… not only the right but also the
responsibility of each believer to explore truth for himself or herself are
fundamental to the Bahá'í teachings. This principle is an integral feature of
the coming of age of humankind, inseparable from the social transformation to
which Bahá'u'lláh is calling the peoples of the world. It is as relevant to
specifically scholarly activity as it is to the rest of spiritual and
intellectual life. Every human being is ultimately responsible to God for the
use which he or she makes of these possibilities; conscience is never to be
coerced, whether by other individuals or institutions.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter
dated 8 February 1998 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an
individual believer)
