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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 153-155
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THE HOME FRONT--BASE FOR EXPANSION OF FUTURE OPERATIONS
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Though much has been achieved in the space of less than five years,
though the objectives of the Ten-Year Plan, in most of its essential
aspects, may be said to have been triumphantly attained long before the
time appointed for its termination, through a striking display, and a
remarkable combination, of American Bahá'í initiative, resourcefulness,
generosity, fidelity and perseverance, the Plan, prosecuted hitherto
so vigorously by the rank and file of this community, may be said to
be still suffering in some of its vital aspects, from certain deficiencies,
which, if not speedily and fundamentally remedied, will not only
mutilate the Plan itself, but jeopardize the prizes won so laboriously
since its inauguration.
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As I have already forewarned the energetic prosecutors of the global
Crusade in the North American continent, the home front, from which
have sprung, since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith, the
dynamic forces which have set in motion, and directed the operation, of
so many processes, in both the teaching and administrative spheres of
Bahá'í activity, and which must continue to act as a base for the steady
expansion of future operations in every continent of the globe, and the
extension of their ramifications to the uttermost corners of the earth,
and which must be increasingly regarded, as the forces of internal
disruption and the stress and danger of aggressiveness from without
gather momentum, as the sole stronghold of a Faith which cannot hope
to escape unscathed from the turmoil gathering around it--such a
home front must, at all costs, and in the shortest possible time, be
spiritually reinvigorated, administratively expanded, and materially
replenished. The flame of devotion ignited and the enthusiasm generated,
during the celebrations which commemorated the centenary of
the birth of the Mission of the Divine Author of our Faith, and which,
in the course of the years immediately following it have carried the
members of the American Bahá'í Community, so far and so high, along
the road leading to their ultimate destiny, must, in whatever way
possible, be fanned and continually fed throughout the entire area of
the Union, in every state from the Atlantic to the Pacific seaboards, in
every locality where Bahá'ís reside, in every heart throbbing with the
love of Bahá'u'lláh. The spirit that sent forth, not so long ago, in such
rapid succession, so many pioneers to such remote areas of the globe,
must at all costs and above everything else, be recaptured, for the twofold
purpose of swelling the number, and of ensuring the continual
flow, of pioneers, so essential for the safeguarding of the prizes won in
the course of the several campaigns of a world-girdling Crusade, and of
combatting the evil forces which a relentless and all-pervasive materialism,
the cancerous growth of militant racialism, political corruption,
unbridled capitalism, wide-spread lawlessness and gross immorality,
are, alas, unleashing, with ominous swiftness, amongst various classes
of the society to which the members of this community belong.
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The administrative strongholds of a Faith, bound to be subjected on
the one hand, to a severe spiritual challenge from within, through the
inevitable impact of these devastating influences on its infant strength,
and, on the other, to the onslaught of ecclesiastical leaders, the
traditional defenders of religious orthodoxy from without, must be
multiplied and reinforced for the purpose of warding off the inevitable
attacks of the assailants, of vindicating the ideals and principles which
animate their defenders, and of ensuring the ultimate victory and
ascendency of the Faith itself over the nefarious elements seeking to
undermine it from within, and its powerful detractors aiming at its
extinction from without.
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Nor must the material resources, so vitally required to meet the
challenge of a continually expanding Faith, be, for a moment, either
ignored, neglected, or underestimated--resources which a home front,
materially and adequately replenished by a steady and marked influx of
active and wholehearted supporters from all ranks of society, can, in the
long run, provide. As the imperative needs of a Faith, now irresistibly
advancing in every direction, multiply, a corresponding increase in the
financial means at the disposal of its national administrators directing
and controlling its operations, within and beyond the confines of their
homeland, to meet these essential and urgent requirements, must be
ensured, if its onward march is not to be either halted or slowed down.
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