The use of force by the physically strong against the weak,
as a means of imposing one's will and fulfilling one's desires, is a flagrant
transgression of the Bahá'í Teachings. There can be no justification for anyone
compelling another, through the use of force or through the threat of violence,
to do that to which the other person is not inclined. 'Abdu'l-Bahá has written,
"O ye lovers of God! In this, the cycle of Almighty God, violence and
force, constraint and oppression, are one and all condemned." Let those
who, driven by their passions or by their inability to exercise discipline in
the control of their anger, might be tempted to inflict violence on another
human being, be mindful of the condemnation of such disgraceful behaviour by
the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter
dated 24 January 1993 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an
individual believer)
