The Baha'i Religion - Am I missing anything?

September 3, 2008 10:22 AM

I have spent the past two years doing on-again, off-again research into the Baha'i religion. I really like what I see - I'm on the verge of conversion. There is one problem - something that's nagging at the corners of my mind: Why isn't this religion more popular? Is there something that I'm missing that everyone else is seeing?

This is a bit of the Wisdom of Crowds mentality, but I have this mental image of a fork in the road with a heavily traveled path on one side and a deer path on the other.

I'm not afraid of going my own way, I'm just looking for a little reassurance that I'm not blind to some obvious problem.

The people I've spoken to have been very nice, the books that I have read have seemed pretty thorough, and I've read all the criticism that I can get my hands on. Yet, the sheer anonymity of it leaves me a bit bewildered.

Help?

posted by unixrat to Religion & Philosophy (18 answers total)

In college I had a friend who was raised in a Baha'i family, and he said that despite the proclaimed equality of sexes in the writings of Baha'u'llah, repression of and even violence toward women was pretty endemic in the Baha'i community where he grew up (this was in California, for what that's worth, and your local community might be different). This and what he felt was rampant hypocrisy let him to leave the faith, and he described it as a very liberal and accepting religion on paper that was far more oppressive and dogmatic in actual practice.

As far as anonymity and popularity goes, it's been barely 150 years since Baha'u'llah declared himself a messenger of God, and that's really not very long at all in the religious scheme of things, especially for a religion that doesn't aggressively proselytize.
posted by infinitywaltz at 10:41 AM on September 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I understand that it's different strokes for different folks. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a case of "As soon as you join they attach electrodes to your brains! And they make you kick puppies!"

Okay, that's a bit flippant, but this thread confirms what I was thinking earlier. There's nothing wrong with being obscure - I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't getting involved with an organization like... well, you know.

Many thanks to everyone!
posted by unixrat at 11:04 AM on September 3, 2008

I think American Baha'i traditions tend to be very esoteric and cerebral, perhaps even bloodless:

Rituals: an American Bahá’í dilemma

...While rituals can easily be seen as inseparable from religion, among American Bahá'ís there is a near rejection of them. The mere mention of the word evokes a negative response. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram in his book, Music, Devotions, and Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, quotes Horace Holley as saying in the late 1940s that "congregational worship among the Bahá'ís consists of the reading of passages from all extant Holy Books, with no ritualistic device..."(2) Some forty years later, American Bahá'ís still boast about this lack of ritual in the Bahá'í Faith. Some express alarm when they detect any attempt to promote a ritual. Even the lighting of candles at a Holy Day commemoration or a Feast can generate a letter to the American Bahá'í conveying alarm that "rituals" were sneaking into Bahá'í gatherings.

This long-standing American Bahá'í antipathy for ritual is exemplified in the reaction to the use of hymns earlier in this century. In the 1920s hymns were commonly sung in Bahá'í worship services but their use was hotly debated. By around 1940 hymns had petered out due to the opposition they faced, in spite of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's obvious approval of this musical form.

No ritual, little music-- how exactly is inspiration supposed to find you?
posted by jamjam at 11:11 AM on September 3, 2008

Your question struck me -- it occurs to me that if you're still hesitant enough to worry that a particular faith may be secretly a cult or may be too esoteric, maybe there are some doubts you need to explore. Mind you, I'm not questioning the validity of your zeal or the sincerity of your conversion, I'm just noticing that YOU seem to have some doubts still that may be worth reflecting on for a little while, even if you ultimately only spend a half hour thinking about them and then you blink and say, "wait, I was being stupid, what was I worrying about?"

But you know best whether this is true.

As for me, the only thing I know about the Baha'i in the USA is that Seals and Crofts are followers.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:15 AM on September 3, 2008

The Baha'i Faith isn't really cool with gay people.

I had a friend in college who is Baha'i and she was really great, but she was really convinced that Baha'i was 'the answer' in kind an an odd way. She didn't think people were evil or sinners and she didn't try to convert at all. It wasn't that, but for instance, she did give people a hard time about drinking alcohol, despite never having had it herself. It was less "you are bad" but more "I have no idea why anyone would want to do that in the first place".
Her take on gayness was similar--"Why would a woman love another woman if there were other perfectly good men around?" It was no use explaining to her that it wasn't so much of a choice or a 'fallback', but that never seemed to make any sense to her.

