Hi everyone,
I hope you all can see what's going on here. Larry disappears, some more difficult issues are raised, and some person appears on the board making these sorts of claims. Take notes. If you haven't seen it already, here is a rundown of how the administrative arms of the Baha'i faith deal with criticism:
(some samples from the site)
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/technique.htmCompare Baha'i tactics to the communist cadre or The Modern Inquisition of Catholicism.
"Slanderous Vilification" = The Baha'i Technique - Ad Hominem, Libel,
Slander, Demonize, Scapegoat, Ostracize, Shun, Banish, Backbite,
Defame, Vilify, Discredit, Smear, Revile, Suppress, Attack, Bully,
Intimidate, Threaten, Malign, Blackball, Deceive, Coerce, Silence,
Harass... etc., etc.... CAUTION NON-BAHAIS
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Writing in 1941, Mirza Ahmad Sohrab may have been the earliest
observer to note the Baha'i Technique: "The writer of the article in
Bahai News reaches the height of his slanderous vilification
when he likens Mr. and Mrs. Chanler and their Bahai friends to
those enemies that preceded them. . . and their like" (138).
See Excerpts from Mirza Ahmad Sohrab's
Broken Silence: The Story of Today's Struggle for Religious Freedom.
New York: Universal Publishing, 1942.
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/SohrabEx.htmAlison Marshall, 2002:
"I think the documentation illustrates how the Baha'i administration
secretly watches, reports on and records the activities and views
of members it sees as a threat. This spying can go on for years
without the member knowing and despite general assurances to
the contrary. When it suits the administration to act, it can
summarily disenrol the person at any time and without any notice.
In such circumstances, 'counselling' will comprise any communication
that member has had with the institutions, whatever its nature, purpose
and timing. This action will be accompanied by a backbiting campaign
designed to destroy the member's reputation in the community. I think
members of the Baha'i community, and those contemplating joining it,
have a right to know how the Baha'i administration behaves." [2002]
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/AlisonMarshall.htmProfessor Juan Cole, University of Michigan, June 12, 1998:
"Let me ask you why in the world you think that I would risk my
professional reputation by publicly stating falsehoods? ...The very
technique of the more glaze-eyed among these people is to
unbearably bully a Baha'i whom they don't like, use unjustified
threats of declaring him or her a CB [Covenant Breaker (heretic)]
to silence the individual, and if the person will not be silenced,
then to depend upon the gullibility of the Baha'is in refusing to
listen to any victim's story because, of course, the Baha'i institutions
are infallible and divinely guided and could never do anything wrong.
It is a perfect racket. Of course, this technique of making liberals go
away has been enormously successful, and ex-Baha'i liberals have
no credibility with the remaining Baha'is nor do most of them have
any energy to continue to make a case, either to the Baha'is or the
outside world, for the incredible abuses that go on inside this
organization ostensibly committed to tolerance!"
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Cole10.htmProfessor Juan Cole, February 23, 1999:
"There is nothing to be puzzled by. Right wing Baha'is only like to hear the
sound of their own voices (which are the only voices they will admit to
being "Baha'i" at all). Obviously, the world is so constructed that they
cannot in fact only hear their own voices. They are forced to hear other
voices that differ from theirs. This most disturbs them when the voices
come from enrolled Baha'isor when the voices speak of the Baha'i faith.
The way they sometimes deal with the enrolled Baha'is is to summon them
to a heresy inquiry and threaten them with being shunned if they do not
fallsilent. With non-Baha'is or with ex-Baha'is, they deal with their speech
about the faith by backbiting, slandering and libelling the speaker. You
will note that since I've been on this list I have been accused of
long-term heresy, of "claiming authority," of out and out lying
(though that was retracted, twice), of misrepresentation, of 'playing
fast and loose with the facts,' and even of being 'delusional.' I have
been accused of all these falsehoods by *Baha'is*, by prominent Baha'is.
I have been backbitten by them. This shows that all the talk about the
danger a sharp tongue can do, all the talk about the need for harmony,
for returning poison with honey, for a sin-covering eye, is just *talk*
among right wing Baha'is. No one fights dirtier than they when they discover
a voice they cannot silence and cannot refute. Paul Johnson
has seen all these things, as well, for the past five years.
He can explain it to you."
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Cole71.htmProfessor Juan Cole, 12/5/2002:
"The purpose of having this system where it is so easy to turn insiders into
outsiders is to maintain very strict control over the community by its
leaders. The idea is that everyone still on the inside will fear being
made a non-person or being ostracized or being shunned, and so will keep
quiet and let the leadership do as it pleases with them. Silent suffering
of tyranny and injustice from one's leaders is the actual definition of a
Baha'i in good standing. Of course, this requirement is cult-like...."
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Cole80.htmFrederick Glaysher, November 21, 2007:
"The so-called administrative order, while publicly hiding behind a facade of liberalism, is essentially practicing Islamic "takfir," in the words of Bernard Lewis, "recognizing and denouncing apostasy," labeling people "kafir" or infidels, and issuing "fatwas" or decrees, denying the very existence of other Bahais and denominations, all indicative of the worst in the Islamic heritage of the Bahai Faith-practices Baha'u'llah specifically rejected, teaching tolerance of different religious views, largely congruent with modern Western custom and practice. Nothing could be more diametrically opposed to the modern democracy of the Western civic and legal order than the jihad the ao is conducting...."
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/apostates.htm Frederick Glaysher, June 1998:
"Some of the most striking methods demonstrated repeatedly by many Bahais
during the last year and a half of discussion about an unmoderated newsgroup
is their refusal to listen and respond to the criticisms of those who are in
favor of talk.religion.bahai, ignoring their concerns, never responding
analytically to their messages and reasoning and logic and evidence,
attacking them through character assassination and ad hominem, ganging
up on individuals, and "circling the wagons" around every action of the
soc.religion.bahai moderators or others who are opposed to
talk.religion.bahai."
Frederick Glaysher, May 12, 1992:
"The Baha'i Faith has become very oppressive and manipulative of the
individual. That to me is merely a statement of fact, as I have experienced
it, for nearly sixteen years now [since 1976]. The usual stratagem in
dealing with anyone who would express his conscience in good faith is to
pretend the Cause is above any kind of criticism whatsoever while intimating
that anyone who would speak honestly must have something wrong with him,
i.e., his spiritual life isn't what it should be, he doesn't understand the
nature of unity, or he's accused of trying to obtain power for himself,
which at times seems merely a calculated way of discrediting the person, and
so on. Another common strategy used to acquire control over the individual
is to humor the person by letting him pour himself out, etc., and then
self-righteously giving him the Truth."
http://www.fglaysher.com/LettersAmD1989-1994.htmIt is also worth highlighting the quote/link from the person 'Terry Culhane' that this person has used, and has recently also been cited on another board in an attempt to smear Wahid. H
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Culhane.htmTerry Culhane's attempt at defense of the tyrannical and oppressive system of interrogation discloses the appalling lack of liberty and freedom of conscience within the baha'i faith and its betrayal of Abdu'l-Baha's Teachings:
From: TLCULHANE <
tlculhane@aol.com>
Subject: My case - a letter to my friends
Date: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 2:12 PM
Quite an outfit, no?