he birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission, the first stage
in its historic Mission destined to embrace so vital a section of the
European, and so colossal an area in the Asiatic, continents. May this
community prove itself worthy of its high destiny.

Shoghi

LETTER OF 30 DECEMBER 1950

30 December 1950

NONATTENDANCE FEAST DOES NOT JUSTIFY SUSPENSION VOTING RIGHTS.

SHOGHI

LETTER OF 2 MARCH 1951

2 March 1951

Dear Baha'i Friends:

Your letters dated June 12th, October 23rd and December 14th, 1950, and
February 12th and 13th, 1951, as well as your latest dated 2.3.51,
together with their enclosures, have been received, and our beloved
Guardian has instructed me to answer you on his behalf. The material sent
under separate cover has also been received.

In regard to the various questions you have raised in your letters, the
Guardian does not feel that we are justified in removing a Baha'i 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 Baha'i
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.

The Guardian was pleased to note that the Baha'is figured on the census
for the first time. He hopes that, in the future, your Assembly will be
able to establish itself legally in such a manner as to be the absolute
owner and the administrator of Baha'i endowments. If you already have this
status, he would like to be informed of it.

A Baha'i can certainly be an Esperantist. The Guardian does not think that
in the case you mention, it is right to ask this old man to resign from
his Masonic Lodge. Generally speaking, the friends should not enter secret
societies. It is certainly much better for the believers to dissociate
themselves from such organizations; but as I said, it would seem
unnecessary, in this particular case, to ask a very old man to break this
connection at the end of his life.

...It is most unfortunate that just as the believers in the eastern zone
were beginning to be more active and able to keep in contact