# An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bahá'í International Community, An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> An Introduction to the Bahá'í Faith
> Text reprinted from: http://info.bahai.org/
> 
> © Bahá'í International Community
> 
> Electronic version 1.0
> Introduction
> 
> The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its
> founder, Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in
> the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and
> that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and
> Muhammad.
> 
> The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that humanity is one single race
> and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God,
> Bahá'u'lláh said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down
> traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give
> birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of
> the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of
> unification.
> 
> One of the purposes of the Bahá'í Faith is to help make this possible. A
> worldwide community of some five million Bahá'ís, representative of most of
> the nations, races and cultures on earth, is working to give Bahá'u'lláh's
> teachings practical effect. Their experience will be a source of
> encouragement to all who share their vision of humanity as one global family
> and the earth as one homeland.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892) -- Founder of the Bahá'í Faith
> 
> Born in 1817, Bahá'u'lláh was a member of one of the great patrician families
> of Persia. The family could trace its lineage to the ruling dynasties of Persia's
> imperial past, and was endowed with wealth and vast estates. Turning His
> back on the position at court which these advantages offered Him, Bahá'u'lláh
> became known for His generosity and kindliness which made Him deeply
> loved among His countrymen.
> 
> This privileged position did not long survive Bahá'u'lláh's announcement of
> support for the message of the Báb. Engulfed in the waves of violence
> unleashed upon the Bábis after the Báb's execution Bahá'u'lláh suffered not
> only the loss of all His worldly endowments but was subjected to
> imprisonment, torture, and a series of banishments. The first was to Baghdad
> where, in 1863, He announced Himself as the One promised by the Báb.
> From Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh was sent to Constantinople, to Adrianople, and
> finally to Acre, in the Holy Land, where He arrived as a prisoner in 1868.
> 
> From Adrianople and later from Acre, Bahá'u'lláh addressed a series of letters
> to the rulers of His day that are among the most remarkable documents in
> religious history. They proclaimed the coming unification of humanity and
> the emergence of a world civilization.
> 
> The kings, emperors, and presidents of the nineteenth century were called
> upon to reconcile their differences, curtail their armaments, and devote their
> energies to the establishment of universal peace.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh passed away at Bahjí, just north of Acre, and is buried there. His
> teachings had already begun to spread beyond the confines of the Middle
> East, and His Shrine is today the focal point of the world community which
> these teachings have brought into being.
> 
> A Way of Life
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that each human being is "a mine rich in gems" unknown
> even to the owner, let alone to others, and inexhaustible in its wealth. The
> purpose of life is to develop these capacities both for one's own life and for
> the service of humanity. Life in this world, as Bahá'u'lláh presents it, is like
> the life of a child in the womb of its mother: the moral, intellectual, and
> spiritual powers which a human being develops here, with the help of God,
> will be the "limbs" and "organs" needed for the soul's progress in the worlds
> beyond this earthly one.
> 
> The way of life which Bahá'ís seek to cultivate, therefore, is one that
> encourages personal development. Daily prayer and meditation free the soul
> from conditioned patterns and open it to new possibilities. Joining in projects
> with peoples of diverse backgrounds breaks down traditional prejudices. The
> use of alcohol or narcotic drugs is avoided, except when prescribed for
> medical reasons, because these substances eventually deaden the mind. The
> latter is also true of the habit of backbiting, which weakens trust between
> people and undermines the spirit of unity upon which human progress
> depends. Bahá'u'lláh's writings attach great importance to the institution of
> the family as the foundation of human society. The sanctity of marriage,
> recognition of the equality of the husband and wife, and the use of
> consultation are especially emphasized.
> 
> For the individual, the day-to-day practice of the Bahá'í Faith gradually
> becomes an entirely new way of life. Yet, in contrast to the image of a
> religious lifestyle that is cloistered or ignorant of worldly concerns, the way
> of life for Bahá'ís and their families is one which is at once and the same time
> both deeply spiritual and eminently practical.
> 
> For while Bahá'ís are encouraged -- indeed, it is considered a religious
> obligation -- to pray and meditate every day, they are also expected to be
> wholly engaged with the world at large. In particular, Bahá'u'lláh asks that
> Bahá'ís view service to humanity as among their highest priorities.
> 
> In this regard, Bahá'ís outwardly appear to lead a life that is in many respects
> not much different from their friends and neighbors: they work, raise
> families, participate in community affairs and enjoy such modern social
> activities as watching movies or television, attending or competing in athletic
> games, and taking part in festivals and other general cultural events.
> 
> On another level, however, those who have become Bahá'ís find that their
> inner lives, their outlook on life, as well as the nature and quality of their
> personal relationships and social interactions, all change rather dramatically
> over time, leading to an entirely new sense of purpose, a new vitality in the
> approach to challenges and difficulties, and an overall feeling of well-being,
> even in the face of obstacles. It is, many Bahá'ís will tell you, exactly the sort
> of spiritual rebirth that is promised by all of the world's great religions -- but
> one which is wholly compatible and consonant with a modern global society.
> 
> Whether one is born into a Bahá'í family or a new declarant, the spiritual
> growth that one strives for as a Bahá'í becomes a life-long process. Whether
> in terms of spiritual practice, moral behavior, social activism or community
> participation, Bahá'ís seek to continually improve themselves and the world
> around them.
> The Inner Life
> 
> Like the Messengers of God that have come before Him, Bahá'u'lláh
> explained that prayer is among the most important ways to cultivate spiritual
> growth and development. Bahá'u'lláh wrote thousands of prayers. There are
> prayers for general use, for healing, for spiritual growth, for tests and trials,
> for marriage, for community life, for children and for humanity itself.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh also said that although the supplicant may at first remain unaware
> of the effect of prayer, the grace of God "must needs sooner or later exercise
> its influence upon his soul."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh also provided instructions on how to pray. He asks that Bahá'ís
> pray daily, and He specifically asks that Bahá'ís choose one of three
> "obligatory" prayers for recitation each day. The shortest of these obligatory
> prayers is just three sentences long, and says much about the relationship
> between God and humanity. It reads:
> 
> I bear witness, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to
> worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy
> might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee,
> the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
> 
> Other spiritual obligations include meditation and fasting. Bahá'u'lláh asked
> that His followers spend some time each day reading the Word of God and
> reflecting on its meaning. Bahá'ís understand that the writings of Bahá'u'lláh
> are the Word of God for this age, and that such reading and meditation has a
> transforming effect on the soul.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh did not, however, specify a particular format for meditation.
> Instead, each individual is free to choose his or her own form of meditation.
> For some Bahá'ís it may be enough to spend a few minutes contemplating the
> meaning of a passage in the Bahá'í writings each day. Others may incorporate
> more rigorous forms into their daily routine. One important practice,
> however, is to reflect on the day's events each evening, to consider the value
> and worth of one's deeds.
> 
> The obligation to fast occurs yearly, a practice which is common among
> virtually all of the world's religions. For Bahá'ís the Fast occurs every March,
> for nineteen days from the 2nd to the 20th. During this period, Bahá'ís abstain
> from food and drink from sunrise to sunset, about 12 hours each day. It is
> considered to be a time for deep reflection and spiritual renewal. However,
> for those who are ill, pregnant and/or nursing, traveling, or over 70 years old,
> the Fast is not obligatory.
> 
> "I know that when I first became a Bahá'í, I approached the fast with
> trepidation, because I was afraid of doing without food," said Beverly Burris,
> a Jamaican who became a Bahá'í in 1974. "But once I started, I found I did
> not feel hungry. Instead I felt an inner peace. And now I look forward to the
> fast. It's a blessing, a way of taking stock internally, a way of focusing on
> what is going on mentally, spiritually and physically inside of me."
> 
> In all of the Faith's spiritual practices, there are essentially no rituals. The
> only time Bahá'ís are obligated to pray in a congregational manner, for
> example, is in praying for the dead. Nor is there a priesthood or a clergy. The
> individual is, accordingly, responsible for his or her own spiritual growth. All
> forms of superstition are eschewed, and people are not reliant on rituals or
> clergy for their spiritual progress.
> 
> The Outer World
> 
> Beyond the essentials of prayer, meditation and fasting, Bahá'ís view good
> deeds and service to humanity as the most important elements of spiritual
> training and progress.
> 
> The principles which guide Bahá'ís in their interactions with the outside
> world are the same high moral values that have been taught in all of the
> world's major religions: love, compassion, courtesy, charity, faithfulness,
> honesty, trustworthiness, and humility.
> 
> In the concept of service, all of these values come together. Whether in terms
> of family relationships, where the goal is to serve one's spouse, children and
> parents, or in terms of the community at large, where one is to promote the
> well-being of others either through their profession, trade, business or
> volunteer community projects, Bahá'ís understand that it is through service to
> others that we can best develop our own selves -- and reach the highest levels
> of human happiness.
> 
> "I say if you want to change the world, you have to serve others," said
> Shahnaz Daghighi-Maher, a 53-year-old general practitioner in Angers,
> France, who, since 1991, has travelled alone three times a year to Albania,
> where, at the sacrifice of a lucrative private practice in France, she has
> established a free clinic in the southern city of Korcha. "The first goal is to
> help the world."
> 
> When in Korcha, she stays with a local family in a simple, single room in
> their home. From there, she travels daily to some 16 outlying villages, setting
> up her "clinic" out of her medical bag and a few boxes of carefully packed
> medicines.
> 
> During her visits, she also gives talks, speaking of preventive health care and
> also of basic social principles, such as the equality of women and men. And
> she finds, too, that these meetings draw more women than men.
> 
> "I think it is important for women to go and do this kind of thing," said Dr.
> Daghighi-Maher. "Because, at least in my area, it always seems that men are
> doing the humanitarian work. And as a Bahá'í, I take action."
> 
> Basic Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God whose successive revelations of His
> will to humanity have been the chief civilizing force in history. The agents of
> this process have been the Divine Messengers whom people have seen
> chiefly as the founders of separate religious systems but whose common
> purpose has been to bring the human race to spiritual and moral maturity.
> 
> Humanity is now coming of age. It is this that makes possible the unification
> of the human family and the building of a peaceful, global society. Among
> the principles which the Bahá'í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of
> this goal are
> 
> 1. the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
> Bahá'u'lláh gave special attention to the problem of prejudice. At the heart of
> His message is a call for mutual understanding and fellowship among
> nations, cultures, and peoples. There is, Bahá'u'lláh insists, only one human
> race. Assertions that a particular group of people is in some way superior to
> the rest of humanity are without foundation. Prejudice--whether based on
> race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or class--is a baneful heritage that must
> be overcome if humanity is to create a peaceful and just global society.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh specifically counseled His followers to make an active effort to
> rid themselves of all prejudices which breed contention and strife. In His
> primary ethical work, The Hidden Words, Bahá'u'lláh exhorted human beings
> to reflect on this question:
> 
> O CHILDREN OF MEN!
> 
> Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should
> exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were
> created. Since we have created you all from one same substance it is
> incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with
> the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by
> your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment
> may be made manifest.1
> 
> The very diversity of the human race is, in fact, a means for creating a world
> based on unity rather than uniformity. It is not by the suppression of
> differences that we will arrive at unity, but rather by an increased awareness
> of and respect for the intrinsic value of each separate culture, and indeed, of
> each individual. It is not diversity itself which is the cause of conflict, but
> rather our immature attitude towards it, our intolerance and misconceptions
> of others. 'Abdu'l-Bahá expressed this viewpoint in the following passage:
> 
> Should any one contend that true and enduring unity can in no wise be
> realized in this world, inasmuch as its people widely differ in their manners
> and habits, their tastes, their temperament and character, their thoughts and
> their views, to this we make reply that differences are of two kinds; the one is
> the cause of destruction, as exemplified by the spirit of contention and strife
> which animates mutually conflicting and antagonistic peoples and nations,
> whilst the other is the sign of diversity, the symbol and the secret of
> perfection, and the revealer of the bounties of the All-glorious.
> 
> Consider the flowers of the garden; though differing in kind, color, form and
> shape, yet, inasmuch as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring,
> revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this
> diversity increaseth their charm and addeth unto their beauty.
> 
> How unpleasing to the eye if all the flowers and plants, the leaves and
> blossoms, the fruit, the branches, and the trees of the garden were all of the
> same shape and color! Diversity of color, form and shape enricheth and
> adorneth the garden, and heighteneth the effect thereof. In like manner, when
> divers shades of thought, temperament and character, are brought together
> under the power and influence of one central agency, the beauty and glory of
> human perfection will be revealed and made manifest. Naught but the
> celestial potency of the Word of God, which ruleth and transcendeth the
> realities of all things, is capable of harmonizing the divergent thoughts,
> sentiments, ideas and convictions of the children of men.2
> 
> 2. assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
> 
> "The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the
> sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites
> of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half
> of the world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits
> that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and
> ultimately to international relations.
> 
> There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such
> denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in
> all fields of human endeavor will the moral and psychological climate be
> created in which international peace can emerge."
> 
> This position, taken from a statement on peace written by the Universal
> House of Justice in 1985, reiterates the teaching of Bahá'u'lláh that society
> must reorganize its life to give practical expression to the principle of
> equality between women and men.
> 
> Since its inception nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, the Bahá'í Faith
> has taught the equality of the sexes. Indeed, the Bahá'í Faith is the only
> independent world religion whose Founder has stated unequivocally that
> women and men are equal.
> 
> "Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God,"
> said Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> In accordance with this teaching, the worldwide Bahá'í community has been
> at the forefront of the movement to advance the rights of women for more
> than a century. And the Bahá'í approach, which advocates full equality and a
> firm sense of partnership between women and men, is increasingly
> recognized as being on the cutting edge of women's issues worldwide.
> 
> Bahá'ís understand, for example, that the values which women bring to
> human interaction are necessary to the proper functioning and advancement
> of modern society, and that qualities that have formerly been associated with
> the feminine sides of our natures--such as compassion, nurturing, cooperation
> and empathy--will be increasingly important in creating a peaceful, just, and
> sustainable world civilization.
> 
> Bahá'í institutions around the world promote various educational efforts for
> women, and work to raise the consciousness of both women and men about
> this fundamental equality. Many of its schools, learning centers, and
> grassroots social and economic development projects specifically include the
> promotion of women's advancement into their curricula or agendas.
> 
> Women compose approximately 30 percent of elected leadership in Bahá'í
> councils at the national level, comparing favorably to national parliaments,
> which average 10 percent women worldwide.
> 
> Bahá'í women have long been active in the struggle to promote women's
> equality. The Bahá'í Faith was founded in 1844 in Iran and among its early
> followers was Táhirih, a Persian poet and scholar. In 1852, she laid down her
> life in defense of her beliefs, which included her right to lay aside the veil and
> to work for the complete emancipation of women.
> 
> Laura Dreyfus-Barney, a member of the first Bahá'í community in Europe,
> was among the leading figures in promoting the advancement of women in
> the early years of this century. In the years after World War I, she focused her
> attention on mobilizing women for peace. She represented the International
> Council of Women (ICW) in the League of Nations and was President of
> ICW's Peace and Arbitration Commission.
> 
> After World War II, Ms. Dreyfus-Barney played an important role in the
> development of the relationship between the United Nations International
> Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and non-governmental organizations
> (NGOs).
> 
> Martha Root, an American journalist from Pennsylvania, circled the globe
> several times in the 1920s and 1930s to promote the cause of women's
> equality--along with the other progressive principles of the Bahá'í Faith. With
> a unique facility for approaching high dignitaries, she took the Bahá'í
> message of interdependence and oneness to kings, queens, presidents,
> ministers, statesmen, professors, clergymen and poets in Europe, Asia, Africa
> and Australia.
> 
> Since the Bahá'í International Community (BIC) obtained consultative status
> with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1970, it
> has cooperated officially with the United Nations in its work to improve the
> status of women throughout the world.
> 
> The Bahá'í International Community has worked directly with the United
> Nations Commission on the Status of Women and its Secretariat, the UN
> Division for the Advancement of Women. In addition, the BIC has
> established close, cooperative relationships with other international nongovernmental organizations at the United Nations that seek to promote the
> advancement of women.
> 
> Initially the BIC contributed to the work of the United Nations by submitting
> statements to United Nations bodies, and in particular the Commission on the
> Status of Women, on various aspects of equality. Such statements have
> addressed the education of girls, the importance of elevating the status of
> women as mothers, the relevance of women's participation at local, national
> and international levels to the establishment of world peace.
> 
> As part of International Women's Year in 1975, the BIC participated in the
> first World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City. Two Bahá'í
> representatives were officially accredited to attend the Conference and nine
> representatives attended the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization)
> Tribune, the parallel meeting for non-governmental organizations.
