After his unexpected death in 1957, controversy developed over his successor. One webmaster states that there are now 7 faith groups in the world who each claim to be the "true" Bahá'í Faith. Of the six new groups, five were created shortly after the death of Shoghi Effendi, The sixth broke off later. All of the new groups have extremely small numbers of members compared to Bahá'í Faith. All have been declared covenant breakers by the Universal House of Justice:

The Bahá'í Faith is followed by the vast majority of believers. In the United States, it is headed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.  Authority once exercised by Shoghi Effendi is now transferred to the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, Israel. Schismatic groups include:

Another group teaches that a Third Manifestation is coming in the immediate future -- not delayed for nine centuries or so, as current mainline Bahá'í teaches. See: http://alif.resonance.org 

A lawsuit:

The main Baha'i body in the U.S., whose legal name is "The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States of America" (NSA), launched a lawsuit in 2006-NOV against Franklin Schlatter, Joel Marangella, The Provisional National Baha'i Council, the Second International Baha'i Council, and Baha'i Publishers under the Provisions of the Covenant. The NSA claims that these individuals and groups are using Baha'i trademarks and other indicica without permission. The case was decided in favor of the Orthodox Bahá'ís. The National Siritual Assembly has appealed the case. Hearings are scheduled for 2009-FEB-20 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. ₉

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Fredrick Glaysher "The Bahai Faith and religious freedom of conscience," at: http://www.fglaysher.com/
2. Material on freedom of expression within the Bahá'í Faith is available at: http://bahai-library.org/ and http://bahai-library.org/ An official response from the US National Spiritual Assembly to the latter item is available at: http://bahai-library.org/
3. "Letter of Counselor Stephen Birkland to a Baha'i Academic: Imposing Fundamentalism as the Official Ideology of the Baha'i Faith" at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/ (Apparently offline)
4. The new Talisman list is: talisman9@egroups.com at www.egroups.com. 
5. "Northern Lights Baha'i," at: http://www.alaska.net/ *
6. "Baha'i Faith web site presented by the second International Baha'i Council," at: http://www.montana.com/
7. The official web site of The Baha'is Under the Provisions of the Covenant is at: http://www.bupc.org
8. "The Baha'i Faith explanation of the 7 Churches addressed in the Book of Revelation,"  at: http://members.aol.com/
9. "NSA Appeal," True Bahá'í, at: http://www.truebahai.com/  This is a temporary listing.

Copyright © 1996 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update and review: 2009-FEB-13
Author: B.A. Robinson

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