Year of Faith

I think that I’ve mentioned a few times now that there are some problems with this faith, some issues I have with a couple of things that Baha’is have said and that I have seen in their sacred writings.  Because of the nature of the Baha’i faith, the stress it puts on the individuals independent search for truth, progressive revelation, and the need to be in line with scientific discovery, I don’t feel that these are real deal-breakers.  At no point did these problems I have make me want to stop practicing, or make me respect Baha’is any less.  I will stress this again once I write my final summary on my time with Baha’i, but the overall feeling I got was that the Baha’i faith is concerned for the continued flourishing and spiritual development of humanity.  Period.  Anything else is window dressing, and anything that gets in the way of this needs to be reflected on and revised.  These are some things that, in my opinion, can and do get in the way of that goal:

Discrimination Against Homosexuality

I have no idea why this is even here.  Honestly, the last time I investigated the Baha’i faith this threw me for a spin and I’m still not used to it.  But it’s here, a blemish on an otherwise beautiful countenance, and so it deserves some words.  The fact of the matter is that the Baha’i faith does not recognize same-sex marriage, and actually harbours a fair bit of bias against homosexuality in general.  It all stems from a few passages from Baha’u'llah:

It is forbidden you to wed your fathers’ wives. We shrink, for very shame, from treating of the subject of boys. Fear ye the Merciful, O peoples of the world! Commit not that which is forbidden you in Our Holy Tablet, and be not of those who rove distractedly in the wilderness of their desires.1

Ye are forbidden to commit adultery, sodomy and lechery. Avoid them, O concourse of the faithful. By the righteousness of God! Ye have been called into being to purge the world from the defilement of evil passions. This is what the Lord of all mankind hath enjoined upon you, could ye but perceive it. He who relateth himself to the All-Merciful and committeth satanic deeds, verily he is not of Me. Unto this beareth witness every atom, pebble, tree and fruit, and beyond them this ever-proclaiming, truthful and trustworthy Tongue.2

Shoghi Effendi has interpreted this to mean that Baha’u'llah was ordering injunctions against homosexual activities and therefore unions that would endorse such activities.

Bahá’u'lláh has spoken very strongly against this shameful sexual aberration, as He has against adultery and immoral conduct in general. We must try and help the soul to overcome them.

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 say that it is ideal is no excuse. Immorality of every sort is really forbidden by Bahá’u'lláh, and homosexual relationships He looks upon as such, besides being against nature.

To be afflicted this way is a great burden to a conscientious soul. But through the advice and help of doctors, through a strong and determined effort, and through prayer, a soul can overcome this handicap.3

From a religion that purports to be dedicated to erasing the boundaries between people as well as bias and prejudice from the individual’s spirit, this is really, really weird.  I see no connection between what Baha’u'llah has said in the above passages and what Shoghi Effendi infers.  I don’t see how they can get out of this, either.  The Universal House of Justice, the head of the Baha’i faith, is unable to change any legislation that it has not enacted, which is to say it cannot go back on anything that was laid down by Baha’u'llah, Shoghi Effendi, or Abdul Baha- the last two being the only ones permitted to interpret Baha’u'llah’s writings.  But if Baha’is want to be taken seriously there is no way they can carry on with this kind of doctrine, especially if they wish to jive with science and reunite humanity.

I didn’t bring this up with many of the Baha’is I met because I was scared of what would happen, and that is what is happening right now- I’m getting frustrated and angry, and I really didn’t want that to spoil what have otherwise been amazing interactions with amazing people.  This kind of thing- needless and irrational bigotry, really stirs me up.

I mentioned before that I didn’t think that these problems were deal breakers.  When I have brought up this issue, the Baha’is I talked to understood that it was a problem, a contradiction, and seemed genuinely flummoxed over how to solve it.  They were open to it though, they were not stubbornly holding on to this idea, which tells me that their beliefs in tearing down divisions between us is higher than being fickle over who gets to tie the knot.  This is a good sign, a sign that they will not be holding onto this position forever.

Still, it’s just so weird to even see it.

Disrespect to Unbelievers

There is a lot of language in Baha’i writings which suggests or outright states that all good and moral things come from God and God alone, even advances in science and technology are considered to be attained only through the spiritual advancement given to us by God through His manifestations.

