Character of internet discussions

19 May 1995 

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has consulted on your email message of 4 April 1995 concerning the character of some of the postings on Bahá'í subjects in electronic discussion groups, and has asked us to convey to you the following.

Your concerns, in the context in which you have described them in the second paragraph of your message, are legitimate for a Bahá'í, and you should not hesitate to express them, as you wish, in a manner that is intended to illumine the exchange of ideas in any discussion in which you may participate.

The opportunity which electronic communication technology provides for more speedy and thorough consultation among the friends is highly significant. Without doubt, it represents another manifestation of a development eagerly anticipated by the Guardian when he foresaw the creation of "a mechanism of world intercommunication ... embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity".

As you well appreciate, the extent to which such technology advances the work of the Faith depends, of course, on the manner in which it is used. As a medium for Bahá'ís to exchange views, it imposes on participants the same requirements of moderation, candour, and courtesy as would be the case in any other discussion. Likewise, those involved should avoid belittling the views of one another. In this regard, the House of Justice has noted your understandable repugnance at an apparent temptation to use misleading and invidious labels like "traditionalists" and "liberals", which divide the Bahá'í community. To the extent that this divisive habit of mind may persist in the Bahá'í community, it is obviously a carry-over from non-Bahá'í society and a manifestation of an immature conception of life. If Bahá'ís were to persist in this mode of thinking, it would bring to naught even the most worthwhile intellectual endeavour, as has so conspicuously been the case with societies of the past.

To strive for a “greater understanding of the essentials of the Administrative Order”

18 May 1995 

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has considered your email message of 4 April 1995 and has instructed us to convey to you the following.

The House of Justice appreciates your having shared with it your thoughts and enthusiasm about electronic discussion of the Teachings. The exchange of ideas related to the Cause in electronic discussion groups is indeed a very positive development - one full of great potential for a growing spread and understanding of the Faith - and the House of Justice is pleased you are benefiting from your participation. In all such discussions a sound knowledge of the Bahá'í Teachings is a powerful touchstone, one enabling those so engaged to assess the value of what is being set forth.

Your message suggests that the House of Justice "outline which aspects of current Bahá'í Administration are permanent and which are subject to change". You have made this suggestion in the light of your concern that some of the ideas you have seen expressed for making the administration work better might be inappropriate. The House of Justice judges that for it to make such a categorization would not be fruitful. The believers' own study of the writings, especially those of Shoghi Effendi and including the Constitution of the Universal House of Justice, should enable them to arrive at an ever greater understanding of the essentials of the Administrative Order. The workings of the community, as you will appreciate, are organic in nature and so is its growth. As time passes, the community expands, and conditions change, the House of Justice will make such adjustments and developments as are required. In so doing, the House of Justice takes cognizance of the conditions prevailing in the community and any views presented to it, reserving for itself the right of an unfettered decision in the manner described by Shoghi Effendi in "The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh". Its first consideration must always be to remain faithful to the revealed purpose of Bahá'u'lláh, as expounded and interpreted by Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian.

Evolution Towards World Order

Memorandum

(Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)

27 April 1995 

Extracts from letters written by and on behalf of the Universal House of Justice

You have also asked whether the institutions of the Faith will in the future only concern themselves with the spiritual affairs of the community or whether they will also be engaged in matters of state and be identical with the civil government. We have been asked to state that a careful reading of the words of the beloved Guardian will reveal that what you describe are two future stages in the development of the Faith. Thus, he wrote: "Not only will the present-day Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in future, but they will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power." ("The World Order of Baha’u’llah", pp. 6-7)

The statement quoted above envisages the development of the institutions of the Faith purely as agencies conducting the affairs of the community of the followers of Baha’u’llah. In "The Advent of Divine Justice" (p. 12), however, Shoghi Effendi goes beyond the stage when the Faith becomes the "State Religion". This stage, he explains, "... must give way to its assumption of the rights and prerogatives associated with the Bahá’i state, functioning in the plenitude of its powers, a stage which must ultimately culminate in the emergence of the worldwide Bahá’i Commonwealth, animated wholly by the spirit, and operating solely in direct conformity with the laws and principles of Baha’u’llah", This last stage is described in slightly different terms in the following words of Shoghi Effendi: "And as the Bahá’i Faith permeates the masses of the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plenitude of its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Bahá’i Commonwealth, all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the worlds future superstate." (Cf. "The World Order of Baha’u’llah", p. 7) It is obvious that in these last stages the religious and secular aspects are clearly merged into one set of institutions, i.e., the institutions of the World Order of Baha’u’llah. This concept is further confirmed by Shoghi Effendi when he clearly states that the "Administrative Order" will in the future "assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in the fullness of time the whole of mankind". ("The World Order of Baha’u’llah", p. 144) (9 March 1977 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer) [1]

[I] This extract appears on p.15 of the 1984 edition of “The Advent of Divine Justice".

Theocracy and Separation of Church and State

27 April 1995

Dear Bahá’i Friend,

Your email of 19 February 1995 addressed to the Research Department was referred to the Universal House of Justice. In it you quote two phrases which appear in a book you have recently read, and which seem from the context to be citations from Shoghi Effendi. These phrases are "Bahá’i theocracy" and "humanity will emerge from that immature civilization in which church and state are separate". You ask whether these references can be authenticated and dated. We have been instructed to send you the following reply.

