Battle of Covenants
http://www.sectsofbahais.com/battle.html
Wilmette NSA's (Haifian Bahai) contempt motion FAILS against different
sects of Bahá'ís
JUDGE ISSUES DECISION IN FAVOR OF ORTHODOX BAHA'IS
1 - ORTHODOX BAHAIS (MARANGELLA GROUP) RESPONSE
The Court has issued its decision in the court action brought by the
Wilmette NSA. The Court has ruled in favor of the Orthodox Baha'is. To
read the Court's decision, follow this link:
http://trueseeker.typepad.com/true_seeker/court_case.html
Judgment in favor of the Orthodox Baha’i Faith In a decision handed
down by the United States District Court, the Orthodox Baha’i Faith
was found not guilty of contempt charges levied against it by the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States
(Wilmette NSA). The injunction that the Orthodox Baha’i Faith was
accused of violating, would have prohibited it from using the name
Baha’i, meaning a follower of Baha’u’llah (as the name Christian
refers to one who follows Christ.) The NSA, a national branch of the
world organization with over 6 million members, brought the legal
action against the Orthodox Baha’i Faith, whose membership, in
contrast, numbers less than 50 in the United States, many of whom are
life-long believers. As a result of the judge's finding, the Orthodox
Baha'i Faith may continue to use the name Baha'i in identifying itself
and may continue to teach its belief in the continuing Guardianship of
the Faith of Baha'u'llah, a teaching in direct opposition to that
taught by the NSA group. The Orthodox Baha’i Faith recognizes Joel B.
Marangella as the rightful Living Guardian of the Baha’i Faith. The
original injunction was issued over forty years ago to a now extinct
rival body to the NSA. In her judgment, the Honorable Amy J. St Eve
wrote: “[T]he chain of successorship lacks a link” ruling on April 23,
2008 after holding an evidentiary hearing last January 7, 2008 in
Chicago, Illinois on the contempt motion brought by the NSA. Also
cited in the case was the Baha’i Publishers Under the Provision of the
Covenant, a completely separate organization from either of the other
parties. They too were found not guilty. The complete opinion of the
Court can be found on the internet:
http://trueseeker.typepad.com/true_seeker/court_case.html
Contact:
David Maxwell, PNBC Chairman
8924 Crest Ridge Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76179
817-279-3700
2 - REFORM BAHAI RESPONSE
US District Court rules against Haifan Baha'is
I've just read both the Opinion and Motion. Here are my highlights for
anyone interested in avoiding a lot of the legalese, admittedly beyond
my comprehesion:
Contempt Motion by Wilmette NSA & Response by Orthodox Bahá'í Faith
http://trueseeker.typepad.com/true_seeker/court_case.html
http://www.truebahai.com/court/139-opinion.pdf
http://www.truebahai.com/court/140-judgment.pdf
"[T]he chain of successorship lacks a link," wrote the Honorable Amy
J. St Eve, United States District Court Judge, in her Judgment in
favor of theChicago_trial_january_7_2008_006Orthodox Bahai Faith and
the Baha'i Publishers Under the Provisions of the Covenant. The Court
ruled on April 23, 2008 after holding an evidentiary hearing last
January 7, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois on the contempt motion brought by
the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States
(Wilmette NSA).
In her decision, the Court stated that: "the vast weight of the record
(including credible testimony) reflects that there was a significant
doctrinal rift on a critical tenet of each group's faith, and that the
PNBC's membership varied materially from that of the NSA-UHG. The
record further reflects a demonstrable lack of intent to violate the
injunction, and that the PNBC was not created to avoid the effect of
the injunction. Simply put, there is no substantial continuity between
the NSA-UHG and the PNBC, and, as a result, Mr. Schlatter, Mr.
Marangella, and the PNBC have not violated the injunction."
Excerpts:
p: 12
II. Application To The Court's Findings of Fact Applying the above-
stated principles here, none of the Alleged Contemnors is in privity
with the bound entity, and thus none has violated the injunction. In
rendering this finding, the Court has carefully and deliberately
weighed all of the evidence adduced at the hearing and otherwise
submitted by the parties. The Court closely assessed the demeanor of
each testifying witness, including his or her body language, tone of
voice, facial expressions, mannerisms, and other factors indicative of
credibility.
p. 27
Rather, the vast weight of the record (including credible testimony)
reflects that there was a significant doctrinal rift on a critical
tenet of each group's faith, and that the PNBC's membership varied
materially from that of the NSA-UHG. The record further reflects a
demonstrable lack of intent to violate the injunction, and that the
PNBC was not created to avoid the effect of the injunction. Simply
put, there is no substantial continuity between the NSA-UHG and the
PNBC, and, as a result, Mr. Schlatter, Mr. Marangella, and the PNBC
have not violated the injunction.
p. 31
After considering the full record in this case, the Court finds that
SIBC and the BPUPC are not in privity with the NSA-UHG....
p. 32
CONCLUSION
For the above reasons, the Court finds that the Alleged Contemnors are
not in privity with the NSA-UHG and, in turn, that they are not in
contempt of the injunction.
