March 30. On this date in 1937, Hooper Dunbar was born in Los Angeles. He worked as an actor prior to leaving Hollywood for Central America in 1958. Hooper Dunbar served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Nicaragua from its inception in 1961 to 1963, when he represented that Assembly at the first International Convention in Haifa, Israel. Subsequently, he was appointed as an Auxiliary Board for the Protection of the Faith in the Americas and served from 1963 to 1968, and then as a Counsellor for the Protection and Propagation of the Faith from 1968 1973, also for the Americas. He took up residence in Israel in 1973 when he was named as one of the founding members of the International Teaching Centre. Mr. Dunbar served as a member of that institution for fifteen years, until he was elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1988 and retired from that body in 2010.
His career is typical for individuals in the Bahá’í hierarchy, whether in an elected office or in an appointed offce from which the higher elected officials invariably come from.
At all levels, including the LSAs, Bahá’í leaders are generally as authoritarian, if not more, than clergy from other religious faiths, which as Dale Husband points out, is one of the Four Ways to Create a Religion of Hypocrites:
- State that religion no longer needs clergy……and replace them with leaders that are as authoritarian as the clergy ever was.
- Claim that men and women should be equal……but then deny women membership in the all-powerful leadership council of the religion.
- Condemn as heretics those who believe in your religion but dare to challenge the claims of your religion’s current leadership, while at the same time claiming to welcome as friends the followers of other religions.
- Claim there is harmony between science and religion, but also claim that anything your leaders say is absolutely true, even if on topics science is expected to address. Any one of these makes a religion not worth following, but what do you do if you find a religion that has all four such contradictions.
Since retiring from the Universal House of Justice, Hooper Dunbar,
has remained active as a speaker. For example, he gave a talk at the Homefront Pioneer Gala held in Dallas, Texas on February 19, 2017. Here is a brief annotation of that talk...
0:20 - Question: "Do you think there has been a slowdown in the growth of the Faith in the West?...What can be done about it?"
Answer: "It has slowed down...It needs to be accelerated."
2:00 - Question: "When is the Lesser Peace achieved?" and "Can you elaborate on the Lesser Peace which was to come before the end of the last century? How do the Pilgrims' Notes regarding the future of America play into that?"
Answer: "I can't tell you exactly. There's a lot of Pilgrims' Notes. And I think we all understand the nature of Pilgrims' Notes. There very inspiring, but we can't fully rely on them."
So, in this context, reports from dozens of individuals, including prominent Bahá’ís and independent journalists, who repeatedly quoted 'Abdu'l-Bahá in various settings clearly stating that the Lesser Peace was to come before the year 2000 are summarily dismissed because the Lesser Peace did not occur before 2000.
Hooper Dunbar continues by stating that the Lesser Peace is the "opening of a process...possibly have to go through a more calamitous period...We all need to be patient...Can you imagine the Lesser Peace being on one day. I don't think, it's not a one day affair. Those processes of disintegration and integration are going on...The chaos in the world gets worse. The vibrating influence of the New World Order of Bahá'u'lláh as announced in the Aqdas is acting and tearing down the barriers to Bahá'u'lláh's goals."
5:33 - "As far as I can understand friends, the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi says, is going to be built on the ashes of the Old World Order. So don't waste too much time trying to fix the Old World Order, because it's not going to come to anything. As this is the promises we have in the Faith."
5:56 - Question: "In Tulsa, Oklahoma we will be losing our only family with children. We are thirty strong, but are praying for families. Please advise."
Answer: "Turn to your institutions. Find some Friends with children to come."
6:13 - Question: "Where does study of the Ruhi Book fit in with study of the Texts of the Faith?"
Answer: "Well, certainly it fits in Friends. The Ruhi Books were designed because we had a whole lot of Bahá'í that didn't know anything about the Faith. And so the House of Justice felt that we needed training, some training that was gradual, too. Some of the texts are more difficult to chew on. So these Ruhi Books gradually bring people along. And I think you'll notice if you reflect upon it, there are a number of passages in the Ruhi Books that say you must have your own individual program of study. We're not giving up study of the Revelation to study the Ruhi Books. The Ruhi Books are there. We've been told they're not obligatory, but certainly encourage to study them. And if we're active in the community, we want to know what's in the contents of them. Now the later books are coming quite closer to Deepening on various important subjects the organizers of the Ruhi materials have considered. And so they do they provide us with a form of Deepening." Hooper Dunbar goes on to talk of Shoghi Effendi's works, some of which were advising prayer and meditation which is relevant today as well as some that was strategy for Shoghi Effendi's time.
