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subscribeboqueen, the unwilling Baha’i.
posted: 04.13.09 at 12:00 AM
filed under: religion
I find that one of the most enjoyable parts of the average week is a lazy, hung over Saturday afternoon spent at my girlfriend boqueen’s apartment. While we have developed a regular routine, Saturday mornings are devoid of the tedium of monotony. After I caffeinate myself and suck down a few cigarettes, we shield our bleary eyes with dark sunglasses and pick up lunch. When we are done with our meal, we clean up any stray beer cans from the prior evening, and spend a few hours at our laptops, usually writing for our respective blogs.
A few weeks ago, as we ventured out to pick up lunch, I noticed a large piece of mail at the entrance of her palace. The hefty envelope was addressed to boqueen, and the return address indicated that it had been sent by the Chicago Baha’i Center.
The Baha’i faith is the youngest of the major religions and is spreading quite rapidly. Baha’is can be found in countries and territories across the globe, second to only Christianity. The Baha’i faith emphasizes the unity of humanity and all religions.
I have spoken with boqueen at great length about religion and spirituality, and the Baha’i faith had never come up, so the packet piqued my interest. She said that several years ago, she met a friendly southern woman at O’Hare airport. The topic of conversation turned to religion, and the woman explained her Baha’i beliefs.
boqueen told the woman that she agreed with many tenants of the faith – few will take umbrage with concepts such as peace, unity and equality – but she said that she did not feel the need subscribe to a particular faith.
After a long conversation, boqueen exchanged contact information with the woman. They have not been in touch since the airport encounter, but boqueen began receiving mailings from the Baha’is. boqueen ignored and discarded each packet as soon as they arrived.
I was too curious to throw away such a hefty envelope full of propaganda. I ripped open the envelope to find two documents. The first was a small newsletter about the latest happenings in the Baha’i community. The envelope also contained a large directory of Baha’is in Chicago.
“Don’t tell me that my name is in that directory,” boqueen said.
I quickly scanned through the pages and found her name and contact information. I looked up from the book with a telling smirk.
“No fucking way!” boqueen yelled. “Let me see that!”
I pointed to the entry in the directory. While we were both shocked, boqueen noted that the contact information in the directory was out of date.
While I was outraged by fact that boqueen’s contact information was involuntarily disclosed, she was far more measured in her response, choosing to laugh at the matter instead.
::
I find it curious that a religion would involuntarily sign up members – it seems like a method for padding the number of faithful in order to appeal to those considering converting to Baha’i.
It is impossible to provide an accurate count of members of any given faith. The estimates of the number of Baha’is in the United States have varied wildly over the past three decades and are clearly unreliable. Many estimates make a distinction between individuals with valid mailing addresses, known as “members,” and practicing, “active” Baha’is.
On the surface, artificially padding the number of Baha’is seems somewhat unethical – after all, it is not fair to count the number of addresses on a mailing list as faithful members of a religion.
However, we live in the age of the Interwebs; a recent study found that nine out of every three Americans will have their identity stolen by the time you finish reading this sentence. Furthermore, billions of rapists, stalkers, creepers and Bulgarian hackers will seize every opportunity to find their victim. Widespread distribution of a person’s contact information without their consent makes it easier for these sleazy bastards to find a new mark.
While I am not accusing the Baha’is of regularly engaging in this practice, I am deeply disturbed by finding boqueen’s contact information in their Chicago directory. Nor do I take issue with the Baha’i faith, spare my skepticism of organized religion as a whole. However, it would be utterly reprehensible if this was a widespread practice among Baha’is, in light of the sheer number of malcontents willing to dumpster dive to procure even a shred of one’s personal information. While garnering one’s contact information is not a difficult task, we live in an age where privacy is a paramount concern.
In this age of cyber-crime and Interweb creepers, I am especially guarded about disclosing any personal information. boqueen’s conversation with the southern belle was not indicative of her interest in adopting a new faith, and whoring out her personal information publicly is an egregious breach of personal trust.
A note to all: if you are ever fortunate enough to discover the location of my home (the “bocave”), please do not circulate my address throughout the greater Chicagoland area.
