Getting Political: Why not?
The Baha’i standard of political non-involvement
Every four years, Baha’is of the United States get a chance to revisit Shoghi Effendi’s letters about political non-involvement. Sitting now five weeks from a presidential election during a cold civil war, it is tempting to wade into the fray, but we should keep our eyes on the future that needs to be built, not on the society crumbling around us.
I’ll get back to the future. First, a few principles.
Voting
In a letter to Thornton Chase Abdu'l-Baha clearly obliged Baha'is to vote and "take part in the affairs of the republic" of the United States, and encouraged to be obedient to the laws and administration of the republic. Shoghi Effendi later mentioned that voting is a right but not obligatory in cases where the voter feels that they cannot "exercise that right intelligently and with understanding."
Political affiliation
Shoghi Effendi further wrote that Baha’is should never endorse partisan politics, and becoming involved in partisanship is strictly prohibited, to such an extent that if the act of voting requires registration or endorsement of a political party, it should be avoided.
He wrote, “No Bahá’í can be regarded as either Republican or Democrat, as such. He is above all else, the supporter of the principles enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh, with which, I am firmly convinced, the programme of no political party is completely harmonious….”
Mentioning political figures
Shoghi Effendi wrote that Baha’is should be “very careful in their public utterance not to mention any political figures — either side with them or denounce them,” and that involving Baha’is in political matters would be “infinitely dangerous”. They should refrain from assigning blame, taking sides, and identifying themselves with political pursuits of their respective nations. They should rise above partisanship, “above the vain disputes, the petty calculations, the transient passions that agitate the face, and engage the attention, of a changing world.”
Political controversies
The Universal House of Justice also wrote that Baha’is “should refrain from becoming involved in debates surrounding any political controversy; and should not react, orally or otherwise, in a manner that could be taken as evidence of support for a partisan political stance.”
Partisanship
Able to vote only conditionally, and unable to endorse, denounce, or even mention a politician in their public speech, Baha’is are often accused of either pacifism or a naive unwillingness to engage in society. Of course, neither is true.
See letters of 2 March 2013 and 27 April 2017 by and on behalf of the Universal House of Justice for a more full picture of partisanship, protest, and social action.
Baha’i avoidance of partisanship is because it is inherently divisive, and a united society can’t be built on such division. Baha’is are trying to build a united world that is built on cooperation and promotes leaders who will be humble servants. That simply cannot happen in a world of endless competition and self-promotion, each trying to gain power for their faction in order to force an agenda on others.
Governments should try to act on a consensus about the truth of a given situation and find the wisest path among the options at any given moment. The adversarial method is fundamentally harmful to that purpose.
Partisanship is already recognized as a necessary evil, a way to resolve the intractable problem of leaders sliding into authoritarianism. Many laws in democratic societies try to limit the power and reach of political appointees, and the courts struggle to keep politicians faithful to their constitutions. A world without party politics might seem nice, but what would replace it? A dictatorship? How will we get by without the soul-grinding competition of adversaries?
A peek at how Baha’i institutions are elected and operate gives some insights into the ark they are building.
Baha’i elections
If anyone doubts that elections can work without nominations, they should see the Baha’i model. Several million Baha’is in the world democratically elect their representatives yearly at the local and national levels, plus every five years they elect an international body.
These elections are free of nominations, parties, debates, or candidates. For the local councils, electors get to know the community in gatherings throughout the year, and each person votes for people they should have had personal contact with. The national election (and future large local communities) are elected by delegates at a convention.
These assemblies are elected by plural vote: each person casting a vote gets to write nine unique names, and after the votes are tallied, the nine people with the most votes are assigned to the assembly for the year. Appointments, budgets, policies, and decisions are made by consensus on the assembly, with no member having any special authority other than contributing to the consultation and consensus.
While there is no direct democracy (specific issues are not resolved by a vote of Baha’is), there is an opportunity during monthly gatherings for any Baha’i to consult with the community and send recommendations and feedback to the institutions.
Necessary qualities
The Baha’i system, however, is not merely the mechanisms of election. Before casting ballots, Baha’is review the qualities needed for the position being voted. For example, Shoghi Effendi wrote:
…consider without the least trace of passion and prejudice, and irrespective of any material consideration, the names of only those who can best combine the necessary qualities of unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience.
I have so often heard Americans using their vote to seek the maximum personal gain. Whatever reforms are enacted to improve the American Republic, such as ranked-choice ballots, they can never approach the quality of Baha’i elections, which explicitly call for casting a ballot based on spiritual qualities, and so often pulls people into positions of authority who never wanted such power.
Embrace of Baha’u’llah’s teachings
The Baha’i system, even with the mechanisms of election and an emphasis on the necessary qualities of leadership, will not serve as a model that others can take up to save the prevailing political order. The Baha’i Faith is the ship itself that others will join. It incorporates the Baha’i teachings on the unity of religion, an end to racism and nationalism, of the equality of men and women, of welfare for the entire human family, of selflessness and the fear of God. Its institutions strive to uphold high moral standards. Above all, it is the recognition of Baha’u’llah’s teachings as a revelation from God, coupled with the authority given to the Universal House of Justice, that will make the Baha’i system the only real salvation for the world.
“Humanity,” in the words of Shoghi Effendi, has
strayed too far and suffered too great a decline to be redeemed through the unaided efforts of the best among its recognized rulers and statesmen… No scheme which the calculations of the highest statesmanship may yet devise… can provide, in the last resort, adequate foundations upon which the future of a distracted world can be built… Not even, I venture to assert, would the very act of devising the machinery required for the political and economic unification of the world provide in itself the antidote against the poison that is steadily undermining the vigor of organized peoples and nations.
The unity of nations
The current order is “lamentably defective”. The increasing interconnectedness of all countries, and the lack of an effective central organization, means that bad actors go unpunished, conflicts are resolved by violence, common threats go unaddressed, and nationalism remains the peak unifying principle of society. Baha’is are not seeking to reform it from within. To engage with the debates and controversies of this defective system, to promote or denounce any faction, is to make it collapse even faster.
Those who remain unaware of a recently-enunciated revelation from God must witness the failures of society without even a vision for what is to replace it. They attempt reform from within a disunifying system, and imagine success as the vanquishing of their enemies.
The message of Baha’u’llah enunciated the essentials for the unification of mankind, a scheme that ensures the prosperity of all nations, races, creeds, and classes. The implications of the new system will become obvious with time as the Baha’i community continues to grow around the world. For a more detailed explanation, read Shoghi Effendi’s letters compiled in World Order of Baha’u’llah.
It is towards the goal of a unified World Order that Baha’is devote their energy. Non-partisanship is a required virtue on the path to get there. The Universal House of Justice wrote in 2013,
Guarded against competing interests of nations and political parties, the Bahá’í community is thus able to build its capacity to contribute to processes that promote peace and unity.
