Faith Freedom International

[Freethought110]

This is the guy who committed suicide in the UK over allegations that
the Blair gov doctored the Iraqi WMD evidence. The article is one long
propaganda plug. It inaccurately refers to Baha'u'llah as an Arab.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/news/page.cfm?objectid=13193809&method=full&si\
teid=89488

KELLY SOUGHT SOLACE IN BAHA'I FAITH

Jul 19 2003


DR Kelly was one of a growing number of people who are members of the
Baha'i faith.

The religion was founded 150 years ago in Iran but its followers there
are persecuted by the Moslem leaders.

After Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Baha'i teachers were sacked and
followers barred from education.

The religion has five million members in 235 countries and has been
established in Britain for more than a century.

Based on the teachings of 19th-century Arab prophet Baha'ullah, it has
no clergy and is run by elected bodies at local, national and
international levels.

Devotees believe Baha'ullah is the most recent in the line of
messengers from God stretching back to Mohammad, Christ, Moses and Krishna.

The religion's main message is that humanity is a single race and "the
day has come for its unification in one global society".

It also promotes an end to prejudice, equality of the sexes and
education for all. Its administrative centre is the Universal House of Justice
in Haifa, Israel, formed in 1963.

[Unknown 95]

Yes, it's interesting to see a Baha'i so close to big bad party political events isn't it? However, the propaganda war seems to be turning against the Baha'is if yesterday's Observer front page article is anything to go by. I'm sure the Baha'is are dismayed to be referred to as first a 'church' and then a 'sect'! I'm sure you could comment further Freethought110 on the description of the Baha'i faith as a 'a Persian religion that promotes global peace, inter-racial harmony and self-discipline'.

Brid

Revealed: Kelly told church of dossier fears

Scientist briefed Hoon days before attack on Iraq

Jason Burke and Kamal Ahmed
Sunday July 27, 2003
The Observer

David Kelly spoke openly to fellow members of a religious sect about his concerns over the 'interpretation' of intelligence material in the Government's September dossier on whether Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
As the dead scientists' family yesterday met the senior law lord appointed to head the judicial inquiry into the affair, remarkable new details emerged of Kelly's views on the dossier during a discussion with worshippers of the Bahai faith, a Persian religion that promotes global peace, inter-racial harmony and self-discipline.

The disclosure of new evidence about his 'unhappiness' with the dossier came as it was revealed last night that Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, had a private lunch with the weapons scientist shortly before the Iraq conflict, undermining government claims that Kelly was a middle-ranking official with little access to intelligence.

Hoon met Kelly to discuss Saddam and the weapons of mass destruction. Although it is not clear whether Kelly raised his concerns about the use of intelligence to make the case for war, it is unusual for a member of the Cabinet to meet officials unless they have high levels of information unlikely to be known by the Minister.

Kelly, who joined the 5000-strong British followers of the Bahai faith in 1999, made his comments at the home of Geeta and Roger Kingdon, two fellow worshippers, in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on 5 October last year. Also present were around 30 other invited Bahai guests.

Kelly gave a 40-minute talk, which was accompanied with a slide show, about his work as a weapons inspector in Iraq. He ended with a question-and-answer session on the intelligence dossier, which had been made public 10 days earlier as part of what opponents claim was a government attempt to swing public opinion behind war on Iraq.

Roger Kingdon told The Observer last night that Kelly expressed his unhappiness with how the document was being interpreted, saying the intelligence information supplied was accurate, but indicating that he was uncomfortable about how it was being represented.

At the time of the discussion, newspapers and broadcasters were reporting, with government guidance, that the document proved that the Iraqi military could deploy chemical and biological weapons at 45 minutes' notice; that there had been recent attempts by the Iraqis to acquire 'significant quantities of uranium from Africa'; and that Iraq could produce a nuclear weapon in 'between one and two years' if Saddam's Hussein's agents obtained bomb-grade uranium and other components.

The Sun reacted with the headline: 'He's got 'em... Let's get him.'

Critically, however, Kingdon said it was unclear whether Kelly was saying that he was unhappy at the way the document had been presented by the government, or at the way it had been interpreted by the media, or both.

'I asked him what he thought of [the dossier]. It was clear that he was happy with the factual content but less happy... and felt frustrated... by the way it had been interpreted... But he did not say who by.'

