Re: Morality and the Good

Alfred D. Peters (adpeters@mit.edu)
Mon, Feb 6 1995 15:26:44 GMT

adpeters@mit.edu (Alfred D. Peters) wrote:

> This is why gay people seek to change the policy. Until there is a
> clear prohibition written is stone by the Manefistation of God or
> there comes a good reasoning behind the policy, gay people will fight
> for their right to be acknowledged. [see below -mod]
^^^^^^^^^^^
> There is enough ambiguity in the Baha'u'llah's Writings to warrent gay
> people to contest the validity of the policy of the Bahai Faith.

>[Moderator's addition:
>Also posted earlier was the following quotation from Baha'u'llah (from
> "Unrestrained as the wind: A Life Dedicated to Baha'u'llah":
>
> "Ye are forbidden adultery, homosexuality and unfaithfulness. Refrain
> therefrom, O concourse of those who have set their faces towards
> Him. By the righteousness of God! Ye have been created to purge
> the world From the defilement of evil passions. This is what the
> Lord of all mankind enjoineth upon you, could ye but perceive it.
> He who relateth himself unto the All-Merciful and committeth satanic
> deeds, verily he is not of Me. Unto this beareth witness every
> atom, pebble, tree and fruit, and beyond them this eloquent,
> truthful and trustworthy Tongue.
>
> -- Baha'u'llah, quoted in letter dated 12/9/71, from Universal House
> of Justice to US National Spiritual Assembly. (Also in "Extracts
> from the Baha'i Writings on Homosexuality", no date, p. 1.)

I have also seen the above scripture quote translated from the arabic as
follows:

"Ye are forbidden to commit adultery, sodomy and lechery. Avoid them,
O concourse of the faithful. By the righteousness of God! Yet have
been called into being to purge the world from the defilement of evil
passions. This is what the Lord of all mankind hath enjoined upon
you, could ye but perceive it. He who relateth himself to the All-
Merciful and committeth satanic deeds, verily he is not of Me. Unto
this beareth witness every atom, pebble, tree and fruit, and beyond
them this ever-proclaiming, truth and trustworthy Tongue."

As you can see there are several minute differences in the translation
of the same passage. It's probably the semantics of the translation.
My point, however, is that there does exist ambiguity in that one
passage. Sodomy does not necessarily equal Homosexuality just as
lechery isn't quite unfaithfullness. The scriptual evidence against
homosexuality seems rather weak. Translation and semantics can always
be used to interpret ambiguous language to favor a particular view.

Of course, the retort to this line reasoning that I have frequently seen
here is that the Shoghi Effendi's postion on the subject is final. His
interpretation of use of the word "boys" in a particular passage of
Baha'u'llahs writing has become the final word on Homosexuality for all
time (or at least 1000 years till the coming of another Manefistation of
God!!). [This argument is based on Baha'is acceptance of Shoghi Effendi as
an authorized interpreter of Baha'u'llah`s words -mod]

I believe this to be patently wrong. Another interesting thread I have
been reading in this newsgroup in response to this subject is a call to
find the reasoning behind the Bahai faith's position. The spirit of
this call is best summarized by another post:

viswan@buphy.bu.edu (Gandhimohan Viswanathan [or just Gandhi]) wrote:

:Remember:
:faith without reason ====> supersition.
:
:Unless we try to undertand the reason behind the laws, our faith will
:be a blind faith. And Baha'u'llah said that one hour's contemplation
:is preferable to seventy years of pious worship!!! So, let us try to
:contemplate on why homosexuality has been prohibited.
... (stuff deleted)
:Getting back to the subject of homosexuality, it is obvious that we
:Baha'is believe that homosexuality is wrong. This is a matter of
:faith. But how many of us know the real reasons behind the law? If we
:do not try to understand the laws, then we cannot benefit and fully
:relish the unsealed choice wine, as Baha'u'llah called His laws.

To make a parallel to another religion (though comparisons can get off
base), The Catholic Church had a very hard time learning and accepting
the Earth was not the center of the universe. They were very obstinate
in that fact for a long time, but the Church evolved and conceded depite
all its prior arguments. The Church till this day has a problem with
women wanting certain positions in the Church. They Church has not come
to see women as equals yet. But, who know what is in store for the
future since many dedicated people work to change these policies.

In a similar way, I would like to see the Bahai community think about
their position on homosexuality as Ghandhi suggests. The policy may
never change, but if people think about it and look for reason behind
the policy, maybe people may come to realize there is another way. An
unchanging view on an issue without reasoning behind is hard to keep
justified for a 1000 years.

Respectfully,
Alfred