Frederick Glaysher is a writer, editor, researcher, poet and one of the Baha’i critics who was blamed by the Baha’i organization for his critical stances and was somehow rejected from the Baha’i community after 25 years of being an active member of the Baha’i community.
As a Baha’i intellectual, he has criticized the performance of the universal house of justice (Baha’i leadership in Haifa):
He mentions the universal house of justice as an autocratic leadership which has limited any freedom of thought.
He believes that after Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Baha’ism has deviated from its original path and has become a power-seeking, sectarian organization lacking religious ethics. For this reason, he founded the reformist Baha’i group and published many critical articles.
In his opinion, some of Baha’u’llah’s rulings and opinions have been taken from Sufism.
He also mentions Baha’ism as a tool for America and Israel and considers its role in global political movements, including the American-Iraq war, to be prominent.
آنچه در ادامه می خوانید
A – biography
Frederick Glaisher is a writer, editor, researcher, lecturer, thinker, poet, critic and Baha’i theologian who was born on February 9, 1953 A.D. in America. He holds a BA in English Literature and an MA in Law from the University of Michigan. He studied Christianity and Islam at Illinois State University. He also has a three-year training course in literary criticism and a ten-year teaching experience in English language and literature, literary criticism, non-western literature, world religions and other courses at various universities including Japan and China.
Using the scholarship of the Fulbright Institute, he succeeded in conducting studies on Buddhism at Peking University in China. Glaysher traveled to India in 1995 A.D. using another scholarship to study and investigate Indian Islamic cultures and modernity. He was a special guest of the United Nations at the Millennium Summit in 2000, and in 2012 A.D. he participated in the conference with the theme of “Millennium Development Goals” at the invitation of the United Nations General Assembly. Glasher is also familiar with Persian language and Sufism school. He has written many books in his specialties.
Familiarity with Baha’ism
Glasher became a Baha’i in 1976 A.D. and became a member of the American Baha’i community. He taught at Baha’i conferences and colleges for more than 25 years, and presented articles in various Baha’i magazines and publications in America, including the Baha’i journal “the World”. Since 1996 A.D., Glaisher has been under suspicion of the Baha’i organization and was practically ostracized due to various protests and critical articles he wrote about the Baha’i organization. But until 2005 A.D., he introduced himself as a member of the Baha’i community.
From 1997 A.D., Frederick Glaisher started his criticism of the Baha’i faith and its management with the Alt.Religion.Bahai and Talk.Religion.Bahai groups with the issue of censorship in Baha’ism, and in 2004 A.D., he created the “Reformist Baha’i” group and published many critical articles written by critical Baha’i intellectuals.
Since 1998 A.D., Glaysher collected the opinions and criticisms of a large number of critics and the Baha’i intellectuals and made them available to others in more than 1000 pages by establishing various websites, in addition to presenting his own opinions.
From 2000 A.D. to 2005 A.D., he started activities against the Baha’i organizations and the universal house of justice which caused the Baha’i organizations to worry and strongly oppose him.
Glaysher believes that the Baha’i organization and the universal house of justice have separated from the main path of Baha’u’llah’s teachings and have been led astray. He considers Baha’ism to be involved in many political currents of the world. He believes that the US attack on Iraq in 2003 A.D., has been carried out by conspiracy and instigation of Baha’is under the pretext of the presence of chemical and nuclear equipments and weapons of mass destruction, so that they could take back the Baha’i holy places which were in the possession of the Iraqi government. (Mozhan Momin, “Centricism and Apostasy in the Baha’i Society”, Magazine, No. 37, No. 3, (2007 A.D.) pp. 187-209)
Mozhan Momen, one of the well-known Baha’is and supporters of the universal house of justice introduces Glaysher in his article “centrism and apostasy in the Baha’i community as an apostate, hostile and infidel, who became a marginalized member after disagreements and conflicts with Iranian Baha’is. He has a bellicose attitude towards Baha’ism: “Now and then, he shows up and launches an email blitz.” While, according to Mojan Momin, Glaysher is a calm, but scary person who is on the edge of the marginal opposition group: “He resembles a lone wolf rather than a member of the Baha’i opposition groups, although his positions are approved by most of the opponents of the Baha’i organization.” (Dan Jensen’s article on Glacier).
In the article of rejection and excommunication in the journal Religion, No. 38 (2008), in a part of his answer to Mojan Momin’s accusations, ip.391, Glaysher writes:
“…Momen intends to introduce me as a Baha’i on the sidelines, an infidel and an apostate and start slandering me, the same thing that other writers have done at the hands of Baha’i fundamentalists in the last one or two decades. He ignores my academic background and four years of teaching in college, and hides my seven-year teaching experiences in English and literary criticism at Gunma University in Japan, Illinois State University, and Oakland University! Momin claims that I have had “personal encounters and conflicts with Iranian Baha’is”. Apparently, someone thought to himself and reported something to someone! So, who complained about this and what is my charge? According to the current laws in western countries, the accused person has the right to know the plaintiff and find out about the charges so that s/he can defend himself.