Jugde Amy J. St. Eve
April 23, 2008
See also for further discussion:
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.religion.bahai/topics?hl=en&gvc=2
Frederick Glaysher
The Reform Bahai Faith
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty - Articles - Abdu'l-Baha's Covenant
www.ReformBahai.org --
The Baha'i Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/
3 - BAHAI’S UNDER THE PROVISION OF COVENANT RESPONSE
Saturday, April 26th, 2008
Victory! Victory! Victory! Today, this Ridvan 2008, the Covenant-
breakers have been defeated! These mainstream violators who are the
willing and/or unwitting successors in interest to arch-Violator
Ruhiyyih Khanum and the violating “Hands” of the Cause who usurped the
Baha’i International shrines on Mt. Carmel (Israel) during their
hostile takeover in 1960 have been trying unsuccessfully for 7 years
in different venues such as the UN (WIPO) and the Federal Courts (7th
Circuit) to shut down our websites and prevent us from publicly and
openly teaching the Baha’i Covenant fulfilled: - that Baha’u’llah and
His successors have come in fulfillment of prophecy seated upon the
throne of King David; that this is the God Promised Kingdom of God on
earth, that Jews, Christians and Muslims await according to the text
of their scriptures; and His throne-line and genealogy of King David
continues in the aghsan lineage of Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha is the
long awaited coming of the Kingship of the second coming of Christ –
Baha’u’llah – in the potency of the everlasting Father (Is. 9:6-7; Jn
14:6) seated upon David’s throne that is to last forever.
Today, this Ridvan 2008, in the 7th circuit Federal Court of the
United States of America they have sorely and uttered defeated,
smashed, beaten, put down, trounced, thwarted, humiliated, their
arguments “erased and effaced” according to the explicit prayer of
none less than Baha’u’llah Himself!“Inasmuch as great differences and
divergences of denominational belief had arisen throughout the past,
every man with a new idea attributing it to God, Baha’u'llah desired
that there should not be any ground or reason for disagreement among
the Baha’is. Therefore, with His own pen He wrote the Book of His
Covenant, addressing His relations and all people of the world,
saying, ‘Verily, I have appointed One Who is the Center of My
Covenant . All must obey Him; all must turn to Him; He is the
Expounder of My Book, and He is informed of My purpose. All must turn
to Him. Whatsoever He says is correct, for, verily, He knoweth the
texts of My Book. Other than He, no one doth know My Book.’ The
purpose of this statement is that there should never be discord and
divergence among the Baha’is but that they should always be unified
and agreed. In His prayers Baha’u'llah also said, ‘O God! Whosoever
violates My Covenant, O God, humiliate him. Verily, whosoever violates
My Covenant, O God, erase and efface him.’ (`Abdu’l-Baha: Promulgation
of Universal Peace, pp. 322-323)
We rejoice, therefore, not in the defeat of the avowed enemies of the
Cause - but rather in the Victory of God that our teaching effort
continues – ALL FLAGS FLYING – publically and openly, vital, strong
and true – to both text and testament – the Power of the Covenant
alone sustaining us.Many personal sacrifices have been made by many be
all along the way. These violators of the Covenant – having no respect
for the freedom of religion, first amendment of the United States –
are infamous in their destruction of families, repressions and
atrocities of their great oppression levied against the people
forbidding them to even discus the fact that the true Universal House
of Justice (according to the explicit text of the Covenant – W&T, p.
15) must have the living descendent of King David as its president to
distinguish it from fakes, frauds and imitations.
Haply in the shadow of our victory, this triumph of the Cause of God
over its avowed and recalcitrant enemies, has overshadowed and
sheltered all individuals and groups of people calling themselves
“Baha’i” as well be set free from the spectre of the violation to
continue to practice the faith and promote the Cause the way they
understand it. This unique position of our Council (http://uhj.net
“seven rites of the Baha’i faith”) has both amazed, astounded and
baffled both our enemies and well-wishers alike! Thus the watchword of
“Unity in diversity” has been proclaimed and upheld, and the truth of
the words: “Say: ALL ARE CREATED BY GOD!” has been manifested to all
the people of the world. The Unity of the believers has been preserved
by adherence and loyalty to every single provision of the Will and
testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha.
These days of immanent war against Iran, world wide poverty and
starvation looming, political corruption and intrigue assailing the
governments of the world from within and from without, economic crisis
and ruin threatening on every turn, estrangement of the cultures of
the East and the West due to international “terror”; from out his
gloom, only this Great Light of Hope – the Baha’i Peace Program –
shines luminous above the horizon of the hearts of all humankind.
