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Moreover, this order has a democratic constitution. Through it, the demand for democracy is really taken seriously. Baha'u'llah emphasizes the importance of the coming of age as well as the responsibility of modern man. Therefore no distinction is made in the Baha'i Faith between clergy and laymen. There is no priesthood, no impersonal higher court which comes in between the believer and God and claims to confer grace, just as there are no sacraments. All legal power has been excluded from the realm of personal conscience. Baha'u'llah has expressly forbidden confession. For these reasons alone it is wrong to say that the Baha'i Faith is taking on the structure of a church. In its nature the Baha'i community is not a "church". Besides, individuals have no power of jurisdiction or executive authority at all, but what is accepted is the principle of collective guidance. The guidance and administration of the community on the local, national and international levels have been given to the "Houses of Justice" instituted by Baha'u'llah, their duties and prerogatives elucidated by 'Abdul-Baha and their election vested in the body of the believers. As these Houses of Justice are still at the embryonic stage of their development, they are called "Spiritual Assemblies" on the local and national levels. They must be "the trusted ones of the Merciful among men" and "regard themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all that dwell on earth". But the "principle of council" does not exist in the Marxist sense where a member of the institution is only a mouthpiece and can be recalled by the electors whenever they choose. In the Baha'i Faith, neither the elected bodies nor their individual members are responsible to their electors. There is no imperative mandate.
(47:1)
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