Such a consummation will, in its turn, pave the way for the recognition of
that Faith as an independent religion established on a basis of absolute
equality with its sister religions, enjoying the unqualified protection of
the civil authorities for its followers and its institutions, and fully
empowered, in all matters related to personal status, to apply without any
reservations the laws and ordinances ordained in the Most Holy Book.
That the members of the American Baha'i Community--the outstanding
protagonists of the Cause of God; the stout-hearted defenders of its
integrity, its claims and its rights, the champion-builders of its
Administrative Order; the standard-bearers of its crusading hosts; the
torchbearers of its embryonic civilization; the chief succorers of the
down-trodden, the needy and the fettered among its followers--that the
members of such a community, may, whilst discharging, fully and
unflinchingly, their specific tasks in accordance with the provisions of
the Ten-Year Plan, seize the present God-sent opportunity, and hasten,
through a proper discharge of this supplementary task, the consummation of
such ardent hopes for so signal a victory, is a prayer constantly in my
heart, and a wish which I treasure above all others.
[August 20, 1955]