Expert: Ron Price - 12/24/2011

Question
Hello Mr. Price, I just have a few quick questions that I would like you to answer.

What is the point of origin of the Baha'i faith?

How did the Baha'i faith spread?

Where is the Baha'i faith most influential today?

How many followers does the Baha'i faith have worldwide?

Is the Baha'i faith monotheistic or polytheistic?

Who is/are the main deity(ies)?

Who founded the Baha'i faith? When?

What do followers call their scriptures or holy book(s)?

Answer
Most of these questions can be answered at the official international Baha'i site at: bahai.org
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CONTEXT FOR THIS ROLE OF EXPERT
AT THE “ABOUT SITE”

Note: Before reading my attempt at an answer to the question you sent to the About-Expert internet site today, please read the following three A-4 pages and 1700 words which sets a framework for my response to your question.  I have set out this framework below.  It is a framework that tries to place my remarks in a general and relevant context.  If I do not fully answer your question immediately on seeing your question, I will try to get back to you within 24 hours.  In addition, if you do not find my answer to your question satisfactory, then: (a) feel free to write again, (b) try one of the other experts at this site, (c) go to one of the many Bahá'í forums and internet locations now in existence on the internet, and/or (d) go to the official international Baha’i site at: bahai.org.

If you just insert the following words into your search engine: (1) Bahá'í Forums or (2) Web Forums about the Baha'i Faith or (3) the Bahá'í Faith followed by whatever topic is of interest to you; for example: the trinity, reincarnation, miracles, healing, inter alia--you will get yet another base of information to provide an immediate response to your area of interest.
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The function of an expert at this “About Site” is to act within the terms of reference as outlined by the About moderators and administrators.  These terms of reference specifically define the general objectives and methods of an expert.  I see my role as serving the specific need of any individual who writes to this site with a question and who is seeking an answer to that question.  I am not here to dictate arbitrarily to anyone, but rather to serve as one of the multitude of unifying factors at work in the Baha’i Faith, unifying factors that in this case functions to answer the questions of seekers, those who simply want answers to their questions.  

I attempt to be courteous and tactful on the one hand and to respond in a frank and honest way on the other in dealing with questions and comments that come in. Courtesy and frankness are difficult qualities to combine.   I also aim to foster a spirit of independence rather than a spirit which excessively relies on others to carry out their research and their study of the Baha’i Faith.  In some ways, the concept of an expert on the Baha’i Faith goes against some of the essential grain of the Baha’i ethos and spirit. The Baha’i community does not have experts, theologians, and individuals with authority. The only institution with full, legitimate and global authority in the Baha’i community is known as the Universal House of Justice.

Whether the questioner is a Bahá’í, an interested observer or, indeed, someone without any special interest in this new world Faith, often the answer to their question can easily be found on the internet at one or more of what are now literally millions of sites, Baha’i and other, now in existence.  Often in answering a question, I direct the questioner to one or more of those sites for a more complete answer than the one I am providing.  Often, too, I provide an article, an essay and several relevant quotations, at least relevant as I see them, if not always seen as relevant by the recipient, for the reader to go to, to access to answer his or her question.  

In the process of my trying to answer a question, I have found over the seven years I have been involved in answering questions that: I sometimes provide too much information. Sometimes I provide too little; sometimes questioners feel I have not even answered their question; sometimes they simply do not like my answer. The evaluation of my answers by questioners reflects my success from the point of view of questioners.  As in life, so on the internet, with the question and answering process one does not keep everyone happy all of the time.

It is important for Baha’is, and also for others who write in, to utilize the many sources of assistance within both Baha’i administration and the burgeoning number of locations for expertise available in our diverse society. Government organizations, non-government organizations and special interest groups, inter alia and inter alter, are now available at the press of a button, the dialling of a number and a few clicks on the internet. So, too, are books, journals, pamphlets and a vast cornucopia of print and electronic media.   Evolution is forcing humanity to engage in a cooperative enterprize that is global--interplanetary--intergalactic now--in its reach.  This site at About and my contribution to the discourse is but a small part of this vast cooperative enterprize.  My approach and my words here are in many ways tentative ideas put forward as the limited and fallible views of one individual.  They should not be unthinkingly adopted as truth.  I hope, too, that my answers do not pose a threat to the heartfelt strivings of any believer or the concerns and interests of individuals in other interest groups.

