Sohrab > A Dangerous Doctrine (409-410)

[Baha'i Censorship - See Website]

Howdy Kent,
I have to say that Moojan Momen's Baha'i fundamentalist railing
against those he has erroneously cast as Baha'i apostates would
qualify as being slimy although that isn't the adjective I would
personally use. Why is such fundamentalist enemy seeking slimy?
Because such enemy seeking in religion is always a prelude to the
abuse of the human rights of those who have been cast as enemies of
that religion.
Moojan's lumping together of all Baha'i dissidents as Baha'i
apostates, whether or not these individuals are present of former
fellow religionists, regardless of the profound diversity of
individual beliefs and opinions amongst those who he cast as Baha'i
apostates, is clearly an effort on his part to justify the systemic
abuse of the human rights of these individuals. This is reinforced
through his attempt to draw a connection between those Baha'i
dissidents he has cast as Baha'i apostates and Covenant Breakers.
There is an evil mindedness in such a clear cut attempt, by someone
who is making a pretense of being a scholarly Baha'i apologist, to
justify the systemic segregation and shunning of those who have
erroneously been linked with Covenant Breaker groups. Such religious
thinking is not only obsolete, antiquated, and no longer appropriate
in this day and age it reflects a very questionable ethic. Is such
thinking and the inappropriate religious justification behind such
thinking slimy? Depends on whether or not such thinking is based in
oblivious ignorance or is based in willful callowness. Whichever, the
end result is potentially the same: a group of individuals whose human
rights are violated by a religious community simply because of their
diversity of belief. Such thinking should be relegated to the past, to
the dark ages where such thinking was ignorantly held. There is no
justification in this day and age for such thinking, for such
antiquated and inappropriate religious beliefs and practices.
Yours
Larry Rowe

Thanks, Larry, for saying all this. All too often the most obvious
moral criteria, to most people with any sense of history, seems
unknown in certain circles.... It's always refreshing to hear such
things stated again around here.

Sohrab, of course, realized all this decades ago, and tried to
warn his fellow Bahais of what was happening, slandered for
his efforts ever since....

Sohrab > A Dangerous Doctrine (409-410)

"A Dangerous Doctrine. In considering the problem of fear, let us for a
while study the writings of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Cause, and
see how he handles this vital subject.... The three published volumes of
Shoghi Effendi are *Baha'i Administration, The World Order of Baha'u'llah*
and *The Advent of Divine Justice*, which works consist of the letters which
he has addressed to the National Spiritual Assembly in the course of the
last 20 years. Now, I have read these three books and find that the words
*enemies* and *adversaries* are greatly featured. Baha-O-Llah has said:
*Consort with all men with joy and fragarance, yet Shoghi Effendi, in his
very first letter, dated January 21, 1992, written after his assumption of
the guardianship, recommends *the absolute shunning of whomsoever we feel to
be an enemy of the Cause. (*Bahai Administration, page 16.) Now, I cannot
bring myself to the point of believing that *absolute shunning* of
whomsoever we *feel* to be the enemy of the Cause is a principle of
Baha-O-Llah. Is every one going to let his *feelings* guide him in the
matter? Can we not take for granted that frail human beings as we are, a
great deal of personal caprice and spite may enter into our calculations as
to *who* is the enemy of the Bahai Cause? This is a very dangerous doctrine,
and yet one finds it in different forms throughout Shoghi Effendi's
communications. He practically never mentions the names of the *enemies* or
*adversaries* to whom he constantly refers. He simply creates ogres and
bogey men, and fills the hearts of the Bahais with apprehension and fear. In
this way, the fountain-head of free and open comradeship is dried up and the
flowers of loving-kindness wither away" (409-410).

[Baha'i Censorship - See Website]

Reading what the intentions of authors are is quite simple in non-
fiction.
Clearly Moojan's intention is to draw lines between those he
stereotypes as core Baha'i and those he stereotypes as marginal or
apostate Baha'is.
Yours
Larry Rowe

"Stereotype" is an accurate word. I would say, even, a more
precise word is caricature....

A Response to Moojan Momen's Takfir & Slanderous Vilification:
"Marginality and apostasy in the Baha'i community." Religion.
Volume 37, Issue 3, September 2007, Pages 187-209.
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/apostates.htm

[Baha'i Censorship - See Website]

It's that simple...the Baha'I Defender gets to publicly determine and
delineate my relationship to my faith and tell me and the world if I'm
for it or "against it"!

"Defender" ... That's the game, all right....


A Response to Moojan Momen's Takfir & Slanderous Vilification:
"Marginality and apostasy in the Baha'i community." Religion.
Volume 37, Issue 3, September 2007, Pages 187-209.
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/apostates.htm

"The Bahai Technique":
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/technique.htm

Shunning & Slander > Menu
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Shunning.htm