Stephen Birkland


Stephen Birkland is a current member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing institution of the Baháʼí Faith. He and Stephen Hall were both elected during a by-election in 2010 to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of Hooper Dunbar and Peter Khan.

Background

A statement from the Baháʼí International Community after the by-election in 2010 included the following biographical statement about Stephen Birkland:

Talisman

In the 1990s an email group named "Talisman" was formed where some Baháʼís began being critical of Baháʼí institutions. Some members from that forum later shared letters claiming to come from Stephen Birkland during exchanges where Birkland warned them against taking an openly critical stance against senior Baháʼí institutions. Four of them ended up withdrawing their membership and some went on to write critically of Mr Birkland in particular. Moojan Momen refers to those participants as "marginal" and, after their leaving the Baháʼí Faith, "apostates."

Writings