There are generally two kinds of Baha’i literature or writings about this Faith. One presents the/an official view and has the voice of authority behind it.  Such words are not the personal opinions of individual Baha’is.  There is a second category which includes all other writing.  The writing that I place here exists in this latter category, although from time to time I insert quotations that belong to the first category to explain my answer to a particular question.  The quotations, of course, are used by me in a certain way and form a part of an interpretive schema that becomes part of the second category--that is, opinion.  For readers who would like an excellent commentary on the whole question of interpretation I encourage them to read an article published in Bahá'í Studies Review, Volume 5.1, 1995.  It is entitled: Interpretation in the Bahá'í Faith.

Truth, the correct and only answer to a question, often cannot be found. This is mainly because there are often many truths, many answers, depending on the circumstances and situations—and many perspectives depending on the person answering the question and the person to whom one is writing.  To put this complexity or conundrum, this enigma, this apparent contradiction and paradox briefly, I could simply say that truth is relative, especially religious truth which is the main variety of truth I deal with here and with which the various questions that come in are concerned. We are all struggling in our own way to come to terms with problems of understanding and knowledge.  

As much as possible I try to draw on relevant quotations from the voluminous Baha’i Scriptures.  Sometimes I simply do not have access to the relevant literature on a specific question since Baha’i literature in its many forms has become burgeoning, especially in the last quarter-century, since the 1980s and 1990s and into this 3rd millennium.  The Baha’i Faith had some 200,000 adherents in 1953 when I first came in contact with this new Faith which claims to be the emerging world religion on the planet.  It now has some 5 to 7 million depending on what source one draws on for statistical information.  In those six decades much of its literature, originally in Persian and Arabic, has been translated into English.  Still, there is much, indeed, most of the Baha’i literature that remains untranslated.

Each Baha’i seeks to acquire, in his or her own way, a deeper understanding of the Revelation that Baha’u’llah experience in the four decades from 1852 to 1892.  What is written here represents some of the fruits of my own efforts, limited as they are.  As I have said above, my words are not authoritative. This part of the About site for Baha’i expertise, this individual among the several available, offers but one source of opinion and this opinion is written in accordance with his capacity and understanding.  Readers might like to try drawing on other Baha’i volunteer-experts at this site, as I have suggested above,  if they find my answers not to their satisfaction.  

The Universal House of Justice, the internationally elected body of the Baha’i Faith since 1963, pointed out recently that “the exercise of wisdom calls for a measure of love and the development of a sensitive conscience.”(1)  I am only too well aware of my incapacities on these fronts.  I feel somewhat presumptuous in taking on this role of expert especially, as I say above, since this new world Faith does not have any acknowledged experts, any theologians or individuals who can claim any authority.

I took on the role since I felt I could be a source of some social good, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expresses one of the main roles of knowledge.  I do not seek any preference or distinction; I do not regard my ideas or myself as superior in anyway. I do not regard my answers as ‘the last word’ on the subject just ‘a word.’ All of one’s talents in life are a gift from God, a gift as one writer put it, of some combination of merit and unmerited grace.  

After nearly 60 years of association with this global Force that makes such a significant claim to be the emerging world religion on this planet, I offer these words.  Any answers I might give to questions are simply a service to others.  If questioners would like a more personal, direct and continued communication with me just write to the email address that I have provided below. -Ron Price, http://www.allexperts.com.   This is an updated statement written on 4 March 2011.  The original statement was placed at this site in response to a question in September 2004.
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(1) “Extracts from Letters of the Universal House of Justice on issues Related to the Study of the Baha’i Faith,” in Baha’i Canada, May 1998, p.18.
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Ron Price
Email      : ronprice9@gmail.com
Snailmail: 6 Reece Street
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Tel          : 03-63824790-from mainland Australia; or
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         613-63824790 if calling from outside Australia
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If you still have questions not answered at the official site, get back to me and I will answer your questions as best I can.
Note: I assume that since you did not get back to me that you were able to have your several questions answered.

What is the point of origin of the Baha'i faith?-Iran

How did the Baha'i faith spread?-Its followers pioneered. This term "pioneer" was used extensively after 1935.

Where is the Baha'i faith most influential today? That is difficult to say. It is the 2nd most widespread religion after Christianity. I would argue its global influence has been minimal until the 1980s and it began to acquire a global and puiblic image.

How many followers does the Baha'i faith have worldwide? Between 5 and 8 million depending on your source.

Is the Baha'i faith monotheistic or polytheistic? Monotheistic

Who is/are the main deity(ies)? One God, the same God of the Abrahamic religions

Who founded the Baha'i faith? When? Baha'u'llah-1863

What do followers call their scriptures or holy book(s)? The Baha'i Writings

Wikipedia is an excellent source in my experience.