Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 108
adherents dropped from membership are not shunned, but are to be treated as any other
non-Baha‘i.
Outside the world of Baha‘i cyberspace, the information available to adherents is still
controlled, and these conflicts have garnered little attention from the non-Baha‘i media.68
Newcomers to Baha‘i forums online frequently express shock and dismay at the often
strident criticisms leveled at the Baha‘i administration others are appalled at the punitive
actions taken against their co-religionists in what they had always believed to be a tolerant
faith. Those disturbed by the actions of the UHJ can be thrown into a crisis of faith where
they either have to adjust their values to find such harsh measures acceptable or abandon
belief in Baha‘u‘llah. A few find the nontraditional path where Baha‘u‘llah is still the center of
their spiritual focus, but infallibility of the UHJ is seen as limited or even nonexistent.
While the Baha‘i Faith is not a cult, it does have an authoritarian structure and conformist
culture that many of those attracted to the liberal ideals and inspiring writings of Baha‘u‘llah
find intolerably restrictive. It remains to be seen whether the new openness afforded by
Internet discourse will push the administration towards the tolerant ideals contained in its
scriptures or cause it to retreat ever further into defensive fear.
Notes
1 Tourish, Dennis and Wohlforth, Tim.(2000). Prophets of the apocalypse: White supremacy and the
theology of Christian Identity. Cultic Studies Journal ,17,17.
2 Universal House of Justice.(1988). Individual rights and freedoms in the world order of
Baha’u’llah. Electronic version retrieved January 9, 2002, from Baha‘i Academics Resource
Library: http://bahai-library.org/published.uhj/irf.html
3 Smith, Peter. (1987). The Babi and Baha’i religions: From messianic Shi’ism to world
religion Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.189.
4 My observations on this and other aspects of Baha‘i culture are based upon thirteen years as an
enrolled member of the Baha‘i Faith, and extensive online conversations with Baha‘is across the
ideological spectrum over the past two years. I also run an online support group for alienated and
former Baha‘is.
5 For one example of this attitude from a prominent Baha‘i dissident, see Cole, Juan R.I. (1999).
Personal statement on Baha’u’llah, 3 years on. Retrieved January 9, 2002 from Juan R.I.
Cole website: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/persdec.htm
6 Universal House of Justice. (2001). April 4 letter to National Spiritual Assemblies.
7 ‗Abdu‘l-Baha. (1971) Will and testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’. Wilmette, Ill.: Baha‘i Publishing Trust.
8 Documents related to the expulsion by the Universal House of Justice of Michael McKenny
from the Baha’i Faith. (1997) Retrieved January 9, 2002 from Juan R.I. Cole website:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/mckenny.htm. See UHJ letter dated
September 27, 1997 to Catherine Woodgold. Universal House of Justice. (1999) April 7 letter to
National Spiritual Assemblies Issues related to the study of the Baha’i Faith. Retrieved
January 9, 2002 from Baha‘i Academics Resource Library: http://bahai-
library.org/compilations/issues.scholarship.html Explanation given by the House of Justice
for Alison’s expulsion. (2000) Retrieved January 9, 2002 from Alison Marshall website:
http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/alisonz/19-4-00.html
9 ‗Abdu‘l-Baha. Will and testament p.11.
10 The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance Baha’i page. Retrieved January 9, 2002 from
The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance website:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/bahai.htm The OCRT lists six organizations outside the Baha‘i
World Faith. Some of these are defunct or nearly so. A brief history of Baha‘i splinter groups can
be found in Momen, Moojan. Covenant. Retrieved January 9, 2002 from Baha‘i Academics
Resource Library: http://bahai-library.org/encyclopedia/covenant.html
11 A description of the roles of the Guardianship and House of Justice can be found in Rabbani, Shoghi
Effendi. (1974) The dispensation of Baha’u’llah. World order of Baha’u’llah. Wilmette, Ill.:
Baha‘i Publishing Trust, pp.143-151.
