How does one leave the Baha'i religion?
Chad Walker
I think that the subejct about says it all. My reasons are personal, and
I'm sure that they will be questioned on my end by people I know, so
please just tell me what the process is. I'm also not 100% certain of my
decision yet, so please just stick to the facts.
Thanks!
Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile! :)
Chad Walker
walk...@grove.ufl.edu
http://grove.ufl.edu/~walkercm
Richard Hoff
Reply by J.Richard Hoff
Thank you so much for your request,
Your simply write to our national center at Wilmette, and state in a
letter that you sign,that you do not beleive that Baha'u'llah is a
Messenger set by God. That is all that there is to it. Your name will be
taken off the rolls. I hope this loving direct and answeres you question
on how you withdraw from the Faith.
Baha'i is not what you join. It is what you are.Do you beleive that
Buddha, Krishna, Baha'u'llah etc. are all from the one and only Creator.
That is what a Baha'i is.
When you beleive that only one religon is saved and the other are damed,
that is not the Baha'i belied. When you believe that all religions are
from the same and only one true God that is what Baha'i is. This brings
peace not war. People go to war over my god is right and I will kill you
over my belief in god. The greatest cause of war in the world today is
prejudice over my god verses yours.
It is a belief that Baha'u'llah has come to unite the religions. Baha'i
is not better it is just the last and it's purpose is to unite the world
under one God. If you believe Baha'u'llah is not who he claims to be then
you are not a Baha'i and you should say so and it is right that your name
is taken off our membership rolls. It is not good for you nor the Baha'is
to be called a Baha'i when you are not.
Do you feel Baha'u'llah is false-if you do write our national center in
Willmete and have you name remove. If you do not feel he is false then
leave you name on our rolls until you make a clear decision about
Baha'u'llah.
Thank you so much for your request. I'm a Baha'i who has believed in all
God's Teachers for over 35 years and love all the religions.
J.Richard Hoff
--
Richard Hoff
Moore,OK,USA
mailto:rh...@thor.net
Lindsley, Loralee
I think that the subejct about says it all. My reasons are personal, and
I'm sure that they will be questioned on my end by people I know, so
please just tell me what the process is. I'm also not 100% certain of my
decision yet, so please just stick to the facts.
Thanks!
Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile! :)
Chad Walker
walk...@grove.ufl.edu
http://grove.ufl.edu/~walkercm
Dear Chad,
As you have already received an answer as to the process, I would just
like to add a thought. Being a Baha'i is not meant to be easy. We
are all tested, and our abilitiy to pass these tests does not
determine whether or not we are Baha'is at any given moment. God
reads the hearts. If in your heart, you still believe that
Baha'u'llah was sent by God with the healing message for the present
day, then everything else will eventually fall into place, because you
will continue to make an effort.
At one point in my life I questioned whether I was meant to be a
Baha'i. I felt weak, and I thought, maybe I'm just not good enough to
be a Baha'i. But Baha'u'llah showed me differently. Not only did He
send some rather direct intervention from the Unseen World to keep me
from killing myself, but He let me know in more ways than one that I
still thought as a Baha'i, and He still accepted me.
Please consider your decision very carefully.
Loralee Lindsley
Teresa Ann Taylor
In <4trecf$p...@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> walk...@grove.ufl.edu (Chad
Walker) writes:
>
>I think that the subejct about says it all. My reasons are personal,
and
>I'm sure that they will be questioned on my end by people I know, so
>please just tell me what the process is. I'm also not 100% certain of
my
>decision yet, so please just stick to the facts.
>
>Thanks!
>
>
Dear Chad,
Just tell you assembly you no longer believe in the faith or in
Baha'u'llah. They'll take it from there.
Me...@the.center
On 1 Aug 1996 16:25:03 -0700, walk...@grove.ufl.edu (Chad Walker)
wrote:
>I think that the subejct about says it all. My reasons are personal, and
>I'm sure that they will be questioned on my end by people I know, so
>please just tell me what the process is. I'm also not 100% certain of my
>decision yet, so please just stick to the facts.
As someone who is thinking about ENTERING the Baha'i faith, I'm very
curious as to what could be someone's motivations for wanting to
leave.
Dr Steve Burgess
>I think that the subejct about says it all. My reasons are personal, and
>I'm sure that they will be questioned on my end by people I know, so
>please just tell me what the process is. I'm also not 100% certain of my
>decision yet, so please just stick to the facts.
>
>
>Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile! :)
>Chad Walker
>walk...@grove.ufl.edu
>http://grove.ufl.edu/~walkercm
>
>
I'm sure that you will take time to carefully consider your way forward.
All that is required is to tell your local spiritual assembly that you no
longer believe that Baha u llah is the Manifestation of God and ask that
they remove your name from the Bahai membership records.
