Science and Technology
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Shoghi Effendi, Science and Technology, bahai-library.com.
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Science and Technology

Shoghi Effendi

Universal House of Justice

Universal House of Justice, Research Department

, compiler

1998

From Letters Written by or on Behalf of Shoghi Effendi

Among the sacred obligations devolving upon the Spiritual Assemblies is
the promotion of learning, the establishing of schools and creation of the
necessary academic equipment and facilities for every boy and girl.

Every child, without exception, must from his earliest years make a
thorough study of the art of reading and writing, and according to his own
tastes and inclinations and the degree of his capacity and powers, devote
extreme diligence to the acquisition of learning beneficial arts and skills,
various languages, speech, and contemporary technology.

(8 June 1925, from a letter by Shoghi Effendi to the National
Spiritual Assembly of Persia, translated from Persian) [1]

We had heard through various channels the wonderful way your children had
grown to speak about the Cause in public. Shoghi Effendi's hope is that they
will, the three of them, become able and devoted speakers on the Cause and
subjects akin to it. To do this properly they will need a firm foundation
of scientific and literary training which fortunately they are obtaining. It
is just as important for the Bahá'í young boys and girls to become properly
educated in colleges of high standing as it is to be spiritually developed.
The mental as well as the spiritual side of the youth has to be developed
before he can serve the Cause efficiently.

(28 November 1926, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer)     [2]

In philanthropic enterprises and acts of charity, in promotion of the
general welfare and furtherance of the public good including that of every
group without any exceptions whatever, let the beloved of God attract the
favourable attention of all, and lead all the rest.

Let them, freely and without charge, open the doors of their schools and
their higher institutions for the study of sciences and the liberal arts, to
non-Bahá'í children and youth who are poor and in need.

...and next is the propagation of learning and the promulgation of Bahá'í
rules of conduct, practices and laws. At this time, when the nation has
awakened out of its sleep of negligence, and the Government has begun to
consider the promotion and expansion of its educational establishment, let
the Bahá'í representatives in that country arise in such a manner that as
a result of their high endeavours in every hamlet, village and town, of every
province and district, preliminary measures will be taken for the setting up
of institutions for the study of sciences, the liberal arts and religion. Let
Bahá'í children without any exceptions learn the fundamentals of reading and
writing and familiarize themselves with the rules of conduct, the customs,
practices and laws as set forth in the Book of God; and let them, in the new
branches of knowledge, in the arts and technology of the day, in pure and
praiseworthy characteristics -- Bahá'í conduct, the Bahá'í way of life --
become so distinguished above the rest that all other communities, whether
Islamic, Zoroastrian, Christian, Judaic or materialist, will of their own
volition and most gladly enter their children in such advanced Bahá'í
institutions of learning and entrust them to the care of Bahá'í
instructors.

(January 1929, written by Shoghi Effendi to the believers in the
East, translated from Persian)     [3]

As to your entrance to Reed College as an undergraduate... No one could
think more than the Master did of the great need for capacity, knowledge and a
broad scientific outlook in the service of the Cause, but as against the hard
and dry intellectuals, he wished such knowledge to be coupled with an intense
love for the welfare of humanity.

(20 September 1929 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer)     [4]

The Revelation proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh, His followers believe, is
divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, broad in its outlook, scientific in
its method, humanitarian in its principles and dynamic in the influence it
exerts on the hearts and minds of men. The mission of the Founder of their
Faith, they conceive it to be, to proclaim that religious truth is not absolute
but relative, that Divine Revelation is continuous and progressive, that the
Founders of all past religions, though differing in the non-essential aspects
of their teachings, "abide in the same Tabernacle, soar in the same heaven,
are seated upon the same throne, utter the same speech and proclaim the same
Faith". His Cause, they have already demonstrated, stands identified with, and
revolves round, the principle of the organic unity of mankind as representing
the consummation of the whole process of human evolution. This final stage in
this stupendous evolution, they assert, is not only necessary but inevitable,
that it is gradually approaching, and that nothing short of the celestial
potency with which a divinely-ordained Message can claim to be endowed can
succeed in establishing it.

