Views on Homosexuality

22 April 2013

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your email letters of 11 March 2011 and 5 May 2012 describing your struggle to reconcile the Bahá’í teachings with your own views on homosexuality, which have evolved as you have reflected on your relationship with your son. We have been asked to convey to you the following and in so doing express our regret that, owing to the pressure of work at the Bahá’í World Centre and the time necessary to carefully consider the many facets of your heartfelt questions, our reply has been so long delayed. The House of Justice appreciates the candour with which you have expressed your concerns, and your earnest desire to comprehend aspects of the teachings more fully is warmly acknowledged.

The understanding about human beings today is heavily influenced by materialistic assumptions. Perspectives of social movements, leaders of thought, and the media are shaped by them. Even the findings of science are interpreted according to such prevalent cultural notions. It is not surprising, then, that there are many ideas about human identity and behaviour in contemporary society commonly accepted as truths that conflict with the Bahá’í teachings. Yet, as Bahá’u’lláh asks every thoughtful soul, “Where shalt thou secure the cord of thy faith and fasten the tie of thine obedience?” His answer, revealed in innumerable passages, is, as you know, unambiguous. “The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind.” “No man, however acute his perception,” He affirms, “can ever hope to reach the heights which the wisdom and understanding of the Divine Physician have attained.” And He counsels not to weigh “the Book of God with such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is the unerring Balance established amongst men”, and in “this most perfect Balance whatsoever the peoples and kindreds of the earth possess must be weighed….” The Manifestation institutes His laws and ordinances in accordance with His intrinsic knowledge of human reality and His intended aims for individual and collective transformation. From a Bahá’í perspective, then, it is the teachings of the Manifestation of God that clarify the essential elements of human identity.

Adhering to Bahá’í Standards of Morality

19 April 2013

To three Bahá’ís

Dear Bahá’í Friends,

Your email letter …, regarding the difficulties experienced by young Bahá’í men and women in Western countries in adhering to certain of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings, was received…. Your thoughtful questions were carefully considered by the Universal House of Justice, which has instructed us to write to you as follows.

You state that the disparity between the sexual mores of contemporary Western society and the standards of the Bahá’í teachings, which, you indicate, are “in accordance with the moral code of the East,” poses a considerable challenge to the current generation of young believers. In this connection you explain that, since, historically, a great deal of shame was associated with sexuality in European society, and so much energy was directed towards hiding and suppressing it, to abstain from sexual relations before marriage is now negatively viewed as pietism. You add that today marriage is delayed into the thirties after young people have completed their education and saved money for a home, that married life is more complex than in the past since both spouses usually work, and that those who profess ideals of chastity, as in the priesthood, often fall prey to illicit behaviour. Further, you suggest that many young Bahá’ís struggle to meet the standard of purity set forth in the teachings and that other young people may be reticent to join the Faith out of a reluctance to uphold it. The House of Justice appreciates the sincerity with which you have expressed your thoughts and acknowledges the very real sense of concern you feel, as the gulf between the principles laid down by Bahá’u’lláh and the generally accepted practices of society continues to widen.

Clarifications on Bahá'í electoral process when encountered three-way tie when two of the individuals are members of minorities

7 November 2012

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice has received your email letter of ... seeking clarification of a passage in its message to the Bahá’ís of the world dated 25 March 2007 about the strengthening of the Bahá’í electoral process and asking how to resolve a three-way tie vote when two of the individuals are members of minorities. We have been asked to convey the following in response.

The purpose of the 25 March letter is to bring to the attention of the friends certain aspects of the Bahá’í electoral process that have a bearing on the sound and healthy development of the community. Your question concerns the sentence that states, “From among the pool of those whom the elector believes to be qualified to serve, selection should be made with due consideration given to such other factors as age distribution, diversity, and gender.” The meaning is not that one should cast one’s vote simply on the basis of the factors mentioned, but that one should give those factors due consideration when choosing among all those one believes to be qualified. This statement is based on explicit comments made by Shoghi Effendi concerning the criteria a believer should keep in mind when voting. He wrote:

“They should disregard personalities and concentrate their attention on the qualities and requirements of office, without prejudice, passion or partiality. The Assembly should be representative of the choicest and most varied and capable elements in every Bahá’í community.” (In the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, appended to a letter dated 11 August 1933 written on his behalf to an individual believer and published in The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1 (Maryborough: Bahá’í Publications Australia, 1991), no. 712

This principle is further elaborated by the Guardian in The Advent of Divine Justice:

Remarks of former member of the Universal House of Justice Hartmut Grossmann concerning the timing of the Lesser Peace

22 October 2012

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

Your email letter of 28 August 2012, forwarding notes taken by a believer of remarks purportedly made by Mr. Hartmut Grossmann concerning various topics including the date of the Lesser Peace during a talk he gave at a Bahá’í winter school, has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre and passed to our Office for reply. The following has been provided in response to a similar query posed to the Universal House of Justice about the same set of notes:

“It is unclear whether the notes are accurate. Nevertheless, while the perspectives of former members of the Universal House of Justice are no doubt accorded a certain respect because of insights that derive from their experience, such views are to be regarded by their fellow believers as matters of personal opinion and weighed in light of the Teachings.”

