Moreover, the country[America] of which it[the American Baha’i
community] forms a part is passing through a crisis which, in its spiritual,
moral, social and political aspects, is of extreme seriousness—a seriousness
which to a superficial observer is liable to be dangerously underestimated.
The steady and alarming deterioration in the standard of
morality as exemplified by the appalling increase of crime, by political
corruption in ever widening and ever higher circles, by the loosening of the
sacred ties of marriage, by the inordinate craving for pleasure and diversion,
and by the marked and progressive slackening of parental control, is no doubt
the most arresting and distressing aspect of the decline that has set in, and
can be clearly perceived, in the fortunes of the entire nation. (Shoghi
Effendi, letter dated July 28, 1954; Citadel of Faith’)
