Dictionaries do not define what cults are. There is a body of sociological literature with water-tight typologies and discussion that very much fits the Haifan Bahai organization like a glove. Besides the word “cult” in relation to the Baha’i faith has been used in numerous contexts and by numerous people. Juan Cole used it here:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/1…
Karen Bacquet used it here:
http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/bac…
There is also a momentum of consensus outside of the Academy, given the inherent Stalinist behavior of the Haifan Baha’i institutions, that indeed it is a cult — in all the negative denotation of that word. Scientology also does not believe it is a cult. Yet it is an NRM cult, not just because Christians say so, but because there are critical typologies in the very secular discipline of the sociology of religion that very much put it under that rubric. The Haifan Bahai organization is very much an NRM cult on every level in the same way as Scientology is. There is no longstanding historical tradition of the Baha’i faith that can adequately define it as a World Religion and so circumvent the NRM cult rubric.
Furthemore, the mere fact that you people cannot even stomach the very existence of a rival schismatic body using the name “Baha’i” speaks volumes to that fact that you are indeed a cult — and one of the worst of them too IMV.
Finally, an organization that issues official directives to its representatives to spy and inform on people is a cult. That you don’t like or are embarrased by the fact is irrelevant to the issue that this is classic NRM cult-behavior.
The Haifan Baha’i organization is a cult. Get used to it! Anonymous222