> 
> During the next ten years, designated the United Nations Decade for Women,
> the Bahá'í International Community developed a solid reputation for its work
> promoting the advancement of women. BIC representatives served on NGO
> committees on the Status of Women in New York, Geneva and Vienna and
> participated in the World Conferences on Women held in Copenhagen,
> Denmark in l980, in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, and in Beijing, China in 1995.
> 
> The Community's representatives have also been involved in planning
> parallel activities for NGOs at these meetings. Relationships were established
> with major organizations worldwide whose focus is also the promotion of the
> advancement of women.
> 
> The BIC collaborates on an increasing basis with UN agencies such as the
> United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) the United Nations Development
> Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the United Nations Development Program
> (UNDP); and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).
> 
> 3. recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth
> 
> The principle of the unity of religion is at the center of Bahá'í teachings.
> Bahá'u'lláh states that humanity is engaged in a collective growth process
> quite similar to the growth process of an individual: just as a person begins
> life as a helpless infant and attains maturity in successive stages, so
> humankind began its collective social life in a primitive state, gradually
> attaining maturity. In the case of the individual, it is clear that his or her
> development takes place as a result of the education he or she receives from
> parents, teachers, and society in general. But what is the motive force in
> humankind's collective evolution?
> 
> The answer the Bahá'í Faith provides to this question is "revealed religion."
> In one of His major works, the Kitáb-i-Íqán (the Book of Certitude),
> Bahá'u'lláh explained that God, the Creator, has intervened and will continue
> to intervene in human history by means of chosen Messengers. These
> Messengers, Whom Bahá'u'lláh called "Manifestations of God," are
> principally the Founders of the major revealed religions, such as Abraham,
> Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad, and so forth. It is the spirit
> released by the coming of these Manifestations, together with the influence of
> Their teachings and the social systems established by Their laws and
> precepts, that enable humankind to progress in its collective evolution.
> Simply put: the Manifestations of God are the chief educators of humanity.
> With regard to the various religious systems that have appeared in human
> history, Bahá'u'lláh has said:
> 
> These principles and laws, these firmly-established and mighty systems, have
> proceeded from one Source and are the rays of one Light. That they differ
> one from another is to be attributed to the varying requirements of the ages
> in which they were promulgated.3
> 
> Thus the principle of the unity of religion means that all of the great religious
> Founders--the Manifestations--have come from God, and that all of the
> religious systems established by Them are part of a single divine plan
> directed by God.
> 
> In reality, there is only one religion, the religion of God. This one religion is
> continually evolving, and each particular religious system represents a stage
> in the evolution of the whole. The Bahá'í Faith represents the current stage in
> the evolution of religion. To emphasize the idea that all of the teachings and
> actions of the Manifestation are directed by God and do not originate from
> natural, human sources, Bahá'u'lláh used the term "revelation" to describe the
> phenomenon that occurs each time a Manifestation appears. In particular, the
> writings of the Manifestation represent the infallible Word of God. Because
> these writings remain long after the earthly life of the Manifestation is
> finished, they constitute an especially important part of the phenomenon of
> revelation. So much is this so, that the term "revelation" is sometimes used in
> a restricted sense to refer to the writings and words of the Manifestation.
> 
> Religious history is seen as a succession of revelations from God and the
> term "progressive revelation" is used to describe this process. Thus,
> according to Bahá'ís, progressive revelation is the motive force of human
> progress, and the Manifestation Bahá'u'lláh is the most recent instance of
> revelation.
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that the time interval between two Manifestations may be
> about one thousand years. He also taught that the process of revelation will
> not stop with His revelation and that another Manifestation will come after
> Him, though not before the expiration of one thousand years from
> Bahá'u'lláh's coming. According to the Bahá'í writings, the process of
> revelation will continue indefinitely into the future and humankind will see
> the coming of a great many more Manifestations.
> 
> To put the Bahá'í concept of religion more clearly in focus, let us compare it
> with some other ways in which religion has been regarded. On one hand is
> the view that the various religious systems result from human striving after
> truth. In this conception, the Founders of the great religions do not reveal
> God to us, but are rather philosophers or thinkers, human beings who may
> have progressed farther than others in the discovery of truth. This notion
> excludes the idea of a basic unity of religion since the various religious
> systems are seen as representing different opinions and beliefs arrived at by
> fallible human beings rather than infallible revelations of truth from a single
> source.
> 
> Many orthodox adherents of various religious traditions, on the other hand,
> argue that the Prophet or Founder of their particular tradition represents a true
> revelation of God to humanity, but that the other religious Founders are false
> prophets, or at least essentially inferior to the Founder of the tradition in
> question. For example, many Jews believe that Moses was a true Messenger
> of God, but that Jesus was not. Similarly, many Christians believe in Jesus'
> revelation, but consider that Muhammad was a false prophet, and hold that
> Moses was inferior in status to Christ.
> 
> The Bahá'í principle of the oneness of religion differs fundamentally from
> both of these traditional concepts. Bahá'u'lláh attributed the differences in
> some teachings of the great religions not to any human fallibility of the
> Founders, but rather to the different requirements of the ages in which the
> revelations occurred. Moreover, Bahá'ís consider that no one of the Founders
> is superior to another. Shoghi Effendi has summarized this view in the
> following words:
> 
> The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh, the followers of His
> Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that
> Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great
> religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in
> complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that
> their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are
> complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their
> doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual
> evolution of human society.4
> 
> 4. the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth
> 
> The unity of humankind foreseen by Bahá'u'lláh is unity based on justice.