Kingdon said Kelly was 'ambiguous' about exactly who he blamed for the misrepresentation of the dossier. '[He] expressed frustration at how it was interpreted but did not say by whom,' he said.

The news that he talked so openly will be seized on by those who have been trying to paint the scientist as a maverick with an inappropriate taste for talking about his work.

However, Kelly's friends attribute it to his personal determination to ensure that the problems of weapons proliferation was properly understood by the public and the media.

The disclosures last night added fresh intrigue to the crisis that has engulfed the government and the BBC since the Ministry of Defence scientist's body was found two miles from his home in Southmoor, Oxfordshire, on 18 July. Kelly, 59, bled to death after slashing his left wrist.

Lord Hutton, who was appointed by Tony Blair to carry out a judicial inquiry into the events surrounding Kelly's death, yesterday visited his widow, Janice, and her three daughters before starting to hear evidence in a case that is likely to last six weeks. Friends of the family indicated last night that they were unlikely to make any public comment until the inquiry was completed.

Kelly, who was employed by the Ministry, though he had frequent contact with the security services, appears to have often briefed journalists on the hunt for WMD programmes in Iraq and elsewhere. It was one such discussion, with Andrew Gilligan of the BBC in a hotel in London earlier this year, which eventually led to the disclosure of his name to the media and his suicide.

The Observer has also learned that Kelly was vetted by the Ministry of Defence and MI5 in the months before his death. As a senior official at the top secret chemical and biological weapons research centre at Porton Down, Kelly was subject to so-called 'developed vetting'.

This enhanced level of checks tests for which involve comprehensive interviews with colleagues, superiors and other associates, is usually only reviewed every three years. A more cursory check, of police and financial records, is carried out every year. It is unclear which vet ting procedure was carried out on Kelly earlier this year.

There have been reports - denied by his family - that Kelly had been suffering from depression for some time. Ministry of Defence officials said last night that vetting, conducted by a special section in York, is largely focused on security issues and that a medical problem, unless entered on medical records, might not be detected. However, one former colleague of Kelly told The Observer that the scientist would have been subject to a high degree of scrutiny. 'This is someone with access to the highest levels of intelligence and who, through his work at Porton Down, worked closely with extremely dangerous substances,' he said. 'They would have been, or should have been, watching him closely.'

Kingdon said that Kelly was a strong admirer of Hans Blix, the Swedish head of the United Nations weapons inspection programme who was criticised by American hawks for being too moderate. Blix is known to be committed to the idea that inspections offer a better alternative to international disputes over weapons of mass destruction than war.

Bahai officials said they are discussing funeral plans with Dr Kelly's family. 'Bahais locally are in touch with the family and are offering whatever support they can to Mrs Kelly,' one said.

'We're working very closely with the family to have a funeral in accordance with the family's needs and Dr Kelly's life,' he said.

Meanwhile, Sky News and ITN are making legal representations to Lord Hutton in a bid to have television cameras admitted to the inquiry hearings, a Sky spokeswoman said yesterday.

The secretary to the inquiry, Lee Hughes, announced last Thursday that the judge had decided TV and radio broadcasts would be limited to the opening and closing statements.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1006711,00.html

[Freethought110]

Hiya Brid,

"'a Persian religion that promotes global peace, inter-racial harmony and self-discipline'"

The Baha'i faith pays lip service to the above, but so does Scientology, and many other groups besides. The global peace envisioned by most Baha'is today is one where a theocratic world government or super-state is established with, of course, the Baha'is themselves at the helm. No need to mention that such a world state would evetually lead to gulags and concentration camps for dissidents and non-Baha'is, if the behavior of the current Baha'i authorities today is anything to go by. Inter-racial harmony has become axiomatic due to the postmodern global village and economy and we don't need a religion or ideology to tell us so. As for self-discipline: this means different things to different people.

[Unknown 95]

Indeed, Freethought, it has been most interesting to see how the British Baha'is have tried to contain and control the Kelly story in the media. Was it really only a week ago that they issued this advice? Looks like the Kingdons will be in trouble with the headmaster.

