95 Theses - The Reform Bahai Faith
After several decades of attempting to reform the Baha'i Faith, some would say since the 1930s and '40s when Mirza Ahmad Sohrab's New History Society in New York was unsuccessfully sued three times by conservative Baha'is, liberal Bahais announced today, in 95 Theses, the decision to found the Reform Bahai Faith.
(PRWEB) August 26, 2004 -- 95 Theses of the Reform Bahai Faith
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feel free to share and distribute, in any manner, preferably in full, these 95
Theses.
To His Great Ends, the Reform Bahai Faith invites all souls to a
Convocation of celebration, brotherhood, and Reform, during Ridvan,
2006.
The Reform Bahai Faith, calling to mind the sufferings and
imprisonment of the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and Abdu'l-Baha, under the brutal
oppression of tyrannical regimes, bent upon silencing and destroying their
testimony of God's New Day, resolves
1. To
witness the truth of the deviation of the organized, incorporated Baha'i Faith
from the Path, and its imposition of manifest corruptions and innovations, over
many lamentable decades, that have wrought ever-increasing alienation, fear,
censorship, coercion, misrepresentation, distortion, and damage, all the
stratagems of despots and dictators, political and religious, upon individual
Bahais, their families, and the community of
believers.
2. To seek afresh His Will, as at the
dawn of a New Day, whereby the earth is born anew and man stands transparent
before God's manifestation of His Will.
3.
Baha'u'llah execrated execration, slander, and abuse, shunned shunning, and
warned his followers against such unseemly
tactics.
4. He prohibited the burning of books
and all its evils.
5. The tongue and the pen are
the sword of this Day.
6. Liberty was a Teaching
of Baha'u'llah, recognized and respected by His Son,
Abdu'l-Baha.
7. Baha'u'llah envisions a spiritual
democracy.
8. The Founders of the Bahai
Dispensation teach a Universal Religion.
9. The
Founders did not teach a system of stifling rules and
regulations.
10. Crippling creeds of the soul and
conscience are abominations.
11. The Writings of
Baha'u'llah teach freedom of conscience and respect for the
individual.
12. Assemblies are servants of the
Bahai community, not dictatorships that are designed to hector people into
submission and servile obedience.
13. At all
levels, subtle manipulation of the voting for assemblies has undermined and
destroyed the integrity of Baha'i
"administration."
14. A free, open, and honest
voting system, allowing for the give and take of the qualities of individuals,
is essential for service to His Cause.
15. The
Founders taught not an organization but a
Faith.
16. Persecution, harassment, and enmity
are barred from the tabernacle of religious
freedom.
17. Baha'u'llah did not "copyright" His
Revelation but gave it freely to all the peoples of the
earth.
18. The more than 20,000 martyrs did not
die for a trademark and copyright.
19. Slander
and libel, as well as all their variations, are anathema in the Writings of
Baha'u'llah.
20. Legalism is the dead letter of
the atrophied spirit.
21. The Ocean of His
Revelation beckons all mankind to dive and swim in it, seeking its pearls of
Wisdom.
22. Shoghi Effendi's death ended the era
of an authorized interpreter of Baha'u'llah's
Revelation.
23. Shoghi Effendi did not appoint
anyone, directly or indirectly, to succeed him as
Guardian.
24. The Universal House of Justice has
only legislative power, not interpretive.
25.
Baha'u'llah opened His House of Worship to all mankind at all times and all
conditions.
26. Baha'u'llah's Universal
Revelation transcends the locks and chains created after the passing of the
Master.
27. Reform Bahais make no claim to
possess His Truth but seek it everywhere and
always.
28. His Revelation is not a means for a
disguised sacerdotal order to acquire material and monetary wealth and
control.
29. His Revelation is a call to service,
sacrifice, and brotherhood.
30. All portions of
the Bahai Feast are open for the repast of
humanity.
31. God's Gift to all mankind is the
Most Great Name.
32. Deceiving the governments of
the earth, East and West, and the United Nations, playing them off against one
another, misleading their appointed and elected officials and representatives,
is a despicable practice.
33. The financial and
accounting records for the support of Bahai "administrators" or clergy shall be
open and freely available for review by members and the general
public.
34. Baha'u'llah did not reveal a
declaration of trust and by-laws.
35. The Bahai
Spirit loathes creeds and obscurantism.
36.
Baha'u'llah's Call is to Unity and Love: "Consort with the followers of all
religions."
37. Ecclesiasticism and dogmas are
the structure of division, abuse, and
exploitation.
38. Baha'u'llah suffered for
freedom of conscience.
39. Abdu'l-Baha taught,
"The Bahai Cause is not an organization."
40.
Reform Bahais do not seek "the elimination of any non-Bahai
views."
41. Abdu'l-Baha taught it is necessary
and acceptable that citizens participate in the affairs of their
nation.
42. Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha invoked
openness to all of humankind, not Religious
Isolation.
43. Social Isolation is the control
tactic of tyrants and despots, charlatans and cults, fearfully dominating their
flock.
44. Fund raising is not an end in itself
but a means of service to the people.
45. The
Goal of the Founders was not world domination but attainment to the knowledge of
God and service to one's fellow man.
46. God's
gift to humankind is a liberal and lofty Cause, conserving the spiritual
heritage of humanity.
47. No form of the
destruction of the press is taught and
tolerated.
48. A membership card does not record
the testimony of the heart.
49. No man or
organization can fathom the depths God has freely bestowed upon the human
heart.
50. At all heights, the bird of humanity
soars upon two wings.
51. Baha'u'llah and
Abdu'l-Baha taught independent investigation of the
Truth.