> One of the most striking examples of injustice in the world today is the grave
> imbalance in economic and material conditions. A relatively small percentage
> of humankind has immense wealth, while the majority of the world's
> population lives in dire poverty and misery. This imbalance exists both
> within nations and between nations. Moreover, the gap that separates rich and
> poor continues to widen, which indicates that existing economic systems are
> incapable of restoring a just balance.
> 
> A satisfactory solution to the world's present economic crisis lies in a
> profound change of heart and mind which only religion can produce. From
> the Bahá'í perspective, the prevailing materialistic assumptions about
> economic development reflect a profound error of conception about human
> nature itself. 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote that "The fundamentals of the whole
> economic condition are divine in nature and are associated with the world of
> the heart and spirit…"5 "The disease which afflicts the body politic is lack of
> love and absence of altruism…"6
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh asserted that economic injustice is a moral evil and as such is
> condemned by God. In particular, Bahá'u'lláh warned:
> 
> O YE RICH ONES ON EARTH!
> 
> The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent
> only on your own ease.7
> 
> And:
> O CHILDREN OF DUST!
> 
> Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them
> into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth.8
> 
> The human and material resources at our disposal must be used for the longterm good of all, not for the short-term advantage of a few. This can be done
> only if cooperation becomes the basis of organized economic activity.
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá said that cooperation gives life to society just as the life of an
> organism is maintained by the cooperation of the various elements of which it
> is composed:
> 
> …the base of life is this mutual aid and helpfulness, and the cause of
> destruction and non-existence would be the interruption of this mutual
> assistance. The more the world aspires to civilization the more this important
> matter of cooperation becomes manifest.9
> 
> Within the framework of an economic system based on cooperation, the
> Bahá'í teachings accept the idea of private ownership of property and the
> need for private economic initiative. Moreover, the economic principles
> taught by Bahá'u'lláh do not imply that all individuals should receive the
> same income. There are natural differences in human needs and capacities,
> and some categories of service to society merit greater recompense than
> others.
> 
> However, all degrees of income should be established within absolute limits.
> There must be, on the one hand, a minimum income level that meets the basic
> needs for human well-being and of which all are assured. If, for whatever
> reason (incapacity or other misfortune), individuals are unable to meet their
> essential needs, they would be assisted by community institutions. On the
> other hand, there should be an absolute maximum income level that would
> prevent extreme accumulations of wealth.
> 
> In short, the Bahá'í teachings envision that economic justice and prosperity
> will come about only when the essential connection between the spiritual and
> practical aspects of life is recognized.
> 
> 5. the realization of universal education
> The acquisition of "knowledge," Bahá'u'lláh says, serves as "wings" for
> humanity's "ascent," and thus "is incumbent upon everyone." Knowledge
> plays a central role in human life and society: It is the process of generating
> and applying knowledge that lies at the heart of civilization. The
> advancement of society flows from it. In light of this teaching, the Universal
> House of Justice, in a 1985 statement on peace addressed to the peoples of
> the world, made the following declaration:
> 
> "The cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its service an
> army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves the utmost
> support that the governments of the world can lend it. For ignorance is
> indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples and the
> perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is
> accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations
> to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. The decisionmaking agencies involved would do well to consider giving first priority to
> the education of women and girls, since it is through educated mothers that
> the benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused
> throughout society. In keeping with the requirements of the times,
> consideration should also be given to teaching the concept of world
> citizenship as part of the standard education of every child."
> 
> 6. the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh emphasizes the fundamental obligation of human beings to
> acquire knowledge with their "own eyes and not through the eyes of others."
> One of the main sources of conflict in the world today is the fact that many
> people blindly and uncritically follow various traditions, movements, and
> opinions. God has given each human being a mind and the capacity to
> differentiate truth from falsehood. If individuals fail to use their reasoning
> capacities and choose instead to accept without question certain opinions and
> ideas, either out of admiration for or fear of those who hold them, then they
> are neglecting their basic moral responsibility as human beings. Moreover,
> when people act in this way, they often become attached to some particular
> opinion or tradition and thus intolerant of those who do not share it. Such
> attachments can, in turn, lead to conflict. History has witnessed conflict and
> even bloodshed over slight alterations in religious practice, or a minor change
> in the interpretation of doctrine. Personal search for truth enables the
> individual to know why he or she adheres to a given ideology or doctrine.
> 
> Bahá'ís believe that, as there is only one reality, all people will gradually
> discover its different facets and will ultimately come to common
> understanding and unity, provided they sincerely seek after truth. In this
> connection, 'Abdu'l-Bahá said:
> 
> Being one, truth cannot be divided, and the differences that appear to exist
> among the many nations only result from their attachment to prejudice. If
> only men would search out truth, they would find themselves united.10
> 
> And further:
> 
> The fact that we imagine ourselves to be right and everybody else wrong is
> the greatest of all obstacles in the path towards unity, and unity is necessary
> if we would reach truth, for truth is one.11
> 
> 7. the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations
> 
> The imperative of establishing and perpetuating the general peace of
> humankind is a central component of Bahá'í teachings. In the latter part of the
> nineteenth century, Bahá'u'lláh called upon the world's rulers to reconcile
> their differences and to "lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace." He
> proclaimed that "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." In
> doing so, He outlined a number of steps that would lead to permanent
> stability in international relations. At the heart of His vision was a set of new
> social structures based on participation and consultation among the world's
> peoples. These new institutional mechanisms would eliminate conflicts of
> interest and thereby reduce the potential for disunity at all levels of society. A
> number of international institutions were envisaged: a world legislature with
> genuine representation and authority, an international court having final
> jurisdiction in all disputes between nations, and an international executive
> empowered to carry out the decisions of these legislative and judicial bodies.
