"Conservative & Liberal Baha'is" by Former Baha'i & Scholar Juan Cole

While it is true that conservative Baha'is object to categorising Baha'is as liberals or conservatives, as gentle or hard-line, for a sociologist to suggest that such divisions do not exist in the community is frankly bizarre.

Conservative Baha'is believe it is wrong to criticise the Baha'i institutions publicly. They support the NSA's right to act as it pleases, even arbitrarily. They firmly support the demand that everything written by Baha'is about their religion be subject to in-house censorship ("literature review"). They believe the House of Justice is infallible in all its doings. They believe that women should not be allowed to serve on the Universal House of Justice. They are convinced that civil governments will eventually be supplanted by the Baha'i institutions, which will rule as a theocracy. Shunning heterodox Baha'is or "covenant breakers" is central to their religious identity. They are fiercely anti-intellectual and often consider independent thinking a sign of "covenant breaking". They are scriptural literalists, preferring any statement in the Baha'i scriptures to the findings of scientists or historians.

In contrast, liberal Baha'is believe that the Baha'i institutions are still embryonic and often act immaturely, and that criticising them for the arbitrary exercise of power is good and necessary. They tend to protest when a Baha'i governing body appears to over-reach its scriptural authority. They are uncomfortable with censorship and often quietly decline to cooperate with it. They believe the Universal House of Justice's authority to be limited to legislation, and admit the possibility that women will eventually serve on that body. They see Baha'i institutions as complementary to civil governments, and reject the belief in a future theocracy. They are uncomfortable with the practice of shunning. They admire the intellectual life, and are not afraid to think independently. They believe that where science and scripture are in apparent conflict, science should be preferred, and they generally reject a literalist approach to scripture.

(Juan R. I. Cole)