Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 98
to the expectations and demands of the administration is indicative of spiritual inadequacy.
As one House member put it:
In your community you may be aware of the fact that people are drifting
away from the Faith. Why? Because they have neglected that sense of
heightened spiritual consciousness. They‘re becoming bitter, they‘re becoming
disillusioned, they‘re becoming frustrated, they‘re giving up on the Baha‘i
community -not because there is anything wrong with the Baha‘i community
or the Baha‘i Faith, because they have failed in their primary duty as Baha‘is
to develop this sense of heightened spiritual consciousness.15
The House of Justice, however, has recently announced, as one of its goals, that the
community begin reaching out to alienated Baha‘is, so a change in this attitude is in the
air.16
There is a real sense, among those Baha‘is that experience this disillusionment, of being
hoodwinked or betrayed. They believe they are joining a broad-minded and tolerant religion
and become actively involved in its promotion, only to run up against authoritarian
expectations that they find insupportable. Since individual experience and tolerance towards
authority figures vary, it sometimes takes years for that limit to be reached, leaving former
members expressing bitterness and loss for the portion of their lives they spent promoting
the religion and serving the needs of the administration.
The dynamic of life in the Baha‘i community and particularly the central role of
administration are often hidden from prospective converts. Non-Baha‘is are not allowed at
any administrative event, including the main worship service, the Nineteen Day Feast, since
this includes time set aside for the discussion of community business. Those who defend the
status quo within the Faith expect that once persons have faith in Baha‘u‘llah, they will quite
naturally become ―deepened‖ (i.e., more knowledgeable) in the religion and accept the
authority claims of the administration. In a talk on scholarship, Baha‘i notable John Hatcher
referred to a resignation letter of a prominent Baha‘i academic, who renounced belief in
Baha‘u‘llah based on institutional action against Baha‘i intellectuals. Hatcher responds this
way:
The individual has wonderful credentials...what‘s the problem in this
reasoning? Answer: it is illogical, because if you accept Baha‘u‘llah, then ―He
doeth what He willeth‖ and His promise is: ―I will perplex you‖. If you judge
the infallibility of an institution by its decisions, this is backwards. It presumes
that the individual is infallible and can make such a judgment!
The logic ―should‖ go like this: first establish Baha‘u‘llah is who He says He is
after that you do not question ‗Abdu‘l-Baha‘s infallibility. Without the links of
the Covenant it all comes crashing down.17
Since the administration derives its authority primarily from the Will and Testament of
‗Abdu‘l-Baha, acceptance of UHJ infallibility is expected to automatically follow belief in his
authority. As a practical matter this means that once converts are emotionally attached to
the Faith by belief in Baha‘u‘llah, they can be led to accept less palatable aspects of Baha‘i
life. Or, if they can‘t, they are free to leave. However, there is little awareness of or
sympathy for the experience of the convert who believes he has found the enlightened
religion he is looking for, only to find one aspect or another intolerable.
Some of these disillusioning aspects are simple and straightforward. For example, some
converts do not discover until after they are members that women are excluded from
service on the UHJ, in spite of the religion‘s clear teaching on the equality of the sexes. This
ruling is based upon interpretations made by Shoghi Effendi, and so it is deemed impossible
to change. However, since this particular policy does not touch the average Baha‘i‘s life

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 99
directly, it is usually accepted without much complaint. (Although the issue has caused
controversy on the Internet, and support for a change in this exclusion has been a
contributing factor for punitive action.)
A more important factor, however, is the central place administration holds in Baha‘i life. It
is not considered a mere church, or a convenient arrangement for governing the religion,
but an evolving world theocracy that is the ultimate salvation of mankind. The position that
Baha‘u‘llah meant to create a theocratic world state has been questioned by prominent
Baha‘i scholars, who insist that the founder of the Baha‘i Faith supported the separation of
church and state18, an idea that has been condemned by the House of Justice.19
The Baha‘i Faith‘s public position is that it does no proselytizing, but active efforts at
bringing in converts are essential to fulfill the theocratic mission. Some Baha‘is feel, quite
literally, that the problems of the world are on their shoulders, and can only be eliminated
by spreading the religion and its institutions. The convert will find himself pressured to
participate in ―teaching‖ and discovers that the word ―proselytize‖ has been redefined to
mean either conversion by force or door-to-door recruiting. There are, in fact, constant
appeals for Baha‘is to teach the Faith, and it is considered to be the primary job of spiritual
assemblies to create plans for teaching, so a good deal of time and energy is spent on
them.
Ironically, though, there are limits to the kinds of individual teaching projects that the
Baha‘i leadership will tolerate. For example, a Baha‘i of my acquaintance put a lot of time
and effort into a regional teaching project only to be told ―We can‘t give you a blank check,‖
i.e., the project was scrapped because it was not under institutional control. A Baha‘i in
Albuquerque was ordered to cancel her successful television show promoting the Baha‘i
Faith, and was told that her teaching ―would have no effect‖ because she was ―not in unity
with the assembly‖ in other words, she was perceived as being a trouble-maker and too
independent.20 This leaves a talented teacher in a bind: He or she is constantly told to
―arise‖ and convert others to the religion, but will be restrained by the perceived need for
institutional direction. Also, serving the religion in this way is no protection against being
threatened over the circulation of liberal ideas. Indeed, some of the scholars and
intellectuals attracting official disapproval have been overseas missionaries in dangerous
and difficult assignments.
Another aspect of this emphasis on spreading the religion is that great importance is
attached to forming Local Spiritual Assemblies, regardless of their level of functioning.
These bodies are not elected in response to the religion‘s growth, but are created in any
locality where nine or more Baha‘is reside. ―Homefront pioneers,‖ or missionaries,
deliberately relocate in order to establish LSAs, even though the move is sometimes a few
miles or just over a city limit. Even inactive believers and new converts can be elected to
serve, if they are needed to make up the nine necessary to form the assembly. The
religion‘s stress on the importance of maintaining these fragile assemblies is also a strong
incentive for proselytizing. It is not uncommon to see these marginal communities, which
make up the majority, collapse entirely if these efforts are not successful. 21
Once formed, these assemblies are generally left to develop a viable community life without
outside support. The NSA has on occasion directly intervened in the working of LSAs, even
to the point of dissolving the assembly itself. The criteria for when this intervention occurs
seem to be uncertain, and no clear pattern emerges, except where there is concern over
―covenant-breakers.‖22 Members can be left at the mercy of dictatorial or even abusive local
leaders, with higher levels of administration quite slow to act on complaints. In one
extreme case, an ex-Baha‘i recounts how as a young man in the 70s he fell under the
influence of a leader who had virtually his own cult within the Baha‘i structure and who used
drugs and punishments, such as locking his disciples in closets in order to control them. By