9 responses to 'boqueen, the unwilling Baha’i.'
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Damn…that’s fucked up! I woulda been so mad to find out my info was circulated anywhere!
Michele Frey
04.13.09 12:11 AM
Report this to the Bahai National Office:
http://www.bahai.us/
see “contact us” top right.
Not only will it be fixed, the person who “enrolled” her in the Bahai community can be traced.
Sen McGlinn
04.13.09 06:26 AM
The only way Ms. Boqueen would have ended up on this list is if she had signed a card and filled in her contact information indicating that she wished to become a Baha’i.
The Baha’i Faith does not inscribe people on its membership rolls against their will. It also does not remove people from its rolls without a clear expression on their part that they wish to be removed.
Members of the Baha’i community may also request that their addresses not be included in the Baha’i community directory. Remember, your name and address is completely visible in the typical city telephone directory, and via such open sites as http://www.anywho.com.
The simplest thing, rather than publicly accusing the Baha’i community of any dishonesty or violation of personal identity information, is to go to the source and clarify the situation.
The simple way for her to be removed is to write to the address on the packet of information and explain that she is not a member of the Baha’i Faith and wishes to be removed from the list.
Before taking this step, it might be worth investigating what the Baha’i Faith is and what it teaches at http://www.bahai.us.
Bill
04.13.09 07:43 AM
Unfortunately there are a few Baha’is with “sign’em up any way you can” mentality. Too many people, including some Baha’is, appear to see the Faith as a progressive social movement, not a religion with explicit theological requirements for membership.
There should be a contact number on the directory. Call it, explain what happened, including providing the woman’s name if you have it, and ask that your name be removed from the rolls.
If you have any doubts about the success of this process, contact me directly.
Don C
Don Calkins
04.13.09 07:43 AM
The requirement for Baha’i membership is recognition and acceptance of Baha’u'llah as the Manifestation of God for today, an understanding that there are divine laws and principles, and willingnes to participate in and be guided by sacred institutions. “Sign ‘em up any way you can” is not acceptable; neither is “Make ‘em study everything first.” Entry into the Baha’i community is a spiritual process of recognition. Baha’i teachers would normally be clear about what registration as a Baha’i means.
Bill
04.13.09 12:24 PM
No way! Baha’is wouldn’t do that! ;-)
I myself was born (against my will) into a Baha’i family, and encouraged to declare my faith at the ripe old age of 15. I lost that faith by age 22, attempted to get my name off the rolls several years later, and my request was denied. I was told to think it over. I tried again years later, with much stronger language, and managed to get myself off the mailing list.
No big surprise, really. Religion, in general, is a conspiracy against innocent children.
Dan Jensen
04.13.09 12:47 PM
“The simplest thing, rather than publicly accusing the Baha’i community of any dishonesty or violation of personal identity information, is to go to the source and clarify the situation.” Yuck. Soon followed by an attempt to gain a member: “it might be worth investigating what the Baha’i Faith is.” Bigger Yuck.
It’s common for many Baha’is to try and reign in the free speech of other Baha’is, but extending that to a member of the *public* (on the guys own blog!!) and then trying to slip in a little proselytizing….classy.
Yeah- getting off a Baha’i mailing list can be hard. Good luck.
Amanda
04.13.09 08:28 PM
I recently heard of a case in the U.S. where someone was signed up over the phone. I have no doubt that the phone “confirmation’ process was done as part of official policy because the blog is a sub-domain of the official Baha’i US website.
Sen McGlinn’s advice is wise. Go to the official website, or phone upduring business hours. The US National Centre is out at Evanston/Wilmette, so is probably not far away.
I’d love to hear what the explanation is — and I do think boqueen deserves one. But then I might just be an interfering saddo who should stick to his own knitting. :-0
ka kite
Steve
(New Zealand)
Steve Marshall
04.13.09 08:37 PM
The latest Baha’i recruitment wrinkle is to sign folks up online and process their declarations of faith over the phone:
Technology, Twitter, lead to online declaration.
Somehow I can’t see this going viral.
Steve Marshall
04.23.09 08:20 PM