An awkward question
Anna’s come a long way – to national television, in fact. She’s being interviewed on her favourite subject: the Bahai Faith. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Sen on November 25, 2009
Anna’s come a long way – to national television, in fact. She’s being interviewed on her favourite subject: the Bahai Faith. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Anna's presentation, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Church and State, kingship, political theology, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی | 4 Comments »
Posted by Sen on October 29, 2009

One of the friends asked:
What do you make of ‘Abdu’l-Baha having written:
“This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself.” (Will and Testament, 14)
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Political science | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Church and State, International Tribunal, poltical theology, Secret of Divine Civilization, Sermon on the Art of Governance, Shoghi Effendi, Supreme Tribunal, Tablet to the Hague, Will and Testament | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Sen on October 16, 2009
One of the friends said:
Long ago I picked up a supposed quote from the Bab, “The mystery of sacrifice is there is no sacrifice.” Now I can’t find a source. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai Faith, Bahai lore, Louise Waite, Mystery of sacrifice, Seals & Crofts, بهائی, بهائیت | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Sen on October 12, 2009
In a discussion group, one of the participants recalled that Shoghi Effendi had said that the requirement for appointment as a Hand of the Cause was “instant, exact and complete obedience.” It’s a familiar phrase in Bahai discourse, but is it from the words of Shoghi Effendi? Is it about the Hands of the Cause?
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Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai Faith, Bahais, Hands of the Cause, Helene Blavatsky, Obedience, Shoghi Effendi, theosophists, بهائی, بهائیت | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Sen on April 26, 2009
One of the friends said:
… an elderly lady once told me that Shoghi Effendi had said that the earth would “fall off its axis and spin wildly for three days”… well, I’ve searched and searched for anything even close…
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Ahmad Sohrab, Apocalypticism, Bahai Faith, causes of World War I, militarism, polar shift, Ruth Moffet, Star of the West, survivalism, World War 1, WWI, بهائی, بهائیت | 3 Comments »
Posted by Sen on April 18, 2009

Bahais have been frequent participants in inter-faith fora, and like all the participants we need to work out what our basic stance is: are we there to protect our interests and have our say; are we counting the other participants as anonymous Bahais and including them into our project; are we there to show what we have to offer that other religions do not have, and so win converts?
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Posted in Community, Islam, Theology | Tagged: Bahai Faith, ecumenicism, future of Christianity, interfaith, prayer for Islam, Rodney Stark, بهائی, بهائیت | 3 Comments »
Posted by Sen on April 11, 2009
I happened recently to be reading the wikipedia page for the Bahai Calendar and noted that it said “Like Islam, Friday is also the day of rest in the Baha’i Faith.”
That’s not true for Islam: Friday is the day on which attendance at the congregational prayers at noon in the mosque is obligatory for those Muslims who are able, but it is not a ‘day of rest’ in Islam. But what about the Bahai Faith? We do not say our obligatory prayers in congregation (although we may say them, each for himself, during the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar service, but that is another story). Do we have a day of rest, as the wikipedia article says?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Bahai Writings, Community, Devotions, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Aqdas, Badi` Calendar, Baha'i calendar, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Bayan, day of rest, dhikr, Friday prayers, Gerald Keil, Mason Remey, remembrance of God, sabbath, Sunday, The Bab, بهائی, بهائیت | 10 Comments »
Posted by Sen on March 8, 2009
In a discussion on this blog, I referred briefly to Rodney Stark’s work on the dynamics of religious growth. Stark is primarily a sociologist, whose contribution to church history is to employ the statistical and analytic methods used in sociology. His book, The Rise of Christianity (1996, Princeton University Press) deals roughly speaking with the first three centuries of Christianity, and the first century of Mormonism, and offers a lot of food for thought for the Bahais.
Stark begins by estimating that there were 1000 Christians in the Roman Empire in the year 40. He notes that in the middle of the third century, Christians were by their own account few in number (p.5), but by the year 300 there were about 5 to 7.5 million Christians: so numerous that a few years later Constantine found it expedient to embrace the church. This has led the church in its own histories, and some scholars, to suppose that there was a mass conversion event in the late third century. But constant growth of 40% per decade, or 3.42% per year, is enough to explain these results: no mass conversion event is required. This is the same growth picture that Stark had found in his previous work on the Mormon church, which has grown hugely in 100 years without mass conversions, and it is supported by the archaeological evidence of church sizes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai, Bahai Faith, Benton Johnson, conservative theology, Constantine, devotional meetings, entry by troops, Hoge, Lesser Peace, liberal theology, Luidens, mass conversion, Moonies, Mormons, Rodney Stark, Ruhi, The Rise of Christianity, triumphalism, Vanishing Boundaries, بهائی, بهائیت | 8 Comments »
Posted by Sen on February 17, 2009
It has been my experience that Bahais often become discouraged as a result of having unrealistic expectations of what is called entry by troops (EBT) and large scale conversion. I would like to look again at what the Bahai scriptures say about this, and at how Shoghi Effendi conceived the historical process of growth. The little that the scriptures say suggests to me that its importance has been over-rated, and that the time-frame of entry by troops, its nature, and how the Bahais can bring it about have all been misunderstood. From my reading of the world and of the scriptures, I suggest that we should not now be greatly preoccupied with entry by troops or large scale conversion: a concern with the needs of the age we live in, and the needs of our Bahai communities today, will indicate healthier, locally-specific priorities which – ironically – will be more conducive to actual ‘growth’ in every sense. We will start by briefly looking back over the last two generations.
