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Messages to Canada

  • Author:

  • Shoghi Effendi

  • Source:
  • Bahá’í Canada Publications
  • Pages:
  • 276
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Pages 251-252

Letter of 22 December 1956

22 December 1956

To the National Spiritual Assembly

Dear Bahá’í Friends:
I have been instructed on behalf of our beloved Guardian to answer the questions raised in your recent letter.
There are two things which he wishes to impress upon you. The first is that depriving people of their voting rights is the heaviest sanction which can be imposed at the present time (with the exception of excommunication, which is a right the Guardian has never permitted anyone else to exercise). Therefore, the greatest care should be exerted to try and remedy a situation before depriving anybody of their voting rights, and the action itself should only be taken if absolutely necessary.
The other point is that the Guardian is very anxious that no more rules and regulations should be introduced by any National Spiritual Assemblies. He has continually impressed this upon the American, the British and other National Bodies. The spirit of the Cause will be stifled, the initiative of the friends killed, and the teaching work come to a stand-still if the friends are continually hemmed in by instructions. In view of this, he has instructed the National Bodies to deal with each case as it arises.
The understanding conveyed in the quotation from Principles of Bahá’í Administration is correct; also people who are deprived of their voting rights should not receive Bahá’í News or Bulletins, as they are no longer active in the administrative affairs of the Faith.
He is very happy at present to have a member1 of your Assembly visiting Haifa, and hopes that Miss Harvey will carry back to you a fresh impetus from the Holy Land, which will assist the Canadian Assembly members in carrying on their many heavy burdens in the service of the Faith.

With warm Bahá’í greetings,

R. Rabbani
1.Winnifred Harvey—member of the National Spiritual Assembly 1950–61, passed away in Haifa in 1990.  [ Back To Reference]