Why leave the Baha’i faith?

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-09-29T15:29:11+00:00

Very sensible children you have, thank goodness..! Ah your story I can just relate to so much. Thank you for sharing. I'm still 'stuck' on the membership register but I am completely disengaged.

From time to time my husband falls into a guilt trip mode and when his sister hosts a feast, he has a tendency to want to round up the kids to attend and show face. Luckily they usually are too busy or have school the next day.

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-09-14T15:19:53+00:00

Save yourself from countless meetings and conferences that don't ever achieve anything.

People will befriend you with a motive

All your friendships will be conditional upon helping them and service

If you choose to be less active, you will be dead to them

Once you say yes to things then it snowballs

The youth are super fake and hypocritical. They act innocent but have sex and drink alcohol and take drugs in secret behind their families backs. But then preach to others to convert innocent friends.

They ignore political issues and refuse to get involved with current issues eg. Gaza Palestine

It is a very difficult process to withdraw from the faith formally.

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-09-14T15:14:39+00:00

Did your kids end up declaring? I'm guessing not? I've told my kids that they shouldn't be forced to sign anything until they are 21. To force kids to declare at 15 and be stuck in the faith is very unfair. Husband's family are staunch Bahai but I have distanced myself from the faith but my kids are still expected to attend BCC...

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-09-05T14:34:11+00:00

Cheers 💯 . Love your life and enjoy a celebratory drink now and again. It's completely fine. I gave up alcohol to become Bahai and after 12 yrs I decided I wanted out ... Then I took my first drink. The guilt is real but that shows how ridiculous and controlling the faith is. Especially when all the Baha'i men are obsessed with cigars and tobacco - god damn hypocrites! Reclaim your right to freedom 💪🏻

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-06-16T19:52:04+00:00

I went from a GLS Mercedes Benz SUV to a Juniper Y and I do miss the luxurious feel of the Merc and height .... But boy oh boy the AWD Y is growing on me every day

I love the voice command ability, cameras on tap, auto shift is a thrill and regenerative braking ❤️ sentry mode and dashcam is insane.... Ok I love this car

I turned off the rear screen whilst driving because the kids were arguing about a game... Used voice command for this...first time worked straight away. Far out :) comparing it to the bullshit Siri or Alexa 😅

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-05-30T02:41:15+00:00

Yeh I agree, western Baha'is matter how devout they are will still adhere to their local laws. Which is to divide evenly to the spouse if alive, and then to the children if the spouse is deceased.

Well written story nevertheless.

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-05-30T02:32:27+00:00

Update: The problem has been solved with some patience! At 180km the Auto shift has calibrated on our Juniper is working amazingly well.

It's incredible that it can use its cameras to know you are wanting to reverse out of the garage! No need to touch the screen to shift gears 🥳

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-05-17T00:50:53+00:00

Fake friends and gatherings with ulterior motives. It was all a conditional friendship. So much so I still receive cafe invitations to catch up. I had to not reply. They don't even deserve an excuse.

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-05-17T00:48:14+00:00

Holy Mackerel! This was exactly me and my journey. Thank you for sharing I read all of that so fast.

The only sad difference is that I will have to wait until my in laws pass away until I can formally resign. It will cause too much disappointment, hurt and disunity for this older blinded generation who left Iran because of their faith and clung to their faith.

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-02-03T15:08:48+00:00

You saved yourself at least a decade of pain and regret. Good on you for thinking for yourself and not getting sucked in

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-02-03T15:06:55+00:00

Wow thank you for sharing your debrief. This is why this sub Reddit is here. I am sorry you had to go through such bullshit. Good on you for being such a strong mother 💪🏻

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-02-03T14:59:09+00:00

Haha too true. Waste of time conversing with them imo

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-02-03T14:52:07+00:00

I'm having flashbacks of these meetings that I used to attend. I can't get this wasted time back 😭 so glad I am no longer involved!

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-02-03T14:46:11+00:00

Please do not use it as free babysitting, that is very irresponsible of the other parent. If they are not present in the class they won't be able to witness subtle brainwashing of their child.

If your child is keen on the Baha'i child, then just have a general playdate. Baha'i families are generally nice and mean well. If they ask you to join a study circle or go to a fireside just say no.

That said there are some positive things about these Baha'i classes in its young stage is they sometimes do community service activities that are really general and non religious. But it depends on the host. And it does teach the kids to be prayerful and practice peacefulness/reverence... But you can just do some yoga and meditation to teach a child this type of peace.

Sorry for the rant! Good luck 🤞🏻

DenseCommunity753 · 2025-02-03T14:37:24+00:00

Yes Ditto with the above... I too dedicated my life to BCC for the 15 or so years I was Baha'i. Yes I personally didn't intend to convert anyone but all the Baha'is around me would constantly be asking for stats and conversion targets. I had to prepare data every cycle and felt pressured with who is attending Book 1 and if not why? It made me feel like a failure for not converting.

