| An Open Letter to the Universal House of Justice
Well, as you can see, in our election to replace Mr. Semple and Mr. Martin on the House, two women were elected. This is not just in protest over the issue of women serving on the House, the issues are far deeper. But for a moment, let us explore a possibility. What if the National Assemblies were to elect women instead of men when the bye-election is held? What if all of the votes cast were for just two women? What if the House then sent out a letter, something you guys seem to be very good at doing, that said that the House accepts them as members and has legislated that women may now serve on the House. What would happen? Would the world end? Would the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha have been violated. No. No doubt there would be an outcry from some quarters since Baha'is have been told repeatedly that women cannot serve on the house and that the wisdom of this would be revealed in time. Some people might even resign, but many others would accept your decision since they also believe that they must obey the House. Many others would feel relieved. What would the overall effect be? It does not matter, because the Faith of Baha'u'llah is dying – that fact is obvious to all now, there is nothing to lose anymore, if ever there even was. But there is a way. There is no doubt that the House as currently constituted is not at all what was envisioned in the Will and Testament of Abdul Baha. Without any question, he felt that the House should be headed by a Guardian who is part of the Holy Family. Abdul Baha also envisioned that the Hands of the Cause would be there to assist the Guardians of the future. Both institutions are dead. The House elected in 1963 is not the House of the Will and Testament. It does not need to adhere to the rules set up for a House that never came into being and never could. Since it is not the House of Justice in the Will, it need not exclude women, rather it should encourage their participation just as that participation is encouraged in all other endeavors. The other half of the Faith will be eligible to contribute on the highest level. The House is a broken winged bird, it need not be. It broke its own wing, but it can heal it too. Once it is clear that the House is not the House we thought we had and that we once though we needed, you can turn it into what we do need. Not a paternalistic, elitist, and, at least on a popular level, infallible body, but one made of real men and women tasked with caring for the Faith and leading by example, not by fiat. Make it an institution that derives what power it does have from the Faithful who show loyalty to it because they are moved to be loyal, not because they feel they have to be and that if they are not they will find themselves outside of the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, said Beauty being at present the monopoly of an institution that does not really exist anyway. Just putting women on is not enough. Stating clearly that the new House is going to be a more open, democratic and even loving institution, is not enough either. But it can be the beginning of a letting go that will let the Faith grow. The religion of Baha'u'llah has become a rigid, ritualistic and spiritually stifling organization which worships regulations and regulating bodies, not God. Baha'i community life in so many places is nothing but an endless succession of meetings devoted to raising money and converts. It's exhausting, it's killing your people spiritually. The evidence is all around you. You know that what I am saying is true. And you have known it for a long time. You created it. Let the Baha'is grow, be diverse, do different things, understand Baha'u'llah differently, and show love for God and for each other without guilt-inducing administrative pressures to teach, teach, teach and give money, give money, and give even more money. Let them find ways to worship together in mashriqs and to use that energy to serve mankind. A long time ago I thought that is what Baha'is were supposed to do. But they do not. The spiritual damage that has been done to the Baha'i community is beyond measure and the subsequent lack of growth, and therefore lack of knoweldge of Baha'u'llah amongst His servants, is a natural and predictable result. The lives that have been wasted, the souls that have been hurt, it is so painful to think of these things. You are all men of considerable accomplishment, but collectively you are not worth one Karen Bacquet, or one Alison Marshall, or one Juan Cole, or one Michael McKinney or one Jenifer Tydwell. And with all due respect to each of these very special individuals, you collectively are not worth five minutes of conversation with Terry Culhane. These people are not just spiritual collateral damage, they are the natural results of the old way of doing things. Who wants to join a religion that does not want them and many others like them? While collectively you are not worth much, I am sure that individually each of you has much to be said for – not withstanding the tendency some of you have to give really scary public presentations. You have great life experiences, have dedicated yourselves to your vision of the Faith, and certainly know much more than any of us the ins and outs of managing this enterprise. Otherwise, I would not even bother to write this. But as a group, I think the time has come for you all to step down and then to serve the Faith using your considerable individual talents and resources. I propose the following: All of you resign and call for new elections. Elections which will be open to all, irrespective of sex. The new House will then be asked to draw up its own House rules and put itself in a position to win the hearts and minds of those who call themselves Baha'is. Your jobs will be to help them with logistical issues they will encounter in the Haifan environment – how to deal with the Israeli government, for example, and tell them how much it costs to keep the buildings on Mt. Carmel functioning. You will be, as individuals and not as a group, facilitators. If they do not need your services, well there's lots of firesides around the world that would love to host you. There is no reason to limit the number to nine, as you well know. Consider holding elections for a larger number of seats. You might just save the ship, O holy mariners. But only if others are at the helm. Baha'is are taught that there is wisdom in having only men on the Universal House of Justice and that in time that wisdom will be made clear. That time has come. It must come through your telling the Bahai world that the House of Justice as once envisioned has never been and never will be, and that the one that does exist must include us all, imperfect though we all are, and imperfect though it may therefore be. You have a chance to make history and to give the maid of the Maid of Heaven reason to think she found the robe, or at least continued hope that she might. with loving, Bahai Angst |
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