Read the link for details.
Here is a extract covering some of the points you raise:
"The Baha’i Faith’s public position is that it does no proselytizing, but active efforts at bringing in converts are essential to fulfill the theocratic mission. Some Baha’is feel, quite literally, that the problems of the world are on their shoulders, and can only be eliminated by spreading the religion and its institutions. The convert will find himself pressured to participate in “teaching” and discovers that the word “proselytize” has been redefined to mean either conversion by force or door-to-door recruiting. There are, in fact, constant appeals for Baha’is to teach the Faith, and it is considered to be the primary job of spiritual assemblies to create plans for teaching, so a good deal of time and energy is spent on them.
Ironically, though, there are limits to the kinds of individual teaching projects that the Baha’i leadership will tolerate. For example, a Baha’i of my acquaintance put a lot of time and effort into a regional teaching project only to be told “We can’t give you a blank check,” i.e., the project was scrapped because it was not under institutional control. A Baha’i in Albuquerque was ordered to cancel her successful television show promoting the Baha‘i Faith, and was told that her teaching “would have no effect” because she was “not in unity with the assembly”; in other words, she was perceived as being a trouble-maker and too independent.[20] This leaves a talented teacher in a bind: He or she is constantly told to “arise” and convert others to the religion, but will be restrained by the perceived need for institutional direction. Also, serving the religion in this way is no protection against being threatened over the circulation of liberal ideas. Indeed, some of the scholars and intellectuals attracting official disapproval have been overseas missionaries in dangerous and difficult assignments.
Another aspect of this emphasis on spreading the religion is that great importance is attached to forming Local Spiritual Assemblies, regardless of their level of functioning. These bodies are not elected in response to the religion’s growth, but are created in any locality where nine or more Baha’is reside. “Homefront pioneers,” or missionaries, deliberately relocate in order to establish LSAs, even though the move is sometimes a few miles or just over a city limit. Even inactive believers and new converts can be elected to serve, if they are needed to make up the nine necessary to form the assembly. The religion’s stress on the importance of maintaining these fragile assemblies is also a strong incentive for proselytizing. It is not uncommon to see these marginal communities, which make up the majority, collapse entirely if these efforts are not successful. [21]
Once formed, these assemblies are generally left to develop a viable community life without outside support. The NSA has on occasion directly intervened in the working of LSAs, even to the point of dissolving the assembly itself. The criteria for when this intervention occurs seem to be uncertain, and no clear pattern emerges, except where there is concern over “covenant-breakers.”[22] Members can be left at the mercy of dictatorial or even abusive local leaders, with higher levels of administration quite slow to act on complaints. In one extreme case, an ex-Baha’i recounts how as a young man in the 70s he fell under the influence of a leader who had virtually his own cult within the Baha’i structure and who used drugs and punishments, such as locking his disciples in closets in order to control them. By the time the NSA intervened the cult leader had moved out of state. This young follower was subjected to a two-hour interrogation in which he was accused of conspiring with his former mentor.[23] The possibility of tyrannical local leadership also seems to be revealed in a number of allegations that emerged during the course of a lawsuit against the LSA of Albuquerque. According to some reports, the Chairman of the LSA claimed to be “the Voice of God” in his community, and thus was to be obeyed without question. [24]
While this extreme level of high-handedness is unusual, strong-minded and pushy local leaders are not uncommon, and many disgruntled Baha‘is report that they feel powerless to influence local affairs, even though in theory problems are supposed to be solved through community consultation."
The main thrust of the article seems to be the conflict between the outwardly liberal, tolerant and open image of the faith and a centrally driven and controlled drive to grow through attracting converts, and to exert tight control over doctrine. In other sections of the article there is reference to the use of what amounts to excommunication of people who are deemed too independent.
So there seems to be, according to this article, something of a mismatch between image and reality that leads to new converts frequently becoming disappointed and disillusioned. Plenty of other faith organisations exert tight control over doctrine (e.g. the Catholic Church) but usually this control is a well-known feature of their public image, so that converts know what they are getting into before they sign up.
