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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 127-128
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AMERICAN BAHÁ'ÍS STAND AT CROSSROADS
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The American Bahá'í Community, the leaven destined to leaven
the whole, cannot hope, at this critical juncture in the fortunes of a
struggling, perilously situated, spiritually moribund nation, to either
escape the trials with which this nation is confronted, nor claim to be
wholly immune from the evils that stain its character.
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At so critical a period, at so challenging an hour, the members of a
community, invested by `Abdu'l-Bahá with a primacy which can,
through neglect and apathy, be allowed to lose its vital power and
driving force, are immersed in a task, and are faced with responsibilities,
which a World Spiritual Crusade, the third and greatest
collective enterprise embarked upon in American Bahá'í history, has
thrust upon them before the eyes of their admiring and expectant sister
communities throughout the world. They now stand at the crossroads,
unable to relax for a moment, or hesitate as to which road they should
tread, or to allow any decline in the high standard they have, for no less
than six decades, undeviatingly upheld. Nay, if this primacy is to be
safeguarded and enhanced, a consecration, not only on the part of a
chosen few, to every single objective of the Ten-Year Plan to which
they are now pledged, and a pouring out of substance, not only by those
of limited means, but by the richest and wealthiest, in a degree
involving the truest sacrifice, for the purpose of insuring the attainment
of the aims and purposes of the Plan in its present phase of development,
are imperative and can brook no delay.
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The mighty and laudable effort exerted, by a considerable number
of pioneers, in the course of the opening phase of this world-encircling
Crusade, in the virgin territories of the globe, must, if this primacy is to
remain unimpaired, be increased, doubled, nay trebled, and must
manifest itself not only in foreign fields where the prizes so laboriously
won during the last twelve months must, at whatever sacrifice, be
meticulously preserved, but throughout the entire length and breadth
of the American Union, and particularly in the goal cities, where
hitherto the work has stagnated, and which must, in the year now
entered, become the scene of the finest exploits which the home front
has yet seen. A veritable exodus from the large cities where a considerable
number of believers have, over a period of years, congregated, both
on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as in the heart of the country,
and where, owing to the tempo and the distractions of city life, the
progress of the Faith has been retarded, must signalize the inauguration
of this most intensive and challenging phase of the Crusade on the
home front. Most certainly and emphatically must the lead be given by
the two focal centers of Bahá'í activity which rank among the oldest of
and occupy the most honored position among, the cities throughout the
American Union, the one as the mother city of the North American
continent, the other named by `Abdu'l-Bahá the City of the Covenant.
Indeed, so grave are the exigencies of the present hour, and so critical
the political position of the country, that were a bare fifteen adult
Bahá'ís to be left in each of these cities, over which unsuspected
dangers are hanging, it would still be regarded as adequate for the
maintenance of their local spiritual assemblies.
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