With respect to your question about two people of the
opposite sex who are not married living in the same house, such an arrangement
would by no means automatically constitute an ‘immoral relationship.’ It is not
uncommon, for example, for a person to let out bed-sitting rooms in his or her
house to students, vacationers, or others. Similarly, a man or woman may employ
a housekeeper or servant of the other sex. What is considered proper in such
arrangements varies from country to country. The laws and principles of our
Faith, on the other hand, are meant to apply across all cultures, and what
Bahá’ís would consider immoral is people who are not married living together as
husband and wife, and indulging in sexual relations.
Beyond this, however, even if the relationship between a man
and woman is entirely innocent, it is vitally important that they should not
live together in a way that would give the wrong impression. If there is any
doubt about the perceived morality of a particular situation they should
unhesitatingly avoid it and seek alternative arrangements in order to preserve
the good name of the Faith. In following the standards of the Faith, the
friends must be not only righteous, but also wise. Naiveté can do great harm,
especially in the present unstable condition of social morals in the world at
large.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 13 October 1997)