A reference to "Bahá’i theocracy" is to be found in a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual Bahá’í on 30 September 1949. This reads as follows:

“He thinks your question is well put: what the Guardian was referring to was the theocratic systems, such as the Catholic Church and the Caliphate, which are not divinely given as systems, but man-made, and yet, being partly derived from the teachings of Christ and Muhammad are in a sense theocracies. The Bahá’i theocracy, on the contrary, is both divinely ordained as a system and, of course, based on the teachings of the Prophet Himself.”

The other passage does not comprise words of Shoghi Effendi, although its purport was approved by him. As you yourself have since discovered, it can be found in The Bahá’i World, volume VI, on page 199, in a statement entitled "Concerning Membership in Non-Bahá’i Religious Organizations", about which the Guardian’s secretary had written on his behalf on 11 December 1935:

"The Guardian has carefully read the copy of the statement you had recently prepared concerning non-membership in non-Bahá’i religious organizations, and is pleased to realize that your comments and explanations are in full conformity with his views on the subject."

The complete paragraph in which the words appear is as follows:

“In the light of these words, it seems fully evident that the way to approach this instruction is in realizing the Faith of Baha’u’llah as an ever-growing organism destined to become something new and greater than any of the revealed religions of the past. Whereas former Faiths inspired hearts and illumined souls, they eventuated in formal religions with an ecclesiastical organization, creeds, rituals and churches, while the Faith of Baha’u’llah, likewise renewing man’s spiritual life, will gradually produce the institutions of an ordered society, fulfilling not merely the function of the churches of the past but also the function of the civil state. By this manifestation of the Divine Will in a higher degree than in former ages, humanity will emerge from that immature civilization in which church and state are separate and competitive institutions, and partake of a true civilization in which spiritual and social principles are at last reconciled as two aspects of one and the same Truth.”

Reincarnation, rebirth and the progress of the soul

Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice

Date: 25 April 1995

From: Research Department

Reincarnation, Rebirth and the Progress of the Soul

A letter dated 25 December 1994 written on behalf of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of … requests material from the Bahá’í Writings on the subject of reincarnation. This Assembly is in contact with some people who believe in reincarnation and have challenged the Bahá’í perspective on life after death. They argue that "psychological data" such as the regaining of past life memories through hypnosis supports the view that this life and one’s previous life are somehow connected to each other, and that this cycle of physical death and physical rebirth repeats itself many times. The Assembly wishes to deepen its understanding of these issues in order to present the Bahá’í perspective accurately. Their request was forwarded to the Research Department and the following is our response.

With reference to the subject of reincarnation, the Spiritual Assembly might wish to study ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Some Answered Questions (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1984), chapters 33, 60, 63, 66 and 81. The attached compilation entitled "On Reincarnation and the Nature and Progress of the Soul" may also be helpful. Outlined below are some points drawn from this compilation; the numbers in brackets identify the extracts from which a point is taken.

1. Reincarnation, the Soul and the Concept of "Return"

1.1 The Spiritual Assembly is correct that Bahá’ís do not believe in reincarnation. We have several references in the Bahá’í Writings which state that the concept of reincarnation is based on an incorrect view of the progress of the soul and life after death. For example, reincarnation is a "man-made doctrine" [15, 16]. "No Revelation from God has ever taught reincarnation" [15]. Bahá’u’lláh would have mentioned it in His Teachings if it had any importance or reality [17].

The Bahá’í view of life after death does not accord with the idea that the human soul can pass from one body to another. "We come on to this planet once only." [12, 17]

"The concept of the soul returning to this physical world is erroneous, and an outgrowth of man-made doctrines which have grown up about the fundamental concept of the progress of the soul." [16]

Mental Tests

Memorandum

12 March 1995 

To: The Universal House of Justice

From: Research Department

The Research Department has studied the questions raised by Mr. ... in his electronic mail message of 30 December 1994. Mr. ... refers to the following statement in the letter dated 19 May 1994 from the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States:

May they be granted the celestial strength to pass, over and over again, the mental tests which 'Abdu'l-Bahá promised He would send to them to purify them, thus enabling them to achieve their divinely conferred potential as a force for change in the world.

And in attached correspondence between himself and the National Assembly, Mr. ... notes that Shoghi Effendi made similar statements in some of his letters. He asks whether there are specific references in the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to "mental tests", and he enquires about the availability of a general compilation on the subject which would supplement the material contained in such compilations as Crisis and Victory and Opposition. We provide the following comment.

References to "mental tests" in the letters of Shoghi Effendi

By way of introduction, it is useful to consider several references to mental tests in letters of the beloved Guardian that are published in Bahá'í Administration: Selected Messages 1922-1932. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974.:

How dearly all the Holy Leaves cherish that memory of the departed Master, as He commented upon the fresh tidings that poured in from that continent, admiring the untiring activity of the friends, the complete subordination of their material interests to those of the Cause, the remarkable spread of the Movement in their midst and their staunch firmness in the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. It is these encouraging reflections of the Master about His loved ones in America and the tests intellectual rather than physical which He said He would send to them to purify and make them ever brighter than before — it is these comments and promises of His that make of the Movement in that land such a potential force in the world today. The Beloved Master's cable to the friends in that region is a clear indication of the presence of those counteracting forces that may usher in those storms of tests that the Master Himself has said will ultimately be for the good of the Cause in that land.[1] (pp. 16-17) (21 January 1922)