THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
BAHÁ'Í WORLD CENTRE
Department of the Secretariat
7 April 1999
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear Bahá'í Friends,
Issues Related to the Study of the Bahá'í Faith
In May of 1998, Bahá'í Canada reproduced a
collection of letters which the Universal House of
Justice had written to various individuals on the
subject of the academic study of the Bahá'í Faith.
Copies of this compilation were subsequently mailed by
the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly to its sister
Assemblies. The reprint has now been made generally
available in booklet form by the United States Bahá'í
Publishing Trust. The House of Justice has asked us to
forward you a copy of the latter publication with the
following comments.
As a number of the friends are aware, a campaign of
internal opposition to the Teachings is currently being
carried on through the use of the Internet, a
communications system that now reaches virtually every
part of the world. Differing from attacks familiar in
the past, it seeks to recast the entire Faith into a
socio-political ideology alien to Bahá'u'lláh's intent.
In the place of the institutional authority established
by His Covenant, it promotes a kind of interpretive
authority which those behind it attribute to the views
of persons technically trained in Middle East studies.
Early in 1996, the deliberate nature of the plan was
revealed in an accidental posting to an Internet list
which Bahá'í subscribers had believed was dedicated to
scholarly exploration of the Cause. Some of the people
responsible resigned from the Faith when Counsellors
pointed out to them the direction their activities were
taking. A small number of others continue to promote
the campaign within the Bahá'í community.
In the past, in situations of a somewhat similar
nature, the patience and compassion shown by
'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian helped various believers
who had been misled by ill-intentioned persons to
eventually free themselves from such entanglements. In
this same spirit of forbearance the Universal House of
Justice has intervened in the current situation only to
the extent that has been unavoidable, trusting to
the good sense and the goodwill of the believers
involved to awaken to the spiritual dangers to which
they are exposing themselves. Nevertheless, certain
Counsellors and National Spiritual Assemblies are
monitoring the problem closely, and the friends can be
confident that whatever further steps are needed to
protect the integrity of the Cause will be taken.
As passages in the enclosed reprint make clear. this
campaign of internal opposition -- while purporting to
accept the legitimacy of the Guardianship and the
Universal House of Justice as twin successors of
Bahá'u'lláh and the Centre of His Covenant -- attempts
to cast doubt on the nature and scope of the authority
conferred on them in the Writings. When other Bahá'ís
have pointed out that such arguments contradict
explicit statements of the Master, persons
To all National Spiritual Assemblies 7 April 1999
Page 2
behind the scheme have responded by calling into
question the soundness of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's own judgement
and perspective. Gradually. these arguments have
exposed the view of those involved that Bahá'u'lláh
Himself was not the voice of God to our age but merely
a particularly enlightened moral philosopher. one whose
primary concern was to reform existing society.
By itself, such opposition would likely stand little
chance of influencing reasonably informed Bahá'ís. As
one of the letters in the enclosed reprint (20 July
1997) points out, the scheme relies for effect,
therefore, on exploiting the confusion created in
modern thought by the reigning doctrines of
materialism. Although the reality of God's continuous
relationship with His creation and His intervention in
human life and history are the very essence of the
teachings of the Founders of the revealed religions,
dogmatic materialism today insists that even the nature
of religion itself can be adequately understood only
through the use of an academic methodology designed to
ignore the truths that make religion what it is.
In general, the strategy being pursued has been to
avoid direct attacks on the Faith's Central Figures.
The effort, rather, has been to sow the seeds of doubt
among believers about the Faith's teachings and
institutions by appealing to unexamined prejudices that
Bahá'ís may have unconsciously absorbed from non-Bahá'í
society. In defiance of the clear interpretation of
'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian, for example.
Bahá'u'lláh's limiting of membership on the Universal
House of Justice to men is misrepresented as merely a
"temporary measure" subject to eventual revision if
sufficient pressure is brought to bear. Similarly,
Shoghi Effendi's explanation of Bahá'u'lláh's vision of
the future Bahá'í World Commonwealth that will unite
spiritual and civil authority is dismissed in favour of
the assertion that the modern political concept of
"separation of church and state" is somehow one that
Bahá'u'lláh intended as a basic principle of the World
Order He has founded. Particularly subtle is an attempt
to suggest that the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár should
evolve into a seat of quasi-doctrinal authority,
parallel to and essentially independent of the Local
House of Justice, which would permit various interests
to insinuate themselves into the direction of the life
processes of the Cause.
Typically, when misrepresentations of the kind
described are challenged. the reaction of those behind
the campaign has been to claim that their civil rights
are being threatened, an assertion that is of course
meaningless in the light of the purely voluntary nature
of Bahá'í membership. Much emphasis is placed by them
also on academic freedom, their view of which proves,
on examination, to be merely freedom on their part to
pervert scholarly discourse to the promotion of their
own ideological agenda, while seeking to exclude from
discussion features of the Bahá'í Faith that are
central to the Writings of its Founders.
The effect of continued exposure to such insincerity
about matters vital to humanity's well-being is
spiritually corrosive. When we encounter minds that are
closed and hearts that are darkened by evident malice,
Bahá'u'lláh urges that we leave such persons to God and
turn our attention to the opportunities which multiply
daily for the promotion of the truths which He teaches.
In words written at the direction of the Guardian.
regarding a situation similar to, though much less
serious than, the present one, " ... the friends should
be advised to just leave these people alone, for their
influence can be nothing but negative and
destructive...."
To all National Spiritual Assemblies 7 April 1999
Page 3
The enclosed material is being sent to your Assembly
less out of concern over the immediate situation, which
is being systematically addressed, than because of
longer-term considerations to which it lends
perspective. What we are currently seeing, in a
relatively primitive form, is the emergence of a new
kind of internal opposition to Bahá'u'lláh's Mission.
While it will no doubt assume other features as time
passes, it is a kind of opposition that takes aim
directly at Bahá'u'lláh's assertion of the spiritual
nature of reality and of humanity's dependence on the
interventions of Divine Revelation.
Developments of the kind described will come as no
surprise to friends who are familiar with the
Guardian's description of the successive waves of
"crisis" and "victory" that have marked the history of
the Faith ever since its inception. It is precisely
this cyclical process, Shoghi Effendi says, that has
propelled the steady unfoldment of Bahá'u'lláh's
intent, testing our commitment to His Teachings,
purifying His community. and releasing a greater
measure of the capacities latent in His Revelation.
That resistance to Bahá'u'lláh should now be emerging
in yet a new guise is itself a tribute to the gathering
strength of the Cause, offering the friends everywhere
new opportunities for the deepening of their faith and
the energizing of their work.
With loving Bahá'í greetings.
[Lance Robinson]
For Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure
cc: International Teaching Centre