Withdrawal from Baha'i Faith now a religious act

[diamondsouled]

Hello all,

My request to withdraw from the Baha'i Faith with the understanding
that I am withdrawing because: ' the Baha'i Faith as it currently exists
meets the requirement of Abdu'l-Baha' of a religion which has become " a
cause of dislike, hatred and division ", that it would be better for me
" to be without it." That " to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly
religious act. " ', has been accepted.

Follows are the letter from my N.S.A. and my letter to them.

It appears that faith in Baha'u'llah is now officially secondary to
faith in The Ununiversal House of Justice, and that it is now a
religious act to withdraw from the Baha'i Faith as it is currently being
mislead by that Ununiversal House of Justice.

All the best!

There is only us, we are them, ' as one soul '.

Yours Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: Secretariat
To: r...@northwestel.net
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 1:33 PM
Subject: 32415 - Your email letter of 18 March 2005


Message:



13 July 2005 / 1 Words 162



Mr. Larry Rowe,



Dear Mr. Rowe,



The National Spiritual Assembly has received your email
message of 18 March 2005, raising the matter of your withdrawal from the
Faith, and expressing your opinion that "it would be better for me to be
without it". Membership in the Baha'i community is a voluntary act, and
an individual is also free to leave voluntarily. Your withdrawal from
membership is accepted.



Cordially,

Judy L. Filson, Assistant Secretary


----- Original Message -----
From: Heather Carr-Rowe
To: Secretariat
Cc: secretar...@bwc.org
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 12:27 AM
Subject: Withdrawal


Dear Judy, all members of the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly, all
members of The Universal House of Justice.

I came across Words of Abdu'l-Baha's today. It is with a great sadness
and heaviness of heart that I find that They apply fully to the Baha'i
Faith as it is currently being mislead by The Universal House of Justice
today. It would be better for The Universal House to change Its name to
The Ununiversal House, for clearly They are leading the people of Baha'
away from God's Universality and imposing a religion of earthly
limitations, a lesser unity, a religion of Their Own making, not of
Baha'u'llah's or God's.

I will withdraw from the Baha'i Faith on this understanding and this
understanding alone : that since the Baha'i Faith as it currently exists
meets the requirement of Abdu'l-Baha' of a religion which has become " a
cause of dislike, hatred and division ", that it would be better for me
" to be without it." That " to withdraw from such a religion would be be
a truly religious act. "

This is the only basis on which I can withdraw from the Baha'i Faith.

I have seen all that Abdu'l-Baha' has referred to in His Words, which
the above quotes are taken from, reflected in the Baha'i Faith today.
The Baha'i Faith that I joined thirty five years ago has changed, and
not for the better. There was a time when it was a cause of love and
unity, I know I shared in that love and unity. The Universal House of
Justice has "interposed themselves between it and the Divine and
infallible Physician." "They have imagined their friend an enemy." They
have traded that love and unity for suspicion and disunity.

I mentioned other signs that God has seen fit to share with me, I will
now share one more of them with you.

In this dream I am suspended above the ruins of the buildings of the
Arc. The marble columns and blocks are fallen, strewn awry. Baha'u'llah
walks from out of the distance and stands below me amongst the ruins. He
begins to communicate with me directly from His Mind to mine. As He does
I begin to slowly rise above the ruins. As I rise I begin to accelerate
until I am fully out of the earth's atmosphere and can see the whole
planet. What He communicated to me is, for now, between He and I.

I have seen the fulfillment of that dream in a figurative sense, the
neglect and actions of The Universal House of Justice have brought the
Arc to ruin.

The Baha'i Faith in the current condition in which it exists, because
of The Universal House of Justice's seeking to reinstate former
religious practices which Baha'u'llah Himself removed, in Abdu'l-Baha's
Words : " is no religion."

It spite of these facts and the many confirmations of conscience, sign
and Word, I can not now and will never recant my faith in Baha'u'llah;
rather, those confirmations: Baha'u'llah's Words, my conscience, those
signs - the dream of Baha'u'llah's Taj and His tent, the dream of the
Arc in ruins, have verified for me that what was shown in those
signs-dreams has unfortunately, because of The Universal House of
Justice's neglect, already come to pass.

There is a way back though, a way back to God's Universality.

This would require that the Universal House of Justice openly admit,
to the entire community of Baha', It's errors, It's neglect; and for It
to take those steps that are necessary to reverse the damage which has
been done to the Cause through those errors and neglect.

It's errors, in It's treatment of It's coreligionists Alison Marshall
and Michael McKenny. It's neglect, in allowing the natural spectrum of
cognitive styles expressed in the community of Baha', conservative
through liberal, to become an excuse for seeing friends as enemies, for
seeing friends as an "internal opposition", as an excuse for disunity,
an excuse for seeing two where there is only one.

There is one thing that you should all, most clearly, understand. If
You accept my withdrawal on the basis on which that I am offering it I
will still remain a worshiper "of the appearance of the universal
Manifestation".

I stand by my belief in the Universal Manifestation of Baha'u'llah, in
His pivotal Teaching of the oneness of humanity, I thus cannot but
regard all people 'as one soul', which of course includes all of you on
the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly, all of you who are members of
The Universal House of Justice, as well as Alison and Michael of course.
The division You have drawn between Yourselves and them is non
existent.This false division is beneath the dignity of Baha'u'llah's
Teachings; beneath the manner in which we should all treat one another,
a manner befitting of the truth that we are all ' as one soul'.