52. Abdu'l-Baha taught "conscientious
opinion" and "freedom of conscience, liberty of thought, and right of
speech."
53. The literal interpretation of
Abdu'l-Baha's Will and Testament has profoundly damaged Baha'u'llah's Faith and
destroyed countless lives and Bahai
communities.
54. Thought-police, under any name,
are not included in Baha'u'llah's Vision.
55.
Baha'u'llah's Dispensation does not include boards of
censorship.
56. Baha'u'llah's model for His New
World Order is not the tyrannical religious institutions of the
past.
57. Bahai community life is not based on
organized totalitarianism.
58. Charitable works
have more value in the sight of God than marbled
ostentation.
59. Fear is the refuge of tyrants
and their primary crutch.
60. The Reform Bahai
Faith places its trust in God.
61. Spying,
informing, and keeping files and records on people for matters of conscience and
opinion, expressed on or off the Internet, in email or any other form, are all
denounced and banned.
62. Reform Bahais embrace
loving association with all the peoples of the earth and do not require identity
checks, letters, and cards of verification.
63.
The nine doors of fraternity are open to all human
beings.
64. The nine doors are open at all
times.
65. Segregation and indoctrination,
individually or collectively, are contrary to the Writings of
Baha'u'llah.
66. Excommunication is
excommunicated.
67. The practices of the Middle
Ages are history and are an instructive lesson before which Reform Bahais beg
God for guidance and protection.
68. The Soul's
Covenant is with God and Baha'u'llah.
69.
Abdu'l-Baha taught, "The conscience of man is sacred and to be
respected."
70. Everywhere in His Writings,
Baha'u'llah loathes injustice, tyranny, and
oppression.
71. Guilt by association and
collective punishment have no place in Baha'u'llah's
Dispensation.
72. A self-serving clergy, hiding
behind the secular nuances of the word "administration," remains a pack of
wolves whatever the clothing and outward
seeming.
73. Non-Bahais and Bahais have the human
right to know the fullness of the historical record, without concealment and
revision.
74. Abdu'l-Baha taught human rights are
Bahai rights.
75. The distortion and corruption
of historical fact is detrimental to the development of humanity and of
Baha'u'llah's Faith.
76. The Bahai Technique is
not Baha'u'llah's.
77. Individual conscience is
not a "dangerous delusion out of Christianity" but a glorious gift of
God.
78. Baha'u'llah taught moderation in all
things.
79. Abdu'l-Baha taught humility before
one's convictions.
80. Intellectual vigor,
especially of the young, should never be crushed, but
nurtured.
81. The descendants of the Bab and
Baha'u'llah have no special or hereditary prerogatives and
rights.
82. Abdu'l-Baha set the requirements for
Bahai membership: "To be a Bahai simply means to love all the world; to love
humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal
brotherhood."
83. Bahais may associate with
people of all religious persuasions.
84. Receipt
of mail or communication is not mandatory.
85.
Harassment for declining the receipt of mail is prohibited and in all cases
rejected.
86. Membership statistics are free and
open to all interested parties.
87. Shoghi
Effendi's writings indisputably contain
errors.
88. Bahai experience and history
demonstrate that the organized Baha'i Faith has strayed from Baha'u'llah's
Teachings and blindly and fanatically opposes all discussion and
Reformation.
89. Bahais of good conscience have
no alternative but to recognize reality and restore and Reform, at all levels,
His Teachings.
90. The Reform Bahai Faith looks
not to other Bahai denominations for its understanding of Baha'u'llah's
Teachings.
91. The Reform Bahai Faith looks to
the fullness of Baha'u'llah's Revelation for
guidance.
92. The Reform Bahai Faith does not
distort nor select single or unusual passages of the Writings to manipulate or
over-emphasize for organizational purposes of thought-control and
indoctrination.
93. The Reform Bahai Faith trusts
and allows the individual believer to pray and meditate on the inner meaning and
purpose of His Revelation, sharing the fruits of reflection with all who are
willing to hear, receive, and discuss, without disgraceful groveling or
humiliating qualifications.
94. The Reform Bahai
Faith recognizes and formalizes the inescapable conflicts of the human spirit
that have existed in Baha'u'llah's Faith since the passing of the Master,
exacerbated by an oppressive and inflexible interpretation of Baha'u'llah's
Teachings.
95. The Reform Bahai Faith rejoices at
the Glory of His Revelation and seeks to share His Teachings, with unabashed and
renewed enthusiasm, for the Redemption and Renewal of the human
race.
Baha'u'llah called all humanity to feast at His bounteous
Table.
Reform Bahais rejoice that God has revealed, through time and
history, the inevitable path, through trial and turmoil, toward fulfillment of
His Vision.
The Reform Bahai Faith invites all non-Bahais, Bahais,
ex-Bahais, all humanity, the tens of thousands of people harassed and driven out
by fanatical extremists, maligned and slandered, to join together in His Worship
and in service to humanity, to restore a sane and moderate form of community
life and association based on love, trust, and brotherhood, across all barriers
of race and division, social and economic, nationalistic and
provincial.
The Reform Bahai Faith bows humbly before His Threshold,
supplicating for His Favor and Guidance, supplicating the Hosts of the Kingdom
of Abha, recognizing the difficulties and obstacles, apparent and hidden, that
confront and will confront the realization of His Vision.
To His Great
Ends, the Reform Bahai Faith invites all souls to a Convocation of celebration,
brotherhood, and Reform, during Ridvan, 2006.
Frederick Glaysher
95
Theses of the Reform Bahai Faith
www.ReformBahai.org
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/8/prweb152410.htm