Culture
Bahá’ís should obviously be encouraged to preserve their inherited cultural identities, as long as the activities involved do not contravene the principles of the Faith. The perpetuation of such cultural characteristics is an expression of unity in diversity. Although most of these festive celebrations have no doubt stemmed from religious rituals in bygone ages, the believers should not be deterred from participating in those in which, over the course of time, the religious meaning has given way to purely culturally oriented practices.
- Universal House of Justice, NSA USA - Developing Distinctive Bahá’í Communities
[A] primary challenge to Bahá’ís is to preserve and improve those wholesome aspects of tribal and family custom that are in accord with the Bahá’í Teachings and to dispense with those that are not ... . People everywhere have customs which must be abandoned so as to clear the path along which their societies must evolve towards that glorious, new civilization which is to be the fruit of Bahá’u’lláh’s stupendous Revelation. Indeed, in no society on earth can there be found practices which adequately mirror the standards of His Cause.
- Universal House of Justice, Turning Point, Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice and Supplementary Material, 1996-2006, par. 5.8
Quote of the Day
Fidal 7 Ilm 182 B.E.
There can be no doubt whatever that, in consequence of the efforts which every man may consciously exert and as a result of the exertion of his own spiritual faculties, this mirror can be so cleansed from the dross of earthly defilements and purged from satanic fancies as to be able to draw nigh unto the meads of eternal holiness and attain the courts of everlasting fellowship.
Bahá’u’lláh – Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 262