# Attacks on the Faith

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> FROM THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
> To the American Bahá'í Community for the Feast of Jalal
> April 8, 1997
> 
> Dear Bahá'í Friends,
> 
> Two recent attacks on our beloved Faith serve to remind us that as the Cause of
> god emerges from obscurity, crises will be a means to victory. This past month
> an article, instigated by former Bahá'ís, was published by the Religious News
> Service in seven newspapers across the United States. The article alleges abuse
> of power within Bahá'í institutions, corruption of the Bahá'í electoral
> process, financial misconduct, and suppression of free speech, among other
> tings. A week later, on the eve of Naw-Ruz, the Dallas Bahá'í Center was
> defaced with swastikas and white power graffiti.
> 
> These two unrelated attacks share important similarities. Both are false and
> misguided and both will serve to strengthen and advance the Bahá'í Faith.
> Shoghi Effendi repeatedly warned us that the Bahá'í community was "unavoidably
> approaching a testing period" which he described as "crucial, prolonged, potent
> [and] purifying . . . ." These tests, he instructed, should be seen as
> blessings in disguise that would cause the believers to "plumb greater depths
> of consecration [and] soar to nobler heights of collective endeavor . . . ."
> The Guardian explained that challenging criticisms and attacks on the Cause
> from within and outside the Faith "constitute the lifeblood of its
> institutions" and are a means for the strengthening of the believers and a
> catalyst for quantum leaps of progress for the Faith itself. A case in point is
> that two days after reading the Religious News Service article, a person who
> had not previously known of the Faith declared his belief in Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> "Trials and tribulations, as Bahá'u'lláh says, are the oil that feed the lamp
> of the Cause . . . ." "This Cause, like every Divine Cause, cannot be
> effectively established unless it encounters and valiantly triumphs over the
> forces of opposition . . . ." The history of the Bahá'í Faith itself is proof
> that persecution is the lot of the chosen ones of God. As the Faith grows,
> attacks from all directions will increase. Our challenge is to maintain
> unwavering adherence to the Covenant, to act wisely using attacks on the Faith
> for its advancement, and to be confident in the ultimate victory that is the
> destiny of the Cause of God.
> 
> With loving Bahá'í greetings,
> 
> Robert C. Henderson, Secretary-General
>
> — *Attacks on the Faith (Used by permission of the curator)*