Message from the National Spiritual Assembly
31 March 2021
13 Bahá 178 B.E.
Contents:
– Message from the National Spiritual Assembly
– From the new compilation, The Universal House of Justice
SRL-25950
Download as PDF
Dearly loved friends,
The past year has seen an upsurge of Bahá’í activities online in response to the pandemic. In the early months of the health crisis, the Universal House of Justice reminded us of the need to be vigilant in ensuring that the primarily local character of community activities is not diluted. In a recent letter dated 10 February 2021 addressed to selected National Spiritual Assemblies, the House of Justice shared some further guidance on this subject which we now share with you, together with some additional comments.
The letter of the House of Justice initially outlines how the community has turned to online platforms to sustain and extend community life:
Eager to continue and even extend their activities for community building, and to study, share, and apply the Word of God with others, believers have in many countries conducted devotional meetings, study circles, and other gatherings using available technologies. It has been reassuring to know that at a time when opportunities for coming together in person are restricted in many places, the friends have been able to sustain the majority of their activities for the expansion and consolidation of the Faith—and often to even multiply them—by hosting them online.
It continues by giving examples of those few occasions when it may be acceptable for an online Bahá’í event to extend beyond a local area:
On occasion, a group of close friends who live in different communities or countries have arranged such gatherings; this is generally not of concern. In some limited instances, an individual in one country has even been called upon to assist with the activities of the Plan with believers in another. Furthermore, it has also been apparent that some friends have conducted other online activities that are coherent with the general direction of the community’s endeavours in service to the Cause and to humanity and that can enrich the pattern of Bahá’í life; for example, a small group of believers who share an interest in a particular field coming together to study relevant Writings and guidance, or an individual offering a space for his or her friends and contacts to express the Teachings in the form of art and music.
The letter then describes how online activities can go beyond “well-understood principles and practices that guide the affairs of the Bahá’í community” and the challenges that this may cause:
As activities being held online multiply, you will wish to be particularly attentive to the possibility that they may be conducted in a manner that departs from well-understood principles and practices that guide the affairs of the Bahá’í community. It is, for example, quite easy for online gatherings organized by individuals to take on a regional, national, or even international scope, sometimes involving large numbers of a hundred or more participants. This type of gathering, no matter how well intended, is of a fundamentally different character than an individual initiative within the Bahá’í community. While many of these meetings may not, in themselves, be problematic, nevertheless, they may introduce various challenges, such as causing the friends to become inward looking, reducing the number of believers initiating their own activities, disengaging individuals from the local experience, or diminishing the effectiveness of the plans of local or regional institutions or agencies. They may even inadvertently intrude upon the prerogatives of Bahá’í institutions in other countries.
The limits to the geographic scope of online initiatives is then stated clearly:
Generally, it would not be appropriate for an individual initiative that aims to promote the Faith through the use of the Internet, and particularly social media, to direct its conceptual focus and content towards an audience beyond its own national community. Nor should an individual initiative assume responsibility for matters or activities that should be undertaken by Bahá’í institutions. It is left to each National Assembly to offer guidance to the friends in their endeavours, to ensure that institutions at the appropriate level are actively involved in overseeing or organizing gatherings when appropriate, and to offer specific counsel to particular individuals as necessary …
In recent decades, the focus for the worldwide Bahá’í community has been on learning how to contribute to the spiritual empowerment of local populations. With the courses of the training institute at the heart of this endeavour, souls are transformed through contact with the Word of God, friendships are built, intimate spiritual conversations take place, and accompaniment in service naturally occurs. Capacity to serve others in a local setting is thus raised in local populations, contributing to the transformation of their communities. If our activities go beyond a local setting, this dynamic will not be possible, and our efforts will be diluted. The House of Justice in the passages above warns us of the challenges that large gatherings, and those that go beyond what is regarded as local, can create. We often cannot see the impact on those who participate from afar as we do not have personal interactions with them within a community setting. It is for this reason that the National Spiritual Assembly considers that, for the UK, the focus of an online individual initiative should be limited to their locality and should generally not extend beyond their cluster. For Local Spiritual Assemblies, the focus and content should not go beyond their local boundaries.
In the past year we have seen many successful, simple, examples of online, locally focussed events. As mentioned above, many hundreds of core activities—devotionals, study circles, children’s classes and junior youth groups—are taking place online across the UK. In their outreach work, some friends are learning how to use social media to connect with local populations using, such platforms as NextDoor, Facebook or Instagram. Your Regional Bahá’í Council or Auxiliary Board member can assist you to connect with this learning process, if you should wish.
Although the path out of lockdown is still unclear, we will gradually emerge from the current restrictions, and it is now timely to give thought to how current online activities and meetings can move back to being held in person. Many of these activities were newly established during the social distancing restrictions of the pandemic; others that existed beforehand have settled comfortably into an online routine. But given the clear benefits of two or more souls, of whatever age, meeting together in the intimate warmth of a home, to pray, to study, to learn or to serve together, the National Assembly encourages you to now give thought to this likely change in our possibilities over the coming weeks and months in a manner that assures the safety and inclusion of all.
There is another important consideration that the Universal House of Justice brings to our attention in this letter, warning us of the dangers of engaging in any kind of political discussions as these have the potential of causing harm to the Faith:
The aforementioned concerns are compounded further if discussions of participants veer into politics. When the forces of disintegration are accelerating, and visibly so within the political realm, believers may be tempted to comment on the day’s political events or controversies. While such conversations are harmful to the Bahá’í community in any setting, they can be particularly dangerous—even to the lives of believers in certain lands—when carried out online in forums that include large numbers of participants, including those with believers from different countries, or those with open participation that might unexpectedly include individuals ill-disposed to the Faith. In these turbulent times, it is imperative for every follower of Bahá’u’lláh to recall the Guardian’s admonitions to avoid involvement in political affairs and to not even “mention any political figures” in their public remarks.
We offer these passages for your thoughtful consideration, knowing that you will make every effort to make whatever adjustments that are necessary to align your activities, your conversations, and the events in which you chose to participate, closely to this guidance, for the propagation and protection of the Faith.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,
Patrick O’Mara,
Secretary
From the new compilation, The Universal House of Justice
The compilation is now available as a PDF here, and on the online Bahá’í Reference Library. Printed editions will shortly be available for order from Bahá’í Books UK.