There is a way back for You, it is a sign of God's mercy that It is
offered once again to You, that It is openly offered to us all : "
recognize that their purpose ( Scriptures) is that all men shall be
regarded as one soul, so that the seal bearing the words "The Kingdom
shall be God's" may be stamped on every heart, and the light of Divine
bounty, of grace, and mercy may envelop all mankind.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 260)

If You fail to avail Yourselves of this mercy the Mantle of the Cause
will pass to others, of this have no doubt whatsoever.

There is only us, we are them, as one soul.

All the best on this fast!

Yours Larry

"Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish
from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life
and light to each heart. If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred
and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such
a religion would be a truly religious act. For it is clear that the
purpose of a remedy is to cure; but if the remedy should only aggravate
the complaint it had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a
cause of love and unity is no religion. All the holy prophets were as
doctors to the soul; they gave prescriptions for the healing of mankind;
thus any remedy that causes disease does not come from the great and
supreme Physician."

~ Abdu'l-Baha ~

[smkolins]

I would destinguish between the reason you propsoe your withdrawl was accepted from the reason that is presented as why it was accepted.

You say:

Originally Posted by diamondsouled

My request to withdraw from the Baha'i Faith with the understanding that I am withdrawing because: ' the Baha'i Faith as it currently exists meets the requirement of Abdu'l-Baha' of a religion which has become " a cause of dislike, hatred and division ", that it would be better for me " to be without it." That " to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act. " ', has been accepted.

Here you state your view.

Their view as presented seems to be different -

Originally Posted by diamondsouled

Follows are the letter from my N.S.A. and my letter to them....
----- Original Message -----
From: Secretariat
To: r...@northwestel.net
...
The National Spiritual Assembly has received your email
message of 18 March 2005, raising the matter of your withdrawal from the
Faith, and expressing your opinion that "it would be better for me to be
without it". Membership in the Baha'i community is a voluntary act, and
an individual is also free to leave voluntarily. Your withdrawal from
membership is accepted.

This says nothing about admitting that the Faith is a cause for disunity as discribed by Abdu'l-Baha.

I pray your adventures in the land of the Spirit can bear fruit in another garden.

[diamondsouled]

Howdy Steve,

Actually it was Abdu'l-Baha's opinion that is it better to be without a religion which is a cause of dislike, hatred and division which informed my decision to withdraw.

It is Abdu'l-Baha's opinion which I came to agree with after watching the situation in the Baha'i Faith deteriorate over the past twenty years because of a lack of leadership from the The Universal House of Justice. Not only a lack of leadership but actual incompetance which is demonstrate through their marginalizing many Baha'is through referring to them as an " internal opposition ", as enemies. A thing which would have Abdu'l-Baha' rolling over in His grave in light of His views: "Let them see no one as their enemy, or as wishing them ill, but think of all humankind as their friends; regarding the alien as an intimate, the stranger as a companion, staying free of prejudice, drawing no lines."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 1)

The Universal House of Justice has failed to apply this Teaching of Abdu'l-Baha's even within the Baha'i community Itself!

What other garden would you be referring to Steve? I believe as Baha'u'llah believed that all religions are one. I'm still a person of Baha', I'm still a Baha'i, even though my name has been erased from a man made list that list is not the one that is in the Crimson Book.

There is only us, we are them, 'as one soul'.

Yours Larry Rowe

[smkolins]

Originally Posted by diamondsouled

Howdy Steve,

Actually it was Abdu'l-Baha's opinion that is it better to be without a religion which is a cause of dislike, hatred and division which informed my decision to withdraw.

I do not dispute the general nature of 'Abdul-Baha's comment as you present it. I dispute the justification and aggrandizement you claim for yourself as you withdraw from the faith. You claim your choice is a highly spiritual one. I don't beleive it, and point out that the Insitution accepted your resignation because being a Baha'i is voluntary, which is another topic entirely.

Originally Posted by diamondsouled

What other garden would you be referring to Steve? I believe as Baha'u'llah believed that all religions are one. I'm still a person of Baha', I'm still a Baha'i, even though my name has been erased from a man made list that list is not the one that is in the Crimson Book.

Perhaps then there is no garden for you, perhaps you may find a place in the sun on your own then. I certainly know of no religion that can accept all you have presented here. I could of course be wrong.

In any case, I wish you well. Growing is a difficult thing. Rain and sun will fall your way; it cannot be avoided. But don't my words distract you.

[smkolins]

I am a bit confused though - you call yourself Larry Rowe but the email you quoted was sent with the name Heather Carr-Rowe while the letter quoted refers to Larry's membership in the Baha'i Faith being ended.

Could you make this plain?

[I, Brian]

Larry, it seems that in withdrawing form the Baha'i movement, you additionally want to see the Baha'i movement condemn itself in a statement to yourself.

I don't see how this is at all reasonable for any person to accept your own opinion - no matter how much you see it justified - as their own.

For example, if you were to leave this forum claiming that it was corrupt and causes division, I would not at all accept this perception, nor grant it as being anything but your own personal opinion that you are welcome to.

On that issue, I don't really see how this thread can serve a constructive discussion on issues of the Baha'i faith. Unless I see compelling reason otherwise, I think it would be better to close this particular thread, and allow specific discussions of Baha'i issues that may be applicable to be raised in their own right.