8:20 - "If we don't have teaching... The call of Bahá'u'lláh is the duty of every Bahá’í is to teach, make it the center of your lives. Center your energies on the propagation of the Faith of God. There's nothing you can do with your lives that's more important than that."
9:00 - "We had one teacher in Bluefields in Nicaragua. A guy who was so enthusiastic. He love the Bahá’ís. He loved the Pioneers. He loved the Faith. He would go out and talk about 'there's a new religion' and he said that it's terrific. 'It's the answer to everything.' They said, 'what's the name of it.' He said, 'I can't remember the name of it.' 'Who was the teacher, who was the founder?' 'I can't remember the name. But I can take you to the people who know.' He would bring people to the Pioneers and we would have. So there's no minimum knowledge. But obviously if we have the capacity to read and study, we need to increase our understanding of the Faith." Hooper Dunbar goes on to encourage studying the texts regularly.
11:00 - Question: "Is it okay if you pray while you drive? Or pray while your in bed?"
Answer: After demurring for a minute, at 12:03 "I think you better ask your Regional Council. Some things I'm not willing to answer."
12:23 - Question: "Could you by any chance make a speech about the equality of genders?"
Answer: He goes on to talk about the spiritual nature of the soul, the assignment of gender only in this physical realm. At 14:26 he says, "We have to remember that we're human souls, and we're responsible to our Creator for our actions."
14:40 - Question: "Good evening, could you give us a few pointers on how to address getting the racial issues and greater diversity issues in our communities?"
Answer: He states that this a very difficult issue that we should educated ourselves about current issues.
16:10 - Question about how to integrate believers for whom English is a second language into the wider community. Hooper Dunbar's answer references a quote from 'Abdu'l-Bahá that if you are to meet an individual once, then mention the Faith to them. However, if you are going to meet an individual more than once, you should "Live the Life" and "shower loving kindness on them."
18:32 - Question: "Have all the writing of Bahá'u'lláh been translated and released?"
Answer: "No. I think presently it's only about 11% of Bahá'u'lláh's writings." He goes on to state why so few have still been translated.
20:07 - Question: "Is it a waste of time to Pioneer to a wealthy or affluent cluster with no Bahá'ís."
Answer: "I should hardly think so."
20:45 - "Question from Bahá'í parents about how to help young adults, youth who have been reared in the Faith and have a Bahá'í soul and sensitivity but are estranged from the Faith and now acutely distressed by the intensity of Dark Forces that seemingly helpless to extricate themselves."
Answer: Hooper Dunbar talks about the Dark Forces and then gives anecdotes of Bahá'í youth who proclaimed agnosticism and atheism but later became active Bahá'ís as adults.
0:20 - Question: "Do you think there has been a slowdown in the growth of the Faith in the West?...What can be done about it?"
Answer: "It has slowed down...It needs to be accelerated."
2:00 - Question: "When is the Lesser Peace achieved?" and "Can you elaborate on the Lesser Peace which was to come before the end of the last century? How do the Pilgrims' Notes regarding the future of America play into that?"
Answer: "I can't tell you exactly. There's a lot of Pilgrims' Notes. And I think we all understand the nature of Pilgrims' Notes. There very inspiring, but we can't fully rely on them."
So, in this context, reports from dozens of individuals, including prominent Bahá’ís and independent journalists, who repeatedly quoted 'Abdu'l-Bahá in various settings clearly stating that the Lesser Peace was to come before the year 2000 are summarily dismissed because the Lesser Peace did not occur before 2000.
Hooper Dunbar continues by stating that the Lesser Peace is the "opening of a process...possibly have to go through a more calamitous period...We all need to be patient...Can you imagine the Lesser Peace being on one day. I don't think, it's not a one day affair. Those processes of disintegration and integration are going on...The chaos in the world gets worse. The vibrating influence of the New World Order of Bahá'u'lláh as announced in the Aqdas is acting and tearing down the barriers to Bahá'u'lláh's goals."
