Beware of vague happy faces. Bahai homophobia, "You're evil, but we tolerate you with a smiling face."
When their identity seems vague and nebulous as well as their topic beware. A case study to learn from.
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This happy cheery event showed up in an email from Eventbrite.
There is a lot of text which sounds like some social justice movement. At the end of all the text you find out that it is a Bahai event.
Come join a different kind of conversation – one that welcomes every perspective in a search for the truths that unite us all – as we discuss the spiritual perspectives offered by the Bahá’í Teachings on the spiritual power of our individual and collective thoughts and actions in growing the world we want. Join us for a lively discussion as we explore how we can work together for the betterment of us all.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/growing-the-world-we-want-free-event-tickets-940135940907
Who exactly is running this?
The organization is given as Meaningful Conversations SW Dallas which seems to be an entity in Eventbrite without any information except a link to a Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/meaningfulconversationsswdallas/
Doing some internet searching you find also a Facebook group just for Dallas in general, not Southwest Dallas.
https://www.facebook.com/MeaningfulConversationsDallas/
They have these same events at Meetup.
https://www.meetup.com/Meaningful-Conversations-Dallas/
Digging into the text you find out they are Bahai events.
They are also in Allevents.
https://allevents.in/org/meaningful-conversations-dallas/17708567
Pulling you in.
They have cheery topics like: “Growing the World We Want”; “Together on a Spiritual Path”; “The Spirituality of Gender Equality,” and others. “Gender Equality” for them doesn’t mean what you might think it is.
These are actually events to pull you into the Bahai faith and eventually pull people into a smiling homophobia.
What does Bahai think about homosexuality.
After alot of talk about toleration and happy thoughts, the text of “The Bahai Teachings and Homosexuality” finally state their viewpoint.
The Baha’i framework of sexual ethics is rooted in the teachings of Baha’u’llah. For His followers, the precepts and counsels found in these teachings represent “the breath of life unto all created things,” “the lamps” of God’s “wisdom and loving providence,” and so should be observed, as Baha’u’llah urges, “with joy and gladness, for this is best for you, did ye but know.” This framework affirms the value of the sex impulse, rejects sexual puritanism, but acknowledges the need for proper expression and self-control. It stands in contrast to the permissive standards of the contemporary age, which tend to place sexual liberty above other aims and values. Baha’u’llah affirms that the family is the foundation of society and civilization, that marriage is between a man and a woman “that they may bring forth one who will make mention of God”, and that sexual relations are only permissible between a couple who are married to each other. These teachings are set forth in the Writings of Baha’u’llah and in the authoritative statements of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi. They are not susceptible to change by the Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Baha’i Faith.
As for Gay marriage.
Why don’t Baha’is establish or recognize same-sex marriage within the Baha’i community?
In light of the teachings of Baha’u’llah on marriage and sexual conduct, it is not possible to recognize same-sex marriage within the Baha’i community. To be a Baha’i means to recognize that Baha’u’llah is the divinely-inspired source of truth for this age. It would be a contradiction for someone to profess to accept Baha’u’llah yet consciously reject, disregard, or contend with aspects of belief or practice ordained by Him.
https://www.bahai.us/bahai-teachings-homosexuality/
This is the Bahai Library entry on homosexuality. The faith is anti-Gay from many texts in the Bahai religion.
https://bahai-library.com/compilation_homosexuality_bwc/
Wikipedia has a shorter summary of their happy face homophobia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%CA%BC%C3%AD_views_on_homosexuality
LGBT apologists do exist for Bahai
It isn’t just LGBT Christians who do re-interpretations of religious texts to imagine that their homophobic faith isn’t homophobic.
https://www.lgbtqbahaidoc.com/
Lesson to be learned - Why is this important?
Homophobia isn’t always going to be snarling. Beware of tolerance. The homophobia might be buried in lots and lots of happy talk.
Always know who the sponsors of the event are and what their opinion of homosexuality is. One tactics by many religions is to have some event that is vague in purpose, but really is a religious recruiting event. When the stated purpose is vague that is a red flag. When you have to dig into the text to find who is running the event, that is a red flag. When you can’t get a short definitive answer of their view on homosexuality that is a red flag.
Vaguely defined events are a tip off. They often have events which very general and vague, something like, “Ickiness in the Universe, what do we do?”.
Just because it is a small movement, doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. Christianity started out with twelve men, and thousands of Gays got burned at the stake.
Anti-Gay is anti-Gay, doesn’t matter how nice they might think they are in being anti-Gay.
Why is this important?
The total number of Bahais in the United States is small. According to the US Census, page 89, in this pdf, they are 178,727, 0.05% of the population.
https://www.usreligioncensus.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/2020_US_Religion_Census.pdf
However, there are many, many of these small religious movements and other type of movements which are homophobic and not up front about it.
Since about one-quarter of LGBT are now non-denominational, but spiritual, and possibly looking for alternative religions, the LGBT are at particular risk.
Many LGBT are up for grabs spiritually and there are religions willing to grab them.
Not many remember when The Advocate created the Advocate Experience based on EST, Erhardt Seminar Training.” The author of this essay remembers running into a lot of EST people in the Gay community.
Goodstein and Rob Eichberg created The Advocate Experience. Loosely based on the then-popular EST (Erhardt Seminars Training), it was a two-weekend, all-day series of extensive self-realization workshops to bring self-acceptance, awareness and tolerance within the LGBT community. Goodstein and Eichberg facilitated the workshops for much of their duration. Goodstein's later editorials strongly opposed state intervention during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. He argued even though "our lifestyle can become an elaborate suicidal ritual... our safety and survival depends on each of us and our individual behaviour", as opposed to government public health regulations.[10] [Boldface added.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Advocate_(magazine)
A lot of records about The Advocate and its “Experience” is held by Cornel Univ.
https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM07310.html
I remember Gays getting pulled into Lifespring. This was a competitor of EST, as explained in this D Magazine article.
Lifespring, in fact, is a leftover of the human potential movement that blossomed in Southern California in the early Seventies. Of these transformational trainings, the Erhard Seminar Training- est-was the most notorious. Its controversial training session became as hip as Nehru jackets and long hair, attracting celebrities and the socially prominent who could afford the enrollment fee.
Two years after Werner Erhard founded est, a man named John Hanley started Lifespring. The two men had been instructors in Mind Dynamics, an earlier program that had folded because of lawsuits. While Hanky’s program lacked the pizazz of est, it grew steadily, attracting the middle class instead of movie stars. [Boldface added.]
There are other minor religions which have become noticed in the LGBT communities which have captured LGBT individuals.
With so many LGBT who have left Christianity and are looking for some faith, they are potential victims.