She did socialize in a misogynist community, too. I am not sure if it was a cultural thing or a Baha'i thing.
posted by oflinkey at 11:21 AM on September 3, 2008

It's not more popular because people don't usually adopt a religion by rational choice. It may be the best thing since patchuli oil, but it takes more than quality to make people adopt it. The primary driving force is inertia (says me), and Baha'i is too new to have a head of steam yet.
posted by cmiller at 11:24 AM on September 3, 2008

It occurs to me that my answer looks as if it were just my friend who does not believe in homosexuality-- this is not the case, as far as I know. She did show me some sort of religious guide where it defined love and marriage as being between a man and a woman. FWIW, Wikipedia notes this as well, and I am finding similar information elsewhere (Religious Tolerance, etc.)
posted by oflinkey at 11:24 AM on September 3, 2008

Long ago, I visited the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette and have found it to be extremely lovely. And the services are interesting.

I think part of it might be that there are only 7? 8? houses of worship built for the Baha'i in the world. My understanding is that most followers meet in the houses of members which, as someone who was just curious about Baha'i/didn't know much/was nervous about getting into something funky, put me off a little. I wasn't comfortable with services being in someone's house when I felt I hadn't observed the community enough and didn't know anything about it yet.

I don't know if that is part of it. But it was part of it for me at the time.
posted by jeanmari at 11:34 AM on September 3, 2008

Response by poster: Your question struck me -- it occurs to me that if you're still hesitant enough to worry that a particular faith may be secretly a cult or may be too esoteric, maybe there are some doubts you need to explore.

Which is what I'm doing. I've spent a couple of years reading, talking, communicating with others about this. I have not immersed myself with the local Baha'i group for the simple fact that I wanted to make sure that I was truly making an independent choice.

This is one last sanity check before I make the Big Jump. I just wanted to make sure that I truly had covered all the bases as I thought that I had.

It's all good and I appreciate the perspectives others keep offering.
posted by unixrat at 11:38 AM on September 3, 2008

I'll second hal c on on the temple. I've lived in Chicago for going on 2 decades and never bothered to visit. Then, one day last fall, by way of missing the turn I should have taken, ended up in front of it. It truly took my breath away. It is about three times the size I thought it would be, and the only building that has affected me in that way. It was like seeing the Taj Mahal. I was just plain stunned.

And while its has nothing to do with anything really, I remember that Seals and Crofts were members of the faith. Good luck with your travels.
posted by timsteil at 11:51 AM on September 3, 2008

Which is what I'm doing. I've spent a couple of years reading, talking, communicating with others about this. I have not immersed myself with the local Baha'i group for the simple fact that I wanted to make sure that I was truly making an independent choice.

Fair point -- this could be a "your mileage may vary" reaction. I tend to avoid others and "talk" only to myself when I'm examining spiritual matters, so I was actually coming from a "you may want to ask yourself WHY you're asking others for advice" kind of place. But I've always had a quirky and "shun advice from all others" approach to spirituality anyway, to the point that I think even UU's would feel a bit too much like "conformity" for me, so I rarely analyze my spiritual beliefs with others (except when I'm arguing about theology with a friend of mine who was schooled by Jesuits, because it's just so fun to mess with his head).

Sorry. As you were.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:06 PM on September 3, 2008

Response by poster: The Baha'i religion strongly discourages the consumption of alcohol. If you're a recovering clean-and-sober alcoholic, this might be a feature, not a bug. That's been the main thing that's kept me from ever looking any further into the faith.

Not a problem as I don't drink. It's like asking a dog not to meow.
posted by unixrat at 1:18 PM on September 3, 2008

They aren't exactly big on proselytizing. My mother was born to a Baha'i mother and a Jewish father. She had a lot of cultural contact (I think she went to Baha'i) summer camps. Her mother, two oldest sisters, and most of her aunts and uncles were all practicing Baha'is who made a point of going to the various national gatherings whenever possible. My mother though was never religious and she's noted that never once in her adult life did any of her extended family even hint that maybe she should consider coming to some meetings or anything. I haven't either.
posted by Good Brain at 1:46 PM on September 3, 2008

I don't have any personal experience of the Baha'i religion but just wanted to mention that if you ever get a chance to see the Baha'i temple in New Delhi, India, you should go. It's a beautiful place, shaped like a lotus and though I'm not religious, it felt incredibly peaceful and spiritual.
posted by peacheater at 3:02 PM on September 3, 2008

Full Disclosure: Nontheist, Monist (Naturalist), Raised Catholic.

I don't know anything about the Baha'i church as an organization beyond minor contact with some converts (and only know a bit more about it's beliefs in the abstract).

A criticism of many religious traditions is a perceived syncretic tendency. Christianity gets harped on for taking on the mantle of Judaism of course, but also Zoroastrianism and other "pagan" beliefs (why is Christmas in winter?). The Baha'i faith is one of the most unabashedly syncretic groups out there - as you're undoubtedly aware.

