Corinne True and the Temple's Purpose

On 30 April 1912 in Chicago, the final meeting of the day was the Bahá’í Temple Unity Convention, where more than a thousand people heard the Master speak on the significance of the Temple. From His talk, Corinne True realized that the Temple wasn't something to unite the American Bahá’ís, but an instrument to unite all humankind.

That evening ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:

In brief, the original purpose of temples and houses of worship is simply that of unity--places of meeting where various peoples, different races and souls of every capacity may come together in order that love and agreement should be manifest between them. That is why Bahá'u'lláh has commanded that a place of worship be built for all the religionists of the world; that all religions, races and sects may come together within its universal shelter; that the proclamation of the oneness of mankind shall go forth from its open courts of holiness--the announcement that humanity is the servant of God and that all are submerged in the ocean of His mercy.

Source: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 111. The attendance ("more than a thousand persons") is from Joseph H. Hannen's report in Star of the West, vol. 3, no. 4; the talk is in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, 30 April 1912, Drill Hall, Masonic Temple, Chicago.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: temples).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/temples