Publishing Letters from the Universal House of Justice

Dear Bahá'í Friend,

Your email message of 16 December 2004 has been received at the Bahá'í World Centre and forwarded to our Department for a response. You have asked whether letters from the Universal House of Justice to individuals or National Spiritual Assemblies may be published and, if so, under what conditions or procedures would prior permission need to be obtained.

In general, if someone has copies of letters from the House of Justice to individuals or institutions of the Faith that he or she would like to publish in whole or in part, in each instance permission should be requested from the House of Justice. Often such letters contain guidance of general application, but sometimes it relates to a specific situation and should not be generalized.

With regard to publishing letters in which you are the direct recipient or on which you are copied, in either case the above-mentioned principle would apply, namely, permission to publish all or part of such letters would need to be sought from the House of Justice.

In all cases, if permission for publication were received, care would need to be exercised that names of individuals to whom letters are written or to whom reference is made in the text are not revealed.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,
Department of the Secretariat