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Posted in Community, Ethics and Morality | Tagged: Bahai Faith, bahai theology, entry by troops, Lesser Peace, mass conversion, Matthew 16:3, millenialism, personal transformation, Shoghi Effendi, y2k, year 2000, بهائی, بهائیت | 9 Comments »
Posted by Sen on January 25, 2009
I was in the bazaar of Shiraz one morning early, just after sunrise in April. The sound of a sermon drew me off the main route through the bazaar: the mullah’s voice rising and falling in beautiful rhythmical Persian.
I followed the sound and came into a courtyard with shops on two floors around, and in the middle a garden with some orange trees. It appeared to be a former madrasah converted into shops. In one corner sat the mullah on a chair, rocking back and forth and gesturing left and right in time with the rhythms of the language, all built up of pairs of synonym phrases. Either he had it entirely memorised, or this was highly polished extempore art like rapping.
In front of him a cloth of perhaps 10 metres square was spread out on the ground, and about 25 merchants were sitting around the edges of the cloth, eating cucumber and flat white bread and white cheese, and drinking tea. Several of them gestured me to come and sit at an empty place, and one who made it his business to serve the others brought me some food and tea. I noticed, a little bit further away, under one of the orange trees, that there were two women also sitting on a cloth. The sermon was interrupted with some munajat, responses from the merchants, then more rhythmic Persian by way of conclusion. Then the mullah looks at his watch, jumps up, bows left and right and hurries off. I suppose it lasted 30 minutes, but I was hardly aware of time passing.
The shopkeepers fell to gossiping, and then went off one by one to raise the shutters on their shops.
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Posted in Church and State, Devotions, Islam | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Christ, Christianity, Church and State, Future of Islam, Future of religion, Iran, Islam, secular state, Shiraz, Some Answered Questions | 5 Comments »
Posted by Sen on January 15, 2009
In Century’s end, I showed that Bahais of my generation widely expected universal peace to arrive in the twentieth century. Some of the texts on which this belief was based did not refer to the twentieth century; others did refer to the twentieth century or dates in the 20th century, but were pilgrims’ notes. There may be more, but I have found five such unauthentic sources:
- The Maxwell’s pilgrim’s notes, anticipating the Lesser Peace by 1953.
- Esselmont’s pilgrim’s notes, in the first edition of Baha’u'llah and the New Era, anticipating universal peace by 1957. As Dan Jensen has pointed out, the 1950 edition changed the date to 1963, but it is still just a pilgrim’s note, and universal peace was also not achieved in 1963.
- Sarah Kenny’s Haifa notes anticipating the Lesser Peace in the 20th century.
- A report in the Montreal Star on September 11, 1912, printed in Abdu’l-Baha in Canada p. 35, saying that peace would be universal in the 20th century.
- A talk reported in The Promulgation of Universal Peace page 126, and in Star of the West 3.8.14, calling the twentieth century the century of international peace.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community, Theology, Translations | Tagged: 7 candles, Abdu'l-Baha, Alexander Whyte, Baha'u'llah, Bahai, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, century, century of light, election, Esselmont, failed prophecy, Isaiah 11:9, Lesser Peace, pilgrim's notes, qarn, Sarah Kenny, Seven Candles of Unity, Shoghi Effendi, Some Answered Questions, The Promised Day is Come, twentieth century, unity of nations, Universal House of Justice, World Order of Baha'u'llah, `asr, عبدالبهاء | 6 Comments »
Posted by Sen on January 12, 2009
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11
The word ‘century’ appears unproblematic: a period of a hundred years, which in common usage begins with the year 00 (although sticklers will insist that the century begins in the year 01, so that the 21st century began on 1 January 2001). But in reading the Bahai texts, things are not so simple. In this post I want to look at the peculiar significance Bahais have mistakenly attached to the 20th century and what can be learned from the whole affair; in the next posting I will look at what the Bahai writings really say about the ‘century’ (not the 20th century).
