How can the beginnings of a world upheaval, unleashing
forces that are so gravely deranging the social, the religious, the political,
and the economic equilibrium of organized society, throwing into chaos and
confusion political systems, racial doctrines, social conceptions, cultural
standards, religious associations, and trade relationships -- how can such
agitations, on a scale so vast, so unprecedented, fail to produce any
repercussions on the institutions of a Faith of such tender age whose teachings
have a direct and vital bearing on each of these spheres of human life and
conduct?
Little wonder, therefore, if they who are holding aloft the
banner of so pervasive a Faith, so challenging a Cause, find themselves
affected by the impact of these world-shaking forces. Little wonder if they
find that in the midst of this whirlpool of contending passions their freedom
has been curtailed, their tenets contemned, their institutions assaulted, their
motives maligned, their authority jeopardized, their claim rejected.
- Shoghi
Effendi (From a letter dated 25 December 1938 to the Bahá'ís of the United
States and Canada, published in "The Advent of Divine Justice"; The
Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Opposition)
