Baháʼí review is a requirement within the Baháʼí Faith that members must secure the permission of a Baháʼí committee before publishing anything on the religion. The Baháʼí community says the review is needed to protect the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith in its infancy when inaccurate statements could cause harm, especially given the current persecution of Baháʼís in Iran and other parts of the world. Some characterize this requirement as a form of censorship, since there are penalties for non-compliance.
History
wrote that Baháʼí authors should write in a manner as to attract souls: The origin of the requirement for review comes from ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. Shoghi Effendi, with the above statement in mind, stated that due to the infancy of the Baháʼí Faith, the accuracy of information presented about it needed to be verified since an inaccurate statement could cause much harm to it. Shoghi Effendi wrote:
Purpose
The purpose of the review is threefold:
To ensure the accuracy of the presentation of the teachings of the Faith
To protect the Faith from misrepresentation by its own followers
The review committee is recommended to be small, composed of two or three believers which have an adequate education and knowledge of the Baháʼí Faith; and they need to deal with submitted works in a prompt manner. Their purpose is to uphold the following standards for the publication:
That is conforms with the teachings of the Baháʼí Faith
That it is accurate, which may include verification of any quotations from the Baháʼí writings
That the presentation is dignified
The review committee does not evaluate the literary merit of the work which is the prerogative of the publisher.
Cessation
Some people have suggested that since accurate information on the faith is now widely available, the policy should be discontinued. An example would be Juan Cole, who writes: Baháʼís would note that Juan Cole is not a disinterested observer, as he states in his paper, as he had withdrawn from membership in the Baháʼí Faith as a result of an investigation into his email postings on a variety of controversial issues. In regards to the process of review, the Baháʼí institutions have signalled their intention to continue the requirement into the indefinite future; they state that even though the Baháʼí Faith is no longer an obscure religion, the large majority of people do not know of its existence, and that most of its adherents are relatively new Baháʼís. Because of these two things, and that the Baháʼí Faith can no longer be protected by obscurity, it becomes more important to follow the guidance of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi to present a correct view when more people will first hear about it:
