recognize as friends your enemies

You must praise all the individuals amongst mankind. You must even recognize as friends your enemies; you must consider your evil-wishers as your well-wishers. You must not see evil as evil and then compromise, for to so compromise with the one upon whom you look as an enemy, is hypocrisy, and this is not allowable. For one to treat one's enemy in a smooth way, this is hypocrisy. You must consider your enemies as your friends and your evil-wishers as your well-wishers and then treat them accordingly. You must act in such a way that your hearts may be free from hatred of anyone.

(Abdul Baha. Star of the West, Vol. 5, p. 7.)

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A mutual language will become the mightiest means of a universal progress toward the union of the East and the West. It will make the earth one home, and become the divine impulse for human advancement. It will upraise the standard of oneness in the world of humanity, and make the earth a universal commonwealth. It will be the cause of love between the children of men and create good fellowship between the various creeds.

(Abdul Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 111)

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How ignorant are the soldiers!

How ignorant are the people! They are willing to forfeit their possessions, honor, wealth, property and even life in the path of their country, but unwilling to perform any sacrifice in the path of God. The battlefields of the world have been crimsoned with the blood of millions of soldiers, all to no purpose. Today no one knows their names. But when one soul sacrifices his life in the path of God, his name becomes eternal. Consider how precious is the blood of the martyrs!

-Abdul Baha, Extract from Ahmad's Diary, July 5, 1914

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Begging and giving to beggars is forbidden

Another meaningful way to look at this is to relate requirements to the gross income of the individual believer. If every adult believer gave $70.00 in the year to the National Fund, we would make the budget. If two thirds of the adult believers gave $100 we would almost make the budget. The latter figure is cited because it is known that many of the believers on the voting lists are completely out of touch with the Faith or inactive, or aged, ill and with very limited resources. To expect an average response of $100 from two thirds, however, seems not at all unreasonable. If the average income of Baha’is in the U.S. should be $5,000, which is below the national family average of over $6,200 at the present time, the amount requested for the National Fund would be only 2% of gross income. If one assumed that an equal amount would be given to the Local, International and Continental Funds and spent directly on unreimbursed Baha’i activities, the total Baha’i expenditures would be only 4% of gross income, on the average. When one considers that this is the Cause of God, the most important force for good in the world today, the Cause for which thousands of martyrs gave their lives and all their worldly goods, and that the immediate progress of this Faith depends to a great extent upon the financial and personal support of a few thousand Americans, the request that we give an average of 4% of gross income to our beloved Faith seems hardly extreme enough to be deemed sacrificial. If true sacrifice were involved we ought to be able to spare several times that. And it certainly seems reasonable to conclude that the higher one’s gross income, the greater the percentage of that gross income one can afford to give without undue hardship and with miraculously effective results. It is our great bounty to have had the opportunity to be of such great service to this magnificent Cause, if we could but realize it.

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Inserts/Issue_399/Budget_Message_1964-1965/Text

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Few lesser-known facts about the Baha'i faith.

1. The Baha'i faith is primarily focused on self-preservation and growth, with most activities centered around gaining new members.

2. It uses euphemistic language to obscure meaning - censorship is called "review," proselytizing is "teaching," and so on.

3. The religion presents itself as persecuted, but its origins involve violent rebellion and political intrigue, especially in 19th-century Iran.

4. Baha'is historically aligned with imperial powers like Russia, the Young Turks, and the British. Today they co-operate closely with Israel.

5. Membership numbers are inflated, relying on self-reported data that doesn't match independent census figures.

6. Stories of persecution in Iran are selectively told, many Baha'is travel there freely, suggesting the narrative is exaggerated for publicity.

7. The administrative system is authoritarian and male-dominated, with no campaigning, lifetime leaders, and women barred from membership in the UHJ.

8. Leadership excommunicated all of Baha'u'llah’s descendants. The Guardian role ended without a successor, breaking their own succession plan.

9. Failed prophecies are quietly ignored (like world peace by 2000), and older books are retroactively edited to remove inconvenient content.

10. Despite claiming respect for all religions, Baha'is reinterpret or reject core doctrines of others to fit their own theology.

11. Key writings were withheld from translation for decades, likely to shield followers from controversial or problematic content.

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increase of divorce amongst the Western Baha'is

As I started to say, the House of Justice is extremely concerned over the increase of divorce amongst the Western Baháʼís. We often talk about it in Haifa and it's a source of great worry to the members of the House, the House as a body, the Baháʼís in Haifa, the ITC, and so on. But in addition to being a source of worries, it's a downright scandal. How on earth can we Baháʼís lift up our heads and talk about marriage to the people of the world with the extraordinary attitude toward sex and marriage and divorce in the world today if we can't be, say 10% better in our western countries than the ordinary population? The Baháʼí rate of divorce I understand, I don't know about Canada, but I know in the United States it's as high as the national rate of divorce. We should hang our heads in shame. What kind of Baháʼís are we? Are we being affected by that world out there? Corrupt to the bone and falling apart. Or are we reflecting the power and light of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh which we have access to in our personal lives?

(On Marriage and Family, address at the ABS Annual Conference, 1982 by Ruhiyyih Khanum)

https://bahai.works/Transcript:Ruhiyyih_Khanum/On_marriage_and_family,_1982

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Deliberate policy, not to carry on missionary activity in Israel

Jewish Post & Opinion, a New York City newspaper, recently ran an article entitled “Missionary Agitation in Israel,” referring to efforts to convert Jewish children and adults in the Holy Land. The article included this statement: “A splendid positive example is set by the Bahá’í Faith. Although their world center is in Israel, this religion has made it a matter of deliberate policy not to carry on missionary activity here and not even to accept converts within Israel, in recognition of the hospitality which the Bahá’ís enjoy here.”

(Baha'i News, May 1963)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_386/Text

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the future of this Revelation.

During the time of Christ only a few souls believed in Him, but they were so powerful in spirit that none of the learned men among the Israelites could resist and stand against them, and afterwards their light illumined the world, their call was raised abroad, their stars twinkled in heaven, their diadem became resplendent and they are shining With great brilliancy. When Christ passed away He had eleven disciples. The greatest among them was Peter and he denied Christ three times, but when Baha’u’llah departed He had a hundred thousand believers who were calling out Yá-Baha’u’l-Abhá while they were under swords and daggers, and in these late years many men and women in Yazd were killed by inches without uttering a single cry or complaint, but rather called out the Greatest Name. From these incidents we may judge the future of this Revelation.

(The Bahá’í World, Volume 9, p 806)

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The “engine of growth”

The Martha Root Regional Training Institute has 55 Cluster Institute Coordinators who nurture, accompany, and train tutors throughout Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. These devoted friends—along with 400 active tutors—keep the wheels of the “engine of growth” turning at the grass roots. A total of 550 people have completed the full sequence of Ruhi courses, with 310 study circles having been completed in one year, with a strong emphasis on the course practices. Neighborhoods have 53 children’s classes in progress with a total of 438 Bahá’í children and 258 non-Bahá’í children involved. There are 30 junior youth groups, involving 136 Bahá’í junior youths and 56 non-Bahá’í junior youths.

The Magdalene Carney Bahá’í Institute serves Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. It manages 27 Cluster Institute Coordinators and 350 active tutors. A total of 640 people have completed the Ruhi sequence and 227 study circles have been completed this year. There are 108 children’s classes, with 386 Bahá’í children and 309 non-Bahá’í children participating. There are 37 junior youth groups, involving 110 Bahá’í junior youths and 91 non-Bahá’í junior youths.

(Riḍván 2009 Annual Report, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States)

https://www.scribd.com/document/14843259/NSA-of-Baha-is-of-USA-Annual-Report-2009

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A Baha’i theocracy would suck.

A Baha’i theocracy would suck. The big reason is that Baha’is have a goal and advocate for a one world government where Baha’i institutions slowly replace secular institutions. Baha’i institutions only allow Baha’is in good standing and over the age of 21 to vote and do not allow for campaigning during elections. This means all minorities have no right to vote and that nobody who is a Baha’i can meaningfully advocate for reform peacefully because you can’t run a campaign even if you are a Baha’i in good standing. This means Baha’is have less political mobility than even people in Iran (Iranians of multiple religions can vote and hold office despite it being an Islamic theocracy, and Iranians can hold campaigns and advocate for reform. I hate the Islamic Republic as an Iranian myself, so it takes a lot for me to admit even this shitty society still allows more political mobility than Baha’i politics does)

In this Baha’i society, alcohol and any other drugs would likely be banned, premarital sex (or even just kissing or holding hands) would be a punishable offense (loss of voting rights and fine), and women would be discriminated against in inheritance laws as well as not be eligible for the Universal House of Justice (highest religious court and main leadership arm of the faith). Also since the faith advocates for conversion therapy to this day, it is likely there would be state sponsored gay conversion therapy.

