Your letter of September 30, with the suggestion that
"there should be one day in the year in which all of the religions should
agree" is a happy thought, and one which persons of good will throughout
the world might well hail. However, this is not the underlying concept of World
Religion Day, which is a celebration of the need for and the coming of a world
religion for mankind, the Bahá'í Faith itself. Although there have been many
ways of expressing the meaning of this celebration in Bahá'í communities in the
United States, the Day was not meant primarily to provide a platform for all
religions and their emergent ecumenical ideas. In practice, there is no harm in
the Bahá'í communities' inviting the persons of other religions to share their
platforms on this Day, providing the universality of the Bahá'í Faith as the
fulfillment of the hopes of mankind for a universal religion are clearly
brought forth.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated October 22,
1968 to a Local Spiritual Assembly)