If you want to join the Baha'i Faith...

If you want to join the Baha’i Faith, here are some things you will have to accept. There’s no room for discussion.

1. Misogyny: No woman will ever be allowed to be elected to the Faith’s highest governing body. If you truly believe in equality, this is not the place for you, nor for 50% of humanity
2. Magical thinking: Open, curious intellectual debate and discussion is not welcomed, and you will be required to accept ideas that require the suspension of logic and reason. If you believe that all questions require a sensible, coherent and rational response you will not be appreciated.
3. Belief Trumps Knowlege: While advances in our scientific knowledge expand and extend our knowledge of the Universe and our place within it, you be obliged to accept a belief in an all knowing, all powerful and all loving God - one that allowed the enslavement of 11 million Africans, the Holocaust, Srebenica, and the Taliban -amongst innumerable other acts of hatred and despotism throughout human history. If God is all powerful and all loving, how were these possible?
4. Shunning: Should you join this Faith, in admiration of many of its noble principles, be warned that if you leave for reasons of conscience, your Baha’i friends will abandon you and shun you, and you will discover the true meaning of Baha’i Unity.
5. Abuse of Statistics: The Baha’i Administration does not publish accurate statistics concerning the true membership numbers. Anyone who joins is usually counted as an active member of the community. Attrition is not reported accurately, and it is highly likely that the total membership is significantly less than as reported, and that this is NOT the world’s fastest growing religion. In fact, the Baha’i Faith may actually be shrinking. But ask for the facts and make up your own mind.
6. Internal Focus: The doctrinaire and rather condescending Ruhi Institutes have become the almost singular focus of any study of the Faith. They are designed to reduce attrition because the promise of Entry By Troops that was pursued by the administration for the past 30 years has simply not materialized.
7. Persian Influence: The vast majority of believers have roots in Persian culture, and while this has many positive attributes - especially the food! - be prepared to embrace this. It is not going away.
8. The Panopticon: You will not be permitted access to publications concerning alternative interpretation of events in the early history of the Faith that differ from the official and highly controlled versions emanating from Haifa. If you do find them, read them and then request that they be explained you will most likely discover the Counsellors whose role is to prevent any open dialogue, and to ensure complete conformity with the official, and highly censored versions. The Baha’i Politburo can at times be as ruthless as the Stasi…

I was a devout Baha’i for twenty years, gave it my best, with no regrets, other than it cost me my beloved children and now their families- They remain Baha’is and refuse to communicate with me. So much for family love and unity…