Dear Bahá’í Friends,
We have noticed with concern evidences of a confusion of attitudes among some of the friends when they encounter difficulties in applying Bahá’í principles to questions of the day. On the one hand, they acknowledge their belief in Bahá’u’lláh and His teachings; on the other, they invoke Western liberal democratic practices when actions of Bahá’í institutions or of some of their fellow Bahá’ís do not accord with their expectations. At the heart of this confusion are misconceptions of such fundamental issues as individual rights and freedom of expression in the Bahá’í community. The source of the potential difficulties of the situation appears to us to be an inadequacy of Bahá’í perspective on the part of both individual believers and their institutions.
Recognizing the immense challenge you face to resolve such confusion, we pause to reflect with you on these issues in search of a context in which relevant fundamental questions may be discussed and understood in the community.
The extraordinary capacities of the American nation, as well as the superb stewardship of the Bahá’í community within it, have repeatedly been extolled in the writings of our Faith. In His Tablets and utterances, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of the Covenant, projected a compelling vision of the world-embracing prospects of that richly endowed country. "The American nation," He averred, "is equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the pages of history, to become the envy of the world, and be blest in both the East and the West for the triumph of its people." In another assertion addressed to the Bahá’í community itself, He uttered words of transcendent importance: ". . . your mission," He affirmed, "is unspeakably glorious. Should success crown your enterprise, America will assuredly evolve into a center from which waves of spiritual power will emanate, and the throne of the Kingdom of God will, in the plenitude of its majesty and glory, be firmly established."
Shoghi Effendi, in various statements, celebrated the remarkable achievements and potential glories of that specially blessed community, but was moved to issue, in The Advent of Divine Justice, a profound warning which is essential to a proper understanding of the relation of that Bahá’í community to the nation from which it has sprung. "The glowing tributes," he solemnly wrote, "so repeatedly and deservedly paid to the capacity, the spirit, the conduct, and the high rank, of the American believers, both individually and as an organic community, must, under no circumstances, be confounded with the characteristics and nature of the people from which God has raised them up. A sharp distinction between that community and that people must be made, and resolutely and fearlessly upheld, if we wish to give due recognition to the transmuting power of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, in its impact on the lives and standards of those who have chosen to enlist under His banner. Otherwise, the supreme and distinguishing function of His Revelation, which is none other than the calling into being of a new race of men, will remain wholly unrecognized and completely obscured." It is the far-reaching, transformative implications of this distinction which we especially invite you to contemplate.
