Issues in the Baha\'i Faith: The \"Universal House of Justice\"

Members of the Baha\'i Faith organization not only believe that their Universal House of Justice is infallibly inspired by God and that all Baha\'is must unquestioningly obey its decisions, but they also believe that eventually all the peoples and nations of the world should come under the authority of this Baha\'i religious institution. Specifically, conservative Baha\'i doctrine asserts that all matters of state should be referred to the House of Justice; or as they understand it, that the UHJ should one day hold a higher position of power than the governments of the world. This appears to be based on a misinterpretation of one sentence that Baha\'u\'llah wrote in a text appended to his Most Holy Book.

Haifan Baha\'ism includes theocracy as one of it\'s teachings, but it is far from clear that this is how the faith should be interpreted. Some Baha\'i scholars disagree with this interpretation, but they have either been expelled from membership in the organized Baha\'i Faith or must keep quiet about their beliefs. Most of Baha\'u\'llah\'s writings clearly promote secular democracy rather than theocracy – in fact, there is a great deal of evidence to indicate that Baha\'u\'llah envisioned a world in which people of all religions would have equal rights and freedoms and would form democratic national parliaments to serve as a check on the power of kings, clergy, and other autocratic rulers. Despite this, a pro-theocracy view is almost totally dominant in the Baha\'i Faith today, and looks to remain so, because this doctrine is promoted by the \"infallible\" UHJ itself.

As for the \"Universal House of Justice\" such as has been created as the head institution of the mainstream Baha\'i Faith organization, this is only one possible interpretation of what Baha\'u\'llah wrote on the subject of democratic spiritual leadership. Baha\'u\'llah taught that a local institution called simply the Bayt al-Adl(\"House of Justice\") should be formed in each city, and he described it as something very similar to a New England town meeting. Such bodies were supposed to replace the institution of the clergy in previous religions – and presumably Houses of Justice could be created at national or international levels as well – but Baha\'u\'llah does not define it or limit it, except to say that at least nine people must participate in the meetings of each House. Women were not excluded in theory as they have been in practice (the restriction of the UHJ to men only was a later interpretation by Abdu\'l-Baha), nor did Baha\'u\'llah say that a House of Justice necessarily has to be restricted only to Baha\'is or members of a particular organized religious community.

It is very unlikely that the Haifa-based Baha\'i Faith organization will ever grow large enough to begin pushing for the kind of sweeping political power that it desires, so non-Baha\'is need not worry. But regardless of practical realities, the fundamentalist Baha\'i theory of future theocratic governance is a bad idea. In my opinion – and the opinion of the vast majority of progressive-thinking people in the world today – the leadership organs of any one religion should not aspire to assert authority over government. Instead, there should be separation of religion and state. Humanity is moving away from the idea of having popes, bishops, shaykhs, imams, ayatollahs, or any other kind of religious leaders holding a great deal of worldly power – and this is a very good development for the progress of civilization!

Baha\'is need to put aside outdated theories and ideas that are not even clearly taught in Baha\'u\'llah\'s own writings. It was Shoghi Effendi, the successor of Abdu\'l-Baha, who wrote in favor of theocracy and interpreted the Baha\'i scriptures in a way that fit with his own preference for a one-world government ruled by the Universal House of Justice of the Baha\'i Faith. Baha\'is should move beyond such fantasies that belong to a bygone era, and reinterpret the Baha\'i faith\'s teachings about politics and government to be fully compatible with 21st century democratic values.

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