> 
> These institutions would have the means to ensure and maintain a general
> disarmament by applying principles of collective security. They would
> neither usurp nor suppress the basic autonomy of nations, would safeguard
> the personal freedom and initiative of individuals, and would protect longcherished cultural traditions of the world's peoples. The system of governance
> outlined by Bahá'u'lláh emphasizes the importance of grassroots decisionmaking that is democratic in spirit and method, but also provides a level of
> coordination and authority that makes cooperation possible on a global scale.
> 
> 8. recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the
> pursuit of scientific knowledge
> 
> A major source of conflict and disunity in the world today is the widespread
> opinion that there is some basic opposition between science and religion, that
> scientific truth contradicts religion on some points, and that one must choose
> between being a religious person, a believer in God, or a scientist, a follower
> of reason.12
> 
> The Bahá'í teachings stress the fundamental harmony of science and religion.
> This view derives from the belief that truth (or reality) is one. For if truth is
> indeed one, it is not possible for something to be scientifically false and
> religiously true. 'Abdu'l-Bahá expressed forcefully this idea in the following
> passage:
> 
> If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of
> science, they are mere superstitions and imaginations; for the antithesis of
> knowledge is ignorance, and the child of ignorance is superstition.
> Unquestionably there must be agreement between true religion and science.
> If a question be found contrary to reason, faith and belief in it are impossible,
> and there is no outcome but wavering and vacillation.13
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh affirmed that man's intelligence and reasoning powers are a gift
> from God: "This gift giveth man the power to discern the truth in all things,
> leadeth him to that which is right, and helpeth him to discover the secrets of
> creation."14 Science results from our systematic use of these God-given
> powers. The truths of science are thus discovered truths. The truths of
> prophetic religion are revealed truths, i.e., truths which God has shown to us
> without our having to discover them for ourselves. Bahá'ís consider that it is
> the same unique God who is both the Author of revelation and the Creator of
> the reality which science investigates, and hence there can be no
> contradiction between the two.
> Contradictions between science and traditional religious beliefs are attributed
> to human fallibility and arrogance. Over the centuries, distortions have
> gradually infiltrated the doctrines of many religious systems and diluted the
> pure teachings originally given by the Manifestation who was their Founder.
> With time these distortions become increasingly difficult to distinguish from
> the original message. Similarly, unsupported speculations of various schools
> of scientific thought have at times become more popular and influential than
> the results of rigorous scientific research, and have further blurred the picture.
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá affirmed that religion and science are, in fact, complementary:
> 
> Religion and science are the two wings upon which man's intelligence can
> soar into the heights, with which the human soul can progress. It is not
> possible to fly with one wing alone! Should a man try to fly with the wing of
> religion alone he would quickly fall into the quagmire of superstition, whilst
> on the other hand, with the wing of science alone he would also make no
> progress, but fall into the despairing slough of materialism.15
> 
> In another passage from the same work, He affirmed that the result of the
> practice of the unity of science and religion will be a strengthening of religion
> rather than its weakening as is feared by many religious apologists:
> 
> When religion, shorn of its superstitions, traditions, and unintelligent
> dogmas, shows its conformity with science, then will there be a great
> unifying, cleansing force in the world which will sweep before it all wars,
> disagreements, discords and struggles--and then will mankind be united in
> the power of the Love of God.16
> 
> The Historical Background
> 
> For Bahá'ís, evolutionary process is an essential feature of all the phenomena
> of life including the revelations of God. The series of stages through which
> their own Faith gradually made its appearance and established itself
> throughout the world is itself an expression of this principle.
> 
> The rise of the Bahá'í Faith has also been marked by a second feature that it
> shares in common with the formative period in the history of each of the
> earlier world religions. The implications of a new stage in the unfoldment of
> God's will are unwelcome to influential segments of existing society. The
> result has frequently been bitter persecution of followers of the new faith.
> During its first century and a half of life the Bahá'í Faith has passed through
> several periods of such oppression.
> Central Figures and Institutions
> 
> The Báb (1819-1850)
> 
> On May 23, 1844, in Shiraz, Persia, a young man known as the Báb
> announced the imminent appearance of the Messenger of God awaited by all
> the peoples of the world. The title Báb means "the Gate." Although Himself
> the bearer of an independent revelation from God, the Báb declared that His
> purpose was to prepare mankind for this advent.
> 
> Swift and savage persecution at the hands of the dominant Muslim clergy
> followed this announcement. The Báb was arrested, beaten, imprisoned, and
> finally on July 9, 1850 was executed in the public square of the city of
> Tabriz. Some 20,000 of His followers perished in a series of massacres
> throughout Persia. Today, the majestic building with the golden dome,
> overlooking the Bay of Haifa, Israel, and set amidst beautiful gardens, is the
> Shrine where the Báb's earthly remains are entombed.
> 
> The Báb, Forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> "His life is one of the most magnificent examples of courage which it has
> been the privilege of mankind to behold…"17 The object of this tribute by
> the prominent French writer A.L.M. Nicolas was the nineteenth century
> prophetic figure known to history as the Báb.
> 
> Millenial fervor gripped many peoples throughout the world during the first
> half of the nineteenth century; while Christians expected the return of Christ,
> a wave of expectation swept through Islam that the "Lord of the Age" would
> appear. Both Christians and Muslims envisioned that, with fulfillment of the
> prophecies in their scriptures, a new spiritual age was about to begin.
