The last paragraph is important...
In recent years, the spread of Baha’i faith to various countries has led to increased organization within the international Baha’i community and ironically, a faith whose founder strived to do away with the ills of organized religions of the world, is itself facing similar problems. There are allegations, especially within the Baha’i community in the U.S. that the followers of this faith have become more fundamentalist in the last four decades. There seems to be an increased emphasis on doctrinal and behavioral conformity as a result, what was initially intended to be a liberal and universalistic tradition is shifting towards exclusivism and sectarianism. There are allegations of key sectors of Baha’i administration being run by Baha’i fundamentalists who misuse their authority to exclude Baha’i liberals in key posts.
There was a time when the Baha’i faith came to the aid of Sufism, perhaps it is time now for Sufism to come to the rescue of the Baha’is.
Fifty years ago, when I first met Baha'is I thought this. There were very easy going, liberal, Baha'is that focused more on the unity between people. But there seemed to be Baha'is that were very much focused and involved with the conservative and administrative side of the Baha'i Faith.
Baha'is do have beliefs and rules that must be maintained, but when a religion gets too dogmatic, it certainly seems like it loses some of the love and the spiritual side of its beliefs. But how can an organized religion avoid that? And how are Sufi's organized?
