| In the 2007 nsa lawsuit against other Bahai denominations, the
Reform Bahai Faith submitted three letters as amici curiae to Judge Amy J. St. Eve:
Here are highlights from both the April 23, 2008 Opinion and Motion.
Original documents at Contempt Motion by Wilmette NSA
& Response by Orthodox Bahá'í Faith
http://trueseeker.typepad.com/true_seeker/court_case.html
http://www.truebahai.com/court/139-opinion.pdf
http://www.truebahai.com/court/140-judgment.pdf
"[T]he chain of successorship lacks a link," wrote the Honorable Amy J.
St Eve, United States District Court Judge, in her Judgment in favor of
theChicago_trial_january_7_2008_006 Orthodox Bahai Faith and the Baha'i
Publishers Under the Provisions of the Covenant. The Court ruled on
April 23, 2008 after holding an evidentiary hearing last January 7, 2008
in Chicago, Illinois on the contempt motion brought by the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States (Wilmette NSA).
In her decision, the Court stated that: "the vast weight of the record
(including credible testimony) reflects that there was a significant
doctrinal rift on a critical tenet of each group's faith, and that the
PNBC's membership varied materially from that of the NSA-UHG. The record
further reflects a demonstrable lack of intent to violate the
injunction, and that the PNBC was not created to avoid the effect of the
injunction. Simply put, there is no substantial continuity between the
NSA-UHG and the PNBC, and, as a result, Mr. Schlatter, Mr. Marangella,
and the PNBC have not violated the injunction."
Excerpts:
p: 12
II. Application To The Court's Findings of Fact Applying the
above-stated principles here, none of the Alleged Contemnors is in
privity with the bound entity, and thus none has violated the
injunction. In rendering this finding, the Court has carefully and
deliberately weighed all of the evidence adduced at the hearing and
otherwise submitted by the parties. The Court closely assessed the
demeanor of each testifying witness, including his or her body language,
tone of voice, facial expressions, mannerisms, and other factors
indicative of credibility.
p. 27
Rather, the vast weight of the record (including credible testimony)
reflects that there was a significant doctrinal rift on a critical tenet
of each group's faith, and that the PNBC's membership varied materially
from that of the NSA-UHG. The record further reflects a demonstrable
lack of intent
to violate the injunction, and that the PNBC was not created to avoid
the effect of the injunction. Simply put, there is no substantial
continuity between the NSA-UHG and the PNBC, and, as a result, Mr.
Schlatter, Mr. Marangella, and the PNBC have not violated the
injunction.
p. 31
After considering the full record in this case, the Court finds that
SIBC and the BPUPC are not in privity with the NSA-UHG....
p. 32
CONCLUSION
For the above reasons, the Court finds that the Alleged Contemnors are
not in privity with the NSA-UHG and, in turn, that they are not in
contempt of the injunction.
Judge Amy J. St. Eve
April 23, 2008
--
January 7, 2008 - Letter to Judge Amy J. St. Eve
FYI
Reform Bahai Faith
www.reformbahai.org
January 7, 2008
Re: Civil Action No. 64 C 1878
The Honorable Amy J. St. Eve
United States District Court
Northern District of Illinois
Courtroom 1241, Chambers 1260
Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Building
219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Dear Judge St. Eve:
The Reform Bahai Faith submits to the Court that the NSA of Wilmette,
while publicly hiding behind a facade of liberalism, is essentially
practicing Islamic "takfir," in the words of the scholar of Islam
Bernard Lewis, "recognizing and denouncing apostasy," labeling people "kafir"
or infidels, and issuing "fatwas" or decrees, denying the very existence
of other Bahais and denominations, all indicative of the worst in the
Shiite Islamic heritage of the Bahai Faith-practices Baha'u'llah
specifically rejected, teaching tolerance of different religious views
congruent with modern Western custom and practice. Nothing could be more
diametrically opposed to the democracy of our civic and legal order. The
NSA of Wilmette is essentially seeking to use the Court in a type of
jihad.
Although the Reform Bahai Faith is not a party to Civil Action No. 64 C
1878, we have knowledge of what we believe are malicious and slanderous
misrepresentations made to the Court on behalf of the NSA of Wilmette in
Document 49-2:
"14. The Web site at 'reformbahai.org' is the site of an outspoken
critic of NSA named Frederick Glaysher. While the Web site gives the
impression that an organization is associated with Mr. Glaysher, there
is no such organization. On information and belief, Mr. Glaysher's
claims are simply not taken seriously by any one. The Web site is merely
a stage, in a comer of the Web, for Mr. Glaysher's unusual fixation
upon, and animus toward, NSA. This, of course, is not evidence of a
Baha'i Faith denomination. The attached affidavit of Tracey Giertz
indicates there was no content at this site until September 3, 2004. See
id at ¶ 18."
