The acceptance of a person into the Bahá'í community should
be based not on whether he is leading an exemplary life, but in whether the
Assembly is reasonably certain that he is sincere in this declaration of faith
in Bahá'u'lláh and that he knows of the laws which would affect his personal
conduct, so that he does not enter the community under a misapprehension. The
question of mental instability has no bearing upon the acceptance of an
enrollment unless it is of such a nature that it affects the ability of the
declarant to judge whether or not he believes in Bahá'u'lláh.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter
written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, April 19, 1981; compilation: ‘Lights of
Guidance’)
