- Another illustration of the rising authority of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in the public mind emerges from Germany, where the Federal Constitutional Court, the highest legal authority in the land, rendered a decision of capital importance to the recognition of the Faith. A series of lower courts had refused to register the by-laws of a Local Spiritual Assembly on the grounds that the authority granted to the National Spiritual Assembly in that document violated the legal principle requiring the autonomy of all legally incorporated associations. The issues involved are indeed complex and cannot be elaborated here. Suffice it to say that the Federal Constitutional Court upheld the appeal of the Local Spiritual Assembly in a long, closely reasoned decision in which, among other things, it affirmed the right of the Bahá’í community to gain legal capacity in the very shape ordained in the scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith and stated that its nature as a recognized religion was unquestionably confirmed by its inherent character, by public knowledge, and by the testimony of scholars of comparative religion. So significant was the verdict in the Court’s own estimation that it took the rare step of issuing a statement to the press explaining its decision. This outstanding act will have implications for the Bahá’í community far beyond the borders of a united Germany.
- Yet another instance of the growing public appreciation for the penetrating perspectives of the Cause involves the Republic of South Africa, where the National Spiritual Assembly, taking advantage of the initiatives of the Government towards resolving the decades-long problem of apartheid, decided to submit its views for the drafting of a new constitution for the country. The President of the South African Law Commission, the judge acting on behalf of the Government, who received the National Spiritual Assembly’s submission from a delegation appointed by it, commented that the Bahá’ís were the only group thus far whose ideas had provided a spiritual and moral foundation for a constitution.
Whatever may be the individual effects of any one of these
aforementioned developments—and of such others as
- the appearance of a representative of the Bahá’í International Community as the only non-Buddhist speaker invited to address a public meeting held in conjunction with the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace in Mongolia;
- the specific mention of the Bahá’ís by Pope John Paul II at a reception during his recent visit to Burundi;
- the official listing of the Bahá’í Faith as one of the common religions in Tuvalu;
- the International Exposition on Education for Peace sponsored by the Brazilian National Spiritual Assembly with the participation of 23 embassies and educational institutions—
one thing is abundantly clear: the cumulative impact across the globe affirms the emergence of the Faith from obscurity.
- The Universal
House of Justice (Ridvan 1991 message; Messages from the Universal House of
Justice 1986-2001)