The NSA of Wilmette offers the Court no "information" but ad hominem and
slanderous vilification, which it has routinely used against other Bahai
denominations since as early as the 1930s. Tracey Giertz, in her
affidavit ends with Paragraph 16, making no mention of the Reform Bahai
Faith or www.reformbahai.org, only the Free Bahais. Neither I nor the
Reform Bahai Faith has ever had any interest in, or ownership of, the
Free Bahais and their website. Nor have I or the Reform Bahai Faith ever
been involved in any way with the Unitarian Bahais and their website.
Our website was available online beginning August 19, 2004. By chance,
the Reform Bahai website is registered through the same registration
service as the Free Bahais, GoDaddy.com, one of the least expensive,
used by over 25 million people, and which protects personal information
from identity thieves. The Archive service Tracey Giertz used often
takes a week or two to find and document new websites.
With approximately [deleted] members, most of whom are US citizens,
Reform Bahais indeed do exist and are actively seeking to grow and
develop in accordance with the rights and obligations of the
Constitution and Bill of Rights. The NSA is seeking to use the ruling of
a US Court against Bahai denominations who hold other religious opinions
and thereby prohibit the "free exercise"of their and our First Amendment
rights.
I also wish to inform the Court that the Reform Bahai Press has just
published its first book of Bahai writings, The Universal Principles of
the Reform Bahai Faith, available for sale throughout the country and
much of the world since December 14, 2007. I have enclosed a copy of the
book for the Court as further evidence of our existence as a growing,
independent Bahai denomination.
The Reform Bahai Faith does not use either an apostrophe nor diacritical
marks in the generic word Bahai, a spelling widely used in the USA since
as early as 1900.
The Reform Bahai Faith emphatically presents before the Court the fact
that it does not look to other Bahai denominations for its understanding
of the Teachings of Baha'u'llah, especially all those denominations who
are named parties, all of which we believe are based upon a fraudulent
will and testament, purporting to be that of Abdu'l-Baha, and which
document gave birth to the fundamentalist religious organization that
has initiated the lawsuit before the Court, pretending to be a mere
corporation. We provided the Court with a certified copy from the
Library of Congress of Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell's Report on the Writing
Shown on the Photographs of the Alleged Will of Abdu'l-Baha on March 8,
2007.
The animus of the NSA of Wilmette against the Reform Bahai Faith stems,
among those reasons already alluded to, from the fact that the Reform
Bahai Faith does not believe in an eventual Bahai theocracy; but a
separation of church and state; rejects the infallibility of any Bahai
Universal House of Justice; accepts that women can serve at all elected
levels, including someday on a properly elected Bahai Universal House of
Justice, unlike the corrupt one now located in Haifa, Israel.
We draw the attention of the Court to twenty-six pages of selections
from Mirza Ahmad Sohrab's Broken Silence: The Story of Today's Struggle
for Religious Freedom (1942), documenting the attempts by the NSA of
Wilmette to trademark and copyright the generic term Bahai in 1928,
though Bahais of different belief already existed at that time in Ruth
White and others; the 1941 case before Judge Valente of the New York
Supreme Court, in New York County; both revealing the unmitigated
viciousness that the NSA has directed in the past against American
citizens who were Bahais holding different religious convictions.
Available via the Internet, Excerpts regarding the 1941 New York Supreme
Court Case before Judge Valente:
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/archives/BrokenSilence,CourtCase.pdf
We again appeal to the Court to protect our Constitutional rights to
religious freedom and liberty.
Most respectfully yours,
Reform Bahai Faith
Enclosure: The Universal Principles of the Reform Bahai Faith. Reform
Bahai Press, 2008. 148 pages.
June 18, 2007
The Honorable Amy J. St. Eve
United States District Court
Northern District of Illinois
Courtroom 1241, Chambers 1260
Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Building
219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Re: Civil Action No. 64 C 1878
Dear Judge St. Eve:
As amici curiae, members of the Reform Bahai Faith are very concerned
about the impact of this lawsuit upon our denomination.
The lawyer [delete] has reported to us that the nsa of the Haifan Baha'i
denomination has claimed in Court that the Reform Bahai Faith does not
exist. I am writing to inform you that there are approximately [delete]
members of the Reform Bahai Faith, most of whom are citizens of the
United States of America. The Reform Bahai Press is a legally registered
entity in Oakland County, Michigan and will publish its first book in
2008.
