Shoghi Effendi, in various statements, celebrated the
remarkable achievements and potential glories of that specially blessed
community, but was moved to issue, in "The Advent of Divine Justice",
a profound warning which is essential to a proper understanding of the relation
of that Baha'i community to the nation from which it has sprung. "The
glowing tributes", he solemnly wrote, "so repeatedly and deservedly
paid to the capacity, the spirit, the conduct, and the high rank, of the
American believers, both individually and as an organic community, must, under
no circumstances, be confounded with the characteristics and nature of the
people from which God has raised them up. A sharp distinction between that
community and that people must be made, and resolutely and fearlessly upheld,
if we wish to give due recognition to the transmuting power of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, in its impact on the lives and standards of those who have chosen
to enlist under His banner. Otherwise, the supreme and distinguishing function
of His Revelation, which is none other than the calling into being of a new
race of men, will remain wholly unrecognized and completely obscured." It
is the far-reaching, transformative implications of this distinction which we
especially invite you to contemplate. (The Universal House of
Justice, letter dated 29 December 1988, addressed to the ‘Followers of
Baha'u'llah in the United States of America’)
