While all members of the community lend their energies to
educate children, the responsibility for the spiritual education of children
and youth does not rest solely upon the community, and the parents have a very
important role in training and educating their own children. As the House of
Justice stated in its Riḍván 2000 message, parents “should not ever underestimate
their capacity to mold their children’s moral character. For they exercise
indispensable influence through the home environment they consciously create by
their love of God, their striving to adhere to His laws, their spirit of
service to His Cause, their lack of fanaticism, and their freedom from the
corrosive effects of backbiting.” The friends should candidly accept that the
spiritual and social environment they create in their communities and their
homes has a profound influence on shaping the thought and character of young
people and that the negative influences of disunity, complaints and contention,
and disparaging references to the believers, the institutions, or community
affairs can gradually, imperceptibly, and cumulatively extinguish the spirit of
faith in young and impressionable hearts that no curriculum or educational
program can overcome.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 4
November, 2019, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an
individual believer)
