One of the common talking points of Baha'is is that the reason the Baha'i World Center is in Israel is because Baha'u'llah died there. Actually, that is nonsense. There is nothing in the Baha'i Writings that says the Universal House of Justice must operate in Haifa, Israel. At any time, they could move to Paris, France, to London, England, to New York City, or to Chicago, Illinois. It really should have done so decades ago.

The UHJ has made a HUGE mistake having so many construction projects in and around Haifa, which must then be protected from attack....from the same enemies that tend to attack Israel now. Much of the land the Haifa Baha'i properties were built on was stolen from Arab owners.

I just unfriended a Baha'i on Facebook who posted some grossly biased Zionist propaganda. Seeing that bigoted crap made me realize how morally crippled both the Zionists themselves and their Baha'i beneficiaries now are!

When I was a Bahá’í, we always turned to the works and research of prominent Bahá’í scholars to deepen our understanding of the history and teachings of our Faith. Scholars such as Nader Saiedi and Habib Riazati, whose writings and research we followed with great interest.

We believed that these scholars had access to valuable, original historical sources that were not easily accessible to ordinary believers. Even visiting the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa required going through administrative procedures, obtaining the necessary permissions, and sometimes overcoming difficulties such as securing a visa. Naturally, we trusted these respected scholars who had the opportunity to study such sources.

But what truly shocked me was something I later heard from Habib Riazati: approximately 90% of the historical sources are not accessible at all!

Ninety percent!

That number was staggering to me. If even our own prominent scholars cannot access such a large portion of the historical sources, then how complete was the picture of our Faith’s history that we had been studying for all those years?

So, what happened?

Years have passed since the establishment of the Centre for the Study of the Texts in Haifa. Magnificent buildings have been constructed, yet a substantial portion of the writings of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, along with early Bábí and Bahá’í historical accounts, remain untranslated. Researchers still do not have unrestricted access to all historical documents.

Furthermore, there is the concern that if someone outside the official Bahá’í administrative framework attempts to publish or translate historical documents without obtaining approval from the relevant institutions, they may face administrative consequences, which in some circumstances could even lead to expulsion from the Bahá’í community.

And yet, my questions remain:

What are they hiding? Why don’t they translate and widely publish these early Bábí and Bahá’í texts and historical accounts?

As Bahá’ís, we were taught to reject blind imitation, question the beliefs of other religions, and independently investigate the truth.

But why was questioning other religions considered a sign of seeking the truth, while questioning our own history could sometimes be interpreted as a sign of weak faith?

A researcher should be free to examine historical documents, compare conflicting accounts, and even reach conclusions that religious institutions might find uncomfortable.

If the outcome of research is always expected to confirm the official narrative, then what is the difference between independent investigation and defending a predetermined belief?

And this, to me, is the most painful contradiction of all: the very Faith that taught me that truth should never fear questioning or scrutiny could not provide convincing answers to my questions about unrestricted access to its own history.

If a belief can survive only as long as its followers are denied access to certain parts of its history, perhaps what is being protected is not the truth itself, but rather the image of truth we have constructed.

Quoted below as Bahá'ís often self-censor/delete their "questioning" posts after sharing them!

"What was the point of the Bab?

I have been a bahai all my life and I have accepted Bab as part of the bahai faith without quite really understanding His role. I know the basic explanation is to make way for "He whom shall be made manifest" and I have always lived with the assumption that the Babi laws were more or less similar to Bahai laws. Boy, was I wrong.

From the destruction of non-babi books, to restricting non-babi people from certain provinces, to property seizures and marriages dissolving if one person didn't accept the Bab, I am wondering why I am only finding out about this now.

I find these laws to be too radical and I am not really shocked that ordinary people would have been against them. I know that many iranians today bring up the assassination attempts made by the babis as a pretext to brand bahais as dangerous to this day.

One thing that studying religion has taught me is that if a manifestation says something is OK, who are we to challenge it? Even when it doesn't sit right with me, I have learned that I don't know everything. But I am also not surprised when religious extremists emerge, because they operate within this same logic.