> 
> In Persia, this messianic ferment reached a dramatic climax on May 23, 1844,
> when a young merchant--the Báb--announced that He was the Bearer of a
> long- promised Divine Revelation destined to transform the spiritual life of
> the human race. "O peoples of the earth," the Báb declared, "Give ear unto
> God's holy Voice…Verily the resplendent Light of God hath appeared in your
> midst, invested with this unerring Book, that ye may be guided aright to the
> ways of peace…"18 Against a backdrop of widescale moral breakdown in
> Persian society, the Báb's declaration that spiritual renewal and social
> advancement rested on "love and compassion" rather "than force and
> coercion," aroused hope and excitement among all classes, and He quickly
> attracted thousands of followers.19
> 
> Although the young merchant's given name was Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad, He
> took the name "Báb," a title that means "Gate" or "Door" in Arabic. His
> coming, the Báb explained, represented the portal through which the
> universally anticipated Revelation of God to all humanity would soon appear.
> The central theme of His major work--the Bayan--was the imminent
> appearance of a second Messenger from God, one Who would be far greater
> than the Báb, and Whose mission would be to usher in the age of peace and
> justice promised in Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and all the other world
> religions.
> 
> The Báb referred to this coming Divine Teacher as "Him Whom God shall
> make manifest" and stated that "no words of Mine can adequately describe
> Him, nor can any reference in My Book, the Bayan, do justice to His
> Cause."20 He clarified the central aim of His mission by explaining that "the
> purpose underlying this Revelation, as well as those that preceded it, has, in
> like manner, been to announce the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will
> make manifest."21 The basis for all human accomplishment is to be found in
> the teachings of this promised universal Manifestation of God, and "the sum
> total of the religion of God is but to help Him."22 For the Báb, a climacteric
> in human history had been reached, and He was the "Voice of the Crier,
> calling aloud in the wilderness of the Bayan" announcing to humanity that it
> was entering the period of its collective maturity.23
> 
> Throughout His writings, the Báb warned His followers to be watchful, and
> as soon as the promised Teacher revealed Himself, to recognize and follow
> Him. The Báb exhorted them to see with the "eye of the spirit" rather than
> through their "fanciful imaginations."24 To be worthy of "Him Whom God
> shall make manifest" required entirely new standards of conduct, a nobility of
> character that human beings had theretofore not achieved: "Purge your hearts
> of worldly desires," the Báb urged His first group of disciples, "and let
> angelic virtues be your adorning…The time is come when naught but the
> purest motive, supported by deeds of stainless purity, can ascend to the
> throne of the Most High and be acceptable unto Him…"25
> 
> In several instances the Báb alluded to the identity of the Promised One:
> "Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá'u'lláh and
> rendereth thanks unto his Lord. For He will assuredly be made manifest."26
> And: "When the Day-Star of Baha will shine resplendent above the horizon of
> eternity it is incumbent upon you to present yourselves before His Throne."27
> Husayn-'Ali, a leading disciple of the Báb known to history as Bahá'u'lláh,
> assumed the title of "Baha" (Arabic for "glory" or "splendor") at a gathering
> of the Báb's followers in 1848, a title that was later confirmed by the Báb
> Himself.
> 
> In some respects, the Báb's role can be compared to that of John the Baptist
> in the founding of Christianity. The Báb was Bahá'u'lláh's herald: His
> principal mission was to prepare the way for Bahá'u'lláh's coming.
> Accordingly, the founding of the Bábi Faith is viewed by Bahá'ís as
> synonymous with the founding of the Bahá'í Faith--and its purpose was
> fulfilled when Bahá'u'lláh announced in 1863 that He was the Promised One
> foretold by the Báb. Bahá'u'lláh later affirmed that the Báb was "the Herald
> of His Name and the Harbinger of His Great Revelation which hath caused…
> the splendour of His light to shine forth above the horizon of the world."28
> The Báb's appearance marked the end of the "Prophetic Cycle" of religious
> history, and ushered in the "Cycle of Fulfillment."
> 
> At the same time, however, the Báb founded a distinctive, independent
> religion of His own. Known as the Bábi Faith, that religious dispensation
> produced its own vigorous community, its own scriptures, and left its own
> indelible mark on history. The Bahá'í writings attest that "the greatness of the
> Báb consists primarily, not in His being the divinely-appointed Forerunner of
> so transcendent a Revelation, but rather in His having been invested with the
> powers inherent in the inaugurator of a separate religious Dispensation, and
> in His wielding, to a degree unrivaled by the Messengers gone before Him,
> the scepter of independent Prophethood.29 With His call for the spiritual and
> moral reformation of Persian society, and His insistence upon the upliftment
> of the station of women and the poor, the Báb indeed assumed a position
> reminiscent of the Prophets of the past. But unlike those Seers of old who
> could but look to the far future for the time when "the earth shall be filled
> with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,"30 the Báb by His very
> appearance signified that the dawn of the "Day of God" had at last arrived.
> 
> The hearts and minds of those who heard the message of the Báb were locked
> in a mental world that had changed little from medieval times. Along with
> His prescription for spiritual renewal, His promotion of education and the
> useful sciences was by any measure revolutionary. Thus, by proclaiming an
> entirely new religion, the Báb was able to help His followers break free from
> the Islamic frame of reference and to mobilize them in preparation for the
> coming of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Mulla Husayn-i-Bushrú'i, a member of Persia's religious class, described the
> effect on him of his first meeting with the Báb: "I felt possessed of such
> courage and power that were the world, all its peoples and its potentates, to
> rise against me, I would alone and undaunted, withstand their onslaught. The
> universe seemed but a handful of dust in my grasp. I seemed to be the Voice
> of Gabriel personified, calling unto all mankind: 'Awake, for, lo! the morning
> Light has broken.' "31
> 
> The transformative impact of the Báb's message was primarily achieved
> through the dissemination of His epistles, commentaries, and doctrinal and
> mystical works. Some, though, like Mulla Husayn, were able to hear Him
> directly. The effect of the Báb's voice was described by one of His followers:
> "The melody of His chanting, the rhythmic flow of the verses which streamed
> from His lips caught our ears and penetrated into our very souls. Mountain
> and valley re-echoed the majesty of His voice. Our hearts vibrated in their
> depths to the appeal of His utterance."32
> 
> The boldness of the Báb's proclamation--which put forth the vision of an
> entirely new society--stirred intense fear within the religious and secular
> establishments. Accordingly, persecution of the Bábis quickly developed.