12 Cole, Juan R. I.(1998). Baha’i Faith as panopticon 1963-1997. Journal for the scientific study of
religion, 37(2), 234-248. Electronic version retrieved January 9, 2002 from Juan R.I. Cole
website: http:// www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1999/jssr/bhjssr.htm

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 109
13 Concerning the protection duties of these appointed officials, the Universal House of Justice states :
―The Board members must remain ever vigilant, monitoring the actions of those who, driven by
the promptings of ego, seek to sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of the friends and undermine
the Faith. In general, whenever believers become aware of such problems, they should
immediately contact whatever institution they feel moved to turn to, whether it be a Counsellor,
an Auxiliary Board member, the National Spiritual Assembly or their own Local Assembly. It then
becomes the duty of that institution to ensure that the report is fed into the correct channels and
that all the other institutions affected are promptly informed. Not infrequently, the responsibility
will fall on an Auxiliary Board member, in coordination with the Assembly concerned, to take some
form of action in response to the situation. This involvement will include counselling the believer in
question warning him, if necessary, of the consequences of his actions and bringing to the
attention of the Counsellors the gravity of the situation, which may call for their intervention.
Naturally, the Board member has to exert every effort to counteract the schemes and arrest the
spread of the influence of those few who, despite attempts to guide them, eventually break the
Covenant.‖ Universal House of Justice. (2001) The institution of the counsellors. Retrieved
January 9, 2002 from the Baha‘i Studies List Archive:
http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist/m24780.html
14 Adherents.com Index.(n.d.). Retrieved January 9, 2002 from
http://www.adherents.com/Na_41.html This cites Kosmin, B. &S. Lachman.(1993). One nation
under God: Religion in contemporary American society. New York: Harmony Books, pp. 15-
17. Kosmin and Lachman say on the issue of the Baha‘i undercount: ―... possible that our
methodology [over 100,000 phone surveys] tended to undercount groups that live in communal
settings... [This] was suggested to us by the Baha‘i..., [which] claims 110,000 adherents
nationwide... we found only 28,000 ― Baha‘is do not live ―in communal settings‖, however, the
phone survey may have failed to take into account Baha‘i family members living in the same
household.
One reason for the highly inflated membership statistics is that members of the Baha‘i Faith are
only removed from the rolls if they write a letter of resignation to the National Spiritual Assembly
most former converts drift away without doing so. As Adherents.com reported ―As is typical with a
religious group made up primarily of converts, Baha‘is who drift from active participation in the
movement are less likely to retain nominal identification with the religion --because it was not the
religion of their parents or the majority religion of the surrounding culture.‖
15 Khan, Peter. (June 2000). Talk given by Peter Khan at the National Teaching Conference,
Auckland, New Zealand, June 2000. Retrieved January 8, 2002 from Juan R.I. Cole website:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/2001/khannz.html
16 Five Year Plan, published in The American Baha’i, 20 August 2001.
17 Hatcher, John (1996)The new role of the scholar in Baha’i society. Presented on 8 August 1996
at Green Acre Baha‘i School. Retrieved January 9, 2002 from the Baha‘i Academics Resource
Library: http://bahai-library.org/conferences/role.scholar.html
18 The anti-theocracy position can be found in Cole, Juan R.I. (1998). Modernity and the
millennium: The genesis of the Baha’i Faith in the nineteenth century Middle East .New
York: Columbia University Press. See also McGlinn, Sen. Church and state in the World Order
of Baha’u’llah. Retrieved January 9, 2002 from Baha‘i Academics Resource Library:
http://bahai-library.org/unpubl.articles/church.html
19 Universal House of Justice.(1999) April 7 letter to National Spiritual Assemblies. Issues related to
the study of the Baha’i Faith.
20 New Mexico lawsuit against Baha’i institutions for fraud and libel. Retrieved January 8,
2002 from Baha‘i Faith &Religious Freedom of Conscience:
http://members.fortunecity.com/bahaicensorship/NMLawsuit.htm
21 As an example of this pattern of small, scattered communities: In my electoral unit in rural
Northern California, there were approximately 300 adult Baha‘is on the rolls in the late 1980s.
These were divided between ten communities large enough to elect LSAs (i.e. having at least nine
adults) and nine communities organized as ―groups‖ where there were less than nine members.
There were also a great number of ―isolated believers‖ living in localities with no organized
community. Of the ten communities that had LSAs, only three had more than fifteen adults, the
level at which assemblies are encouraged to incorporate as non-profit agencies. There were no
Baha‘i communities in the unit with more than fifty adult members on the rolls.
22 For an example of NSA intervention in local affairs, see Cole, Juan R.I.(2000). Race, Immorality,
and Money in the American Baha’i Community: Impeaching the Los Angeles Spiritual Assembly.