I am going to respond to this topic with an unusual perspective. I am a former Baha’i, and indeed I was a Baha’i for 30 years. I was a pioneer (missionary), I served as an Auxiliary Board Member for a while (not analogous to any Christian position), and as a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly of my town. The Local Spiritual Assembly is similar to a church board in Protestant and Episcopal churches, though it is organized within legal units like cities or counties.
The Baha’i Faith is not a cult, at least not one that grips its believers and isolates them. I left the faith on good terms, and I remain friendly with may Baha’is.
I don’t want to answer all that I have read here, but I will make some observations. It is clear to me that while the Baha’i Faith mentions Buddhism and Hinduism, the references are oblique and passing. Both religions are counted among the religions of the past that are precursors to the Baha’i Faith, but it has been left to later scholars and pseudo scholars to reconcile obvious problems such as Buddhism’s lack of a deity, and Hinduism’s many deities.
But the Baha’i Faith, to me, is a Christianized Islam. It is formally more like Islam, having obligatory prayers (one per day, not five), fasting from sunrise to sunset, pilgrimage, and monetary contributions as tenants. The great difference with Islam is in the position of the Prophet or “Manifestation of God”. It is quite impossible to imagine a Muslim praying to Muhammad. It simply is not done, and is a sin. Baha’is, however do sometimes, make prayers to Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i faith. This is not obligatory, but it is important to recognize that in the Baha’i faith, the Prophet is central to devotion, and is considered to be as much as one can know of God. Thus Baha’is see Baha’u’llah in a way that is closer to the Christian view of Christ than to the Muslim view of Muhammad.
Also, there are moving “tablets of Visitation” that are addressed to Baha’u’llah. His sufferings over 40 years are mentioned in these tablets.
Baha’u’llah’s writings also draw strongly on Sufi imagery, but it is a mistake to confuse the Baha’i faith with Sufism. It is clear from the writings of Baha’u’llah that the believer cannot by private exertions attain greater understanding of the divine mysteries. One must go through the teachings and prayers to the Prophet. In this respect, the Baha’i Faith is an orthodox monotheistic religion.
The Baha’i Faith has no clergy and no sacraments, but is organized with a clear hierarchy that is elegant in its simplicity. There are local spiritual assemblies, national spiritual assemblies, and at the international level, there is the Universal House of Justice. The Universal House of Justice is considered infallible in all its actions, not just in “ex cathedra” pronouncements. The text that announces this infallibility dates from 1873, three years, I believe, after the proclamation of Papal infallibility.
In areas of personal morality, the Baha’i Faith is every bit as stringent as any other monotheistic religion. Pre-marital sex, companionate marriage and homosexuality are all forbidden. In fact, to marry, one needs the permission of all living biological parents.
It disapproves of abortion. However, the Baha’i Faith does not involve itself in political matters, so it does not take positions in the current abortion debate in the United States. In practice this makes Baha’is into pro-choice advocates, in that they personally disapprove of abortion, but are unwilling to take a stand politically. Individual Baha’is may indeed by pro-Life, but they are stepping outside the normal activity for Baha’is. I have heard an Iranian Baha’i who was very devoted tell me about a family member who elected an abortion due to probable birth defects. I have known others who heroically carried pregnancies to term.
The Baha’i Faith is not growing rapidly. There are places in the world where it has experienced significant growth, but in reality, the number of really informed, committed believers is quite low. Many towns in the US have less than 20 believers, and usually only a third of those are active. The statistics given often are derived from Baha’i statistics and are often quoted without evaluation. Just as there are perhaps a billion Catholics, not all of them are active or even informed about their nominal faith. But with the supposed 6.5 million Baha’is, it has been in stuck mode for a long time.
Many Christians have become Baha’is. The early US community was made up primarily of New England protestants and some Episcopalians, Unitarians, and Jews. I have known of at least two Catholic priests who have become Baha’is, several nuns, and a number of Catholic laypersons. The really quite beautiful translation of the Baha’i writings into English were made with the assistance of an Anglican (Church of Ireland) priest and archdeacon who later became a Baha’i.
One funny thing for me is that I became a believer in the Virgin Birth as a Baha’i, and seemed to have no problem carrying that belief back to Christianity when I returned. I remember the Quranic verse: “Qaalat kun fa yakun”, “He (God) says to a thing ‘be’ and it is”.
As to the Primacy of Peter mentioned by someone above, yes, there is a statement that the true leader of the Christian world was the Pope. However, in context this is not quite the endorsement you may think it is. Since the coming of Islam, spiritual authority in the world shifted to the Imamate of Twelver Shi’ism. So the Pope stopped having any real authority from the point that Muhammad began his preaching. From Muhammad it passed to his nephew, 'Ali, and down through the other eleven imams, until the 12th imam disappeared in the year 260 AH. From that point forward until the proclamation of the Bab (Baha’u’llah’s John the Baptist, roughly) in 1844, there was no spiritual guide.
Just as a personal note, I returned to Christianity partly because of the perceived relative amount of “wiggle room” on the subject of homosexuality that Christianity offered. I remember telling Roman Catholic Bishop John Cummins, now emeritus of Oakland, this. He smiled serenely. I am now back in my beloved Episcopal Church, with a more realistic view of the issues regarding homosexuality. I am not gay, but I remain pained by the issues confronting gays in society. The Baha’i Faith has rigid teachings that offer no wiggle room whatsoever.
