Talk:Spiritual Assembly

NSA/LSA

I would like to suggest that this artilce is split into two - National and local Spiritual Assemblies. This article could remain as a disambiguation page.

Any thoughts? AndrewRT 22:41, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

List of NSAs

Baha'i Library [1] has a good list of all NSAs with year of formation. I would like to include this, either here, in a new NSA article or in an article called "List of National Spiritual Assemblies". What do people think? AndrewRT 22:43, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

I was about to split the article into separate national/local articles. I think it would be appropriate to add the link to the national article. I'm not too big on pages that begin with "List of... ", but if you think it's valuable be my guest. Cuñado - Talk 17:10, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

stats on NSAs

I'm working on a Statistics on National Spiritual Assemblies page looking at the growing numbers, but perhaps also getting into percentages of women by some measure. I have the first part set in my sandbox - any thoughts? I haven't got the women aspect included yet. Basic stats for that can be started from _the Baha'is_ magazine which has a table/graph.--Smkolins 02:55, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually I think it would be more useful to create separate pages for Local Spiritual Assembly and National Spiritual Assembly, and redirect or disambiguate the current page. The information on NSAs can obviously fit onto the NSA page and not need a separate page. I've found that it's better to have less articles with more/better content, than to create many articles with sporadic and repeated content. Cuñado - Talk 04:22, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't disagree in general (though the definition of the LSA precedes that of the NSA - and both depend on the call for Houses of Justice anyway.) I didn't come up with the stats page as a result of looking at the commentary here though. I did see small references to the idea but thought the theme had a far greater extent - it looks at many issues that are lost looking at the Baha'i Faith at the bottom of the administation and the top only. One section I'm looking at adding is the percentages of women as I mentioned above - that's an important example of something Baha'is advocate (the prominance, if that's the word, of women) that gets somewhat lost at the local level and gets complicated at the top but can really hold it's water in the middle.--Smkolins 12:53, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Major Changes

Eliminated “leadership” from “elected leadership councils that govern the Bahá'í Faith” because it seemed redundant and possibly confusing. Added a sentence about the Faith having no clergy to the first paragraph to provide context for their importance. Changed the parenthesis to explain what “national” could mean (it could refer to part of a country, like Alaska, or a group of countries).

Added sections on “Origins: Local Spiritual Assembly” and “Origins: National Spiritual Assembly,” to explain how the institution arose. It clarifies and corrects the reason for the designation “local spiritual assembly” (which has nothing to do with the issue of maturity). I eliminated the list of National Spiritual Assemblies because I was able to provide the complete 1928 list. I dropped the list of 1927 members of the American/Canadian National Spiritual Assembly, as the information seems of insufficient importance.

A section on “Purpose and Functioning of Spiritual Assemblies” still needs to be added.

RHStockman 18:47, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

History and Litigation

Someone with some knowledge regarding the history of the National Spiritual Assembly needs to work on this article which appears to provide some misleading information about the organization. The article does not seem to agree with the history found in the November 22, 2010 opinion in this case which was originally filed in 1964. The opinion also provides an interesting look in the way that the court might have influenced the course of the development of the church.

The opinion can be found at http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/361FFT4X.pdf [[2]]

US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal Case No. 08-2306

Nat'l Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the U.S.A v. Nat'l Spiritual ...etc.

Appeal from the US Dist. Ct. ND Ill. Eastern Div. No. 1:64-cv-01878 -- Amy J. St. Eve, District Judge

The opinion begins as follows:

"Sykes, Ciruit Judge This appeal is from a civil-contempt proceeding alleging violations of an injunction entered more than four decades ago. The case is complicated not just by the passage of time but also because it arises in the context of a religious schism, and the individuals and groups against whom contempt sanctions are sought were not parties to the original litigation. The underlying suit was a trademark and property dispute between the American Bahá’í church—formally known as the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, Inc. (“National Spiritual Assembly”)—and a dissident group incorporated in 1964 under the likesounding name of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America Under the Hereditary Guardianship, Inc. (“Hereditary Guardianship”). In 1966 a district-court judge enjoined the Hereditary Guardianship from using the trademarked names and symbols of the National Spiritual Assembly. Within months the Hereditary Guardianship dissolved, and the dissenting faithful thereafter disagreed among themselves over issues of spiritual leadership and doctrine. This disagreement eventually produced a second schism. Over time the former followers of the Hereditary Guardianship established several new religious groups and a publishing firm, all operating in varying ways in the name of the Bahá’í faith.

"Forty years later, the National Spiritual Assembly returned to the district court and asked for contempt sanctions against several of these groups and their principals for allegedly violating the terms of the 1966 injunction."

The remainder of the opinion provides a detailed history and discusses the significance of Shoghi Effendi. It also includes a great photograph of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois which should be included in this article because it appears in the opinion.

The findings of a federal appellate court should be an extremely reliable source regarding this subject. Also, the court records, including the original filings and the 1966 injunction may be a very important source. - - Komowkwa (talk) 05:11, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

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