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Sen’s response to Moojan
Sen McGlinn, one of the “apostates” named in Moojan Momen’s Religion article discusses some of his thoughts on issues since raised, arguing that some current normative Baha’i positions were once marginal themselves (and thus current marginal positions are simply ahead of the opinion Bell curve) and that one possible reason for the significant drop in Baha’i conversions, and increase in formal unenrollments is due to a change in the tenor and character of the Baha’i organisation, unlike Moojan’s position which holds the Baha’i community as a static constant and marginals as the sole shifting actors.
(Hijab flutter to Baha’is Online)
Unlike Sen, who feels that a rise in competition is not a significant factor in the drop in Baha’i conversions, I think there is conversion competition from other religions for the small pool of potential converts. There has been a clear rise in numbers of Pentacostalist Christians, Buddhists and Muslims (not all of this due to immigration of the latter two categories) in Western countries such as Australia, looking at census figures.
More interestingly, though, is that according to Philip Hughes from the Christian Research Association, young people are seeing religion as an ‘optional extra’ rather than a core feature of their identities, and many are quite happy tasting and making up their own ‘plate’ from the religious smorgasboard as it were, without necessarily making a full commitment to ‘one dish’. (This is based on my memory of a presentation he gave on social cohesion in Australia, so apologies for reducing his excellent presentation to one jingoistic paragraph).
Furthermore, religious conversions (at least in the Western contexts in which they have been researched which is primarily towards Christianity), tend mostly to occur during adolescence:
Adolescence was found to be the most common period in one’s life when conversion could transpire, with sudden conversions tending to take place earlier than gradual ones. (1)
My own research of Australian conversions to Islam found that the age tended to be past adolescence, mostly young adulthood. I am not sure if there has been any serious research on Baha’i enrollments, but I would suggest that if we are seeing a move towards religion as (merely?) a consumer’s choice, then it would make sense that just as with any product on the market, if the religion in question doesn’t ‘move with the times’ then consumers will move elsewhere with their attention.
None of this, of course, takes into account the Hand of God in the process of religious conversion, and Sen might argue that there are increasing numbers of people who convert to Baha’i beliefs but who do not formally enroll in the organisation (anaethema to current administration orthodoxy, but much more in keeping with ‘Abdu’l-Baha’is approach to religious pluralism).
(1) John A. Saliba, Understanding New Religious Movements, 2nd ed. (Walnut Creek, CA: Rowman Altamira, 2003), p.103
[Update: it’s been pointed out to me that technically Moojan doesn’t
call Sen an apostate as such–because he doesn’t exhibit Momen’s
concept of ressentiment. Furthermore, Momen makes the mistake of
considering Sen not a Baha’i simply because he’s been removed from
membership in the organised Baha’i community. So that makes Sen an
unaffiliated Baha’i not an apostate as such.]
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January 15th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Hi Umm Yasmin,
When I read Sen’s post about the drop in Baha’i conversions I was struck by his statement that:
“The presentation of the Bahai community as having egalitarian, participatory and democratic ruling institutions has been one of its attractions, and a reason to enroll. As the unelected teaching institutes and their regional and national coordinators take over the roles of the local and national Assemblies, and as membership in these and the actual implementation of the work is increasingly reserved for people who have qualified by passing though the Ruhi books, the Bahai community looks increasingly like a traditional church structure, with experts appointed by higher experts, telling the congregation how it is. So if someone is a joiner and participant by nature, the Bahai message as embodied in the community has become less attractive, and for the ‘converts’ as a whole, there is less reason to go on to become a member formally, since membership, with the assemblies, has lost some of its central significance.”
I was immediately reminded of the experience of one of the megachurches in the US, as outlined in the “Out of Ur” blog entry Willow Creek Repents.
The church went from thinking this:
“Participation is a big deal. We believe the more people participating in these sets of activities, with higher levels of frequency, it will produce disciples of Christ.”
To thinking this:
“What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and became Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’”
As Sen observes, the Baha’i Faith has taken on church-like structures and has become very programme-driven (Ruhi). I think those changes are designed by the Baha’i administration to do away with the troublesome self-feeders, despite the rhetoric spouted by proponents of Ruhi. One day, the Baha’is may get the same wake-up call Willow Creek got, and may realise that “spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, [scripture] reading, and relationships.”
January 15th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I agree Steve, the shift from a participatory religious community to a hierarchical clergy-layman structure is simply duplicating what’s already out there on offer in the religious supermarket. I left before Ruhi really started so I cannot comment on what it is like now.
My sense is that people exposed to the Baha’i religion may certainly adopt some of the values and ethics (eg. equality of races; cosmopolitanism etc.) but do not necessarily see themselves as ‘Baha’is’ for so doing. Without the adherence to belief in Baha’u'llah as a revelatory figure, of course, it is a movement not a religion.
However, traditional Western patterns of religious adherence, require something akin to church (or organisation) membership. During the time of ‘Abdu’l-Baha there was an experiment with syncreticism (think of Arnold Toynbee who described himself as a Baha’i along with other religious identities) but that was firmly quashed by Shoghi Effendi and the development of the Baha’i administrative bodies since.
I would suggest that perhaps things are going full-circle, and those exposed to Baha’i teachings might syncretically adopt some of the Baha’i beliefs without necessarily ’signing-up’ as what is on offer by signing up is just like joining any old church or organisation, at times offering even an inferior experience to your regular church.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:37 am
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June 18th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
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