Brid

20 July 2003
Dear Baha'i friends

We can confirm that Dr David Kelly, whose death was confirmed by the police on Saturday afternoon was a registered Baha'i. He had become a Baha'i in New York in 1999 and had been a member of the Vale of White Horse community in Oxfordshire before the Local Assembly boundary changes left him as an isolated believer.

He quite regularly attended Baha'i events in Oxfordshire but his membership of the Faith was not widely known outside the county.

We are aware that quite a number of the friends have been approached by
journalists about Dr Kelly. We would ask that any further approaches by the media should be referred to the National Secretary or to Carmel Momen, our Public Information Officer in the Office of Public Information on 020-7590 8785.

Please do NOT give the Secretary's contact details to journalists but obtain
their telephone number and say that the Secretary will call them back. Then please telephone the National Office with these details and ask that they be passed to the National Secretary urgently.

We feel sure you will appreciate the sensitivity of all of this.

Needless to say, we extend our deepest sympathies to his his wife and
daughters. It should be noted that they are not Baha'is.

With loving Baha'i greetings

National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the UK
Barney Leith, Secretary

[Unknown 95]

However, we can take heart from the fact that the media are no longer accepting Baha'i propaganda wholly uncritically anymore. I'm sure England's NSA cringed when they read this online feature in the liberal English daily, The Guardian:

Online feature: Dr Kelly's faith
------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Suicide is always a tragedy'

The little-known Bahai religion has been catapulted to national attention by
the Kelly affair. But followers fear their religion could be misrepresented
as a pro-suicide cult. So what do they really believe?

Ben Whitford
Sunday July 27, 2003

Dr Kelly's conversion to the Bahai faith four years before his suicide has
catapulted a previously obscure religion into the media spotlight. Now some adherents, frustrated by speculation that the religion's stance on suicide might have played a part in Kelly's death, argue that their beliefs are being misrepresented.

"Dr Kelly was very active in Bahai at the local level," recalled Barney
Leith, the Secretary of the Bahai National Spiritual Assembly. "What he
found in the Bahai faith was spiritual sustenance from praying with others."

Kelly discovered the Bahai faith in 1999 while working for the UN in New
York, and on his return to Oxfordshire was welcomed into a small but active Bahai community. Dr Kelly became treasurer of the Abingdon branch, which was involved in a number of educational and charity projects, including fundraising for an orphanage in Honduras.

"We as Bahai will always love and respect Dr Kelly," Mr Leith said. "I knew
him, although not very well, and I always found him to be an honourable man and a man of integrity."

According to Bahai scriptures, a man who takes his own life "will be
immersed in the ocean of pardon and forgiveness and will become the
recipient of bounty and favour." The phrase has been widely quoted in the
past week as evidence that the religion supports suicide, but Bahai
followers are keen to point to other passages that, they say, make it clear
"the soul is a precious gift for us from God".

Mr Leith called claims in the tabloid press that their faith supports
suicide "off the wall" and "really extraordinary", saying: "We do not in any
way, shape or form condone suicide. Suicide is always a tragedy, and there's no doubt about that," he said. But, he explained, the texts must be taken in the context of the Bahai view of the afterlife. Bahais do not believe in hell, and say everyone has the opportunity for redemption. In any case, Mr Leith insisted: "We still don't know for sure whether Dr Kelly did kill himself."

He confirmed that Bahais were discussing funeral plans with Dr Kelly's
family. "Bahais locally are in touch with the family and are offering
whatever support they can to Mrs Kelly," he said. However, he denied that
the family, who are members of the Church of England, would come under any pressure to give Dr Kelly a Bahai funeral. "We're working very closely with the family to have a funeral in accordance with the family's needs and Dr Kelly's life," he said.

The beginnings of Bahai

The Bahai faith is one of the youngest world religions, established in
Persia in the mid-19th century. Mirza Ali Mohammed, a young Persian
businessman, declared himself the Bab ('gate'), a link to God equal to the
prophet Mohammed.

Neither violent clashes with the Persian Shah's Islamic government, nor the Bab's eventual execution by firing squad, could crush the new religion. His successor took the title Baha'u'llah ('Glory to God') and spent the next 40 years in exile in Israel, where the religion is now based.

Despite his exile he developed a strong following, and his supporters became the first Bahais. It is from his teachings, as interpreted by his son
Abdu'l-Baha, that the modern Bahai faith derives.

