In regard to the various questions you have raised in your letters, the Guardian does not feel that we are justified in removing a Bahá’í from the voting list just because they resign from the Spiritual Assembly. Although it is considered a moral responsibility on the part of the believers to serve on Spiritual Assemblies if they are elected, if for some reason, they feel they must resign from that body—in other words for some really weighty reason—it certainly does not mean that they have lost their Bahá’í voting rights. The friends should be encouraged to shoulder the burdens of the administrative work—on the other hand, they cannot be forced to do so if they have any valid reason to support their refusal.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 2 March 1951, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to NSA of Germany and Austria; ‘The Light of Divine Guidance’, vol. 1)
