Harassed, denounced, excommunicated and shunned
Brent Reed, who was a member of the Haifa-based Baha'i Faith organization for 16 years, posted the following message on the talk.religion.bahai discussion group in response to another poster, describing his experience of losing faith in the mainstream Baha'i administrative order and being declared a "Covenant-breaker" by the Haifa UHJ. He joined another Baha'i sect and then changed his mind again, and was declared a Covenant-breaker also by the leader of that sect. Reed has been shunned by the members of both of these Baha'i groups. He currently follows Jacques Soghomonian, who claims to be the fourth Guardian of the Baha'i Faith.
Subject: Re: Advice to Rebecky
From: Brent Madison Reed
Date: Jan 18 2002, 2:43 pm
URL: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/talk.religion.bahai/msg/f857f7dfa50834ec?rnum=1
Hello Milissa:
The Guardian, Jacques Soghomonian would agree with what you just stated, that
most Baha'is from all groups are very good and sincere people. To the best of
their capacities they have done incredible things to make our world a safer and
better place. The Guardian has not declared anyone a Covenant-breaker. He has
asked us to try to build bridges of friendship and trust with Baha'is from all
groups, and to avoid polemics, and to leave those alone who have not interest
in contact with us.
I have been declared a Covenant-breaker by two groups of Baha'is. First, by
the Haifa UHJ, then by Joel Marangella, head of the Orthodox Baha'i Faith.
None of the Haifan administrative bodies notified me of their decision. I
found out through other sources.
So that you'll know a bit about my frame of reference, allow me to tell you
what led to my two shunnings. This is a bit lengthy, but I promise you it will
get your interest.
First, I was a member of the Haifa Baha'i community for 16 years until after
serious, exhaustive research convinced me that the Haifa Baha'i group of which
I was a member had made a serious mistake by taking the position that the
Guardianship has ended with Shoghi Effendi's administration. I said CONVINCED
Milissa. I did not take any action stemming from emotion or anger with the
Haifa Administrative Order. I was both devastated and profoundly grateful when
I finally accepted my conclusions. I tendered my resignation from the
Spiritual Assembly of Huntington, West Virginia.
No one from the Haifa community or administrative order ever agreed to meet
with me to discuss my issues and conclusions. Auxiliary Board Members Dr.
Tahireh Ahdieh and Michael Penn would only agree to meet in secret without any
records, which I refused to do. My LSA - which had not yet resigned at the
time, intervened and asked that the Auxiliary Board members meet with me, and
the other members of the Spiritual Assembly in an open meeting, so that my
research could be discussed and any concerns answered by the ABMs. The ABMs
finally agreed to do this and the meeting was set. The meeting lasted no more
than 10 minutes. Apparently the ABMs had never intended on fulfilling their
promise to answer my questions and concerns about the Haifa administrative
order, because after the meeting commenced, Dr. Ahdieh stood and issued a terse
warning to me and any of the other Baha'is in Huntington who might be swayed by
my ideas, saying that I was close to being declared a violator of the Covenant
of Baha'ullah. After she issued her warning and took her seat, I asked to
speak. I told her and Michael Penn that I have questions to ask them about the
Covenant. What followed immediately has had an effect on all of us. Tahireh
told me that they would not hear anything that I had to say. She and Michael
Penn immediately raised up out of their seats, spun around to their left, got
their coats and left without saying even goodbye. This was the only contact
that I had with them, other than harrassing phone calls after 9 PM from Dr.
Ahdieh, telling me that my soul was in danger of extermination. So help me God
this is all the truth. Later I will tell you more about my dark encounters
with Dr. Ahdieh.
Soon thereafter I invited the members of the Huntington LSA to meet with me, so
that I could present them with my findings and ask for their input. By this
time, the LSA was beginning to think that there was something very peculiar
about the way that we had all been treated by the Auxiliary Board members.
After a four and a half hour presentation of my research findings, not one
person attending the meeting had any disagreement with the evidence. The LSA
members signed a letter of resignation and sent it the the National Spiritual
Assembly. At this early time (1996) we were convinced that Mason Remey had
been chosen by Shoghi Effendi. Our only error was that we thought that Joel
Maragella was the Guardian.
I continued my research, obtaining and studying documents from the Baha'is who
support Jacques Soghomonian. This led me to the final conclusion that
Soghomonian was in fact the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Saddened by all of
the disunity and not wanting to jeopardize my friendship with the Orthodox
Baha'i supporters of Marangella, I did not publicize my new allegiance to
Soghomonian.
In February 2001 I began a discussion group called Heart of the Baha'i Faith
with the goal of attracting all divided followers of Baha'ullah together in an
environment where they might began to talk to each other and build friendships
for the first time in over 40 years. Over the past year I have filled the
Files section with many historical documents that would have importance to all
Baha'is.
Later this year I published two papers, which led to Marangella's decision to
label me a Covenant-breaker. One called the "The Fallacy of the Marangella
Activation-Abdication Postulate" shatters Marangella's rationale for being the
Guardian, and another one dissolves Marangella's claim that Mason Remey
developed senile insanity, and had been out of his mind when he dismissed
Marangella as his choice to become his successor and instead chose Donald
Harvey. The paper analyzes Mason's statements Marangella has used as his
basis for claiming that Mason Remey was insane, it completely disproves
Marangella's suppositions, and instead shows that Mason was brilliant man of
sound mind, and a faithful Baha'i and Guardian of the Baha'i Faith and
protector of the Covenant until his death at the age of 99.
Within a couple of weeks after publishing these papers, Marangella urged all of
the Orthodox Baha'is to shun me, and made reference to my attempts to tell the
whole truth, as actions of an insidiously evil person.
So Milissa, two out of three of the Baha'i groups apparently use shunning as a
weapon to defame people as a way to keep the mind-controlled membership from
taking their views seriously. But the Haifa administration, in its CB witch
hunt, has far exceeded the Baha'i legal definition of what it means to be a
Covenant-breaker.
Thank you and be well and happy always,
Brent Madison Reed
> Subject: Re: Advice to Rebecky
> From: miliss...@altavista.com (Milissa)
> Date: 1/18/02 9:45 AM Eastern Standard Time
> Message-id: df0d6959.0201180645.7e25d...@posting.google.com
>
> Hi Brent--
>
>> The Haifan Baha'is believe that any Baha'i who disagrees with the
>> authority of their international world assembly is a Covenant-breaker.
>
> But don't ALL Baha'i groups see other Baha'i groups this way? Isn't
> someone who actively follows Haifa as opposed to the IV Guardian
> considered a CB by your group? I just don't want people to get the
> idea that it is only the Haifan Tradition that does this.
>
> At any rate, I agree that the actual numbers of *real* CBs is very
> small because it implies that one *knowingly* breaks the Covenant.
> People who belong to the various Baha'i groups, whether Haifa, Remey,
> Marangella or whomever are sincerely following the path that they
> think Baha'u'llah wants them to follow and are not, therefore, by
> definition, CBs.
>
> Peace,
> Milissa
Former Baha'is and Ex-Baha'i Christians: Selected Testimonials
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