Attacks on the Faith
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-07-05 - 1 clipping

FROM THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
To the American Bahá'í Community for the Feast of Jalal
April 8, 1997

Dear Bahá'í Friends,

Two recent attacks on our beloved Faith serve to remind us that as the Cause of
god emerges from obscurity, crises will be a means to victory. This past month
an article, instigated by former Bahá'ís, was published by the Religious News
Service in seven newspapers across the United States. The article alleges abuse
of power within Bahá'í institutions, corruption of the Bahá'í electoral
process, financial misconduct, and suppression of free speech, among other
tings. A week later, on the eve of Naw-Ruz, the Dallas Bahá'í Center was
defaced with swastikas and white power graffiti.

These two unrelated attacks share important similarities. Both are false and
misguided and both will serve to strengthen and advance the Bahá'í Faith.
Shoghi Effendi repeatedly warned us that the Bahá'í community was "unavoidably
approaching a testing period" which he described as "crucial, prolonged, potent
[and] purifying . . . ." These tests, he instructed, should be seen as
blessings in disguise that would cause the believers to "plumb greater depths
of consecration [and] soar to nobler heights of collective endeavor . . . ."
The Guardian explained that challenging criticisms and attacks on the Cause
from within and outside the Faith "constitute the lifeblood of its
institutions" and are a means for the strengthening of the believers and a
catalyst for quantum leaps of progress for the Faith itself. A case in point is
that two days after reading the Religious News Service article, a person who
had not previously known of the Faith declared his belief in Bahá'u'lláh.

"Trials and tribulations, as Bahá'u'lláh says, are the oil that feed the lamp
of the Cause . . . ." "This Cause, like every Divine Cause, cannot be
effectively established unless it encounters and valiantly triumphs over the
forces of opposition . . . ." The history of the Bahá'í Faith itself is proof
that persecution is the lot of the chosen ones of God. As the Faith grows,
attacks from all directions will increase. Our challenge is to maintain
unwavering adherence to the Covenant, to act wisely using attacks on the Faith
for its advancement, and to be confident in the ultimate victory that is the
destiny of the Cause of God.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

Robert C. Henderson, Secretary-General
-- Attacks on the Faith (Used by permission of the curator)