I have a question about Baha'is

[BlueStorm]

I wasn't sure where to put this post at and I thought this forum was the best spot.

I was wondering about the Baha'is as I have joined them at least 5 years ago but I have moved on to New Age/Neo Paganism.

I know a little about their history and beliefs but I am wondering about their political stance bothe econmically and socially.

Like how do they stand on abortion, gay marriage, economy etc. etc.. I am wondering if anyone can help me out.

This is just out of curiousity.

Blue

[Critters2]

1. A former parishioner of mine has joined the Bahai's

and says they oppose gay marriage and abortion. I don't have an official statement, but that's part of the reason she found 'em attractive.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. I slept with one for a few years before she told me that premarital sex

was forbidden.
So I questioned her "faith" and she ran like the dickens. or was it dick ends?
They seemed fairly rational, although, I could not agree with many of their stances on policy. They have been attacked in Iran pretty severely, and even worse in afghanistan. One of their major centers is not far from Teheran central. Another is in Evanston, Illinois. Cool building.
they claim to be of all religions and of no other religions, as far as I could decipher it.

[sam sarrha]

4. they took the argument out of religious conversations,, interesting people

[PassingFair]

5. They are for "tolerance", but in actuality only for

Abrahamic religions.

P.S. Not an expert, just passing on what I was told...

[cvoogt]

10. not only Abrahamic

Buddhism and Hinduism are certainly embraced as well.
I personally also read the Tao te Ching and found it to resonate with my understanding of Baha'i Writings.

More info:
http://www.bahai.org/dir/other_religions.html

[BlueStorm]

7. Yeah I went to Evanston..

It's a really cool building indeed.

I still have a postcard somewheres with the building pic on it.

Blu

[cvoogt]

11. Baha'i temple

Here's the official site of the Baha'i temple in Chicago;

http://www.bahai.us/content/view/71/132/

[BlueStorm]

16. Yep.. I've been there, pretty building n/t

[PassingFair]

3. I pumped a Baha'i for info about 2 years ago...

She was a very nice woman - until I brought up the subject of Bush.

She supported him. STRONGLY.

She came from Iran, and her family was persecuted by the Shia majority.
She said that many were killed and many left Iran. I think she views
the neocons as rescuers. We talked for about 2 hours.

She strongly backed the war in Iraq, and I told her: "Watch out-
they're NOT gonna stop with Iraq", and she just smiled.

Then she gave me some homemade jam, kissed me on the cheek and
sent me on my way! (WithOUT a sale, I might add....)

[BlueStorm]

8. Yes I know the thing about Iran

I get the "American Baha'i" newspaper every month (Why I haven't stopped the free subscription I won't know)

They do talk alot about oppression in Iran and I have heard some horror stories of Baha'is getting caught, tortured and even killed.

It's really sad to hear about that so I can see where she feels about Bush.

Blue

[PassingFair]

14. Yup, I certainly wasn't in a position to argue with her about it!

She LIVED it!
But I DID let her know that *ush would never
ultimately be helpful to her cause, OR any-
one's cause but his own.

[glaeken777]

6. they are are very anti-abortion

Remember Seals & Crofts? They were perhaps the most prominent Bahaai musicians of the 1970s. One of their final albums as a group was a concept album called "Unborn Child". I've never heard it but rumor has it that it was very in-your-face for such a laid-back pair.

[cvoogt]

9. Baha'i stances

I recommend checking out www.bahai.org for general info, and www.bahaindex.com for links to various Baha'i sites. That's a sort of Baha'i Google.

I'm a Baha'i, and so I am speaking from my own personal understanding here, but we believe that for the love between two men or two women to express itself sexually is unnatural/unhealthy. Here are some quotes:

"No matter how devoted and fine the love may be between people of the same sex, to let it find expression in sexual acts is wrong."
"To regard homosexuals with prejudice and disdain would be entirely against the spirit of Baha'i Teachings. The doors are open for all of humanity to enter the Cause of God, irrespective of their present circumstances; this invitation applies to homosexuals as well as to any others who are engaged in practices contrary to the Baha'i Teachings."

"Associated with this invitation is the expectation that all believers will make a sincere and persistent effort to eradicate those aspects of their conduct which are not in conformity with Divine Law."

"...the sexual practice of homosexuality is no more an acceptable activity than is heterosexual activity outside marriage."

