Guest Author - Lisa Schaffer-Harris

I have been working for the United States military (first the Army, now the Navy) for seven years now. For over six years, we have been at war. I had been in Germany for less than 6 months when the tragedy of 9/11 occurred. Suddenly what had originally been just a way to get out of West Texas and see Europe, took a completely different turn. Our base went into lock down. Armed guards in full gear and tanks stood at the entrances and exits. I was thousands of miles away from the United States, and yet never felt more American in my whole life. All at once, I became aware of why I took an oath less than 6 months earlier: "I, Lisa Schaffer-Harris, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

I am a civil servant; however, many of those I work with are active duty military and they take similar oaths when they embark on military service. These individuals take on a much greater responsibility than I do, and often they and their families make great sacrifices to serve. I work with these families. They are my client families, and their children are my client children.

I know it may seem contrary to serve in the military or as a military civilian and to be a Baha’i; however, I beg to differ. Baha’u’llah and his son Abdul Baha encourage us in their writings to serve humanity. Baha’is are allowed to serve as active duty members of the military as long as they serve in a noncombatant status. The Universal House of Justice addressed this topic in a letter to a National Spiritual Assembly in 1981:

“There is …no objection to a Baha’i seeking or continuing a career in the armed forces, provided that he can do so without making himself liable to undertake combatant service.”

Here in Okinawa, we have three active duty Bahá’ís: a doctor, a dentist and a pharmacist. In another letter from the Universal House of Justice Baha’is are encouraged to participate in national service that will benefit humanity and to offer those services in times of national crisis.

As Baha’is our first duty is to love and serve all humanity, our next duty is to obey and serve the government in the country that is our homeland. Military service provides many individuals with an avenue in which to accomplish those goals, either through humanitarian work in other countries or in supporting the defense of our own country.

Shoghi Effendi, the Baha’i Guardian, discussed military service as part of his treatise on the future of the human race, entitled “The Secret of Divine Civilization.” It is available via the bahaibookstore.com