A Baha’i may defend this by saying only Baha’is must uphold Baha’i law, but this just means that the only way to have voting rights would be to uphold these laws and convert to the religion. And even if you have voting rights, you can’t campaign in favor of reform because campaigning is banned. In a Baha’i election, everyone in good standing is on the ballot of Local Spiritual assembly (this is the only election regular Baha’is can participate in, only higher up members can elect higher offices like National positions) and the people with the most votes win. The people with the most cotes tend to be the richest and most popular people on a community. This means even though you have elections, the same people tend to always win anyways, especially since all votes are closed door and you cannot see who votes for what or what the voting margin is. This would be like if the supreme court made a ruling but you don’t get to see the voting margin, who voted for what, or what the dissenting opinion was.

I also wanna clarify that most Baha’is are perfectly lovely people and I condemn infinitely how the Islamic Republic and other parts of the world treat Baha’is. Nobody deserves to have their human rights trampled on. I just wanted to write this rant because when the Baha’i Faith is discussed, it’s usually just the narrative the Baha’i Faith pushes and not the nuances or baggage associated with their narrative. If your answer is still the same, that’s fine, I just don’t want people to think Baha’i Theocracy is sunshine and rainbows. No theocracy is and a Baha’i Theocracy isn’t even uniquely better. Its just softer than conservative/fundamentalist Islamic law.

https://old.reddit.com/r/religion/comments/1mhmjfx/if_you_had_to_live_as_a_religious_minority_in_a/

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They don't mention that Counsellors 'out-rank' the democratically elected Assemblies.

The Faith's promotional materials always hype up that it's a democratic faith, and neglect to mention that Counsellors 'out-rank' the democratically elected Assemblies.

The appointed Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members are responsible for the 'spiritual well-being' of the community and 'advising' Assemblies, and in practice they fulfill all the functions of priests while the Faith also claims to have abolished clergy. The main difference as I see it is that usually clergy have to academically prove themselves knowledgeable about the religion in a formalized way, whereas in the Faith it is as you say an opaque process mostly built on brown-nosing and interpersonal politics in order to work ones way up the appointment lists.

Around the time I resigned a lot of very sincere young active Baha'is were cutting themselves off from the religion as well, not formally resigning since they still believed, but creating space due to immense stress from pressure being put on them by ABM's and Counsellors to try and get numerical results. In my opinion the KPI's of the Faith represent the ABM's and Counsellors 'job application' to get appointed to higher honors so they have a vested interest in crushing the spirit of people under them to try and get good numbers and a promotion like any good (bad?) capitalist enterprise.

The whole religion has become even more bureaucratic and opaque as in my country at least, and I assume most of the Western Baha'i world since Area Teaching Committees have been established. These committees appointed on the advice of a Counsellor. Another new-ish administrative body are Regional Baha'i Councils. Area teaching committees informally "outrank" Assemblies, calling meetings of LSA members in an area to coordinate them on teaching campaigns. The Regional Councils are elected by LSA members in an area (or are just straight up appointed by the NSA) and of course it is no surprise that ATC members are the people elected to the Regional Council. Following on from that of course it is Regional Council members who are elected to the NSA, so what it accomplishes is an ouroboros of administration where appointments control elections and ideological purity can be maintained.

The punchline of the Faith is that despite the complex multi-layered bureaucracy with dozens of institutions and roles constantly expanding and more firmly asserting its centralized control, the community is still shrinking year on year in most western countries and hemorrhaging active Baha'is.

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1mc8u8p/uhj/

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All UHJ members since the 80's are members of the International Teaching Centre

All UHJ members since the 80's are members of the International Teaching Centre which is a body appointed... by the UHJ established in 1973. I think the only exceptions have been Douglas Martin, who was appointed by the UHJ as their international public relations officer prior to being elected, and Paul Lample who was appointed by the UHJ to head their social and economic development body.