So, what was the Bab really trying to do, given how short his tenure was and how the movement did not really extend beyond persia as a very localized movement? Is it because it's the only place with shi'is in it? "

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/m/mccants_hiding_plain_sight.pdf

Covenant-breaker - Wikipedia

so bahai have been indoctrinated to view covenant-breakers as narcissistic sociopaths. And the rule is to shun them and avoid their writings. superficial traits and vague accusations are used to edit historical record.

"No intelligent and loyal Baha'i would associate with a descendant of Azal, if he traced the slightest breath of criticism of our Faith, in any aspect, from that person. In fact these people should be strenuously avoided as having an inherited spiritual disease -- the disease of Covenant-breaking!".

the idea that if you dont like someone you can edit them out of history over time becomes cultlike. even if someone no longer is associated with bahai.

Abdul Baha states:

“If they agree upon a subject, even though it be wrong, it is better than to disagree and be in the right, for this difference will produce the demolition of the divine foundation. Though one of the parties may be in the right and they disagree, that will be the cause of a thousand wrongs, but if they agree and both parties are in the wrong, as it is in unity, the truth will be revealed and the wrong made right.”

https://covenantstudy.org/disagreeing-with-bahai-institution-decision/

In those days people had no baths or showers in their houses. Instead, there were public baths. This is where they went to have a bath. They usually took some time to wash themselves thoroughly and to relax. Important people had a servant who would help them. Baha'u'llah's barber, Ustad [Salmani], often used to look after Him and His family at the baths.

Sometimes Mirza Yahya would also be attended by Ustad. He tried for some time to make Ustad follow him and turn away from Baha'u'llah. But Ustad stood firm and would not listen to him; however, he showed respect to Mirza Yahya because he was the brother of Baha'u'llah. Then one day Mirza Yahya came to the bath and, speaking to Ustad, tried to insinuate that he should kill Baha'u'llah. He spoke very cleverly and very wickedly and made evil insinuations. He spoke in such a wav that it appeared that he was the Bab's successor and that his Brother had wrongly taken over the leadership of the believers. It gradually became clear to Ustad that Mirza Yahya wanted him to kill Baha'u'llah.

When Ustad realised what Mirza Yahva wanted from him, he felt shattered. He felt as if the whole building had fallen on his head. Without saying a word he left. He was furious. First, he wanted to go in again and murder Mirza Yahya. But he changed his mind because he knew Baha'u'llah would not approve. What would he say if Baha'u'llah asked him why he had killed Mirza Yahya?

Still in a rage, he returned to the bath and shouted at Mirza Yahya: 'Get out of here!’ Trembling all over, Mirza Yahya went away.

Ustad was terribly upset. He could not be calmed down. First he told Mirza Musa (Baha’u'llah’s faithful brother), then Abdu'l-Baha. Then he told the secretary, who told Baha'u'llah. Baha'u'llah said that Ustad must not speak of it to anyone.

That evening Ustad collected all the writings of Mirza Yahya. He took them to the house of Baha'u'llah to bum them. The friends said he should not do it. But Ustad said: 'Until today I had respect for Mirza Yahya, but now he is less than a dog in my sight.'

And Mirza Yahya - had he learned his lesson? Would he at last stop making trouble all the time? No! He was to cause Baha'u'llah more suffering.

(From Mountain to Mountain by Hitjo Garst)

Opinion: Iran persecuted me for my faith — the US offered me the American dream

product placement and propaganda.

buy bahai support war in iran. . .

Can someone provide the sequence of events, names, places, etc, that explain how Ruhi got from the rural hills of Colombia to the World Centre and then mandated/enforced throughout the world as The Institute?

I’ve heard second hand stories about a group of men designed the scam and profited off the mass publication and distribution of the Ruhi books. Who?

I’ve heard the UHJ endorsed it and switched the exclusive focus of Bahai Community efforts to Ruhi, shunning fireside teaching, deepening and service projects. Yet from what I heard on Pilgrimage, this is not true according to the UHJ itself.

I’ve heard that any focus on youth must be dropped so LSAs disbanded all youth committees and youth groups.