If you want to talk privately to someone over the Internet about this,
someone you will never see or know, please feel free to contact me. Africa
is a long way away from Florida! I am sure many will say prayers for you.
God bless.
Steve
Alma Engels
Dear Chad,
Sometimes we get answers to questions we didn't ask even if the answers are
the ones to the questions we meant to ask. And I think your question about
leaving the Baha'i religion is a good example of this.
You are being told what is the approved way of withdrawing from the Baha'i
Faith (in my mind not exactly the same as withdrawing from the Baha'i religion
which I equate with belief in Baha'u'llah and what He said.). When you
withdraw, you declare yourself no longer a part of the Administrative Order
which is established under the Lesser Covenant. While the Faith would like
you to do so under its guidelines, I don't think that someone who no longer
feels bound by obedience to th Administrative Order would necessarily decide
to follow the guidelines.
Moreover, I think the guidelines as they are being interpreted to you conflate
two things that deserve to be considered separately. The first is belief in
Baha'u'llah. Was He, indeed, God's Messenger for today. (And this by
implication establishes the legitimacy of the Covenant He made with His
followers and the authority of the Administrative Order.) And the second is
a decision to submit oneself to the authority of the Administrative Order
Baha'u'llah established. But one can accept Baha'u'llah and the fact He
established the Administrative Order and still decide not to be a member of
the Faith and subject to the authority of the Administrative Order. Please
note that I am saying that the person accepts the legitimacy of the
Administrative Order. I am NOT speaking about Covenant breakers.
Even so, this is an extraordinary positiion and one to be taken only after
much thought and prayer. Why would one do that? Because of the real or
perceived misguided actions of parts of the Administrative Order towards some
few members of the Faith which makes it impossible for these persons to
function as they think they must within the framework of the Administrative
Order. Again this impossibility may be real or it may be a misperception of
the individual.
That sometimes unjust actions may occur while the Faith is still relatively
new shouldn't be surprising for the Administrative Order learns and matures
just as everything else does. Then too, below the level of the Universal
House of Justice there is no guarantee of infallibility. And even if there
were, it is irrelevant because submission to the Administrative Order is
concerned with obedience to a direct command and is not concerned with the
correctness or appropriateness of that command.
So in my mind it is possible to believe that Baha'u'llah is Who He said He
was and is God's Manifestation and to remain outside of the Faith. And though
this is conjecture on my part, it is possible that Baha'u'llah intends these
people to help fulfill His goals on earth for they are in a position to do
things that we, and I most certainly am included here, who remain in the Faith
cannot do. In fact, I think that some of these who love Baha'u'llah and are
committed to Him but remain outside the Faith may be the very stones He
promised us.
In peace,
Alma
Larry Brickey
Dear Chad,
You need simply write a letter (or note) to your Local Spiritual Assembly
stating that you no longer believe that Baha'u'llah and the Bab are
manifestations of God and that you wish to withdraw from the Faith. That's
all there is to it.
Hope you stay.
Larry Brickey
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Alma Engels wrote:
>
>
> You are being told what is the approved way of withdrawing from the Baha'i
> Faith (in my mind not exactly the same as withdrawing from the Baha'i religion
> which I equate with belief in Baha'u'llah and what He said.). When you
> withdraw, you declare yourself no longer a part of the Administrative Order
> which is established under the Lesser Covenant. While the Faith would like
> you to do so under its guidelines, I don't think that someone who no longer
> feels bound by obedience to th Administrative Order would necessarily decide
> to follow the guidelines.
>
Since Baha'u'llah enjoined on us obedience to the House of Justice, which is the center
of the Administrative Order He laid out with His own hand, it would seem that
disobedience to that Order is disobedience to Baha'u'llah Himself and invites
schism.
Certainly, one may believe in Baha'u'llah and not, for whatever reasons, be a part of
the community of Baha'is (I have a friend who remained an "unenrolled Baha'i" for years
because her husband had strong feelings on the matter based on his own faith), but
standing outside of that community is counter to everything I have read by Baha'u'llah
about the part He intended individual Baha'is to play in the worldwide community that
bears His name. You cannot "leave the Administrative Order" without leaving the Faith
it supports. Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi are all quite clear that to
wrench the spiritual teachings from the Administrative Order that embodies them is, in
the words of Shoghi Effendi himself, "tantamount to a mutilation of the Cause of God."
Baha'u'llah intended for us to become one in His faith. To serve God and mankind as
one, indivisible community. There is no room here for the "faith of me." It is about
"us." It is that essential unity the Covenant of Baha'u'llah was fashioned to preserve.
You leave the Faith in one way--by declaring in writing that you no longer believe in
Baha'u'llah. It is up to the individual to determine whether that is true in their heart
of hearts. If it is not true, that is between them and God.
Mir.
Maya