Dearly beloved friends! Great as is my love and admiration
for you, [North American believers] convinced as I am of the paramount share
which you can, and will, undoubtedly have in both the continental and
international spheres of future Bahá’í activity and service, I feel it
nevertheless incumbent upon me to utter, at this juncture, a word of warning.
The glowing tributes, 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 Bahá’u’lláh, 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.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated
December 25, 1938; published as ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)
