Sunday, April 20, 2008

Another Side


Throughout my research, I kept stumbling upon the same website time and time again and as I was looking for different views on the Baha’i faith, the same website appeared again. The website was entitled “The Baha’i Faith: An Ex-Baha’i Christian View.” it was written by Rev. Eric Stetson who was a Baha’i from 1998 till 2002 and is the founder of Ex-Baha'i Discussion & Support and The Christian Universalist Association. He talked about his purpose of creating the website; he said he wanted to show why he left the faith and he said “question the claims of the Baha'i religion and think critically about it for themselves.” He also wanted people to look at the differences between the Baha’i faith and the Christian faith, and he hoped that people would see the Christian faith as a more sure path to God. He asks this question at the opening of his website, “Should you accept Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i Faith or Jesus Christ and Christianity? Can you accept both?” and says,
"I hope that through my story, other Baha'is perhaps may decide to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and put aside the contrary religion of Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri, Baha'u'lla"
I read through his article and I tried not to have a bias opinion about something he said even though I relate to the Baha’i faith as my own since that is what I grew up with and from what I have read have become further intrigued. But I wanted to try and read the website as a person who knew nothing about either the Christian or Baha’i faith and/or had no connection or hard set belief in either. However as I read through there was one common theme throughout. He said he became a Baha’i in his freshman year of college because he was attracted to the faith because of it’s ideals of unity and how he was welcomed in by other Baha’is on campus. He said all around him he saw drugs and alcohol being used and he couldn’t find a social outlet that he felt like he fit into, but then he found the Baha’i faith. He goes into an overview about the Baha’i faith, relatively unscathing and then he talks about what he found to be wrong about the Baha’i faith. He says,
“As I got more deeply involved in the Baha'i community, my illusions about the Baha'i Faith as an open-minded and tolerant organization were shattered. What I found instead was an authoritarian, narrow-minded group hiding behind the rhetoric of universalism. And sadly, for a few years I myself was a Baha'i fundamentalist, an ideological fanatic trying to convert everyone to my Baha'i religious opinions in order to save the world.”

The interesting thing was this is what he kept saying over and over about the faith that was wrong with it. However as I read it I thought well I think every faith has a fundamentalist side and a more moderate side and then everything in between. He talks about the Christian faith being a more perfect path to God and I do not say the Christian faith is better or worse then the Baha’i faith it just is different. Just as both the Christian and the Baha’i faith are different from the Jewish or Catholic or Buddhist or any faith. The Christian faith has a fundamentalist side too and I think you have to choose in faith what is right for you and what you believe. A lot of faiths say don’t drink or have sex before you are married or think homosexuality is right and a lot of people practice one part of the faith but choose to part take in something that might not be considered appropriate or is against the rules. I think it isn’t about the rules, faith is about the connection to God and your own personal connection to God. There are certain things in the Baha’i faith I don’t necessarily agree with but I don’t feel like I am nay less connected to God because I don’t agree to everything in the faith.
I think that Stetson maybe only got one side of the Baha’i religion and what is about. I grew up with a totally polar opposite view of the faith and I also saw lots of in betweens. But I think the point is his article goes to show that just because there is one side to something; it doesn’t mean there isn’t another side as well and as individuals we have the right to decide for ourselves what is best and the right to investigation of the differences. No faith is right or wrong if you feel connected and fulfilled and you don’t bring harm to others but instead you give respect.

Citation:
Stetson, Eric. The Baha'i Faith: An Ex-Baha'i Christian View.
Electronic Document, accessed 20 April 2008.


Images:
http://www.lcmb.org/images/prayer.jpg

2 comments:

Priscilla said...

Hello Kyla,

It is interesting to read a blog by someone who grew up Baha’i, has been away from the Baha’i Faith, and is now looking into it again. I’m interested to hear what you find. I’m also curious as to what you disagree with.

I am an ex-Baha’i and a Christian (a rather odd one), and I must say that I find Eric’s website difficult to take, for reasons similar to yours and for other reasons. But I think Eric is a really good guy, and I’m not sure how much his website represents his current views. Of course I can’t speak for him, but I think his understanding of Christianity has changed significantly since he set it up and that change may not be fully reflected in his site.

I think the individual connection to God that you mention is important, very, but we are also social and the Baha’i Faith is not only about the individual connection. I think a basic challenge just now is that social piece. I mean, if you decide to become involved in Baha’i community will you find acceptance, socially speaking, of your particular combination of agreement and disagreement with the Faith? Will you feel like you have to hide what you think, or will you find you can be open and that your point of view is allowed to have its influence on the ongoing discovery of what the Baha’i Faith is? Christianity has both kinds of community, though that greatly simplifies the full situation. On a small scale, the scale of friendship or small local communities, so does the Baha’i Faith. Yet I think a good case can be made that there is an overall fundamentalism that has grown in recent years and that people who do not accept it are often marginalized.

Anyway, my best to you in your process of rediscovery,

Priscilla

Anonymous said...

Eric Stetson's ideas later evolved, and he apologised for some of the things he had written about Bahai. If you go to my blog at
http://senmcglinn.wordpress.com/
and look at the 'tabs' across the top there's one called 'Eric's apology'

- Sen