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This question came in by email from a reader. -gw

Is it your contention that the Baha’i Faith is impervious to or doesn’t deserve criticism?  It seems that any criticism of the Baha’i Faith is labelled as an ‘attack’ by some.  Why is that?

My response….

...there are “pernicious elements” and “avowed enemies” of the Baha’i Faith whose statements cannot be described as mere criticism...

Thanks Kar for your inquiry. Of course the Faith has been, is, and will be, subject to tremendous scrutiny and criticism by a watching world as it continues to grow. There is nothing wrong with this criticism. Within the Baha’i community members are invited to offer their constructive criticism for the betterment of the community as a whole...

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Last week I heard some news about a new report that came out this year about religious belief in the United States. This was the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life’s report on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. The news I heard emphasized the fact that most Americans now believe that there are many paths to eternal life. Also, most Americans believe there is more than one true way to interpret their religion. Evidently 92% of Americans believe in God, but only 60% of Americans believe in God and say that God is a Personal God (God is an entity who can have a personal relationship with us). Also, only 71% of Americans believe in God and feel absolutely certain about that belief. The main results of the survey are reported over at the Pew Forums, and from there you can get links to the full report (pdf).

That news item inspired in me some thoughts about what I believe, and what people around me seem to believe....

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In "The Illuminated Prayer: The Five-Times Prayer of the Sufis" by Coleman Barks, a story is recounted of a child in the Sufi community asking Bawa Muhaiyadden what religion she was. He responded:

You are a Christian because you believe in Jesus, and you are a Jew because you believe in all the prophets, including Moses. You are a Muslim because you believe in Muhammad as a prophet, and you are a Sufi because you believe in the universal teaching of God's love. You are really none of those, but you are all of those, because you believe in God. And once you believe in God, there is no religion. Once you divide yourself off with religions, you are separated from your fellow man.

And, with the online community, there are many of us who are "going it alone", together. That sense of a community of solitaries is what I've been trying, with some success, to build out here.

Now, this has some resonance with me, and I would imagine with many Baha'is. After all, it is the teaching of the unity of religions that drew a lot of us into investigating the Faith in the first place. It felt very odd, once I became a Baha'i, to identify with a particular community, with its own particular expectations and culture. Like the new kid on the block, I did my best to fit in to all of that -- and the more "Baha'i" I became, invariably, I lost a good deal of that universalist outlook that had drawn me into the Faith in the first place. I have recovered some of it since leaving -- though, not all. I still have a distinct Baha'i identity; I still believe in Baha'u'llah.

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Baha’is in Egypt and Iran are being denied their right to education. Why? Simply because of their faith. On the Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights, we have written about the discrimination that Egyptian Baha’is have been receiving, which right now is comparable to what Iran has been putting its Baha’i students through for decades.

...they are unable to acquire an education which is their given right as citizens.

Inspired by these human rights abuses we have created a comic to raise awareness on the absurdity of this crisis. Why do I call it a crisis? Because this is intellectual abuse. Baha’i youth are being victims of intellectual starvation, they are unable to acquire an education which is their given right as citizens. They are being isolated and humiliated on a daily basis. These governments, instead of protecting them, are denying them the chance to learn, which means that they are robbing them of their dreams, of having a career, a future, a life.

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Photo: “Misrepresentation,” uploaded on January 31, 2007 by Anyhoo on flickr

Here is what I have learned so far, after reviewing various Baha’i references, regarding defending the Faith against those who wish it harm through misrepresentating it on the Internet.

• Whereas we should “not view with too critical an eye” diverse opinions, we are called upon to defend the Faith against deliberate attacks.
• In our defense we should speak to the Baha’i teachings related to the issue around which the misrepresentation has occurred, presenting them “cogently and courteously, but firmly.”
• When responding there is no need to draw attention to the person doing the misrepresenting.
• . . .

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I write this post from Stockholm, Sweden, where I am currently visiting my wonderful older sister, Zhena.

In order to get to Sweden, I had to make it through Israeli security, and let me tell you, it was quite the experience.

So, I get to the airport at 1, in plenty of time for my 4 o'clock flight, walk through the first stage of security checks which just means placing my luggage for x-ray screening. Everything's good. Then, I make it to round II. Round II consists of usually Israeli women (occasionally men as well) opening up your suitcases and rendering useless whatever amount of thoughtful time you put into packing and arranging things just right. As I've been through this airport a few times before, I no longer fret too much about how things are placed as I know they will all be re-shuffled anyway.

We walk back to my suitcases where there are a team of people studying the x-ray machine. And then I catch it. My pillow. Because it has a built in massaging device, there are wires.

Anywho, today it seemed the women were being extra slow as they were averaging calling one new person to the front from the ever-growing line only every 10 or 15 minutes. There were only 2 people ahead of me but I stood in that line for a full 30 minutes before they called me forward. And then the fun began.

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