While the believers, he feels, should exert every effort to obtain from the authorities a permit exempting them from active military service in a combatant capacity, it is their duty at the same time, as loyal and devoted citizens, to offer their services to their country in any field of national service which is not specifically aggressive or directly military. Such forms of national work as air raid precaution service, ambulance corps, and other humanitarian work or activity of a non-combatant nature, are the most suitable types of service the friends can render, and which they should gladly volunteer for, since in addition to the fact that they do not involve any violation of the spirit or principle of the Teachings, they constitute a form of social and humanitarian service which the Cause holds sacred and emphatically enjoins.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 27 November 1938 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a Spiritual Assembly; ‘The Unfolding Destiny, The Messages from the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith to the Baha’i Community of the British Isles)