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Posted in Community, Theology | Tagged: 1 Corinthians 13:11, 20th century, 7 candles of unity, Adib Taherzadeh, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, golden calf, Kheirella, Lesser Peace, millennium, Paris Talks, pilgrim's notes, Promulgation of Universal Peace, Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, twentieth century, Universal House of Justice, world unity, y2k, عبدالبهاء | 29 Comments »
Posted by Sen on January 5, 2009
One of the friends asked:
What is the ideal future envisioned in Baha’i religion? Is it a global order in which the world is composed of many diverse religions, each tolerant of one another, and the Baha’i just one amongst many? Or would the Baha’i be the organizing principle?
I think it is both a pluralist world of diverse religions tolerant of one another and working together, and one new world religious order, whose organising principle is one that is given in the Bahai Scriptures. Tolerance and cooperation between religions is new (although not entirely unknown in history), and it is a Bahai principle, but it is not a monopoly of the Bahais. It’s something the world must learn.
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Posted in Islam, Theology | Tagged: A Traveller's Narrative, Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Christianity, ecumenicism, Islam, Judaism, new world order, postmodern theology, religious diversity, religious pluralism, religious tolerance, Secret of Divine Civilization, Shoghi Effendi | 1 Comment »
Posted by Sen on December 25, 2008
It’s the season of family movies, and Christmas miracle stories. If you don’t have cable, it’s hard to find anything else. But who would want to? I love them. I don’t believe them, of course, but I believe in them. I think the world’s a better place with them, and I go soppy-eyed every time the director pulls a tear-jerker. They work for me.
I feel the same way about other miracle stories. I believe in them, even if I can’t believe them. Take the 750 muskets at the martyrdom of the Bab, for example.
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Posted in Community, History | Tagged: A Traveller's Narrative, Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Dawnbreakers, Kazem Beg, miracles, muskets, Shoghi Effendi, Tabriz | 2 Comments »
Posted by Sen on December 20, 2008
I have a lovely story to share, told to me by Brent Poirier and shared with his permission. He heard it around 1980 from Inez Greeven, whose sister was India Haggarty, the subject of our story. India Haggarty was a Bahai living in Paris in 1931. I will let Brent tell the story:
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Posted in Community | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Brent Poirier, creativity, doors of perception, dreams, India Haggarty, Inez Greeven, inspiration in dreams | 4 Comments »
Posted by Sen on December 16, 2008
Older Bahais, like me, will have noticed a new way of referring to the Universal House of Justice, as “the supreme institution.” I think I first noticed people saying this about 1985. In Anna’s Presentation we find “We have already spoken about the supreme institution, which is the Universal House of Justice…”. Paul Lample, in his Preface to A Wider Horizon, Selected Letters [of the Universal House of Justice] refers to “a continuous flow of guidance that comes from the Supreme Body.”
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Posted in Community | Tagged: Ahmadiyya, Anna’s Presentation, Bahai, Bahai Faith, constitutional monarchy, covenant, doctrinal exaggeration, Guardian, International Teaching Centre, NRMs, Paul Lample, Shoghi Effendi, The Supreme Body, Universal House of Justice | 4 Comments »
Posted by Sen on December 5, 2008
Baha’u’llah writes:
Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion, so that the Promise and the Threat recorded in the Books of God may prevent them from the things forbidden and adorn them with the mantle of the commandments; but this in such a measure that it may not injure the children by resulting in ignorant fanaticism and bigotry.
(Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 68)
Promise and Threat, or reward and punishment, is one of those basic dynamics that acts out at several levels. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, Ethics and Morality | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai, Bahai Faith, religion in schools, reward and punishment | 1 Comment »
Posted by Sen on December 2, 2008
A person investigating the Bahai Faith had encountered theocratic ideas among the Bahais she met, and asked if these were correct, and where they came from. But in fact, she seemed to know already that these ideas must be wrong. She wrote:
> I have to say that the idea of a one-world government run by a
> religious institution of any sort whatsoever, is what I can only
> call a total nightmare. I cannot believe for one second that this
> is what Bahaullah envisaged,
She was quite right. This is certainly not what Baha’u'llah envisioned!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, History | Tagged: A Traveler's Narrative, Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Church and State, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Hippolyte Dreyfus, Horace Holley, Kitab-i Iqan, Luke 20:20-26, Mark 12:13-17, Matt. 22:15-22, millenialism, one-world government, render to Caesar, Risaleh-ye Siyasiyyah, Sermon on the Art of Governance, Shoghi Effendi, Supreme Tribunal, The Promised Day is Come, theocracy, Universal House of Justice, World Order of Baha'u'llah | 15 Comments »
Posted by Sen on November 30, 2008
… i like this girl and she likes me.. my faith is bahai … she is a very strong christian. and she takes the bible very seriously, and i respect that of her, but in the bible there is a verse that says jesus is the only way to heaven, and in another it says a christian shouldn’t get involved with someone non- christian…
there in lies my problem. and she won’t go out with me until i’ve changed my mind about christ and the bible.. now we did go on a date and it went good, but in her and my art class together i got in an argument over my beliefs with her and half of the class today. let alone this wasn’t bad enough she decided not to date me until i’ve changed…
i will not change my beliefs for her. but is there any way one of you could give me some very convincing verses from the bible, or better yet some strong proof to why bahaism is better..
