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People who have withdrawn from the Cause because they no longer feel that they can support its Teachings and Institutions sincerely, are not Covenant-breakers -- they are non-Baha'i's and should just be treated as such. Only those who ally themselves actively with known enemies of the Faith who are Covenant- breakers, and who attack the Faith in the same spirit as these people, can be considered, themselves, to be Covenant-breakers.
The Universal House of Justice, in a letter to an individual believer dated March 23, 1975, and cited in "The Power of the Covenant: The Problem of Covenant-Breaking: Part Two", National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada, wrote:
When a person declares his acceptance of Baha'u'llah as a Manifestation of God he becomes a party to the Covenant and accepts the totality of His Revelation. If he then turns around and attacks Baha'u'llah or the Central Institution of the Faith he violates the Covenant. If this happens every effort is made to help that person to see the illogicality and error of his actions, but if he persists he must, in accordance with the instructions of Baha'u'llah Himself, be shunned as a Covenant-breaker.
From a letter dated March 30, 1957 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, "Messages to Canada," p. 64
As regards the matter of those who have withdrawn from the Faith....: as you know, no one has the right to excommunicate anybody except the Guardian of the Faith, himself. Those people who have withdrawn from the Faith, though critical of it and disgruntled, are not necessarily Covenant breakers. If they were associating with Ahmad Sohrab and upholding his claims actively, then they would come into an entirely different category. If this is the case, you should inform the Guardian, but otherwise the friends should be advised to just leave these people alone, for their influence can be nothing but negative and destructive, and the less they breathe the breath, so to speak, of those who have turned their back on the light of this Faith, the better.
From a letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, dated July 18, 1957, "Messages to Canada," pp. 66-67
Here is the time and opportunity to render historic services; in fact the most unique in history, aiding in the Daniel's prophecy of the Last Day, and the 1335 days, when men are to be blessed by the Glory of the Lord, covering the entire globe- which is the real goal of the Ten Year Crusade.
Directives of the Guardian, p 54-55
The 'hundred lunar years,' destined to immediately precede that blissful consummation (1335 days), announced by Daniel in that same chapter had commenced.
God Passes By, page 151
...It must reach the end of the first epoch in its evolution with the fulfillment of the prophecy mentioned by Daniel in the last chapter of His Book, related to the year 1335, and associated by Abdu'l-Baha with the world triumph of His Father. It will be consummated through the emergence of the Baha'i World Commonwealth in the Golden Age of the Baha'i Dispensation.
Citadel of the Faith, page 32.
I would again direct your attention to those ominous words of Bahá'u'lláh which I have already quoted: "And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake." Has not `Abdu'l-Bahá Himself asserted in unequivocal language that "another war, fiercer than the last, will assuredly break out"?
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, The Goal of a New World Order (1931)
... of the Master, uttered after the termination of the Great War , that Germany, now humbled and weakened, will no doubt be freed from its fetters and will develop, materially and spiritually, and shall one day emerge from this sad turmoil strong, united and prosperous, ready to take her ...
Shoghi Effendi, The Light of Divine Guidance, Volume One, pp. 12-13
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