March 11. On this date in 1981, an LSA in Hawaii asked "about the enrollment of individuals who are mentally incompetent, drug users, alcoholics, etc."

 

March 11. On this date in 1981, an LSA in Hawaii asked "about the enrollment of individuals who are mentally incompetent, drug users, alcoholics, etc."

259. Mental Instability Has No Bearing Upon Acceptance of an Enrollment

"In response to your letter of 11 March 1981, conveying the question of one of your Local Spiritual Assemblies about the enrollment of individuals who are mentally incompetent, drug users, alcoholics, etc., the Universal House of Justice asks us to convey the following.

"The acceptance of a person into the Bahá'í community should be based not on whether he is leading an exemplary life, but on whether the Assembly is reasonably certain that he is sincere in his declaration of faith in Bahá'u'lláh and that he knows of the laws which would affect his personal conduct, so that he does not enter the community under a misapprehension. The question of mental instability has no bearing upon the acceptance of an enrollment unless it is of such a nature that it affects the ability of the declarant to judge whether or not he believes in Bahá'u'lláh."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, April 19, 1981)