July 5

It is evident that, currently, there is in the wider society no consensus on how to assess the problem related to race in America or how to resolve it, even among those well-meaning, fair-minded participants in the discourse on race. In the Bahá’í community as well, individual Bahá’ís may express personal, and sometimes conflicting, views on the subject of race; other friends are welcome to respond to such views. If approached with the necessary spiritual qualities, this exchange can help to gradually create unity of thought and action around the concepts presented in the Bahá’í teachings. Of course, individuals should not represent or convey the impression that their personal ideas constitute the Bahá’í teachings, and correspondingly, Bahá’ís who hear such expressions should distinguish between the authoritative Bahá’í texts and individuals’ attempts to explore the concepts contained therein. As you are surely aware, the House of Justice has encouraged the development of communities characterized by tolerance; that implies Assemblies’ allowing for the interchange of ideas, including those that some may find uncomfortable.

Naturally, if the promotion of a particular idea leads to disunity within the Bahá’í community, then an Assembly must act. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 28 January 2022, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

July 3

It should not be forgotten that it was the kings of the earth and the world’s religious leaders who, above all other categories of men, were made the direct recipients of the Message proclaimed by both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. It was they who were deliberately addressed in numerous and historic Tablets, who were summoned to respond to the Call of God, and to whom were directed, in clear and forcible language, the appeals, the admonitions and warnings of His persecuted Messengers. It was they who, when the Faith was born, and later when its mission was proclaimed, were still, for the most part, wielding unquestioned and absolute civil and ecclesiastical authority over their subjects and followers. It was they who, whether glorying in the pomp and pageantry of a kingship as yet scarcely restricted by constitutional limitations, or entrenched within the strongholds of a seemingly inviolable ecclesiastical power, assumed ultimate responsibility for any wrongs inflicted by those whose immediate destinies they controlled. It would be no exaggeration to say that in most of the countries of the European and Asiatic continents absolutism, on the one hand, and complete subservience to ecclesiastical hierarchies, on the other, were still the outstanding features of the political and religious life of the masses. These, dominated and shackled, were robbed of the necessary freedom that would enable them to either appraise the claims and merits of the Message proffered to them, or to embrace unreservedly its truth. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Promised Day Is Come’)

July 1

The interpretations of Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardian are divinely guided statements of what the Word of God means and as such these interpretations are binding on the friends. However, the existence of authoritative interpretations in no way precludes the individual from engaging in his own study of the teachings and thereby arriving at his own interpretation or understanding. Indeed, Bahá’u’lláh invites the believers to "immerse" themselves in the "ocean" of His "words," that they "may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths."

Far from knowledge being limited, Bahá’u’lláh quotes the Muslim tradition that "every knowledge hath seventy meanings," and asserts that the "meaning" of the Word of God "can never be exhausted.”  This potential richness of meaning is underlined by the provision whereby future Guardians, while not abrogating the “interpretations of former Guardians," may "elaborate and elucidate former interpretations," as set out in the extract from a letter dated 19 February 1947 which was written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer:

... regarding future Guardians: they cannot "abrogate" the interpretations of former Guardians, as this would imply not only lack of guidance but mistakes in making them; however they can elaborate and elucidate former interpretations, and can certainly abrogate some former ruling laid down as a temporary necessity by a former Guardian. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 9 March 1987 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)