i need a lot of help with this one, i like her a lot and she likes me, but our strengths in our religious beliefs are getting in the way and we both tend to be stubborn, and i don’t want to see someone as amazing as her just leave me…
Dear Romeo,
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Posted in Community | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Arguing about religion, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Christianity, John 10:16, Star crossed lovers, twoness | 2 Comments »
Posted by Sen on November 21, 2008
In a discussion, I was asked: “You state that separation of church and state is principle in Islam. Could you explain that a bit more?“
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Posted in Church and State, Islam | Tagged: at-taghut, Baha'u'llah, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Church and State, David, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'lah, Islam, Joseph, Kings and rulers, Kitab-e Aqdas, kitab-i-aqdas, Lawh-e Ashraf, Mecca, Medina, Moses, Muhammad, Muhammad Abduh, no compulsion in religion, Pharoah, Quran, Sen McGlinn, Solomon, Surah-ye Bayan, twin seas | 1 Comment »
Posted by Sen on November 18, 2008
“Baha’is do not join the military, except as non-combatants“
To which the response was:
“That really limits how many Bahais a Nation can have!“
Good point!
But is it really a Bahai teaching that we should not serve as combatants, or is this just current practice? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Ethics and Morality | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, collective security, conscientious objection, Custodians, Darfur, Ethics and Morality, Hands of the Cause, holocaust, Jalal Khazeh, just war, Mai Pederson, military service, Nazi Germany, non-combatant status, Sermon on the Art of Governance, Shoghi Effendi, Shu'a'llah 'Alai, Some Answered Questions, Srebrenica massacre, world peace | 6 Comments »
Posted by Sen on September 7, 2008
Moojan Momen has posted on his web site a new version of his response-to-responses, occasioned by his Religion article on “Marginality and Apostasy in the Baha’i Community.” In this, he states :
‘My statement that Sen McGlinn’s disenrollment was due to “persistent challenges” to the Universal House of Justice is an inference that I have drawn from letters of the Universal House of Justice going back to 1995.’
Posted in Polemics | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Apologetics, Apostasy, backbiting, Bahai, Bahai Faith, courtesy, defamation, disenrollment, libel, Marginality and Apostasy, Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, Momen, Polemics, Religion, Sen McGlinn | 2 Comments »
Posted by Sen on April 12, 2008
In the 1978 translation of Tablets of Baha’u’llah by Habib Taherzadeh “with the assistance of a committee,” the eighth section of the Tablet of Ishraqaat says:
“This passage, now written by the Pen of Glory, is accounted as part of the Most Holy Book: The men of God’s House of Justice have been charged with the affairs of the people (‘amuur-e mellat). They, in truth, are the Trustees of God among His servants and the daysprings of authority in His countries.
O people of God! That which traineth the world is Justice, for it is upheld by two pillars, reward and punishment. These two pillars are the sources of life to the world. Inasmuch as for each day there is a new problem and for every problem an expedient solution, such affairs should be referred to the House of Justice that the members thereof may act according to the needs and requirements of the time. They that, for the sake of God, arise to serve His Cause, are the recipients of divine inspiration from the unseen Kingdom. It is incumbent upon all to be obedient unto them. All matters of State (‘amuur-e siyaasiyyah) should be referred to the House of Justice, but acts of worship (`ibaadaat) must be observed according to that which God hath revealed in His Book.” [1]
There is a previous translation by Ali Kuli Khan, made in 1906 or earlier,[2] in which the italicised passages read:
“The affairs of the people are in charge of the men of the House of Justice of God … Administrative affairs are all in charge of the House of Justice, and devotional acts must be observed according as they are revealed in the Book.”
Posted in Church and State, Community, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Administrative matters, Affairs of the people, Ali Kuli Khan, amuur-e mellat, Aqdas, ‘amuur-e siyaasiyyah, Bahai, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Bisharat, Church and State, Community, House of Justice, Iqan, ishraqat, lawh-e dunya, matters of state, politics, Religion, Sermon on the Art of Governance, Shoghi Effendi, Tehran, theocracy, theocratic, Translation | 1 Comment »