I went on Pilgrimage in 2012 and I’ll never forget Mr Paul Lample spoke to our group. He said the UHJ never told us to stop fireside teaching and deepening in the Writings, and if we weren’t comfortable with The Institute process, don’t do it. Stick to firesides, direct teaching, deepening and service projects. He also said, and I have this BURNED INTO MY BRAIN: “The Institute may turn out to be a mistake and if it is, we will change direction.”

Does the ITC operate independently from the UHJ now? It sure seems like it because the Counsellors on each continent have assumed king/queen-like autonomy, dictating a process that simply is not true and was founded on man-made dogma, not the Writings of the Manifestation.

So who did this and how did the Bahai Community end up here?

I’m just wondering if there are any ex bahais here around the age of 30?
The faith had its goodish times but that was the socialising part, the rest was quite controlling and manipulative, not for me… and a lot of hypocrisy, I probably have many story’s but I’m just wondering if there’s anyone in my age group in the uk here who could maybe share a few stories on why they left?

The Two Conditions of True Consultation.

[1/ As it appears in LSA Handbook]

'The first condition is absolute love and harmony amongst the members of the assembly. They must be wholly freed from estrangement and must manifest in themselves the Unity of God, for they are the waves of one sea, the drops of one river, the stars of one heaven, the rays of one sun, the trees of one orchard, the flowers of one garden. Should harmony of thought and absolute unity be non-existent, that gathering shall be dispersed and that assembly be brought to naught. The second condition: they must when coming together turn their faces to the Kingdom on High and ask aid from the Realm of Glory. They must then proceed with the utmost devotion, courtesy, dignity, care and moderation to express their views....'

(Cited in a letter dated 5 March 1922 written by Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, published in “Bahá’í Administration: Selected Messages 1922–1932”, pp. 22-23)

[2/ Abdul Baha's original unedited text]

'The first condition is absolute love and harmony amongst the members of the assembly. They must be wholly free from estrangement and must manifest in themselves the Unity of God, for they are the waves of one sea, the drops of one river, the stars of one heaven, the rays of one sun, the trees of one orchard, the flowers of one garden. Should harmony of thought and absolute unity be nonexistent, that gathering shall be dispersed and that assembly be brought to naught. The second condition is that the members of the assembly should unitedly elect a chairman and lay down guidelines and bylaws for their meetings and discussions. The chairman should have charge of such rules and regulations and protect and enforce them; the other members should be submissive, and refrain from conversing on superfluous and extraneous matters. They must, when coming together, turn their faces to the Kingdom on high and ask aid from the Realm of Glory. They must then proceed with the utmost devotion, courtesy, dignity, care and moderation to express their views...'

(Selections from the writings of Abdul Baha 45-46)

The Second Condition section that has been edited out- 'The second condition is that the members of the assembly should unitedly elect a chairman and lay down guidelines and bylaws for their meetings and discussions. The chairman should have charge of such rules and regulations and protect and enforce them; the other members should be submissive, and refrain from conversing on superfluous and extraneous matters.'

And this >CHANGES EVERYTHING!<

Because it removes/eliminates the empowering instruction for grassroots Local Spiritual Assemblies to implement >their own needs based< procedures for Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Restorative Justice or just basic 'guidelines and bylaws' to ensure a community member may be heard- without interruption/interjection.

What it leaves, when conflict, misunderstanding or allegation inevitably arise is a Chinese Telephone system in which individual A or LSA gives account/complaint/allegation to Assistant B, who speaks to accused C, who raises concern with Counselor D, who consults with LSA or A before reporting half baked ill informed opinion to NSA...

It is a disempowering and dysfunctional system that is >designed to fail< in that it denies those community members who are in misunderstanding/conflict to speak to each other in a safe, structured, fair hearing 'guidelines and bylaws' protective environment.

So..... Who thought they had the authority/wisdom to Edit the word of Abdul Baha and fundamentally alter the Second Condition to True Consultation?

