Baha’is in my view haven’t split into “denominations”… as in say the case of Christianity. Yes some individuals have attempted to fragment the Faith in the past but for the most part have failed to split the Faith into denominations. Certainly you can see some sites online representing a few discordent voices… The vast majority of Baha’is I would suggest upwards of 90 % remain united.
The few that have attempted to fragment the Faith are left alone to themselves.
I suppose by denomination I meant “a group having a distinctive interpretation of a religious faith and usually its own organization.” In that case the original Mormon Church (“Church of Christ”) the original Baha’i Faith, and the original Roman Catholic Church, have seen their believers divide into many denominations each. The number of divisions is in some way proportional to the membership, so that a religion with a few thousand members may have one or two dozen divisions, while a religion with millions worldwide, such as the Catholic Church, will see hundreds of divisions.
The members of the various groups tend to think of their rivals as apostates, covenant breakers, and heretics.
“The few that have attempted to fragment the Faith are left alone to themselves.” Such statements are obvious attempts to isolate and disesteem the people who follow those rival denominations. You refuse to recognize them as denominations. Apostates are generally considered insincere or wicked or both by people adhering to the religion from which those apostates parted.
It is common for a religious adherent belonging to the fragment of a religious movement that has the greatest number of members, to believe that their greater numbers confer greater legitimacy on them. When a group has fewer numbers, they point to how difficult it is to find sincere seekers and how successful evil is in leading people into falsehood; in that case, it is their hardships and the persecution they suffer that prove they are the true religion. I have had Mormons, for example, tell me at one time, that rival Mormon factions obviously are not blessed by God and not the true church because “they don’t have many members and not much money,” and later tell me that the fact that other religions have more members than the Mormon church is evidence that Satan is strong in the world, and the persecution they receive from those larger churches is evidence that they are the true church because otherwise no one would bother with them. I believe many people have this sort of outlook.
If we look at the Baha’is or the Mormons, or Catholics, too, by using membership numbers, we can pick out which one is the “true” religion. But if we take that test to a higher level - say to the level of Monotheistic religions - then Christianity is the true religion, and within Christianity, Catholicism is the true religion, and within Catholicism,Roman Catholicism. Myself, I do not believe Numbers make Right. If only 90% remain united, that means they are *not *united. Anyway, Truth is not determined by votes, nor by consensus, not by the number of people who agree with it.
The Babis divided at the death of the Bab. All religions divide. It’s human nature. I accept that the Baha’is are peaceful today, despite their earlier intolerance, and their confrontations with the Azalis and others. All religions seem to get their histories rewritten. The more successful the religion is in winning members and gaining influence, the better the histories sound. And in most cases, the more successful a religion is, the more peaceful it eventually becomes.
Years ago I was following Joel Bjorling’s research into the Baha’i Faith. He wrote “The Baha’i Faith: An Historical Bibliography” (Garland Publishing,1985). We communicated for some time about the various divisions of Baha’ism. As a result I corresponded with The Mother Baha’i Council of the United States, the Orthodox Baha’i Faith, and one or two others whose names I don’t now remember. So I know these divisions are composed of sincere, good people. They are not as you say “left to themselves,” but are shunned by rival Baha’is. The Mormons have a similar attitude about their apostates (see below), and if they “associate” with apostates they run the risk of being excommunicated themselves…
My son earned the Baha’i “Unity of Mankind” award while in Boy Scouts by the way. In the process, I too learned much more about the Baha’i Faith, its obligatory prayers, it’s New Year celebration, and learned other aspects of the Faith.
“And the soul that sins against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against it, shall be dealt with according to the laws of my church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption.” (D&C 82:21)