As mentioned in my March 8, 2007 amici curiae letter to you, while
members of the Reform Bahai Faith believe the will and testament of
Abdu'l-Baha was a fraudulent document, the Reform Bahai Faith looks to
the beginning of our denomination in the numerous books and writings of
Ruth White, Julie Chanler, and Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, from 1928 through the
1950s. The latter two were both described in New York Times obituaries
as members of the Reform Bahai Movement, and I herewith provide
documentation.
In our view, the nsa of the Haifan Baha'i denomination is hiding behind
and using, indeed manipulating corporate law to conduct what is
essentially a doctrinal struggle with the several Bahai denominations
that have evolved and have existed since as early as 1928 in the case of
Ruth White. The nsa has done this repeatedly through the US courts and
legal system: in 1928 through misrepresentation and fraud it copyrighted
and trademarked the word Bahai; in 1941, it sued unsuccessfully Chanler
and Sohrab twice; it sued Mason Remey in 1966 but he was reportedly too
old and feeble to show up and defend himself being out of the country;
it is now attempting to use the US District Court of Northern Illinois
to silence the several active and existing Bahai denominations with
which it differs on religious doctrine and interpretation. For decades,
in and out of the courts, the nsa has used such reprehensible tactics as
slander, ad hominem, shunning, and intimidation, and the like, to muzzle
and discredit dissenters and other denominations.
We ask the Court to protect both our Constitutional right to religious
freedom and conscience and to protect us from having to choose between
our loyalty to our government and legal system and the integrity of our
beliefs. Though small in number from our beginning in 2004, we are
sincere in our religious convictions, and ask the Court to protect our
right to grow and develop unharassed by those who under the guise of
corporate law seek to destroy us.
Respectfully,
The Reform Bahai Faith
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty
www.ReformBahai.org
Mirza Ahamd Sohrab died Apr 20, 1958. In his obituary he is described as
"leader of the Reform Bahá'í Movement in the United States". The New
York Times, Apr 22, 1958; p. 33 "Obituary."
New York Times Preview attached as documentation:
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70B11F73D59107B93C0AB178FD85F4C8585F9
Wikipedia biography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_Ahmad_Sohrab
Julie Olin Chanler. She died on March 11, 1961, in her obituary she was
described as "spiritual leader of the Reform Baha'i movement...." The
New York Times, Mar 12, 1961; pg 86. Her husband was Lewis Stuyvesant
Chanler, an ex-Lieutenant Governor of New York (1907-08) and a former
Democratic candidate for Governor.
Wikipedia biography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Lynch_Olin
Given the recent attempt (April 07) to suppress discussion on Google Groups,
apparently about Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell's impeccable qualifications
to judge the authenticity of Abdu'l-Baha's purported will and testament,
here is the letter that the Reform Bahai Faith, as amici curiae,
submitted to Judge Amy St. Eve on March 8, 2007:
March 8, 2007
The Honorable Amy J. St. Eve
United States District Court
Northern District of Illinois
Courtroom 1241, Chambers 1260
Everett McKinley Dirksen Federal Building
219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Re: Civil Action No. 64 C 1878
Dear Judge St. Eve:
As amici curiae, members of the Reform Bahai Faith are concerned about
the impact of the present lawsuit upon our denomination, though
differing in view from all named parties. Religious liberty is not only
involved but is the issue before the Court.
While all named parties essentially differ over their interpretation of
the purported will and testament of Abdu'l-Baha, members of the Reform
Bahai Faith agree with the 1929 opinion of Bahai Ruth White and the 1930
Report of Dr. Charles Ainsworth Mitchell that the will is a fraudulent
document.
Dr. Mitchell was a leading forensic researcher of the time at the
British Museum and his work is still cited in academic sources. His
Report is deposited with the Library of Congress (LC Control No.: mm
81000871) and a recently obtained certified copy is herewith provided to
the Court.
The key passage of
Dr. Mitchell’s Report, on the last page, second to the last
paragraph, reads, “A minute comparison of the authenticated
writing with the writing on every page of the alleged will . . . has
failed to detect in any part of the will the characteristics of the
writing of Abdu’l-Baha, as shown in the authenticated specimens.”
Respectfully,
Frederick Glaysher
The Reform Bahai Faith
95 Theses - On Bahai Liberty
www.ReformBahai.org
[original certified copy enclosed to Judge Amy St. Eve]
--
A SCANNED COPY of Dr. Mitchell's certified Report may be examined at the
link below:
Dr. C. (Charles) Ainsworth Mitchell - Certified Copy from the Library
of Congress
Report on the Writing Shown on the Photographs of the Alleged Will of
Abdu'l-Baha. 1930.
http://www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/CAMitchell_Report.htm
|