The Bahá'í Faith recognizes the unity of God and of His Prophets,
upholds the principle of an unfettered search after truth, condemns all forms
of superstition and prejudice, teaches that the fundamental purpose of religion
is to promote concord and harmony, that it must go hand-in-hand with science,
and that it constitutes the sole and ultimate basis of a peaceful, an ordered
and progressive society. It inculcates the principle of equal opportunity,
rights and privileges for both sexes, advocates compulsory education, abolishes
extremes of poverty and wealth, exalts work performed in the spirit of service
to the rank of worship, recommends the adoption of an auxiliary international
language, and provides the necessary agencies for the establishment and
safeguarding of a permanent and universal peace.

(June 1933, from a letter written by Shoghi Effendi to the High
Commissioner for Palestine)     [5]

It is hoped that all the Bahá'í students will ... be led to investigate
and analyse the principles of the Faith and to correlate them with the modern
aspects of philosophy and science. Every intelligent and thoughtful young
Bahá'í should always approach the Cause in this way, for therein lies the
very essence of the principle of independent investigation of truth.

(6 August 1933, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer)     [6]

Shoghi Effendi has for years urged the Bahá'ís (who asked his advice,
and in general also) to study history, economics, sociology, etc., in order to
be au courant with all the progressive movements and thoughts being put forth
today, and so that they could correlate these to the Bahá'í teachings. What
he wants the Bahá'ís to do is to study more, not to study less. The more
general knowledge, scientific and otherwise, they possess, the better.
Likewise he is constantly urging them to really study the Bahá'í teachings
more deeply. One might liken Bahá'u'lláh's teachings to a sphere; there are
points poles apart, and in between the thoughts and doctrines that unite them.
We believe in balance in all things; we believe in moderation in all things --
we must not be too emotional, nor cut and dried and lacking in feeling, we must
not be so liberal as to cease to preserve the character and unity of our
Bahá'í system, nor fanatical and dogmatic.

(5 July 1947, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer)     [7]

The Bahá'í Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His
Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the
entire human race. It proclaims the necessity and the inevitability of the
unification of mankind, asserts that it is gradually approaching, and claims
that nothing short of the transmuting spirit of God, working through His chosen
Mouthpiece in this day, can ultimately succeed in bringing it about. It,
moreover, enjoins upon its followers the primary duty of an unfettered search
after truth, condemns all manner of prejudice and superstition, declares the
purpose of religion to be the promotion of amity and concord, proclaims its
essential harmony with science, and recognizes it as the foremost agency for
the pacification and the orderly progress of human society. It unequivocally
maintains the principle of equal rights, opportunities and privileges for men
and women, insists on compulsory education, eliminates extremes of poverty and
wealth, abolishes the institution of priesthood, prohibits slavery, asceticism,
mendicancy and monasticism, prescribes monogamy, discourages divorce,
emphasizes the necessity of strict obedience to one's government, exalts any
work performed in the spirit of service to the level of worship, urges either
the creation or the selection of an auxiliary international language, and
delineates the outlines of those institutions that must establish and
perpetuate the general peace of mankind.

(
14 July 1947
[Ed. - p. 3], by Shoghi Effendi to the United Nations Special
Commission on Palestine)     [8]

He thanks you for the book you are sending him. He sees no reason why you
should not tell the Bahá'ís that cancer seems to be successfully treated by
this method sometimes. But as we are a religion and not qualified to pass on
scientific matters we cannot sponsor different treatments. We are certainly
free to pass on what we have found beneficial to others.

