"They inflicted the greatest injury and cruelty, yet counted themselves firm in the Covenant"
On the newsgroup talk.religion.bahai, there has been considerable discussion from time to time about shunning, as practiced by the sans-Guardian Baha'is, those who currently occupy the headquarters in Haifa and Wilmette. Remarkably, some of the members of that group have the audacity to deny that the behavior is taking place, or relegate it to some historical practice that is no longer being carried out.
The reality is that the sans-Guardian Baha'is have been consistently perverting the Faith's teachings about shunning Covenant-breakers, to carry out the most atrocious, cult-like and demonic, mind-control methods of thought control, for the purpose of keeping its membership in line, so that the leadership of the organization can effectively control the minds and behavior of its world-wide adherents.
With the constant threat of being shunned, to have all of your friends and family leave you and refuse any contact whatsoever, the sans-Guardian Bahai leadership controls what its members do, think and say, down to very minute details such as with whom they might associate and the details of which conversations and reading materials that are acceptable and which are not. Failure to heed these threats results in shunning, and if the friends and family of the shunned person do not comply, they too are shunned. As a result, a number of the sans-Guardian Bahai's who wish to read what they want, hear ideas they want to hear, and associate with persons as they wish, have to sneak around out of fear that they will be caught by the authorities and then ostracized by their friends and family. In some countries, my fellow Orthodox Baha'is are in constant fear of harassment and threats from extreme fanatical members of the sans-Guardian Baha'is, and must conduct their activities in secret lest they become victims of violent crimes against them. This is going on in many communities around the world today. Of course, this is kept hidden from the rank and file believers, but just because violence isn't being threatened in your nice suburban towns in the United States does not mean that it is not occurring secretly in other countries that enjoy less police protection than you have.
Let me state clearly for the record that shunning is a part of the Bahai teaching and history, but it must be understood what covenant-breaking was historically and how shunning was actually carried out. To gloss over the truth of the teachings and their historical context is part of the cult-like attitude displayed by the sans-Guardian Baha'is. It is important to be clear on this.
The teachings about shunning are best summarized in Abdu'l-Baha's Last Tablet to America, published in Bahai World Faith, p. 428. The quotes below come from that Tablet.
It is important to understand, first, that covenant-breaking always has meant disobedience to the point of opposition to the Center of the Covenant. "They have arisen against the Center of the Covenant like the people of Bayan who attacked the Blessed Beauty and every moment uttered a calumny." Thus, the Babi's who resisted and opposed Baha'u'llah, those who attacked and opposed Abdu'l-Baha, and those who opposed Shoghi Effendi, all were considered covenant-breakers. The definition of covenant-breaking was unilaterally altered by the Hands of the Cause after the death of Shoghi Effendi. They had no authority to change the definition. Until they changed it, it meant opposing the Guardian. There is no authoritative text to remotely suggest that covenant-breaking means opposition to the authority of the Hands or the headless UHJ they created. They also broadened the approach to covenant breaking by condemning not only the leaders but also the misled followers of these leaders. The reality is that covenant-breakers are only the instigators and leaders, ones with selfish ambition and purposes that motivate them, and not the sincere but misled persons deceived by the covenant breakers.
Although historically covenant-breakers opposed the Center of the Covenant, they always attempted to deceive others into believing that they were the ones faithful to the Covenant. "Every day they wrote and spread a pamphlet opposing Bahá'u'lláh, caused trouble and perplexity among the people; they inflicted the greatest injury and cruelty, yet counted themselves firm in the Covenant of His Holiness, the Báb." In most instances, the covenant-breakers deceived a multitude of people, such as in the days of Abdu'l-Baha, when most of the Bahais turned against the Master and pledged their allegiance to His brother. "Listen not to the nonsensical utterances of the manifestations of Satan, because the manifestations of Satan are occupying today the observation posts of the glorious path of God, and preventing the people by every means of deception and ruse."
Today is no different. The covenant-breakers of today, that is, the
leaders of the sans-Guardian organization, have misled their followers
into believing that the true ones, that is the ones who are loyal and
obedient to the Guardian of the Cause, are the covenant-breakers. The
reality is they are the ones opposed to the Guardian and his sworn
enemies, even to the point of hauling the Guardian of the Faith into a
secular court in the United States to try to prevent him and his
organization from using the Greatest Name! What evil they commit and
yet their followers remain blind to it.