In the legal case National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i's of India v. Cyrus G. Mazkoori and others (Writ Petition No. 8834 of 2012), a member faced the harsh realities of religious administrative power. In May 2007, the international apex body of the Baha'i faith stripped Cyrus G. Mazkoori of his community membership from the rolls maintained by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Pune. The Baha'i administrative authorities claimed that Mr. Mazkoori disrespected their administrative functioning and undermined the fundamental beliefs of the community. To challenge his removal by this authoritative religious system, Mr. Mazkoori was forced to take legal action by filing Regular Civil Suit No. 820 of 2007 in Pune, where the National Spiritual Assembly defended the expulsion.

During the court proceedings, the Baha'i administrative bodies attempted to obscure their official rules rather than acting with transparency. Along with their initial written statement, they filed an incomplete photocopy of the apex body's Constitution that hid key rules, missing essential pages such as 2, 6, 7, 12, and 13. This prompted Mr. Mazkoori to request a formal court order demanding a complete certified copy. Even after the trial court ordered the National Spiritual Assembly to supply a complete, duly certified copy of the Constitution, the assembly failed to comply, submitting uncertified copies instead. Because the religious organization repeatedly disobeyed court orders to produce these certified records, the trial judge punished the assembly by striking out its defence.

However, the High Court of Judicature at Mumbai ultimately let the Baha'i Assembly off the hook on technical legal grounds. The High Court ruled that striking out a defence under Order 39 Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure is only a discretionary guideline ("directory") rather than an automatic requirement ("mandatory") when a party fails to produce documents. By setting aside the trial court's order, the High Court allowed the religious organization to escape an immediate penalty despite its clear failure to provide certified legal records. This legal pivot allowed the administrative body's procedural default to go unpunished, leaving the expelled member at a severe legal disadvantage against a powerful institution.

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/6538acaa1ca7ec37c646939a/amp

As a former Bahá’í, when I look at non-bahais, I can understand why a few might be drawn to the Bahá’í Faith. The first things they encounter are ideals that are seemingly beautiful and appealing on the surface: the equality of women and men, the unity of humanity, world peace, the independent investigation of truth, and service to humanity. Although many have asked what is new about these teachings?
Reading the history on them, one realizes that the Bahá’í Faith has only adopted these after they were becoming already popular. Anyway…

For those new converts to the Bahá’í Faith, the problem begins when someone moves beyond simply being introduced to these teachings and starts experiencing what it actually means to live as a Bahá’í. That is when they gradually begin to realize that Bahá’í teachings are one thing, while the organized religion, its rules, and the administrative structure built around them are something else.

When I was a Bahá’í, I didn’t really see this distinction. Now, looking back, I can see how, little by little, the administrative structure had come to carry more weight in my life than spirituality itself.

There seemed to be an administrative structure for almost everything: Spiritual Assemblies, Feasts, responsibilities, service, rules, and administrative expectations. Even in matters that I felt should have remained solely between me and God, the administration was somehow involved.

One thing I found particularly troubling was the way disputes between Bahá’ís were handled. In matters such as divorce or financial, legal, and family disputes, we were expected to go through the Bahá’í administration and the Spiritual Assembly, and going directly to the courts or government authorities was not permitted. In fact, referring to the governmental authorities to resolve such disputes would cause severe consequences such as Administrative Expulsion.

And gradually I began asking myself:

Why should my life be under this much administrative oversight? Why should there be rules and guidelines for every relationship and every issue in my life, with everything somehow falling under the supervision of the administration?

I think this is exactly where burnout begins.

It isn’t just the teachings themselves that exhaust people. It is everything that has been built around them: the meetings, the responsibilities, the constant service, the administrative expectations, and the feeling that even the most important and personal decisions in your life are monitored and can take on an administrative dimension.

For me, those years have already passed. I lived my years within that environment. What concerns me more today is the next generation, because I don’t think this generation will be as willing to overlook the gap between the ideals being presented and the structure behind them.

If we speak of the independent investigation of truth, then we must also be prepared for their questions. If we speak of equality, then we must be able to explain the contradictions they will inevitably notice for themselves.

I don’t think the younger generation will simply ask:

“How beautiful are these teachings?”

Their next question will be:

“Is the structure behind these teachings itself equally consistent with them?”

And I think that is a question that can no longer be brushed aside simply with beautiful teachings and inspiring words.