Blessed and hopeful and happy are those that have seen this great
light, and upon them in whom this light has shined!Simultaneous with
the Chicago Earthquake epicentered at Mt. Carmel (Illinois) that shook
the very foundations of the city of the midmost heart of the US, the
ground-breaking Writ of Judge Amy St. Eve of the Federal Court sends
forth the Judgment and ruling that the Baha’i’s Under the provisions
of the Covenant, and the person of the current living Guardian, the
great grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Baha are free to teach and proclaim the
truth of the Baha’i Faith and truth of the Baha’i Covenant fulfilled:
that ‘Abdu’l-Baha passed the throne of David to his aghsan-son Charles
Mason Remey Aghsan, who passed this to his only son, Pepe, also an
aghsan, and that Pepe then passed this on to his only aghsan-son, Neal
Chase ben Jospeh Aghsan, the current living hereditary Guardian of the
Baha’i Faith and President of the true Universal House of Justice of
Baha’u’llah, established in the Rocky Mountains in America, that shall
bring peace through justice to all the world.
Through the artifice and stratagem, these violators sought to hold the
people to a 40 years old injunction placed in 1966 against the first
American NSA that had originally accepted Mason Remey as ‘Abdu’l-
Baha’s aghsan-son, before they turned against him. Through
machinations from with and without, that first NSA was dissolved by
‘Abdu’l-Baha’s son himself, and several breakaway groups formed in its
wake outside the provisions of the Covenant as the times of great
confusion and testing continued to ravage the people enmeshed in the
Baha’i world in the wake of the negative spiritual vortex set froth by
Ruhiyyih Khanum and the Hands. In the midst of this maelstrom of
violation, Knight of Baha’u’llah, Dr, Leland Jensen, separated himself
and emerged as the great Baha’i teacher of the 20th century firm in
the Covenant, ardent and resolute, and with the confirming support
from on High, was able to point out that the aghsan lineage (the
throne-line of King David from Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha known as
“the BRANCH” – Zech. 3:8 KJV) was in fact continued unbroken in Mason
and Pepe, the legal son and grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Baha respectively –
“an adopted son has all the rights prerogatives of a natural son
including the kingship” - and that the people were then free to form
the true UHJ as set forth in the explicit text of the Will and
Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the instructions and Jan. 9th,
constitution of the IBC/UHJ set forth by Shoghi Effendi Rabanni. Thus
has this Truth come as a great shaking issuing forth from Mt. Carmel
in America and shaking the very foundations of the heartland of
Chicago, Evanston and Wilmette which at this time is the mainstay seat
of violation in the US – though many of the faithful reside their and
promulgate the divine standard of the genealogy of Baha’u’llah (http://
uhj.net) which we have made public for all freely since September,
2001, the year “Mustaghath” – He Who Is Invoked for Help – as
prophesied in the Baha’i scared writ.
Now these signs and portents and things are not to condemnation but to
save! Now is the sounding bell and time for all the people to
investigate the truth of the claims of the Baha’i Faith, the
foundation of its covenant in the sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdul-
Baha, and make their choice. They can come under the provisions of the
covenant (http://uhj.net), jopin God’s heavely army – the 144,000 - or
remain obstinate – and be replaced by others - as the catastrophe
which is upon us now continues to escalate in both its timing and
intensity. Thus with 1966 Injunction non-applicable to Our Cause and
International Teaching Effort (“pro tantum brutum fulmen”) we now have
a reprieve to continue teaching and growing and promulgating the Law
of Universal Love, the Oneness of Humanity and Justice for All, that
is at the very core and foundation of the teachings and Revelation of
Baha’u’llah and is the animis and real spit incarnated in this now
public and visible Order: the Kingdom of God (Davidic). Only the UHJ
with the living Davidic King as it present is so fully contacted. Only
this incarnation of the Cause of God – identified through its
hereditary member – the “sign of God” (W&T, p. 11) is vouchsafed by
the power of the Covenant to make a lasting and impressionable effect
upon the world at large. For guidance, for truth, for unorganized
religion: this organization alone – which is not a substitute for the
faith – is so dedicated. God has today revealed His government for all
the people of the world; it can only work established upon the
foundation of true religion and true spirituality unorganized and
unalloyed. The current living Guardian thus Guards it from becoming
organized and prevents any clergy from forming. Take heed and warning!
For those who have insight into these things -For the shadow of
totalitarianism spiritual, material and otherwise, in this Day, still
threatens the livelihood of all of humankind.May God’s Blessing and
favors be showered amongst All on these Twelve days of Holy Ridvan,
2008.
On behalf of the Council and all the faithful and loyal workers at the
World Center ,
Your servant,
Neal Chase ben Joseph Aghsan,
Guardian/President UHJ.