The Baha'i Studies Listserv Here's what I was referring to: Directives from the Guardian
144: PACIFISM (Bahá’í View of) “With reference to the absolute pacifists, or conscientious objectors to war; their attitude, judged from the Bahá’í standpoint is quite anti-social and due to its exaltation of the individual conscience leads inevitably to disorder and chaos in society. Extreme pacifists are thus very close to the anarchists, in the sense that both of these groups lay an undue emphasis on the rights and merits of the individual. The Bahá’í conception of social life is essentially based on the subordination of the individual will to that of society. It neither suppresses the individual nor does it exalt him to the point of making him an anti-social creature, a menace to society. As in everything, it follows the ‘golden mean’. The only way that society can function is for the minority to follow the will of the majority. “The other main objection to the conscientious objectors is that their method of establishing peace is too negative. Non-cooperation is too passive a philosophy to become an effective 54 way for social reconstruction. Their refusal to bear arms can never establish peace. There should first be a spiritual revitalization which nothing, except the Cause of God, can effectively bring to every man’s heart.” [end quote] So what does "non-cooperation" refer to? On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 12:32 AM, Susan Maneck <[email protected]> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv >> Islam certainly gives limited approval to the use of force. In fact, >> neither the Bahai faith nor Islam are pacifist religions. Shoghi >> Effendi actually criticizes pacifism as anti-social and (presumably >> Gandhi's) non-cooperation philosophy is criticized as too passive. > > No, it would not be. There is nothing wrong with Gandhi's method as a > technique. What is anti-social is to refuse ta government summons o > serve in the military based on ones individual conscience. I might add > that Gandhi did serve, in an ambulance brigade, the same kind of > service Baha'is seek in time of war. > >> So it would be dishonest to suggest that you are really opposed to all >> forms of violence and bloodshed. > > The Guardian stated that we should avoid combat service whenever > possible, and while you are right that the Baha'i Teachings do not > eliminate all forms of violence and bloodshed the definition of what > constitutes a 'just war' is much more limited than it has been in the > previous dispensations. > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to > mailto:leave-549238-68452.e157d5dc5efabb63696f251595c88...@list.jccc.edu > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:[email protected] > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-549240-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
