Dear Friends,
I enjoyed reading the stories on your site. I, too, was a Bahai for
about 4
years and became disillusioned in the late 1980s early 90s with the
inconsistencies between the progressive, open society taught and the
"new
authoritarianism" practiced. It started with concerns over conflict
with
teachings and practice: such as the equality of men and women, but
women
cannot serve on the UHJ. Also, the anti-gay mindset of the Faith seemed
contrary to the whole idea of inclusion. I am not talking about
irresponsible behaviour, but I knew, and still know, gay people in
committed, loving relationships.
The final part for me was two-fold. One was some of the writings of
Abdul-
Baha and his attempted foray into the world of science. Some of his
stuff
could be interpreted "metaphorically", but much was just flat wrong.
I
suppose I was also put off by the self-righteous tone to much of it.
I guess
I could excuse his lack of knowledge in that he was writing from an
essentially 19th century perspective, but the arrogance annoyed me.
The
second area was more personal. I was having a hard time in my life
and
career, and could have used some emotional support. What I got was
pressure
to give money for a special project(one of many)and pressure to recruit
more
members. I was in a small community and overt pressure to prostilytize
(spell?) would be most unseemly, if not downright threatening to an
already
shaky job situation. It all left a bad taste in my mouth.
Many of your people went on to Islam, and a few back to Christianity.
I took
a different approach and went on into Zen Buddhism. I still see that
the
"essence" of all Faiths is the same, even if their culture and verbiage
is
different, but Zen reaches me in a way that other faiths have not.
I tend to
see Faith more like the United Religions Initiative does than to see
the
need for a supra-religion as the Bahai Faith seems to want to be. My
suspicion is that it will become, just another one of many Faiths in
the
world, all with something to share, but from my perspective the Bahai
Faith
says many beautiful things, but it has a lot of inconsistencies to
reconcile, first.
Perhaps, because the Bahai faith is new, I am holding it to a higher
initial
standard. I can overlook a Christian, a Muslim, or even a Buddhist
whose
writings or teachings may say something intolerant, as that may have
been
the attitude of the time in which it was propagated. I would expect,
however, that modern adherents would know and understand that such
statements, doctrines, etc may be more "cultural" than religious.
Enlightened members (no pun intended) of the older Faiths seem to know
that.
I do not detect that level of understanding among Bahais. Maybe not
enough
time has passed since its inception as a religion. I am hopeful that
wisdom,
openness, and tolerance will one day, prevail.
Again, best wishes,