April 17. On this date in 1936, Shoghi Effendi wrote "What can control youth and save it from the pitfalls of the crass materialism of the age is the power of a genuine, constructive and living Faith such as the one revealed to the world by Bahá'u'lláh...But when true religion is combined with true ethics, then moral progress becomes a possibility and not a mere ideal."

 

April 17. On this date in 1936, Shoghi Effendi wrote "What can control youth and save it from the pitfalls of the crass materialism of the age is the power of a genuine, constructive and living Faith such as the one revealed to the world by Bahá'u'lláh...But when true religion is combined with true ethics, then moral progress becomes a possibility and not a mere ideal."

2263. What can control youth and save it from the pitfalls of the crass materialism of the age is the power of a genuine, constructive and living Faith such as the one revealed to the world by Bahá'u'lláh. Religion, as in the past, is still the world's sole hope, but not that form of religion which our ecclesiastical leaders strive vainly to preach. Divorced from true religion, morals lose their effectiveness and cease to guide and control man's individual and social life. But when true religion is combined with true ethics, then moral progress becomes a possibility and not a mere ideal. The need of our modern youth is for such a type of ethics founded on pure religious faith. Not until these two are rightly combined and brought into full action can there be any hope for the future of the race.

(17 April 1936 to an individual believer, published in "Bahá'í News" 104 (December 1936), p. 1)