“With regard to the timing of the Lesser Peace, Shoghi Effendi stated, in a letter written on his behalf in 1946, “All we know is that the Lesser and the Most Great Peace will come—their exact dates we do not know.” (From a letter dated 19 March 2012 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Office of Correspondence

(Baha’i Library Online)

Recitation of the Tablet of Visitation at Holy Day Observances

8 February 2012

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

Your email letter of 26 September 2011 regarding the time at which the Tablet of Visitation is to be recited during programs held to commemorate the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh has been received by the Universal House of Justice. We have been asked to respond as follows.

As you know, the Bahá’í day starts and ends at sunset. While on some of the anniversaries the believers may gather at any time during the day they find convenient, the Guardian has advised that, if feasible, the friends should commemorate certain Holy Days at the following times:

• The Declaration of the Báb at about 2 hours after sunset.
• The First Day of Riḍván at about 3:00 p.m.
• The Martyrdom of the Báb at about noon.
• The Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh at 3:00 a.m.
• The Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at 1:00 a.m.

The House of Justice has further clarified that the observance of those Holy Days for which particular times are specified, as indicated above, is to take place at local standard time, rather than daylight saving time. In accordance with this schedule, the observances held on each Holy Day succeed one another for an entire twenty-four hours, as the earth turns on its axis. If two neighboring communities in different time zones wish to hold a joint meeting, they would, presumably, use the standard time of the zone in which they meet. In high latitudes, where there are extremes of daylight and darkness, it is permissible to go by the clock.

Racial Prejudice and the Divine Plan

10 April 2011

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

The Universal House of Justice appreciates your thoughtful inquiry concerning the relationship between eliminating racial prejudice and participating in activities of the Five Year Plan, which was presented in your email letter dated 13 October 2009. The delay in responding was unavoidable in order to allow the time necessary for consideration of the issues raised in light of the progress of the Plan. No doubt, you have by now carefully studied the message of the House of Justice dated 28 December 2010 to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, which has a direct bearing on many of your questions.

In your letter, you observe that the many activities carried out in the past by the American Bahá’í community to address racial concerns, despite their obvious merit and the results achieved to date, have been limited in their effect and have not been systematic in nature. Your review of such efforts suggests a cyclical pattern, with fits and starts, in which a certain course of action is presented with fanfare by the institutions, many believers take part although others remain on the sidelines, activities reach a peak, and then, after months or perhaps years, attention wanes, and the community is drawn to other areas until some incident occurs or a new heartfelt appeal is uttered, thus beginning the cycle anew. Simply to repeat the approaches implemented in the past, then, will surely not produce a satisfactory result. The House of Justice notes that the pattern you describe was a characteristic common to many facets of community life, leading it, in 1996, to set the Bahá’í world on a new course. During the Four Year Plan, it wrote:

Inclusion of talks of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the devotional program of the Nineteen Day Feast

15 March 2011

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

Your email letter of 12 September 2010 regarding the permissibility of including talks of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the devotional program of the Nineteen Day Feast has been received by the Universal House of Justice and we have been asked to reply as follows. We regret that the pressure of work at the Bahá’í World Centre has prevented us from responding sooner.

The beloved Guardian described that portion of the Feast in which prayers and other passages of the Sacred Scriptures of the Faith are read as being “devotional” in character and stated that its purpose is to inspire a prayerful attitude and stimulate a spirit of reverence in the hearts of the friends. Within this context, the choice of readings is, of course, free and the House of Justice does not wish to give specific directions on what may or may not be read during this portion of the Feast, beyond what the Guardian has already stated. The friends should not allow a difference of views on the subject to become a cause of disagreement and should questions arise, they may be referred to the Local Spiritual Assembly.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

(Baha’i Library Online)

Portraits of Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsá’í and Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí

21 November 2010

Dear Bahá’í Friend,

Your email letter of 22 April 2010 concerning the portraits of Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsá’í and Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí published in Mullá Husayn: Disciple at Dawn by Ruhu’llah Mehrabkhani has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre and forwarded to the Research Department for study. That Department does not have any information about the creator or creators of the portraits in question, or where and when they were drawn. Furthermore, no conclusive evidence has yet been found to support the view that the portrait that is reported to be of Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí is indeed of him.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

Department of the Secretariat

(Baha’i Library Online)