Baha'i Faith Not a 'New Religious Movement'
Posted by:
Gulab Jamon
()
Date: October 24, 2006 01:18AM
I've never heard anyone refer to Baha'i as a cult before.
Re: Baha'i Faith Not a 'New Religious Movement'
Posted by:
RonPrice
()
Date: August 31, 2010 08:31PM
If readers go to Udo Schaefer's article Sect or Religion in Baha'i Studies, they will get an excellent analysis of this issue.-Ron Price, Tasmania
Ron Price is a retired teacher, aged 67(in 2011). He lives with his wife Chris in Tasmania. He moved to Australia from Canada in 1971. He has written several books and they are all available on the internet. He has been a Bahai for over 50 years.
Ron Price is a retired teacher, aged 67(in 2011). He lives with his wife Chris in Tasmania. He moved to Australia from Canada in 1971. He has written several books and they are all available on the internet. He has been a Bahai for over 50 years.
Re: Baha'i Faith Not a 'New Religious Movement'
Posted by:
RonPrice
()
Date: July 19, 2011 10:28AM
The article I referred to by Schaefer is found at the following link:
[bahai-library.com]
[bahai-library.com]
Re: Baha'i Faith Not a 'New Religious Movement'
Posted by:
RonPrice
()
Date: July 19, 2011 10:36AM
The link for the above article is: [bahai-library.com]
--Ron Price, Australia
Ron Price is a retired teacher, aged 67(in 2011). He lives with his wife Chris in Tasmania. He moved to Australia from Canada in 1971. He has written several books and they are all available on the internet. He has been a Bahai for over 50 years.
--Ron Price, Australia
Ron Price is a retired teacher, aged 67(in 2011). He lives with his wife Chris in Tasmania. He moved to Australia from Canada in 1971. He has written several books and they are all available on the internet. He has been a Bahai for over 50 years.
Re: Baha'i Faith Not a 'New Religious Movement'
Posted by:
RonPrice
()
Date: July 20, 2015 01:03PM
It has been some 4 years since I was last on this thread. As is often the case in cyberspace, if one waits long enough, many posts come onto a thread, posts which present diametrically opposed views. I leave it to readers with the interest to examine the views expressed on this thread. We all have to use our reason and examine the evidence. I'll post the following to keep this thread and its issues alive and well.-Ron Price, Australia
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Some years ago, I had the singular experience of living in a small rural community where some folk considered the Baha’i Faith a cult. The Baha’is had a noticeable presence in the community — a booth at the county fair, frequent public events, well-known and respected Baha’i members of the community, an occasionally-epic annual Martin Luther King celebration, a racial unity group, and even a few members who regularly wrote letters to the editor of the newspaper, defending the Faith from attacks by well-meaning Christians. Go to this link for more: [bahaiteachings.org]
-------------------------------------------
Some years ago, I had the singular experience of living in a small rural community where some folk considered the Baha’i Faith a cult. The Baha’is had a noticeable presence in the community — a booth at the county fair, frequent public events, well-known and respected Baha’i members of the community, an occasionally-epic annual Martin Luther King celebration, a racial unity group, and even a few members who regularly wrote letters to the editor of the newspaper, defending the Faith from attacks by well-meaning Christians. Go to this link for more: [bahaiteachings.org]
Re: Baha'i Faith Not a 'New Religious Movement'
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: July 20, 2015 08:59PM
[forum.culteducation.com]
[forum.culteducation.com]
Shunning
[www.google.com]
Bahai admin reactions to the Talisman listserve discussions.
[www.google.com]
Noteable
The Talisman Crackdown
The Baha'i Faith is often described as an open and tolerant religion, classed with New Age groups or Unitarian Universalists because of its teachings concerning the unity of all religions, racial harmony, and world peace. What is little-known even within the Baha'i community is that the elected Baha'i institutions have historically kept strict control of any public information concerning the religion and has been willing to use threats and sanctions to silence members who have unorthodox views.
[www.angelfire.com]
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2015 09:15PM by corboy.
[forum.culteducation.com]
Shunning
[www.google.com]
Bahai admin reactions to the Talisman listserve discussions.
[www.google.com]
Noteable
The Talisman Crackdown
The Baha'i Faith is often described as an open and tolerant religion, classed with New Age groups or Unitarian Universalists because of its teachings concerning the unity of all religions, racial harmony, and world peace. What is little-known even within the Baha'i community is that the elected Baha'i institutions have historically kept strict control of any public information concerning the religion and has been willing to use threats and sanctions to silence members who have unorthodox views.
