May 20, 2011 -- 11:29AM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

Hello All,

hey

please realize that my opinions are not official, and likely to be changed or modified by posts of the other more knowledgable people among us.

May 20, 2011 -- 11:29AM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

I have a couple of questions.

Are Bahai's allowed to vote?

yes, Baha'i are allowed to vote. that does not mean either encouraged or discouraged. we are expected to be responsible law abiding citizens.

we are not allowed to campaign for any party, belong to any party, or take it upon ourself to run for office.

if our friends and family strongly believe we would make an excellent governor/treasurer/you name it...

then they are allowed to put our name on the ballot (without being a party member).

May 20, 2011 -- 11:29AM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

and what are thier veiws on same sex marriage.

a Baha'i wedding is possible for a man an woman who are not members of the Baha'i Faith, but under no circumstances (ie members or not) will a same sex marriage ever be performed.

worth noting is that the Baha'i Faith makes no effort to affect legislation of the entire population for any issue. the Baha'i Faith makes no statement about same sex marriage legality at the government level.

May 20, 2011 -- 11:29AM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

also if a person is coming from another life long religion does that person have to abandon all of thier  customs, Holidays etc...

certainly not. my wife declared 3 years ago, after 10 years of being married, and we enjoy putting up a Christmas tree and hiding easter eggs.

remember, Baha'i theology is INCLUSIVE, not EXCLUSIVE...

it's not Baha'i OR Christian, it's Baha'i AND Christian (Jewish, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim).

May 20, 2011 -- 11:29AM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

and are Baha'i's required to attend all meetings and gatherings at all times?

no. not only is attendence not manditory, but there is no one going to check up on you to see what your attendence level has been.

I'm going to pick some random numbers out of thin air for the point of conversation...

1/4 of the members NEVER attend any events, the term is inactive. I went inactive for 5 years and was not contacted once about the cause of my inactivity. when my wife declared she just grabbed me and off we went to activities.

1/2 of the members attend events infrequently.

1/4 of the members attend frequently.

0 attend all the events.

one question I'm surprised is missing...

are Baha'is required to donate a fixed percent of their income?

the answer would be no. Baha'is are encouraged to give whatever amount it is that comes from the heart, with love.

May 20, 2011 -- 11:29AM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

Thank you.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá
 

you typed all those hyphens and extended characters correctly, pretty amazing.

May 20, 2011 -- 1:27PM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

Thank you Aka_me for your answers  It seems i have gotten different answers from various people, I have a 3 yr old that i would like to raise in a inclusive Religion since we are a interfaith family  and the Baha'i Faith has always interested me to some degree.

receiving different answers is quite common, and was frustrating to me initially.

then someone pointed out to me "take everything with a grain of salt until you can find it in the writings".

Baha'i canon is thought of by members as being perfect, because it was directly penned by a Manifestation of God. Heavenly Father's Will, put on paper exactly as how He would write it.

when something contradictory arises... ask both opinionators to find it in the writings.

may I ask if my post has contradicted something?

if my opinion is incorrect about anything... it's important to me to find the correct information.

So i Screwd up? darn... 

I would not worry too much  just like in every Religion there are different opinions on theology.

May 20, 2011 -- 2:05PM, Jupiter6208 wrote:

No i heard different things about celebrating Holidays, example when you are baha'i your not suppose to celebrate other Holidays except if other members of your Family are from different Religions, Does that make sense? or did i get that wrong.

I've heard something to that effect, but don't remember the exact source or wording.

my recollection was "Baha'is are not encouraged" to celebrate other holidays. after all celebrating Zoroastrian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist??, PLUS Baha'i holidays wouldn't leave any time for getting things done.

it is possible a person (Shoghi Effendi or Abdul-Baha) said "Baha'is can but shouldn't" celebrate other holidays.

if this is case it would be important to find the entire context.

there is a wonderful program called Ocean, with the entire world's canonized scripture available for searching...

bahai-education.org/ocean/

I will try to find the exact source and wording.

the definitive "source of laws" is a book called the Kitab-i-aqdas.