I have also received and read with the keenest interest and appreciation a
copy of that splendid document formulated by the National Committee on
inter-racial amity and addressed to all the Spiritual Assemblies
throughout the United States and Canada. This moving appeal, so admirable
in its conception, so sound and sober in its language, has struck a
responsive chord in my heart. Sent forth at a highly opportune moment in
the evolution of our sacred Faith, it has served as a potent reminder of
these challenging issues which still confront in a peculiar manner the
American believers.
As this problem, in the inevitable course of events, grows in acuteness
and complexity, and as the number of the faithful from both races
multiplies, it will become increasingly evident that the future growth and
prestige of the Cause are bound to be influenced to a very considerable
degree by the manner in which the adherents of the Baha'i Faith carry out,
first among themselves and in their relations with their fellow-men, those
high standards of inter-racial amity so widely proclaimed and so
fearlessly exemplified to the American people by our Master 'Abdu'l-Baha.
I direct my appeal with all the earnestness and urgency that this pressing
problem calls for to every conscientious upholder of the universal
principles of Baha'u'llah to face this extremely delicate situation with
the boldness, the decisiveness and wisdom it demands. I cannot believe
that those whose hearts have been touched by the regenerating influence of
God's creative Faith in His day will find it difficult to cleanse their
souls from every lingering trace of racial animosity so subversive of the
Faith they profess. How can hearts that throb with the love of God fail to
respond to all the implications of this supreme injunction of Baha'u'llah,
the unreserved acceptance of which, under the circumstances now prevailing
in America, constitutes the hall-mark of a true Baha'i character?
Let every believer, desirous to witness the swift and healthy progress of
the Cause of God, realize the twofold nature of his task. Let him first
turn his eyes inwardly and search his own heart and satisfy himself that
in his relations with his fellow-believers, irrespective of color and
class, he is proving himself increasingly loyal to the spirit of his
beloved Faith. Assured and content that he is exerting his utmost in a
conscious effort to approach nearer every day the lofty station to which
his gracious Master summons him, let him turn to his second task, and,
with befitting confidence and vigor, assail the devastating power of those
forces which in his own heart he has already succeeded in subduing. Fully
alive to the unfailing efficacy of the power of Baha'u'llah, and armed
with the essential weapons of wise restraint and inflexible resolve, let
him wage a constant fight against the inherited tendencies, the corruptive
instincts, the fluctuating fashions, the false pretences of the society in
which he lives and moves.
In their relations amongst themselves as fellow-believers, let them not be
content with the mere exchange of cold and empty formalities often
connected with the organizing of banquets, receptions, consultative
assemblies, and lecture-halls. Let them rather, as equal co-sharers in the
spiritual benefits conferred upon them by Baha'u'llah, arise and, with the
aid and counsel of their local and national representatives, supplement
these official functions with those opportunities which only a close and
intimate social intercourse can adequately provide. In their homes, in
their hours of relaxation and leisure, in the daily contact of business
transactions, in the association of their children, whether in their
study-classes, their playgrounds, and club-rooms, in short under all
possible circumstances, however insignificant they appear, the community
of the followers of Baha'u'llah should satisfy themselves that in the eyes
of the world at large and in the sight of their vigilant Master they are
the living witnesses of those truths which He fondly cherished and
tirelessly championed to the very end of His days. If we relax in our
purpose, if we falter in our faith, if we neglect the varied opportunities
given us from time to time by an all-wise and gracious Master, we are not
merely failing in what is our most vital and conspicuous obligation, but
are thereby insensibly retarding the flow of those quickening energies
which can alone insure the vigorous and speedy development of God's
struggling Faith.
I would particularly address my appeal to you, as the Trustees of God's
sacred Faith, to reaffirm by word and deed the spirit and character of the
insistent admonitions of 'Abdu'l-Baha, so solemnly and so explicitly
uttered in the course of His journeys through your land--a trust which it
is your privilege and function to preserve and fortify.
May the varied opportunities presented by the forthcoming assembly of the
friends at Green Acre this summer--a place so admirably suited to the
realization of such a noble ideal--be fully utilized to further this noble
end. May it, on one hand, serve to banish once and for all every misgiving
and mistrust as to the attitude that should characterize the conduct of
the members of the Baha'i family, and, on the other, serve to familiarize
the invited public with that aspect of our Faith which, owing to the
pressure of circumstances, a few have inclined to belittle or ignore.