[www.angelfire.com]
Quote
[groups.google.com]
...And if you are an entrenched power elite, such as the Baha'i
administration is, you tend to look at unfettered, liberal consultative,
academic oriented discussions with a great deal of alarm, trepidation
and suspicion. Free discussion is always a thron in the side of
dictators.
Fortunately, however, the crackdown on Talisman hasn't managed to
shut any one up, and in fact the reverse, since as a result the monopoly
held by the administration on learned Baha'i discussions almost has
evaporated. The existence of this newsgroup and countless email lists
(H-Bahai, Talisman9, Baha'i Studies, etc) is ample testimony to this.
cheers,
Nima
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2015 09:15PM by corboy.
Re: Baha'i Faith Not a 'New Religious Movement'
Posted by:
RonPrice
()
Date: August 13, 2015 03:20PM
This thread and the links associated with it have opened "a dog's breakfast" of stuff in relation to the Baha'i Faith. The internet is now full of both accurate information about the Baha'i Faith and information which is far from accurate. this is also true of many other subjects in cyberspace. People need to do their own investigation.
During most of Bahá'í history, going back to the 1860s,there have been marginal and apostate Bahá'ís. The following paper is however about a particular type of articulate and well-educated marginal and apostate person which first appeared in the West about 25 years ago, in the early 1980s. This type reached the peak of its activity in the last decade just as i was retiring from a 50 year student and paid employment life, 1949 to 1999.
Following a terminological, methodological, and ethical discussion, this paper examines the phenomenon and notes the following patterns:
(1) The activity of the majority of the apostates can be read as an attempt to reverse the negotiated position of the Bahá'í Faith and move it from being an "allegiant organisation" to a "subversive" one;
(2) The experiences of the apostates form a dark mirror image of those of the core members;
(3) The Internet has been used extensively by these apostates to create a community, assisting the passage of many of them from marginality to apostasy; (4) This community has developed its own mythology, creed and salvation stories becoming what could perhaps be called an anti-religion; and
(5) In furtherance of their aims, several apostates have written papers and books which have been accepted by academic journals and presses. The group's preoccupation with their campaign against the Bahá'í community brings to mind Max Scheler's description of the apostate as "engaged in a continuous chain of acts of revenge against his own spiritual past". Go to this link to read the full article or paper: [bahai-library.com]
During most of Bahá'í history, going back to the 1860s,there have been marginal and apostate Bahá'ís. The following paper is however about a particular type of articulate and well-educated marginal and apostate person which first appeared in the West about 25 years ago, in the early 1980s. This type reached the peak of its activity in the last decade just as i was retiring from a 50 year student and paid employment life, 1949 to 1999.
Following a terminological, methodological, and ethical discussion, this paper examines the phenomenon and notes the following patterns:
(1) The activity of the majority of the apostates can be read as an attempt to reverse the negotiated position of the Bahá'í Faith and move it from being an "allegiant organisation" to a "subversive" one;
(2) The experiences of the apostates form a dark mirror image of those of the core members;
(3) The Internet has been used extensively by these apostates to create a community, assisting the passage of many of them from marginality to apostasy; (4) This community has developed its own mythology, creed and salvation stories becoming what could perhaps be called an anti-religion; and
(5) In furtherance of their aims, several apostates have written papers and books which have been accepted by academic journals and presses. The group's preoccupation with their campaign against the Bahá'í community brings to mind Max Scheler's description of the apostate as "engaged in a continuous chain of acts of revenge against his own spiritual past". Go to this link to read the full article or paper: [bahai-library.com]
Here are "apostate" academic sources
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: August 13, 2015 09:11PM
Prospective converts to the Bahai faith should know this in advance.
Here are citations from the "apostate" academic journals referred to above.
The Baha'i faith in America as Panopticon, 1963-1997
(Corboy note:The first panopticon was named and designed as a prison, in which every
part of that prison was visible and controllable from a single vantage point.
All inmate actions could thus be monitored and controlled with the utmost efficiency.)
JRI Cole - Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1998 - JSTOR
... ritual pollution, contemporary Baha'is, like members of the Watchtower and other cults, shun those
who are ... Rank-and-file Baha'is take the obligation of shunning very seriously, and being cast out ...
In Baha'i terminology, they were threatening to have these Baha'is shunned if they ...