Bahai has faced a century and a half of persecution, notably in Iran, where
hundreds of thousands of Bahais have been martyred and where Bahais are still considered "unprotected infidels" and denied legal, property or
employment rights. Of the 6000 Bahais in the UK, up to two-fifths are of
Iranian descent.

The religion flourished during the civil rights boom of the 1960s and 1970s,
and now claims up to five million followers, although some independent
researchers set the figure somewhat lower.

Bahai beliefs

Bahais believe that people receive only the spiritual guidance they are
ready for. Other prophets, from Buddha to Christ, are seen as messengers
from God, but are overshadowed by the message of Baha'u'llah.

Bahai's principles are strikingly liberal, considering they date from the
Victorian era and have not been updated since, promoting racial and gender equality, redistribution of wealth, universal democracy and education for all. But alcohol and drugs are banned. And like other religions it struggles with modern attitudes to sexuality. Physical intimacy (including kissing) before marriage, active homosexuality and adultery are all banned.

Modern followers maintain close ties with the United Nations and work for
world peace and unity. "The key value we work for is that humankind is a
single race with a single destiny," said Mr Leith. Nonetheless, Mr Leith
said, "Baha'u'llah strongly promoted the idea of collective security. We're
not pacifists - you have to work for justice."

The Bahai scriptures even seem to condone pre-emptive war in places, saying that "a conquest can be a praiseworthy thing, and there are times when war becomes the powerful basis of peace". However, Bahais shy away from expressing direct opinions on the conflict in Iraq. "We are political with a small p," a spokeswoman explained. "We vote and participate in government, but we don't get involved in partisan politics. We find it very divisive."

How to be Bahai

Although Bahais elect national leaders they have no official priesthood.
Services are usually held in followers' homes, although local groups join
together to rent halls for special occasions.

The main festival is a feast held every 19 days. Services, led by members of the congregation, begin with prayer, music and song, progress to a
discussion of community affairs and finish with a party or social gathering.
As important as the services are the followers' charity activities. "Work
and service are equivalent to worship," Mr Leith said. "Our faith has to
bear some fruit and do some good in the world."

British followers make voluntary donations to fund the national
organisation's three salaried officials, and also pay a "Right of God"
charity tithe of 19% on their surplus earnings "as a way of cleansing their
wealth".

"It's done without anybody coming round rapping on the door," said Mr Leith.
"It's a matter of personal conscience, but we regard it as a very important
thing."

British Bahais help to fund and manage local and global educational
initiatives, including schools and grassroots campaigns in Nepal and India.
"The Bahai are running projects all over the world, open to everybody,
empowering people to run their own lives," said Mr Leith.

"The world is full of differences, and we believe the world needs people to
work to bring others together," he said.

Not a cult

Paradoxically, despite their liberal scriptures, Bahai has been accused of
fundamentalism and extremism, especially in the US, where ex-Bahai Karen Bacquet claims the belief in unity led to "severe limits" being placed on followers' freedom of expression. "It would be wrong to regard the Bahai faith entirely as a cult," she writes, but it "can perhaps be called
cult-like".

A spokeswoman for the Bahais of the UK strongly rejected such claims,
saying: "We are nothing like a cult... We are recognised as one of the nine
major religions in the UK; there is nobody of legitimacy who would call us a cult."

Despite their efforts to avoid dissent, Bahai has been troubled by a number of splinter groups, mostly American. Members of the largest recently said the September 11 attacks were divine punishment for the sins of mainstream Bahais and that war in Iraq marked the beginning of the Apocalypse.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/comment/0,13747,1006859,00.html

[Unknown 96]

errol9

Thank you Nima and Brid for your imput here on this forum. and this most important subject that has thrown the Baha'i Faith and its involvement with politics under the spotlight of both the US and UK governments over the recent war with Iraq. war I would like to add to your recent post Brid on the Observer article.

DR KELLY RELEASED ONE VERY VERY TOP PRIORITY GOVERNMNT, MINISTER OF DEFENSE, AND MI6 SECRET TO THE 30 BAHAI'S ON 5 OCTOBER 2002. HE RELEASED HIS NAME.

