I applaud the Chicago Tribune for allowing their readers to read and decide for themselves what they think about the lawsuit by the Baha’is of Wilmette against other US citizens, which is essentially seeking to deprive other Baha’is of their Constitutional right to religious freedom and conscience.
It should be noted that Judge Amy St Eve, considered an outstanding legal mind by her peers, ruled against the Baha’is of Wilmette in the lower court. In the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Diane S. Sykes stated to the lawyer for the Wilmette Baha’is that their attempt to deprive other Bahai denominations of essentially their religious freedom and liberty, quote, “Clearly raises some Constitutional concerns.” Similarly, Judge William J. Bauer shared a similar concern when he repeatedly asked the lawyer for the Wilmette Baha’is what would be the outcome for members of the Reform Bahai Faith.
It is fortunate for Bahais of all persuasions, and our country, that we have judges capable of penetrating the obfuscation and going right to the heart of the matter. Anyone interested in hearing Judge Sykes and Judge Bauer’s own recorded words in the Court room may listen to a 3-minute mp3 clip at the following link. http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/USCo… (There’s a 30-minute clip also)
Despite the claims of many here, numbers of adherents are not important. The truth is important. Only the individual can decide that for him or herself. Members of the Orthodox Baha’i Faith and other Bahai denominations have followed their consciences and are entitled to their beliefs, before God, and before the legal bar of justice, and woe unto our country should that ever change.
While the Reform Bahai Faith was not a party to the lawsuit, it was slandered or mentioned in court in both lawsuits. Reform Bahais believe the purported will and testament of 1921 is a fraudulent document, despite both Wilmette and Orthodox Baha’is thinking otherwise, and find it sad that the Wilmette Baha’is especially have chosen to sue other denominations, which they also did as early as the 1940s against early Reform Bahais Julie Chanler and Ahmad Sohrab.
To our minds, the oppressive and dictatorial actions they have taken against their own followers for decades, such as requiring or pressuring wives to divorce their husbands (medieval and incredible as it may sound), demonstrates emphatically that they have strayed very from the Example of universality set by Abdu’l-Baha when he was in Chicago in 1912. This lawsuit is merely the latest for those interested enough to examine the truth independently for themselves, via the websites here linked to. Frederick G.