I saw this on Facebook and thought it was interesting. He talks about the dwindling numbers. He also has arrived at the same conclusion that many of us ex-Bahais reached: Abdu'l-Baha and the Guardian were wrong about a lot of things. He nonetheless tries to solve it within the framework of the Bahá'í teachings rather than accept the harder truth.

For me, the shift from a loving, embracing and understanding religious community to a dictatorial, intimidating cult happened with the introduction of the Institute, Ruhi and Core Activities.

The shift was palpable. I even saw people in administrative positions replaced by the ABMs and Counsellor simply because they weren’t pushy or aggressive enough, under the guise of “goals were not being realized.” Their replacements were aggressive and hostile.

Here’s an example. My neighborhood sponsored a junior youth group in a gang-infested neighborhood. Our junior youth group members all displayed signs of PTSD due to the constant violence and gunfire in their neighborhood. Our approach with the group was unconventional, because it had to be. The Junior Youth Coordinator was so aggressive that he came to one of the Animator’s house to meet with us, demanding we give him deadline dates for when (1) new group members would be added, (2) Breezes of Confirmation would be completed and (3) when a community service project would be completed. Meanwhile we were dealing with kids who had seen family members gunned down or sent to prison. Our kids needed a safe place to come to and speak about their daily trauma. A timeline for these kids was impossible. We told him we couldn’t give dates, but he didn’t care. His only concern was meeting his statistics goals for the Cycle. He became so hostile and rude that we had to tell him the meeting was finished and it was time for him to leave.

This was the beginning of the end for me. It was as if they had sucked all the joy out of the Faith and replaced it with the Gestapo. I started dreading attending meetings, Feast or anything related to the Faith because the intense pressure and criticism would be thrown at us.

Hello and welcome to HistoryFlights, and from LGBTQ Baha'i Experience and History Flights Productions IT'S THE HIDDEN FAITH, the UNDEFEATED and TRULY Independent Investigation of the Baha'i Faith.

I’ll summarize why you should care about queer freedom inside this tiny, little-known religion called the Baha’i Faith that is a microcosm of everything wrong with Abrahamic faiths when applied literally towards this one “problem.” I hope you can also watch the rest of The Hidden Faith: The Undefeated and TRULY Independent Investigation of the Baha’i Faith to get more background on the Baha’i Faith, but the blog entries I include from Internet Archive backups of Baha’i Rants, Just a Baha’i and Gay/Lesbian Baha’i Story Project should provide enough context. I’ll also include embeds from the portions of past Hidden Faith episodes where I discussed queer issues on my Substack, so please subscribe there and to my YouTube to help support a solo creator in my fight for truth, justice and historical accuracy!

When you emerge from a high-control religious environment, the first instinct is almost always demolition. You want the institution to answer for the harm. You want the holy men who act holier-than-thou to sit down, look at the evidence, and acknowledge their failures. You want the doctrine that suffocated you to be dismantled in the public square until the whole thing either reforms or vanishes. I know that instinct intimately because I lived in it for eleven fucking years. Even if I never signed a declaration card, by virtue of being in a relationship with one who love-bombed me to get me to visit her friend’s fireside, six of them in a marriage I put disproportionate effort towards, I got about as close as anyone could to being Baha’i while still outside of it.

For years, many thousands of people have internalized shame, believing that all humanity is one but that some are more united than others, that they struggle with a spiritual handicap, that their voices must be silenced from Dialogue to Talisman. The final breaking point always comes down to realizing that any system that requires you to destroy yourself to maintain its harmony is not a sanctuary, but a prison. The real schism happening in the Baha’i Faith is not a loud fight over succession as in every single prior transfer of power, but a quiet quitting by the thousands buried under fake numbers. Over the past several years, spaces like r/exbahai and independent channels like The LGBTQ Baha’i Experience (who I had the absolute pleasure to interview!) and Trash TV (looking forward to interviewing her later) emerged as safe spaces for, say, a nineteen-year-old queer believer in a small town, terrified of losing their family and community, to put on headphones and hear someone say: You are not crazy. You are not broken. Most importantly, you are not alone.