The public may have been informed, it was all debated (heatedly) on TV at prime minister's question time, (late september 2002) and two front bench MP's resigned their seats over it. But only Blair, (Prime minister) Hoon (defensive minister) Campbell (Blair's spindoctor) and a few top MOD and MI6 members in *INTELLIGENCE* knew the true identity of scientist Dr Kelly who created the dossier.

All remaining 658 Members of the House of Commons and 60 million of the UK population did not know the name of this guy who wrote the dossier giving the green light for both the UK and the US to go to war, it was kept secret.

Dr Kelly should not have told the 30 Bahai's he was the TOP guy who wrote the dossier, That was strictly a POLITICAL GOVERNMENT SECRET. Kelly's ego got the better of him. Had he kept his mouth shut he might be alive today. No one would have ever known he was the guy who wrote the dossier, and now three months after the war is over no WMD's have been found, Kelly gets guilty and goes to three BBC journalists,telling them what was in the dossier had been "sexed" up by the Government and he was not to blame.

BUT HE WAS TOO LATE, HE SHOULD HAVE DONE THAT BACK IN LATE SEPTEMBER 2002 WHEN BLAIR TOLD THE NATION (OVER THE TV) HE HAD THE EVIDENCE (IN KELLYS DOSSIER) TO GO TO WAR WITH IRAQ. KELLY HAD IT IN HIS POWER THEN TO TELL THE REMAINING 658 MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS THE PRIME MINISTER WAS NOT TELLING THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT HIS DOSSIER. BUT HE DID NOT DO IT. WHY?

BECAUSE HE SEEN HIMSELF AS THE BAHAI WHO MIGHT GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE ONE WHO SIGNED THE DOSSIER SO HIS BAHAI FAITH COULD ONCE AGAIN ENTER BAGHDAD WERE BAHA'U'LLAH HAD BEGUN HIS RELIGION IN 1863..

Among those 30 Bahai Kelly met on 5th October you can bet your bottom dollar there were many AO and UK NSA members. present. Why did they let such a meeting take place. This is the reason why
"That the events of this crisis directly affect a territory with as rich a Bahá'í legacy as Iraq is particularly noteworthy." The UHJ was all for the war with Iraq. because they mention it in their Ridvan message 2003:

http://bahai-library.org/published.uhj/ridvan/2003.html

Errol

[Freethought110]

What gets my goat especially is that when they (the Baha'i AO) involve themselves so blatantly in shacky politics like this, they handily give the lie away to Islamists and other assorted militant Islamic crackpots who have been saying with hate for years and years that the 'Baha'is are a tool in the hand of of international imperialism', 'Zionist spies' and other assorted paranoid verbiage. Innocent joe (mom, pop, brother and sister lay) Baha'is in Iran went needlessly and innocently to their deaths under the fascist bloodthirsty Ayatollahs in Iran in the 1980s, and then the Baha'i AO gets all chummy with governments and administrations in the West and Israel!! What happened to political neutrality and non-involvement??

This _is_ core the issue!

[Freethought110]

PS The picture of Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevarra is just a gimick! It's become commercially trendy in some places to sport a picture of comrade Che. Talk about irony...

[Freethought110]

Bahai Fundamentalist Obfuscation & Confusion


EVIDENCE grows... Dr. David Kelly & the Baha'i Faith
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Kelly.htm


It's essential if you're trying to understand the possible role of the
Baha'i Faith in the David Kelly affair that you be on your
guard against the distortions and self-serving misrepresentations
of the fundamentalists who now control the bahai administration.

At the very least, I recommend you read the following articles:

Professor Juan R. I. Cole, University of Michigan, Dept. History,
"Fundamentalism in the Contemporary U.S. Baha'i Community,"
Religious Studies Review, Vol. 43, no. 3 (March, 2002):195-217:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/bahai/2002/fundbhfn.htm

Karen Bacquet, "Enemies Within: Conflict and Control in the
Baha'i Community." Published in American Family Foundation's
Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 18, pp.109-140:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/bigquestions/enemies.html

I then suggest you read "The Bahai Technique," a collection
of observations, stretching back more than a decade, by baha'is,
ex-bahais, and non-bahais on the techniques used by bahai
fundamentalists to discredit, marginalize, and demonize anyone
with an opinion other than the approved view:
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/technique.htm

Various other documents on my website may be of interest.

--
Frederick Glaysher
The Bahai Faith & Religious Freedom of Conscience
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/