With regard to the two quotations you have cited about the
authority of the Local Spiritual Assembly, and your question about what you
consider to be contradictory, the two self-explanatory extracts are indeed
complementary. In both extracts individual believers and communities are
required to uphold the authority of the Local Assembly and obey its decisions.
The prerogative of the believer to offer at the Nineteen Day Feast "any
suggestion, recommendation or criticism he conscientiously feels he should in
order to improve and remedy certain existing conditions or trends in his local
community" does not give him or the community the right to disobey a
decision of the Assembly or to act in such a way as to undermine its authority.
The point to bear in mind is also included in the first extract from Shoghi Effendi's
writings quoted in your letter: "But again it should be stressed that all
criticisms and discussions of a negative character which may result in
undermining the authority of the Assembly as a body should be strictly avoided.
For otherwise the order of the Cause itself will be endangered, and confusion
and discord will reign in the Community."
A careful study of the principles of Bahá’í Administration
and procedures which confirm the authority of the Assembly and, at the same
time, guarantee the individual's right to freedom of expression and provide him
with the right of appeal, will clarify the questions you have in this regard.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 14 May 1987 written on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice to an individual believer; ‘Messages from the Universal House of
Justice 1986-2001’)
