To give one very obvious example: the Bahá'í law requiring
consent of parents to marriage. All too often nowadays such consent is withheld
by non-Bahá'í parents for reasons of bigotry or racial prejudice; yet we have
seen again and again the profound effect on those very parents of the firmness
of the children in the Bahá'í law, to the extent that not only is the consent
ultimately given in many cases, but the character of the parents can be
affected and their relationship with their child greatly strengthened.
Thus, by upholding Bahá'í law in the face of all
difficulties we not only strengthen our own characters but influence those
around us.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter to an individual
believer, excerpts from letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies, February
6, 1973; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968-1973’)