To many people, this could be appealing, because it apparently solves one of the big problems of faith - why do I have faith in these tenets rather than those other tenets? Well if you believe that there is some truth in all of it you can apparently have your cake and eat it too...

This annoys members of the faith groups Baha'i borrows from, for good reason. I think there is a very compelling argument to be made that Islam and Christianity (for instance) make contradictory statements about all major philosophical issues, most obviously the nature of their posited God. I can't imagine how you could reconcile the sort of faith described in the Buddhist cannon with that of the Abrahamic religions (simply put, faith is seen as a means to an end, and not an inherently positive thing in most schools of thought - the sort of faith espoused by Christians and Muslims seems inimical to any sort of dharmic practice).

So my understanding of the Baha'i explanation for all this is that the cherry picking gains weight because Bahá'u'lláh was acting on divine guidance when making these calls. I suppose that's as tenable as any other faith in a divine messenger (a whole topic on it's own) but even if you're okay with that it seems like this religion has the unique problem of accounting for God sending numerous contradictory prophets before this last one.

Anyway, I think there is much to be said for the Baha'i approach of studying the wisdom of traditional cultures through their dogmas. I guess I'm just encouraging you (and others who might google this) to consider learning from these groups without taking on articles of faith.
posted by phrontist at 3:42 PM on September 3, 2008

Oh, and I totally have to see that temple in Illinois now!
posted by phrontist at 3:42 PM on September 3, 2008

Although, I am not of the Baha'i faith, I regularly visit the temple in Wilmette, IL. I will echo what everyone else has said: it is one of the most magnificent pieces of architecture that I have seen in the US.

Beyond that, it is a spiritually exhilarating place, a wonderful place to think, and probably the most diverse religious venue I have been to.

I have been going to the temple for years, but about 1 year ago I noticed something on the edifice that might explain the religion's philosophy and approach towards mass appeal.

If you look closely at the pillars of the temple (I wish I had a close-up pic, but I don't), you'll notice from top-to-bottom the sacred symbols of every major religion etched into the temple. You'll see the jewish star, the cross, the hindu swastika, the dharma chakra, and the crescent moon.

The point is that it seems like the religion accepts all religions as one. That philosophy isn't conducive to proselytizing, mass conversions, or pandering. It's as if they are saying whether you convert or not, we accept you.

Contrast this with the other major religions. Conversion and accepting those faiths as "the answer" is an imperative for inoculation. That of course, leads to a lot more conversions. But, I am confident that is not what the Baha'i faith is striving for.

In fact, the Baha'i temple in Wilmette (and I am sure all of the temples) will let you have your wedding there whether you are of the Baha'i faith or not. Think about that in the context of conversion or mass acceptance.

Simply put, it's not something the faith strives to do.
posted by copernicus at 5:37 PM on September 3, 2008

Well, as someone whose family was at one point Baha'i, but has now left, let me give you a little bit of my experience.

My parents joined the faith after a couple of introductory meetings. They had friends who were involved, they liked the syncretic message and the emphasis on peace, internationalism and a personal God. They discussed it a bit with us, and we joined up.

We primarily attended rural center for the monthly Feast; it was an extremely warm, welcoming and coequal community (which included, and I thought this was incredibly cool, a family of world-champion boomerang throwers).

I went to camps with them, had minimal religious dogma instruction, etc.

Then we moved to Ann Arbor. In Ann Arbor, the community was dominated by two groups—academics and Persian exiles. What we had previously experienced as a lackadaisical creed that was inclusive, edifying and modeled on Abdul Baha's idea of leading by example, was now a religion that we experienced as judgmental, dogmatic, often sexist and concerned with the types of petty politicking and status games that seemed antithetical to both Baha'ullah's vision and the faith as we knew it. That unhappiness with the local community led my parents to investigate more of the faith that they'd previously ignored, the history of the religion from Shoghi Effendi onward. And what they discovered was that while Effendi codified, translated and expanded the religion greatly, he also had a lot of cultural ideas that directly clashed with the messages of equality that came through the rest of the religion, and a lot of the ways that he thought about the religion were colored through what my family believes are overly legalistic framings. Stuff like that only men can serve on the governing body kinda chafed.

With any of these things, we might have made it through (my father was raised as an American Catholic, so had no problem ignoring a foreign religious authority), but with the local community full of judgmental pricks, it was easier just to abandon all organized religion (we later gave UU a try, but I said "organized" religion).
posted by klangklangston at 11:03 PM on September 3, 2008 [1 favorite]