5:33 - "As far as I can understand friends, the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi says, is going to be built on the ashes of the Old World Order. So don't waste too much time trying to fix the Old World Order, because it's not going to come to anything. As this is the promises we have in the Faith."
5:56 - Question: "In Tulsa, Oklahoma we will be losing our only family with children. We are thirty strong, but are praying for families. Please advise."
Answer: "Turn to your institutions. Find some Friends with children to come."
6:13 - Question: "Where does study of the Ruhi Book fit in with study of the Texts of the Faith?"
Answer: "Well, certainly it fits in Friends. The Ruhi Books were designed because we had a whole lot of Bahá'í that didn't know anything about the Faith. And so the House of Justice felt that we needed training, some training that was gradual, too. Some of the texts are more difficult to chew on. So these Ruhi Books gradually bring people along. And I think you'll notice if you reflect upon it, there are a number of passages in the Ruhi Books that say you must have your own individual program of study. We're not giving up study of the Revelation to study the Ruhi Books. The Ruhi Books are there. We've been told they're not obligatory, but certainly encourage to study them. And if we're active in the community, we want to know what's in the contents of them. Now the later books are coming quite closer to Deepening on various important subjects the organizers of the Ruhi materials have considered. And so they do they provide us with a form of Deepening." Hooper Dunbar goes on to talk of Shoghi Effendi's works, some of which were advising prayer and meditation which is relevant today as well as some that was strategy for Shoghi Effendi's time.
8:20 - "If we don't have teaching... The call of Bahá'u'lláh is the duty of every Bahá’í is to teach, make it the center of your lives. Center your energies on the propagation of the Faith of God. There's nothing you can do with your lives that's more important than that."
9:00 - "We had one teacher in Bluefields in Nicaragua. A guy who was so enthusiastic. He love the Bahá’ís. He loved the Pioneers. He loved the Faith. He would go out and talk about 'there's a new religion' and he said that it's terrific. 'It's the answer to everything.' They said, 'what's the name of it.' He said, 'I can't remember the name of it.' 'Who was the teacher, who was the founder?' 'I can't remember the name. But I can take you to the people who know.' He would bring people to the Pioneers and we would have. So there's no minimum knowledge. But obviously if we have the capacity to read and study, we need to increase our understanding of the Faith." Hooper Dunbar goes on to encourage studying the texts regularly.
11:00 - Question: "Is it okay if you pray while you drive? Or pray while your in bed?"
Answer: After demurring for a minute, at 12:03 "I think you better ask your Regional Council. Some things I'm not willing to answer."
12:23 - Question: "Could you by any chance make a speech about the equality of genders?"
Answer: He goes on to talk about the spiritual nature of the soul, the assignment of gender only in this physical realm. At 14:26 he says, "We have to remember that we're human souls, and we're responsible to our Creator for our actions."
14:40 - Question: "Good evening, could you give us a few pointers on how to address getting the racial issues and greater diversity issues in our communities?"
Answer: He states that this a very difficult issue that we should educated ourselves about current issues.
16:10 - Question about how to integrate believers for whom English is a second language into the wider community. Hooper Dunbar's answer references a quote from 'Abdu'l-Bahá that if you are to meet an individual once, then mention the Faith to them. However, if you are going to meet an individual more than once, you should "Live the Life" and "shower loving kindness on them."
18:32 - Question: "Have all the writing of Bahá'u'lláh been translated and released?"
Answer: "No. I think presently it's only about 11% of Bahá'u'lláh's writings." He goes on to state why so few have still been translated.
20:07 - Question: "Is it a waste of time to Pioneer to a wealthy or affluent cluster with no Bahá'ís."
Answer: "I should hardly think so."
20:45 - "Question from Bahá'í parents about how to help young adults, youth who have been reared in the Faith and have a Bahá'í soul and sensitivity but are estranged from the Faith and now acutely distressed by the intensity of Dark Forces that seemingly helpless to extricate themselves."
Answer: Hooper Dunbar talks about the Dark Forces and then gives anecdotes of Bahá'í youth who proclaimed agnosticism and atheism but later became active Bahá'ís as adults.
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