…among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that religion is a
mighty bulwark. If the edifice of religion shakes and totters, commotion and
chaos will ensue and the order of things will be utterly upset, for in the
world of mankind there are two safeguards that protect man from wrongdoing. One
is the law which punishes the criminal; but the law prevents only the manifest
crime and not the concealed sin; whereas the ideal safeguard, namely, the religion
of God, prevents both the manifest and the concealed crime, trains man,
educates morals, compels the adoption of virtues and is the all-inclusive power
which guarantees the felicity of the world of mankind. But by religion is meant
that which is ascertained by investigation and not that which is based on mere
imitation, the foundations of Divine Religions and not human imitations.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From the First Tablet to the Hague, 17 December 1919; revised
translation under the direction of the Universal House of Justice, available at
the online ‘Baha’i Reference Library’ site of the Baha’i World Center)
