Disturbing -- Bahai viewpoint on Jewish Holocaust

[***** Bahai Censorship *****]

neojoat wrote:

> Tonight, during a deepening, a well-versed Bahai make reference that the
> reason the Jews suffered such atrocities during WWII (Final Solution)
> was because they did not accept Jesus Christ as the next manifestation
> of God (nor Allah). His 'proof' was comments Abdul-Baha made stating
> the jews will continue to undego torment and tribulation because they
> don't accept the evolution of the manifestations.
>
> Find, but 6 million, mostly secular innocents being gassed between 1940
> - 1945. This fellow from time to time does come up with bizzare
> interpretations of the writings but is this interpretation, i.e.,
> justification of the deaths of 6 million in the most inhumane way a sort
> of fulfillment of what Abdul-Baha prophesied or is the Final Solution
> considered an abberant nightmare of the worst order?
>
> Also, isn't one of the tenants of the Bahai faith that all religions are
> equal?
>
> Please clarify for this neophyte.

In my experience too, the fundamentalists among my fellow
bahais really don't care about the slaughter of the Jews
during WWII. There is a latent anti-semitism that's well
hid, but there nonetheless. They content to USE the State
of Israel for protection and so on, but are hypocritical
when it comes to the holocaust.... They'll contend that
there were bahais who died in the death camps, which
there were, but exhibit an unwillingess to learn much
from the experience, of Jews there and others. I see it
as partly the concealed and subliminal hatred of some
from the Islamic world towards Jews, always an easy
target for those relying on religious bigotry to create
"unity."

--
Professor Juan R. I. Cole, University of Michigan,
"Fundamentalism in the Contemporary U.S. Baha'i Community,"
Religious Studies Review, Vol. 43, no. 3 (March, 2002):195-217:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/2002/fundbhfn.htm

In his book Modernity and the Millennium, published by Columbia University
Press in 1998, Professor Cole observes the Baha'i administration has
increasingly come under the control of fundamentalists, "stressing
scriptural literalism . . . theocracy, censorship, intellectual intolerance,
and denying key democratic values (196)."

Frederick Glaysher
The Bahai Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/

[Freethought110]

Shoghi Effendi Rabbani didn't exactly have bad things to say about
Hitler and the National Socialists circa 1934. After all he emulated
them in many respects.

***** Bahai Censorship ***** <bahaicensor...@fglaysher.com> wrote in message news:<c12gtj$1dm6hf$1...@ID-75545.news.uni-berlin.de>...

[brianh...@gmail.com]

I am a very liberal Bahai and would be very interested in what Shoghi Effendi had to say about Hitler. I call myself a "liberal Bahai" because I don't view the writtings as being "written in stone" and form my own theology over the Bahai in areas where my own beliefs are different in some way from the mainstream of the Faith.

[NUR]

11 February 1934

Dear Baha'i Brother,

I am charged by the Guardian to thank you for your letter of
Jan. 30th as well as for the enclosed pamphlet containing the
address delivered by Herr Hitler on Oct. 14th, 1933, on the
subject of Germany's attitude towards peace, all of which he read
with deepest care and sustained interest. He wishes me to convey
to you and to all the members of your German National Assembly
and through them to all the followers of the Faith in Germany his
views on the present conditions in that land, and particularly in
their relation to the nature and scope of the Baha'i activities
of our German believers.

At the outset it should be made indubitably clear that the
Baha'i Cause being essentially a religious movement of a
spiritual character stands above every political party or group,
and thus cannot and should not act in contravention to the
principles, laws, and doctrines of any government. Obedience to
the regulations and orders of the state is indeed, the sacred
obligation of every true and loyal Baha'i. Both Baha'u'llah and
Abdu'l-Baha have urged us all to be submissive and loyal to the
political authorities of our respective countries. It follows,
therefore, that our German friends are under the sacred
obligation to whole-heartedly obey the existing political regime,
whatever be their personal views and criticisms of its actual
working. There is nothing more contrary to the spirit of the
Cause than open rebellion against the governmental authorities of
a country, specially if they do not interfere in and do not
oppose the inner and sacred beliefs and religious convictions of
the individual. And there is every reason to believe that the
present regime in Germany which has thus far refused to trample
upon the domain of individual conscience in all matters
pertaining to religion will never encroach upon it in the near
future, unless some unforeseen and unexpected changes take place.
And this seems to be doubtful at present.

For whereas the friends should obey the government under
which they live, even at the risk of sacrificing all their
administrative affairs and interests, they should under no
circumstances suffer their inner religious beliefs and
convictions to be violated and transgressed by any authority
whatever. A distinction of a fundamental importance must,
therefore, be made between spiritual and administrative matters.
Whereas the former are sacred and inviolable, and hence cannot be
subject to compromise, the latter are secondary and can
consequently be given up and even sacrificed for the sake of
obedience to the laws and regulations of the government.
Obedience to the state is so vital a principle of the Cause that
should the authorities in Germany decide to-day to prevent the
Baha'is from holding any meeting or publishing any literature
they should obey and be as submissive as our Russian believers
have thus far been under the Soviet regime. But, as already
pointed out, such an allegiance is confined merely to
administrative matters which if checked can only retard the
progress of the Faith for some time. In matters of belief,
however, no compromise whatever should be allowed, even though
the outcome of it be death or expulsion.

There is one more point to be emphasized in this connection.
The principle of obedience to government does not place any
Baha'i under the obligation of identifying the teachings of his
Faith with the political program enforced by the government. For
such an identification, besides being erroneous and contrary to
both the spirit as well as the form of the Baha'i message, would
necessarily create a conflict within the conscience of every
loyal believer.

For reasons which are only too obvious the Baha'i philosophy
of social and political organization cannot be fully reconciled
with the political doctrines and conceptions that are current and
much in vogue to-day. The wave of nationalism, so aggressive and
so contagious in its effects, which has swept not only over
Europe but over a large part of mankind is, indeed, the very
negation of the gospel of peace and of brotherhood proclaimed by
Baha'u'llah. The actual trend in the political world is, indeed,
far from being in the direction of the Baha'i teachings. The
world is drawing nearer and nearer to a universal catastrophe
which will mark the end of a bankrupt and of a fundamentally
defective civilization.

From such considerations we can well conclude that we as
Baha'is can in no wise identify the teachings of Baha'u'llah with
man-made creeds and conceptions, which by their very nature are
impotent to save the world from the dangers with which it is
being so fiercely and so increasingly assailed. The Guardian
hopes that these brief explanations will be sufficient to guide
our German National Assembly in their efforts to safeguard and
promote the interests of the Faith, and that through them they
will be given a new vision of the Cause and a fresh determination
to carry forward its message to the world at large.
With greetings and best wishes to you and to all the friends
in Germany,...

[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
I wish to add a few words in loving appreciation of your
strenuous, your intelligent and devoted efforts for the spread
and consolidation of our beloved Faith. May the Almighty bless
your endeavours, deepen your understanding of the essentials and
requirements of our beloved Cause, and enable you in these
difficult and challenging days to promote its interests and
consolidate its institutions,
Your true brother, Shoghi

(The Light of Divine Guidance, Vol. I, pp. 53-56)