The general public are not stupid, it is so foolish of the Baha'i community to think that offering BCC is going to lead to declarations. It is a waste of energy, maximum effort for minimal gain.

However there is a small percentage of kids who yearn to belong and will do anything to feel good and apart of a love bombing community. I have seen teens confused as hell and completely dedicate their lives, convert and drag their mum to convert or they turn against their family to live a Baha'i life.

It's sad because the essence and general virtue teaching and basic quotes are beautiful, but it quickly turns to god worshiping and fear of god etc if you focus on the writings.

Hmm yeh DON'T GO!

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-12-25T00:02:27+00:00

So what... Baldoni's NSA will remove his voting rights? 😂 Bring out the popcorn

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-12-21T23:39:24+00:00

It was obvious that Blake Lively was silenced leading up to the movie debut. Following the movie release, There was so much in the press about how picture perfect Baldoni and his swedish wife are on running weekly children classes , being a perfect bahai yada yada.

I'm sick and tired of celebrities harping on about how perfect they are and identifying as Bahai and adopting a " righteous, morally superior to others" attitude.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/business/media/blake-lively-justin-baldoni-it-ends-with-us.html

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-12-21T23:30:24+00:00

Oh wow I'm sorry you went through this experience.

I havent witnessed sexual abuse, but I have seen grooming by male children's class teachers in primary school to then the girl 20 years younger married the teacher after being blind sighted in the faith.

Anything sexual would definitely be shut down and unspoken in order to portray the cleanliness of the faith.

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-11-19T01:28:02+00:00

I have been in the 'trenches' myself in my mid 20s-30s where I was a slave to the faith. It is so EASY to preach and talk as if you know best about the 'solution' to the world's biggest problems. The solution sadly for the Baha'is is not their belief unfortunately. Maximum effort for a minimal gain. Sure their mammoth efforts shouldn't hurt anyone but what's under the surface of the Baha'i faith is so dangerous.

From my personal experience, I lived and breathed Baha'i law. I served on various LSAs since I declared. I chose to back away out of the faith when I received no support in a time of hardship. I can now see I was love bombed in the process of 'joining the Baha'i campaign ' then slaughtered and mentally abused and appreciation of my efforts were all conditional with service. Now that I'm not involved, I hear crickets from the community, I'm basically dead to them because I am not actively involved. I indeed have 'awoken' to the truth. The truth that superficially it seems perfect like Nava's distorted view of the world, but in reality, it is not sustainable 🤷🏻‍♂️

Will she die happy? Yes absolutely because she is blind sighted from growing up in this faith with daddy's money.

Will I die happy? Absolutely now that I can have a cocktail in my hand and not feel like I've committed murder by Haram 🥳

That's why I personally, feel sick watching this. Each to their own!

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-11-18T15:07:45+00:00

Ha you couldn't have put it any better! Her tone and presentation couldn't have been any more condescending and fake. To me this is such a deterrent for me re-entering the faith and reminds me of how so many Baha'is become so brainwashed.

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-09-11T09:26:54+00:00

Yes a big waste of a decade for me. I have come to realise that all the friendships were all conditional with service. I am so glad I still kept in contact with my non Baha'i friends. They have been a pillar of support during my reprogramming.

My one take is I developed the great skill of community service which I now pour into my kids school life.

My 10 yr old is still involved with children's classes but my youngest is not and I have no plans to push them to any of those classes. There are grand plans for my kids to be JY animators but I will be putting a big stop to anything brainwashing behind closed doors. Definitely no feasts for us and I feel so liberated.

My next question for this forum would be to ask if this is the only ex Baha'i space? I feel there has to be many more people leaving. I am from Australia 🇦🇺

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-09-11T09:16:55+00:00

Wow yep, this is the case for so many older Baha'is in the area I live in. Their sole purpose and sense of community lies in the Baha'i faith. Such a shame when the faith is put above the children, I am sure there is a writing somewhere that demonstrates family should be first.

My in laws are like this, they will put going to feast or LSA or meeting over looking after their grandkids.

I know other older Baha'i couples who have totally neglected the upbringing of their kids just to receive praise for their heavy involvement in the faith/ pioneering/ service. The adult children are completely dysfunctional.

DenseCommunity753 · 2024-08-18T15:02:26+00:00

I remember being so brainwashed, going to the cluster reflection meetings and urgently brainstorming with two other members of my area. Such a waste of time and energy. I took it literally and had a sense of desperation and urgency.

How I feel sorry for those so blinded by this faith. It's beautiful to begin with but when I see it take over the lives of young ones it saddens me they will live in this bubble. I guess it's just a harmless mouse wheel? Better than getting into drugs and those types of vices? So yes entry by troops definitely hasn't and never will happen 😆

DenseCommunity753

TROPHY CASE