A year or so before the UHJ term ends they usually have the ITC members tour the world which in my mind is a fairly transparent way to give them face time with NSA members (who form the electoral college who votes for the UHJ). Prior to this is was usually the Secretary of the US NSA that was elected to fill open slots, since pre 1963 the US NSA was responsible for coordinating the NSA's of Europe and Central & South America.

While it isn't formally spelled out it is fairly obvious the UHJ and ITC members each have a portfolio of a part of the world they are responsible for, given the pipeline is Continental Counsellor, then ITC member, then UHJ member, so active community members are usually at least somewhat familiar with the UHJ member that was Counsellor for their Continent prior to getting elevated up the pipeline. The active community is also incredibly tiny, at least in the west, so if you were at all active a decade ago there's a good chance you will have been in at least one meeting where a current ITC has given a talk or participated in a consultation. Twenty or thirty years ago? Make it a current UHJ member.

Baha'is don't display photographs of UHJ members or anything like that, but verbally I'd say UHJ members have historically been pretty deified by the rank and file Baha'is part of this is because a lot of them were pretty talented public speakers, and it used to be that elevation up the appointed ranks was in part based on existing popularity in the community. On the deification it is noteworthy I think that no UHJ member has ever been voted out of office, they have either died in office or announced their retirement.

Ali Nakhjavani, Adib Taherzadeh, and Peter Khan were especially popular figures. It's a bit of a conspiracy theory but Farzam Arbab (the inventor of the Ruhi system) seems to some to have sort of 'taken over' the UHJ in the mid 2000's and Counsellor/ITC picks became more about adherence to the Ruhi philosophy than popularity in the community so the current crop of administrators is a bit less well known in the community at large (but doubtless they are all very familiar to the people that serve in the Institute Process).

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1mc8u8p/uhj/

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Baha'i faith growing in the US?

Baha'is with known addresses in the United States
2020 - 77290
2021 - 76965
2023 - 74933
2024 - 75350
2025 - 74773

(Annual Ridvan Reports published by the NSA of the US)

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1lukdea/latest_us_bahai_statistics_from_ridvan_report_2025/

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The Office of Membership and Records

The Bahá’í Center Assistance Corporation (BCA) works with offices of the National Assembly to update and maintain data related to all Bahá’í properties requested by the Office for the Development of Administrative Systems at the Bahá’í World Center. BCA also worked with the IT department at the Bahá’í National Center to ensure that all relevant data requested by that office could be included in the properties database. This year, database fields were updated and modified so that the data spreadsheet could be populated by a query of the database. This includes all properties owned or rented by the National Assembly, Regional Bahá’í Councils, Local Spiritual Assemblies, and registered Bahá’í groups. National and regional offices can add to and update this information through UnityWeb, and Local Assemblies and registered groups can add or update properties through eMembership2.

(Ridvan Annual Report 2024)

The Office of Membership and Records plays a crucial role in maintaining the official records of all Bahá’ís, Local Spiritual Assemblies, and registered groups within the US Bahá’í community. In fulfilling this mandate, the Office is responsible for a range of essential functions:

• processing enrollments, child registrations, and international transfers to and from the United States

• facilitating UnityWeb access for Auxiliary Board members and individuals designated by Regional Bahá’í Councils

• providing UnityWeb and national website access (bahai.us/community) for approved foreign Bahá’ís

• updating the membership database to reflect changes in locality boundaries

• entering results for Ridván elections, Spiritual Assembly officer elections, and by-elections

• maintaining accurate records of contact information, postal addresses, marriages, and deaths

• issuing marriage and birth certificates

• distributing digital welcome letters and instructions for accessing virtual Bahá’í identification cards via bahai.us/community to new enrollees and new arrivals to the US Bahá’í community

• sending hard copy welcome packages to newly registered Bahá’í youth turning 15, including a welcome letter, Bahá’í ID card, a booklet of prayers titled Strive, and guidance on creating a Bahá’í Online Services Account (BOSA)

• cataloging correspondence exchanged between individuals, institutions, and the National Spiritual Assembly and its agencies

(Ridvan Annual Report 2025)

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the parents may refuse consent for marriage on any ground

...the parents “may refuse consent on any ground and that they are responsible to God alone.” Baha’is who marry without providing verified parental consent are subject to deprivation of their Baha’i administrative rights and privileges.

-The Universal House of Justice

https://file.bahai.media/e/e7/The_American_Bahá’í_Vol5_No1.pdf

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