The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Daypsring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws… Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be author of every righteous deed.4

You can see how this has left the unbeliever in the lurch, without God in their life or on their mind, how are they supposed to get about with their day?  How are they supposed to navigate history if everything that is good is Godly?  Again, we are in weird territory for a religion doing its utmost to bring the world together.

I haven’t had any Baha’is overtly say that atheists are bad people- even though the Baha’i writings tend to communicate that.  There is however this sentiment that God is what keeps us in line, His teachings are what helps us to ignore and overcome our animal instincts and behaviors and realize our more spiritual aspects.  This is especially true when we are “tested”, when we are presented with moral quandaries or particularly  trying periods.  Without God or the guidance of His manifestations we may just act on the will of our egos and other selfish desires.

Do I really need to get into this?  At this point?  Really?  I can’t just say the words “Catholic priest” and make all these silly notions that it’s religious study and service that make you a good person just dissolve and be swept away?  I realize that I might be nitpicking, I realize that the Baha’is I’ve met wouldn’t judge me like this, but I just can’t help but wonder what they think when they see these things in their religion.  It all feels so backwards.

It’s late and I have more to say, but I need to sleep, and I need to post something.  I don’t want you all thinking that these are my final thoughts on the Baha’i faith because there are a lot of positive things to say, I’m just so tired.

1. The Kitab-i-Aqdas, paragraph 170.

2. “From a previously untranslated Tablet” it claims to be from the Gleanings of Baha’u'llah but I can’t find it.

3. Homosexuality.

4. The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p19.

One of my dream careers would be to become a Christian priest, probably protestant (lots more free will, a lot less tempting young boys, apparently).  I’ve always seen it as an opportunity to learn the true length and breadth of Christian doctrine and how it relates to other religions and to people directly.  I could be the spiritual head of a diverse community of believers, and lend spiritual and moral wisdom to numerous personal issues and problems, and lead compassionate initiatives internationally and throughout the community.

I’ve always seen the priest as a mix of two things that are very important to me- accumulating knowledge and wisdom, and then using that knowledge to help people in a very real and immediate fashion.  There are so many opportunities to help people deal with their faith and their understanding of God and their religion, to be able to have these kinds of conversations with the troubled and the curious.  This kind of prospect genuinely excites me.  Now I might have a completely unrealistic and romanticized view of the priesthood, but that’s the point of a dream job, isn’t it?

Slight hitch though, not a big problem, but something that may or may not come up once in a great long while- I don’t believe in God. It would be an unorthodox kind of life to lead, to be sure, an atheist priest.  Someone who is supposed to lead people to God and understand God and yet has no such faith.  Probably wouldn’t go down so well with the congregation, I fear.

Stranger still though, it’s never occurred to me that this would be detrimental to my understanding of the Christian faith, God, or Christ.  Knowing these things inside and out, as I am want to do, and knowing how to interact and converse with people in a religious sense seem to be the real necessary skills for a priest.  So long as I could cultivate these things, as well as the skills necessary for the other minutiae of the priesthood, isn’t that enough?

I honestly believe that being able to deal with a congregation from the point of view of an atheist would be a real boon rather than a blunder.  An atheist knows how difficult it is to accept the idea of God, they know the ins and outs of all the arguments, they know how absurd faith can be, how hard it can be to square this faith away with reason, and they certainly know how religion can be criticized and assailed from without and within.  I love religion and God just as much as the average Christian, I just don’t believe He exists, which changes the kind of love to be sure, but I’m still very much caught up in the whole thing on a  day to day basis.

The reason I bring all of this up is that I recently read a news story about a fellow who is actually living my dream.  Klass Hendriske turned more than few heads in the Netherlands and throughout the Christian community in 2007 when he published a book called Believing in a God Who Does not Exist: Manifesto of an Atheist Preacher. He obviously came under a lot of scrutiny from the powers that be (or may not be, in this case) but just recently the Protestant Church of the Netherlands declared that they will not be taking any action against Hendriske, saying that his views are actually sympatico with other liberal theologians within Protestantism.

So no burning collar, no cassok striping, nothing ontoward at all.  As you can imagine this news was rather uplifting for this little dream of mine.  I doubt that it will actually happen for me, but it’s nice to know that it’s possible.  Seems that the Protestants have put themselves on some shakey ground though, as Hendriske himself says, “If my view is allowed, then there’s something wrong with the foundations of the church.”  Yes Klaas, there is something wrong, and you and me both know what it is.

In any case, I’ll be looking forward to an English translation of his book.