Electioneering is a practice foreign to the spirit of Bahá’í
administration. However, it is necessary to distinguish between electioneering
and those activities which should be entirely natural and normal in Bahá’í
communities. Bahá’ís travel and teach the Faith, they go pioneering, they
represent the Faith in relation to non-Bahá’í agencies, they serve in positions
of responsibility. There is no reason why such services should be carried on
anonymously. Bahá’í voters have to acquire the maturity to estimate the
character and true capacities of their fellow-believers, to be able to
distinguish between a person who is self-sacrificingly serving the Cause with
all due modesty, and one whose activities are carried out with the primary
purpose of bringing himself or herself to the attention of the friends.
Bahá’ís, nevertheless, are subject to all the pressures and
standards of the prevalent culture of the society in which they live, and can
only too easily be unconsciously influenced in their behavior by the accepted
norms of that culture. One of our challenging tasks as Bahá’ís, however, is to
establish, through our personal conduct and through the pattern of life in our
communities and institutions, those cultural standards which Bahá’u’lláh wishes
us to uphold. In a description of the characteristics of those who are called
upon to serve in Bahá’í administrative institutions, Shoghi Effendi says:
“They should never be led to suppose that they are the
central ornaments of the body of the Cause, intrinsically superior to others in
capacity or merit, and sole promoters of its teachings and principles. They
should approach their task with extreme humility, and endeavor, by their
open-mindedness, their high sense of justice and duty, their candor, their
modesty, their entire devotion to the welfare and interests of the friends, the
Cause, and humanity, to win, not only the confidence and the genuine support
and respect of those whom they serve, but also their esteem and real
affection.” (Bahá’í Administration: Selected Messages 1922–1932 (Wilmette:
Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 64.)
As such attitudes and standards become, ever more clearly,
the norm of Bahá’í society, the friends will have little difficulty in
distinguishing among their fellow-believers those who are worthy of their
votes.
With this understanding, the inclusion of the names of the
members of the National Spiritual Assembly and of the members of its various
committees in its Annual Report is natural and has been a normal practice of
National Spiritual Assemblies during the lifetime of Shoghi Effendi and ever
since. Likewise it is normal, in writing reports in general, to include the
names of believers who have rendered particular services, even though it is not
possible to mention every person who has contributed to the achievement.
- The
Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 18 August 1996 written on
behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; Messages
from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001)