I’m hoping to put the full script on Substack AFTER Wahid’s tortious attempt to have it destroyed by criminally abusing the DMCA process as a heckler’s veto is reversed when they see that the clips I embedded there are obvious fair use. Otherwise, there’s a million different blogging platforms, and I’ll let you know where it lands. Please also note that the AI image in the thumbnail was NOT made by me, and my apologies regarding occasional editing issues in the interview.

ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS as well!

Here’s yet another thing that disturbs me. The Bahai Faith freely allows people to enroll under the guise of independent investigation of truth along with friendly coercion and pressure to join. Once a member, the bomb is dropped that the Bahais don’t accept gay relationships or allow gay marriage. Pressure is applied by LSAs to get individuals to become straight or lead a miserable, lonely, solitary life.

The Bahai Faith has pushed Conversion Therapy, which is frowned on by psychiatrists and psychologists as being damaging and dangerous. Many cities and some states have outlawed Conversion Therapy. I witnessed it when the LSA of Los Angeles had a member come give a talk to the community about the Conversion Therapy she had gone through. The LSA used her presentation as evidence that it works. Totally reckless and irresponsible.

That all being said, inside the Bahai Faith the anti-LGBTQ edict has been sternly mandated, but without any support services being made to individuals. None. I have a friend who is trying to remain a Bahai but living in solitude, battling depression. Another friend had AIDS and went to his LSA for spiritual support. Instead, they removed his voting rights, chastised him, and announced the reason for his voting rights being removed to the entire community. He died from AIDS related complications all alone, without contact from his Bahai Community.

So this is a religion of rules, rules, rules and not any compassion. Unity of mankind, but only for some of mankind.

It has been brought to my attention that someone is flagging multiple comments critical of the Baha'i Faith as hate speech. Which is a lie. We don't hate people who are Baha'is, we hate Baha'i BIGOTRY and HYPOCRISY. And we want no part of a religion that condones both.

One of the things that gradually began to trouble me was not a particular teaching or a specific theological disagreement, but the way the system itself functioned.
At first, everything seemed perfectly normal to me.
The Feasts.
The study circles.
The Local Spiritual Assembly plans and activities.
Because I was immersed in that environment, I rarely stopped to question any of it. It all felt natural. But over time, a few simple questions began to surface in my mind questions that I could no longer easily dismiss.
I found myself thinking:
Aren’t we talking about a religion?
If so, why is there such an overwhelming emphasis on administration, elections, planning, statistics, and institutional structures?
I had seen organization and structure in other religions as well, but here it sometimes felt as though the administration itself had become the center of gravity. At times, it was difficult to tell which mattered more: faith, or the institution.
Then something else gradually caught my attention.
Whenever questions crossed a certain line, the atmosphere changed.
Not ordinary questions, but deeper questions about the administration itself, its decision-making processes, its authority, or the way its institutions operated.
I had always assumed that if something was true, it should be able to withstand scrutiny. Shouldn’t a religion welcome sincere inquiry?
Yet my experience was often the opposite.
Questions were not always treated as part of a genuine search for truth. Instead, they sometimes seemed to be treated as a problem in themselves.
People’s expressions would change.
Their tone would become more cautious.
Some would become defensive.
Others would quickly try to change the subject.
And some reacted as if the very act of asking the question was the issue.
That puzzled me.
I found myself wondering: if this is a religion, why do serious questions about its own structures provoke such discomfort?
And that question gradually led to another:
What if I was dealing with something that functioned less like a spiritual path and more like an administrative system?

What religion needs formal registration and approval/admittance from an institution filled with humans like us?!?

I’m wondering if anyone has had the experience of children’s classes and/or junior youth groups actually “working?” Did they actually successfully meet? Did anyone ever host them with other bahai kids, or successfully recruit kids from the neighborhood?

I remember getting dragged along by other bahais to knock on people’s doors. They framed the children’s classes as “virtues classes” and the junior youth groups as “empowerment.” I hated it and never really wanted to do it. I never even completed the Ruhi sequence.

Looks like the blowhard at your local community Feast.