But again it should be stressed that all criticisms
and discussions of a negative character which may result in undermining the
authority of the Assembly as a body should be strictly avoided. For otherwise
the order of the Cause itself will be endangered, and confusion and discord
will reign in the Community. (From a letter dated December 12, 1939, written on
behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; Compilation on ‘Criticism:
Extracts from letters written on behalf of the Guardian to individual
believers’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of
Justice)
April 5
...you had asked whether
the believers have the right to openly express their criticism of any Assembly
action or policy: it is not only the right, but the vital responsibility of
every loyal and intelligent member of the Community to offer fully and frankly,
but with due respect and consideration to the authority of the Assembly, any
suggestion, recommendation or criticism he conscientiously feels he should in
order to improve and remedy certain existing conditions or trends in his local
Community, and it is the duty of the Assembly also to give careful
consideration to any such views submitted to them by any one of the believers.
The best occasion chosen for this purpose is the Nineteen Day Feast, which,
besides its social and spiritual aspects, fulfils various administrative needs
and requirements of the Community, chief among them being the need for open and
constructive criticism and deliberation regarding the state of affairs within
the local Bahá'í Community.
