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Frequently Asked Questions on /r/bahai, the home of the Bahá'í Faith on Reddit.
We're Bahá'ís! From our wiki:
> The Bahá'í Faith is an independent world religion whose aim is the unification of all humankind. Bahá'ís are the followers of Bahá'u'lláh, Who they believe is the Promised One of all Ages. Bahá'u'lláh taught that all of humanity is one family, and that the world's great religions originate from the teachings of one and the same God, revealed progressively throughout history.
Bahá'ís come from all kinds of backgrounds, and you may find that many Bahá'í teachings are in harmony with those of many of the world's great religions. As Bahá'u'lláh taught us, the fundamental spiritual truths at the core of all of these religions are the same. At the same time, there are some major differences that set the Bahá'í Faith apart from the great religions of the past. For instance, Bahá'ís do not confess sins to members of the clergy as some Christian groups do, because Bahá'u'lláh abolished clergy. Bahá'ís reject the Muslim notion of "holy war", because Bahá'u'lláh abolished that as well.
If you have specific questions about the Bahá'í Faith, or about what Bahá'ís believe and what we do, you can always ask here!
On an open forum such as Reddit, it's very easy for people to express their opinions and share their understanding of various topics. That's how /r/bahai works: We're all just sharing our own understanding of the Bahá'í Faith, its teachings, and how they apply to the world and our lives.
The only authority in the Bahá'í Faith resides in its Scripture, which is freely available online[1] for anyone to read, and in the Covenant that Bahá'u'lláh made with His followers, instructing them to whom they should turn for authoritative guidance after His passing. As Bahá'u'lláh abolished clergy, there is no way for the interpretations of individual Bahá'ís to be considered as authoritative statements about Bahá'í belief.
tl;dr: Don't believe everything people tell you on Reddit, or at least, take what they say with a couple of grains of salt. And if you really want the answer to a question about Bahá'í beliefs, go straight to the source[1].
Good question! Because Bahá'í belief is based on its written Scripture, great pains have been taken to establish the authenticity of various texts. What you see on the Bahá'í Reference Library[1] are considered authentic.
The Bahá'í Revelation is vast. For example, during His lifetime, Bahá'u'lláh revealed thousands of tablets, letters and books, with a total volume more than 15 times the size of the Bible (Old and New Testaments). Because the Bahá'í Faith is still young, there simply hasn't been enough time to authenticate and translate all of these Writings. That's why you'll hear of new books being translated, such as Days of Remembrance[2], which was published in 2017.
Some texts have been given provisional translations by individuals, but these generally remain unpublished until they have been fully researched and authenticated, and their translations reviewed. Until then, they are considered objects of great interest to Bahá'ís, but do not form a part of authoritative Bahá'í Scripture.
Some books that are in common use, such as 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Paris Talks[3] or The Promulgation of Universal Peace[4], consist of collections of talks that were transcribed at various times. Because 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke through an interpreter during these talks, and because transcriptions of His words in the original Persian were not always available, establishing the full authenticity of each talk has been difficult or impossible. The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, Shoghi Effendi, indicated that although these books have not been fully authenticated, they can still be used by Bahá'ís until such time as they can be given a full review. In other words, it's likely that the overall gist of each talk is correct, but the talks should not be quoted word for word as literal statements of Bahá'í belief.
There is good reason for Bahá'ís to be careful about the authenticity of sacred texts. Since its early days, the Bahá'í Faith has been subjected to fierce and violent opposition, both from the Persian authorities (who sought to destroy the new religion), and from ambitious individuals who sought to create division within the Faith for their own benefit. In some cases, such as that of Mírzá Muhammad 'Alí after the death of Bahá'u'lláh, copies of its Scripture were stolen and possibly altered. Even today, detractors can be found who produce incorrect renderings and translations of Bahá'í scripture in order to slander the Faith and its Central Figures, and to stir up sectarian hatred against Bahá'ís. This is one reason why Bahá'ís will often recommend going straight to the source to find authentic literature: To prevent unnecessary confusion.
tl;dr: If you're reading a Bahá'í book that someone gave you, or something you found on the Bahá'í Reference Library[1] or Study the Faith[5], then congratulations, it's probably legit! If not, take it with a couple of grains of salt, and feel free to ask us what we think.
The acronym "NSA" probably doesn't mean what you think it does here. In a Bahá'í context, it means "National Spiritual Assembly", which is an annually elected institution that oversees the administrative affairs of the Bahá'í community of a particular country.
In general, although Bahá'ís try their best to avoid excessive jargon in their communications, you may find that some short-hand phrases and acronyms that are in common use (such as "NSA" for "National Spiritual Assembly", "LSA" for "Local Spiritual Assembly", "UHJ" for "Universal House of Justice", and so on) may pop up now and then.
To promote healthy, fruitful discussion, we ask that all contributors become familiar with and observe our subreddit guidelines[1].
Reflecting the open nature of Reddit, a wide variety of people of different backgrounds, beliefs and points of view are welcome to post on /r/bahai. Rather than being an official website representing the Bahá'í Faith or any particular Bahá'í community, we're simply a diverse collection of people with a diverse spectrum of different things to contribute to a common process of learning.
It may happen that you might see links, posts or comments here that you don't agree with. Before responding, please consider the above guidelines and how you might apply them towards a constructive response. Remember that, while courteous and civil discussion is encouraged, argumentation and passing judgement on others are not. If it appears to be impossible to respond in a constructive way, the best thing to do is "just report and walk away", and let the moderation team do their best to address the situation.
It may not be your fault! /r/bahai has seen a fair bit of spam in recent years, and in response, AutoModerator has been configured so that contributions by accounts that are fairly new are automatically held for moderation before they appear. Just give a heads-up to the mod team, and they'll be glad to help you out.
You're not alone, unfortunately. Some users who ask about the Bahá'í Faith on /r/bahai have reported getting spammed with long PMs by individuals advertising their opinions—and conspiracy theories—about Bahá'ís. Feel free to read through their PMs if you want, but if you'd rather they just bug off then feel equally free to use Reddit's "block user" feature.
Sorry. :P If you have any questions or concerns about this issue, or if you feel at all like you're being harrassed, please feel free to contact our mod team.
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