Now, that comes across as conservative, but there ARE gay Baha'is out there, and that is a tough position to be in. We're not out to impose our beliefs on others. It's not my business if gays want to get married, but it won't be possible in the Baha'i Faith.

As for abortion, this is highly discouraged in the Baha'i Faith, because we believe life begins at conception.
Here are some quotes:

"Abortion merely to prevent the birth of an unwanted child is strictly forbidden in the Cause. There may, however, be instances in which an abortion would be justified by medical reasons"


As for Bush ... I can't speak for others as to why they would support him. I know some Baha'is voted for him in 2000 because of his alleged moral stances, but they felt duped pretty quickly. I have heard some say that although the war was a "bad thing," it will eventually result in positive changes in the Middle East. This is along the lines of thinking that the world must go through more upheavals before we reach a stage of world peace. That kind of optimism takes a very detached view of things, and all I can think of is that this war cost tens of thousands of civilian lives, and how can anyone justify that? The war was wrong, an act of aggression and greed, and completely unjustified. Furthermore, as Baha'is we believe war should only be used in self-defense (and pre-emption was a lame excuse) or by the world community to stop an oppressive government or bully. So the first Gulf War seemed fairly justified, and so did Afghanistan, but attacking Iraq after 9/11 was just wrong.

Finally, it is important to note that the Baha'i Faith actually began in Baghdad - that is where our founder, Baha'u'llah, revealed his mission in 1863. His forerunner, the Bab (Arabic for "The Gate," like John the Baptist), revealed his own mission in Shiraz, Iran, in 1844. He was there because he had been banished from Persia (Iran), eventually ending up in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and that's why the Baha'i World Center is in Haifa, Israel. There is an active Baha'i community in Baghdad, and the Baha'is are the largest minority group in Iran, and are heavily persecuted there. Many Iranian Baha'is in the US have lost family members to the regime in power there, mostly in the 1980's, right after the Revolution. The current government there has an active campaign to disenfranchise Baha'is by denying them jobs and schooling.

We are not politically affiliated, even instructed not get involved in partisan politics, as it is divisive; but enjoined to vote and follow the laws of a just government. So why am I on DU? I like democracy and would like to see some of it in the USA again. I'm not registered with any party, and if Clinton had attacked Iraq the way Bush did, you bet I'd be against him too.

[BlueStorm]

12. Very informative, and thanks for your answer....

I respect all religions and their beliefs so I don't want to debate on what one believes or not.

I was just only curious as to what the Baha'is believed in because I still get literature from them and I was wondering if they were liberal or conservative.

Blu

[cvoogt]

13. liberal vs. conservative

if you ask me, Baha'is tend to be "liberal/progressive" on many social issues, but "conservative" on issues of personal morality. We would not call that conservative or liberal, really, just our view of morality. We are not trying to conserve a status quo ... in fact much of what we believe calls for drastic changes in society in terms of elimination of all forms of prejudice, preferential treatment for girls in education, a reformed UN, etc. Some of our views happen to resemble those of conservative Christian denominations (for example) but that doesn't mean we are "conservative."

Maybe you've heard of events like Race Unity Day or World Religion Day, or Martin Luther King Day marches. We're very active in organizing those, and in my own experiences in Atlanta over the years we have clashed with the KKK twice, once with them protesting MLK day in their silly white tunics. The police were there to protect us, but also to ensure the KKK their right to protest. But I was more afraid of the average folks on the street than I was of the KKK, some of them screaming at us that we're "going to hell in a handbasket" for promoting race unity. Those scared me because they're more numerous than those daring enough to wear the white robes. One of my highlights of those marches was when an elderly African American man watching from a window overhead was shouting "God bless you" to the marchers. It was obvious to me, though I have no way of knowing, that he had lived the civil rights era and had maybe even been a sharecropper, and was happy to see real change in his lifetime, though much remains to be done.

[BlueStorm]

15. Very touching...

I do know about the Baha'is doing work to eliminate prejudice and all of that and that they would like a better world.

I never knew exactly what etent they went to, little ol ignorant me, lol.

Wow... it must have been quite an experience to go to that march. I have never met the KKK in person and I really don't want to.

God I just can't think straight today lol, my mind just freezes up when I want to articulate something.

But I am glad that you enlightened me.

Blue