First I tried to locate your citation in my sources and did find the following:
- Bahá’ís Should Not Attack the Church
“The Guardian agrees with you the Bahá’ís should be very careful not to criticize or rather attack the church. As we believe the church of Rome to be the inheritor, so to speak, of Christ’s Teachings, the direct line, however perverted by men’s doctrines, it certainly does not befit us to show antagonism towards it. We know it is out-dated. Tact is required!”
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 22, 1950)
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 425)
- Why are Baha’is not allowed to attack or criticize the Catholic Church?
Let me say that Baha’is generally do not attack other religions… We don’t go out of our way to say publish diatribes against say Muslims, Roman Catholics, Mormons or whoever…What we use our resources on is publishing the Writings of the cenrtral Figures of the Faith such as Baha’u’llah, the Bab, Abdul-Baha and say Shoghi Effendi. There are still many Tablets and Letters in Farsi and Arabic that have yet to be translated into English and other languages.
- What does it mean by saying that the Catholic Church is the “direct line”? What line? Is this a unique statement about Catholicism or do you also believe it about other forms of Christianity (which as you know are many)? Is this a recognition of the unique position which the Church of Rome holds and has always held in Christianity as the primus (first) among Churches, the Holy See? I know the Baha’i Faith emerged from Shi’ite Islam and believes in the Imamate. Presumabely then Baha’is see Shi’as as having a purer form of Islam than Sunnis. Is this similar to the Catholic direct line? Is this how you view us too?
I think by direct line we are thinking of the establishment of the Church through Peter and so on… Abdul-Baha says:
“Christ wished by suggestion, or an allusion, to confirm the words of Peter; so on account of the suitability of his name, Peter, He said: “and upon this rock I will build My church,” meaning, thy belief that Christ is the Son of the living God will be the foundation of the Religion of God, and upon this belief the foundation of the church of God – which is the Law of God – shall be established.”
(Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 135)
This is similar in our view to the designation of Ali as successor to Prophet Muhammad. The designated successor to a Manifestation is very important to us as it is usually the successor that keeps the faith united and has authority for interpretation and so on as it passes through time… Each Manifestation has a dispensation and a period of influence. Our recognition of Peter and the establishment of the church is not however to be understood as an acceptance of the various struggles and doctrines that then developed over time in history.
- What does it mean to say that the Catholic Church is the “inheritor of Christ’s teachings”?
My view as an individual Baha’i is that it means at some early point in the history of the Church it did inherit the teachings of Christ… I found some additional quotes that may illustrate this further:
“What the Guardian was referring to was the Theocratic systems, such as the Catholic Church and the Caliphate, which are not divinely given as systems, but man-made and yet, having partly derived from the teachings of Christ and Muhammad are, in a sense, theocracies. The Bahá’í theocracy, on the contrary, is both divinely ordained as a system and, of course, based on the teachings of the Prophet Himself… Theophany is used in the sense of Dispensation…”
(Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 78)
- How can both of the above be true if we have been “perverted by men’s doctrines”?
So in our view there is a mixture that occurred over time: “…man-made and yet, having partly derived from the teachings of Christ …”
- Again why can Baha’is not show antagonism towards Catholicism. The Guardian seems to be stressing this
In general Baha’is are enjoined not to stir up antagonism…
“The friends should, under all circumstances, be careful not to arouse unnecessarily any feelings of religious antagonism.”
(Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 47)
Our goal is to reduce antagonisms:
“Religious and sectarian antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples, and differences among nations, will be eliminated.”
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 204)
- Why is “tact” required in speaking with Catholics?
This is an advisory to an individual Baha’i who apparently was planning to offer the Teachings to Catholics where he happened to be. Tact in teaching is always advised:
“As the Guardian himself has pointed out audacity in teaching is essential, but no less important is the necessity for the exercise of the utmost tact, wisdom and consideration…”,
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 600)
- Are these “official” statements ie binding on Baha’is or simply Shoghi Effend’s personal opinions about Catholicism?
They are binding on Baha’is as the Guardian was the center of the Faith from 1921 until 1957… and what he advised and interpreted is still binding on the friends. While we have no one who is living as a Guardian his teachings and advisements constitute what we would call the Institution of the Guardianship and is still viable today.