Cited by 21 Related articles All 2 versions Cite Save
[www.jstor.org]
Fundamentalism in the contemporary US Baha'i community
JRI Cole - Review of religious research, 2002 - JSTOR
... The insistence that the impersonal, non-theological norms of academic scholarship make it an
inappropriate vehicle for Baha'i self-expression has been taken by some Baha'i authori- ties even
to the extent of threatening to have Baha'i academics shunned over it (Birkland 1996 ...
Cited by 12 Related articles All 4 versions Cite Save
[PDF] from langtoninfo.com
[BOOK] An introduction to the Baha'i faith
P Smith - 2008 - books.google.com
Page 1. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BAHA'I FAITH Peter Smith Page 2. part i History 1 Page
3. Map I Iran and the Ottoman Empire in the mid-nineteenth century. The international boundaries
to the east of Iran were not defined or demarcated until the late nineteenth century. ...
Cited by 16 Related articles All 5 versions Cite Save More
When principle and authority collide: Baha'i responses to the exclusion of women from the Universal House of Justice
K Bacquet - 2006 - JSTOR
... of the successive heads of their religion is an essential element in maintaining its unity; and
opposing that authority, or turning to an alternative, is the worst spiritual crime that a Baha'i can
commit, a violation that can be punished with excommunication and shunning.7 Most ...
[PDF] Juan Cole's Baha'i Studies Page
JRI Cole - Review of Religious Research, 2002 - fglaysher.com
... Baha'i authorities even to the extent of threatening to have Baha'i academics shunned over it ...
Some fundamentalist Baha'is speak of being a Baha'i as a status that bestows special spiritual ...
One wrote on SRB, “Donating to the Bahai Cause is a privilege that only Bahais, who ...
Related articles All 5 versions Cite Save More
[fglaysher.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2015 09:18PM by corboy.
Here are citations from the "apostate" academic journals referred to above.
The Baha'i faith in America as Panopticon, 1963-1997
(Corboy note:The first panopticon was named and designed as a prison, in which every
part of that prison was visible and controllable from a single vantage point.
All inmate actions could thus be monitored and controlled with the utmost efficiency.)
JRI Cole - Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1998 - JSTOR
... ritual pollution, contemporary Baha'is, like members of the Watchtower and other cults, shun those
who are ... Rank-and-file Baha'is take the obligation of shunning very seriously, and being cast out ...
In Baha'i terminology, they were threatening to have these Baha'is shunned if they ...
Cited by 21 Related articles All 2 versions Cite Save
Quote
"Anyone familiar with the public relations literature produced by the
movement will be surprised at the description of the control
mechanisms given above since Bahais are often grouped in the media
with Unitarian-Universalists."
[www.jstor.org]
Fundamentalism in the contemporary US Baha'i community
JRI Cole - Review of religious research, 2002 - JSTOR
... The insistence that the impersonal, non-theological norms of academic scholarship make it an
inappropriate vehicle for Baha'i self-expression has been taken by some Baha'i authori- ties even
to the extent of threatening to have Baha'i academics shunned over it (Birkland 1996 ...
Cited by 12 Related articles All 4 versions Cite Save
[PDF] from langtoninfo.com
[BOOK] An introduction to the Baha'i faith
P Smith - 2008 - books.google.com
Page 1. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BAHA'I FAITH Peter Smith Page 2. part i History 1 Page
3. Map I Iran and the Ottoman Empire in the mid-nineteenth century. The international boundaries
to the east of Iran were not defined or demarcated until the late nineteenth century. ...
Cited by 16 Related articles All 5 versions Cite Save More
When principle and authority collide: Baha'i responses to the exclusion of women from the Universal House of Justice
K Bacquet - 2006 - JSTOR
... of the successive heads of their religion is an essential element in maintaining its unity; and
opposing that authority, or turning to an alternative, is the worst spiritual crime that a Baha'i can
commit, a violation that can be punished with excommunication and shunning.7 Most ...
[PDF] Juan Cole's Baha'i Studies Page
JRI Cole - Review of Religious Research, 2002 - fglaysher.com
... Baha'i authorities even to the extent of threatening to have Baha'i academics shunned over it ...
Some fundamentalist Baha'is speak of being a Baha'i as a status that bestows special spiritual ...
One wrote on SRB, “Donating to the Bahai Cause is a privilege that only Bahais, who ...
Related articles All 5 versions Cite Save More
[fglaysher.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2015 09:18PM by corboy.
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