(30 September 1950, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer)     [9]

From Letters Written by and on Behalf of the Universal House of Justice

We have no doubt that the Bahá'í world community will accomplish all
these tasks and go forward to new achievements. The powers released by
Bahá'u'lláh match the needs of the times. We may therefore be utterly
confident that the new throb of energy now vibrating throughout the Cause
will empower it to meet the oncoming challenges of assisting, as maturity and
resources allow, the development of the social and economic life of peoples,
of collaborating with the forces leading towards the establishment of order
in the world, of influencing the exploitation and constructive uses of modern
technology, and in all these ways enhancing the prestige and progress of the
Faith and uplifting the conditions of the generality of mankind.

(
Ridvan 1983
, message from the Universal House of Justice to
the Bahá'ís of the World)     [10]

Among the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the
steps towards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century
in the creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based
United Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War of
independence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the
completion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these
fledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the consequent
vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and antagonistic peoples
and groups in international undertakings in the scientific, educational, legal,
economic and cultural fields; the rise in recent decades of an unprecedented
number of international humanitarian organizations; the spread of women's and
youth movements calling for an end to war; and the spontaneous spawning of
widening networks of ordinary people seeking understanding through personal
communication.

The scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually
blessed century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of the
planet, and indicate the means by which the practical problems of humanity may
be solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the administration of the
complex life of a united world. Yet barriers persist. Doubts, misconceptions,
prejudices, suspicions and narrow self-interest beset nations and peoples in
their relations one to another....

If, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must
look to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has
listened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion perpetrated in
the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and selfishly to their
particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their votaries erroneous and
conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements of the Prophets of God,
bear heavy responsibility for this confusion -- a confusion compounded by the
artificial barriers erected between faith and reason, science and religion.
For from a fair-minded examination of the actual utterances of the Founders of
the great religions, and of the social milieus in which they were obliged to
carry out their missions, there is nothing to support the contentions and
prejudices deranging the religious communities of mankind and therefore all
human affairs....

The increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted
problems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious
shortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations and
conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have not been
enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a sense of a new
lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the similar
measures concerned with eliminating all forms of discrimination based on
race, sex or religious belief; upholding the rights of the child; protecting
all persons against being subjected to torture; eradicating hunger and
malnutrition; using scientific and technological progress in the interest of
peace and the benefit of mankind -- all such measures, if courageously enforced
and expanded, will advance the day when the spectre of war will have lost its
power to dominate international relations. There is no need to stress the
significance of the issues addressed by these declarations and conventions.
However, a few such issues, because of their immediate relevance to
establishing world peace, deserve additional comment....

Unbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate
patriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a
whole. Bahá'u'lláh's statement is: "The earth is but one country, and
mankind its citizens". The concept of world citizenship is a direct result of
the contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through scientific
advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations. Love of all the
world's peoples does not exclude love of one's country. The advantage of the
part in a world society is best served by promoting the advantage of the whole.
Current international activities in various fields which nurture mutual
affection and a sense of solidarity among peoples need greatly to be increased.

(October 1985, message from the Universal House of Justice to the
Peoples of the World, entitled
"The Promise of World Peace"
)     [11]

Bahá'u'lláh found the world in a "strange sleep". But what a disturbance
His coming has unloosed! The peoples of the earth had been separated, many
parts of the human race socially and spiritually isolated. But the world of
humanity today bears little resemblance to that which Bahá'u'lláh left a
century ago. Unbeknownst to the great majority, His influence permeates all
living beings. Indeed, no domain of life remains unaffected. In the
burgeoning energy, the magnified perspectives, the heightened global
consciousness; in the social and political turbulence, the fall of kingdoms,
the emancipation of nations, the intermixture of cultures, the clamour for
development; in the agitation over the extremes of wealth and poverty, the
acute concern over the abuse of the environment, the leap of consciousness
regarding the rights of women; in the growing tendency towards ecumenism, the
increasing call for a new world order; in the astounding advances in the realms
of science, technology, literature and the arts -- in all this tumult, with its
paradoxical manifestations of chaos and order, integration and disintegration,
are the signs of His power as World Reformer, the proof of His claim as Divine
Physician, the truth of His Word as the All-Knowing Counsellor.