[The Court papers can be viewed here: http://trueseeker.typepad.com/true_seeker/court_case.html]
And, yes it is true, that covenant-breakers should be shunned. That is, the leaders of opposition to the Guardian, the ones who knowingly and actively attack the Guardian, should be shunned. Not the misled followers, not the unfortunate family members, and not otherwise faithful believers who are caught reading material or talking with those who have been declared covenant breakers. The reason they are shunned is not to impose cult-like thought control upon the membership but to protect the members from the evil and deception perpetrated by these sick souls.
Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha used strong language to describe these people, much of it metaphorical in order to make the point how dangerous they are. Covenant-breakers are "weak, capricious, malicious and ignorant souls" all of whom "have been shaken by the earthquake of hatred, of animosity..." "Their breath is like the poison of the snake that kills instantly." They are like "Satan, in the garb of man." "They are manifestations of Satan." "Their breath is infectious, like unto poison." "Every hour they contrive new intrigues and fraud, and bring forth new calumny." They are "persons who appear as sheep and in reality are ferocious wolves; they exercise every sort of oppression, endeavor to destroy the foundation of the Covenant, -- and claim to be Bahá'ís. They strike at the root of the Tree of the Covenant -- and count themselves persecuted."
The gullible and misled believers of the sans-Guardian organization, have allowed themselves to be controlled because their evil and demonic leadership has made them fearful of covenant-breakers and of being labeled as covenant-breakers, even though it is that very leadership that is opposed to God and to the true ones of God. Literally believing that breath can be infectious poison and that they run the risk of spiritual death merely by reading materials or having conversations with certain persons, they have allowed themselves through irrational fear to close their minds.
When Joel B. Marangella (presently the third Guardian of the Cause), was the President of the NSA of France in May of 1960, the NSA received the Proclamation of the Guardianship of Mason Remey and consulted upon its contents. The NSA voted to accept Mason Remey as the Guardian of the Cause. Thereafter, the Custodian Hands, without any administrative authority to do so, dissolved the French NSA and put its members out of the Faith except those who recanted. Almost all of Joel B. Marangella's friends in the Faith shunned him, his wife, and his three sons, simply because he had recognized the truth of Remey's Guardianship. Marangella never again had contact with his father, mother, grandmother, twin sister and her husband and three children, even though all of his family (except for his father) lived in close proximity to him in Orleans, France.
The author of this article, when he recognized the Guardianship of Joel B. Marangella in 1997, even though he attempted to quietly resign from the sans-Guardian organization, was shunned by all of his friends in the Faith, who also shunned his wife and two children simply because his wife would not divorce him and take the children away from him, as they insisted she must. His nephew, the son of a sans-Guardian believer, does not even know he exists because he is prevented from any contact with the child for fear of catching a spiritual disease. I think it is too late because anyone who practices this kind of shunning already is suffering from the worst spiritual disease imaginable.
The next in line to be Guardian, Hand of the Cause Nosrat'u'llah Bahremand, when he recognized Joel B. Marangella's Guardianship, was shunned by all of his family and friends. A Continental Councilor held a meeting with his family, including include his wife, children, elderly mother, sisters, brother, niece, nephew and in-laws (all Baha'is) in the absence of the Nosrat. The Councilor accused Nosrat of being a covenant-breaker and instructed all of these relatives to shun him and break-up with him, or otherwise they themselves would be shunned. As instructed, Nosrat's wife immediately separated from him and obtained a divorce. [CORRECTION: Nosrat has corrected this in his recent article. She was forced to separate but did not divorce.] His daughter was instructed to prevent his grand-children, aged 4 and 2, from ever seeing again their grandfather. As a result of this, Nosrat's family was broken apart, he lost the family business and the family home. Nosrat has suffered and continues to suffer deep emotional and financial suffering as a result of the demonic actions of the sans-Guardian organization.
Any clear-thinking and decent person can see that only unmitigated evil is the result of the fanatical mind-control methods of shunning practiced by the sans-Guardian Baha'is. Those of who you are the misled followers of this demonic organization, when you finally come to the horrible realization of what is occurring within your so-called religion, have no choice but to take action. You must take a stand against this evil, and withhold your support from the bogus UHJ and the other leaders of your organization. You are most welcome to join the true Cause of God under the shelter of the Tree of the Covenant by investigating the claims of Joel B. Marangella to the office of the Guardianship and declaring your allegiance and loyalty to the Center of the Covenant.
Jeffrey Goldberg
