Let them refrain from associating themselves, whether by word or by deed,
with the political pursuits of their respective nations, with the policies
of their governments and the schemes and programs of parties and factions.
In such controversies they should assign no blame, take no side, further
no design, and identify themselves with no system prejudicial to the best
interests of that world-wide Fellowship which it is their aim to guard and
foster. Let them beware lest they allow themselves to become the tools of
unscrupulous politicians, or to be entrapped by the treacherous devices of
the plotters and the perfidious among their countrymen. Let them so shape
their lives and regulate their conduct that no charge of secrecy, of
fraud, of bribery or of intimidation may, however ill-founded, be brought
against them. Let them rise above all particularism and partisanship,
above the vain disputes, the petty calculations, the transient passions
that agitate the face, and engage the attention, of a changing world. It
is their duty to strive to distinguish, as clearly as they possibly can,
and if needed with the aid of their elected representatives, such posts
and functions as are either diplomatic or political from those that are
purely administrative in character, and which under no circumstances are
affected by the changes and chances that political activities and party
government, in every land, must necessarily involve. Let them affirm their
unyielding determination to stand, firmly and unreservedly, for the way of
Bahá’u’lláh, to avoid the entanglements and bickerings inseparable from
the pursuits of the politician, and to become worthy agencies of that
Divine Polity which incarnates God’s immutable Purpose for all men.
It should be made unmistakably clear that such an attitude implies neither
the slightest indifference to the cause and interests of their own
country, nor involves any insubordination on their part to the authority
of recognized and established governments. Nor does it constitute a
repudiation of their sacred obligation to promote, in the most effective
manner, the best interests of their government and people. It indicates
the desire cherished by every true and loyal follower of Bahá’u’lláh to
serve, in an unselfish, unostentatious and patriotic fashion, the highest
interests of the country to which he belongs, and in a way that would
entail no departure from the high standards of integrity and truthfulness
associated with the teachings of his Faith.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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