Bahá'u'lláh wrote voluminously about the purpose of this mysterious force
and its transformative effects, but the essence can be drawn from these few
perspicuous words: "Through the movement of Our Pen of Glory We have, at the
bidding of the Omnipotent Ordainer, breathed a new life into every human frame,
and instilled into every word a fresh potency. All created things proclaim the
evidences of this worldwide regeneration." And again: "A new life is, in this
age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth; and yet none hath discovered
its cause or perceived its motive." And yet again: "He Who is the Unconditioned is come, in the clouds of light, that He may quicken all created things
with the breezes of His Name, the Most Merciful, and unify the world, and
gather all men around this Table which hath been sent down from
heaven."

(May 1992, tribute to Bahá'u'lláh from the Universal House of
Justice, on the occasion of the Centenary Commemoration at Bahji
of the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh)     [12]

We have toiled to build a community at a period when the world has
witnessed startling changes which have profoundly altered the character of
society and plunged it into an unprecedented state of worry and confusion.
Indeed, the world in its current condition has lost its bearings through the
operation of forces it neither understands nor can control. It is a period in
which great dynasties and empires have collapsed in rapid succession, in which
powerful ideologies have captured the hearts of millions only to expire in
infamy, in which two world wars wreaked havoc on civilized life as it was
known at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In the wake of such horrendous disruptions, there have been unexampled
advances in the realms of science, technology and social organization; a
veritable explosion of knowledge; and an even more remarkable burgeoning in the
awakening and rise of masses of humanity which were previously presumed to be
dormant. These masses are claiming their rightful places within the community
of nations which has greatly expanded. With the simultaneous development of
communications at the speed of light and transportation at the speed of sound,
the world has contracted into a mere neighbourhood in which people are
instantly aware of each other's affairs and have immediate access to each
other. And yet, even with such miraculous advances, with the emergence of
international organizations, and with valiant attempts and brilliant successes
at international cooperation, nations are at woeful odds with one another,
people are convulsed by economic upheavals, races feel more alienated than
before and are filled with mistrust, humiliation and fear.

(26 November 1992, message from the Universal House of Justice
to the Bahá'ís of the World, Second Bahá'í World Congress,
New York)     [13]

The opportunity which electronic communication technology provides for
more speedy and thorough consultation among the friends is highly significant.
Without doubt, it represents another manifestation of a development eagerly
anticipated by the Guardian when he foresaw the creation of "a mechanism of
world intercommunication ... embracing the whole planet, freed from national
hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and
perfect regularity".

As you well appreciate, the extent to which such technology advances
the work of the Faith depends, of course, on the manner in which it is used.
As a medium for Bahá'ís to exchange views, it imposes on participants the
same requirements of moderation, candour, and courtesy as would be the case
in any other discussion. Likewise, those involved should avoid belittling
the views of one another....

Most important of all, as with any exploration by Bahá'ís of the beliefs
and practices of their Faith, electronic discussion will serve the interests of
the Cause and its members only as it is conducted within the framework of the
Bahá'í Teachings and the truths they enshrine....

With regard to the harmony of science and religion, the Writings of
the Central Figures and the commentaries of the Guardian make abundantly
clear that the task of humanity, including the Bahá'í community that serves
as the "leaven" within it, is to create a global civilization which embodies
both the spiritual and material dimensions of existence. The nature and scope
of such a civilization are still beyond anything the present generation can
conceive. The prosecution of this vast enterprise will depend on a progressive
interaction between the truths and principles of religion and the discoveries
and insights of scientific inquiry. This entails living with ambiguities as
a natural and inescapable feature of the process of exploring reality. It
also requires us not to limit science to any particular school of thought
or methodological approach postulated in the course of its development.
The challenge facing Bahá'í thinkers is to provide responsible leadership
in this endeavour, since it is they who have both the priceless insights of
the Revelation and the advantages conferred by scientific
investigation.

(19 May 1995, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice
to an individual believer)     [14]

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-- Science and Technology (Used by permission of the curator)