20: "The responsibilities of the members of the Spiritual Assemblies that
are..."
The responsibilities of the members of the Spiritual Assemblies that are
engaged in teaching the Cause of God in Eastern lands have been clearly
laid down in the holy Texts....
They further impress upon them the virtue of trustworthiness and
godliness, of purity of motive, kindliness of heart, and detachment from
the fetters of this material world.... They urge them to make detailed
inquiry into the various branches of contemporary learning--arts and
sciences alike--and to concentrate their attention on serving the general
interests of the people; to deepen themselves by attentive study of the
sacred Texts, and to apply the divine guidance they contain to the
circumstances, needs and conditions of society today; to refrain from
entering into the tangled affairs of political parties and to have neither
concern for, nor involvement in, the controversies of politicians, the
wranglings of theologians or any of the ailing social theories current
amongst men.
They finally exhort them to be sincerely obedient, in both thought and
word, to the laws duly enacted by the government of the realm, and to
distance themselves from the methods, concepts and ill-grounded arguments
of extreme traditionalists and modernists alike; to accord honour,
veneration and respect to--and endorse the efforts of--exponents of the arts
and sciences, and to esteem and revere those who are possessed of
extensive knowledge and scholarly erudition; to uphold the right of
freedom of conscience; and to abstain from criticizing and disparaging the
manners, customs and beliefs of other individuals, peoples and nations.
(30 January 1926 to the Spiritual Assemblies in Iran, translated from the
Persian) [20]