> Thousands of the Báb's followers were put to death in a horrific series of
> massacres. The extraordinary moral courage evinced by the Bábis in the face
> of this onslaught was recorded by a number of Western observers. European
> intellectuals such as Ernest Renan, Leo Tolstoy, Sarah Bernhardt and the
> Comte de Gobineau were deeply affected by this spiritual drama that had
> unfolded in what was regarded as a darkened land. The nobility of the Báb's
> life and teachings and the heroism of His followers became a frequent topic
> of conversation in the salons of Europe. The story of Tahirih, the great poet
> and Bábi heroine, who declared to her persecutors, "You can kill me as soon
> as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women," traveled as far
> and as quickly as that of the Báb Himself.33
> 
> Ultimately, those opposed to the Báb argued that He was not only a heretic,
> but a dangerous rebel. The authorities decided to have Him executed. On 9
> July 1850, this sentence was carried out, in the courtyard of the Tabriz army
> barracks. Some 10,000 people crowded the rooftops of the barracks and
> houses that overlooked the square. The Báb and a young follower were
> suspended by two ropes against a wall. A regiment of 750 Armenian soldiers,
> arranged in three files of 250 each, opened fire in three successive volleys. So
> dense was the smoke raised by the gunpowder and dust that the entire yard
> was obscured.
> 
> The report of the execution, written to Lord Palmerston, the British Secretary
> of State for Foreign Affairs, by Sir Justin Shiel, Queen Victoria's Envoy
> Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Tehran on July 22, 1850,
> records: "When the smoke and dust cleared away after the volley, Báb was
> not to be seen, and the populace proclaimed that he had ascended to the skies.
> The balls had broken the ropes by which he was bound but he was dragged
> from the recess where, after some search he was discovered and shot."34
> 
> After the first attempt at execution, the Báb was found back in His cell,
> giving final instructions to one of His followers. Earlier in the day, when the
> guards had come to take Him to the courtyard, the Báb had warned that no
> "earthly power" could silence Him until He had finished all that He had to
> say. When the guards arrived this second time, the Báb calmly announced:
> "Now you may proceed to fulfill your intention."35
> 
> Again, the Báb and His young companion were brought out for execution.
> The Armenian troops refused to fire, and a Muslim firing squad was
> assembled and ordered to shoot. This time the bodies of the pair were
> shattered, their bones and flesh mingled into one mass. Surprisingly, their
> faces were untouched. The light of the "Mystic Fane," as the Báb referred to
> Himself, had been quenched under a dramatic set of circumstances.36 The
> last words of the Báb to the crowd were: "O wayward generation! Had you
> believed in Me every one of you would have followed the example of this
> youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and would have willingly
> sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have
> recognized Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you."37
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh paid this tribute to the Báb: "Behold what steadfastness that
> Beauty of God hath revealed. The whole world rose to hinder Him, yet it
> utterly failed. The more severe the persecution they inflicted on that Sadrih
> [Branch] of Blessedness, the more His fervour increased, and the brighter
> burned the flame of His love. All this is evident, and none disputeth its truth.
> Finally, He surrendered His soul, and winged His flight unto the realms
> above."38
> 
> A.L.M. Nicolas, who chronicled the episode of the Báb, wrote: "He sacrificed
> himself for humanity; for it he gave his body and his soul, for it he endured
> privations, insults, torture and martyrdom. He sealed, with his very lifeblood,
> the covenant of universal brotherhood. Like Jesus he paid with his life for the
> proclamation of a reign of concord, equity, and brotherly love."39
> 
> The short six-year duration of the Báb's mission in some respects symbolized
> the abrupt and startling transition to global consciousness that the Báb had
> called humanity to undertake. Since His bold proclamation in the middle of
> the last century, unparalleled scientific and technological advances have
> indeed provided the first glimmerings of a global society. In His role as the
> "Primal Point from which have been generated all created things," the Báb
> set in motion a dramatic new cycle of human creativity and discovery.40 The
> "breezes" of God's "knowledge" had "stirred" the "minds of men" and caused
> "the spirits to soar."
> 
> The nearly simultaneous appearance of two Manifestations of God,
> Bahá'u'lláh Himself states, "is a mystery such as no mind can fathom."41 For
> Bahá'ís, it is both an affirmation that the establishment of universal peace--
> the "Kingdom of God"--is not too far distant, and a testimony to the greatness
> of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation. As 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's appointed
> successor, explains:
> 
> The Báb, the Exalted One, is the Morn of Truth, the splendor of Whose light
> shineth throughout all regions. He is also the Harbinger of the Most Great
> Light, the Abha Luminary (Bahá'u'lláh). The Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) is
> the One promised by the sacred books of the past, the revelation of the
> Source of light that shone upon Mount Sinai, Whose fire glowed in the midst
> of the Burning Bush. We are, one and all, servants of their threshold, and
> stand each as a lowly keeper at their door.42
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh: Manifestation of God
> 
> "The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot
> describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and
> authority sat on that ample brow…. No need to ask in whose presence I
> stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love
> which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!"
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh was thus described by the well-known Cambridge University
> Orientalist Edward Granville Browne in 1890. Bahá'u'lláh had, at that time,
> been a prisoner and an exile for almost 40 years and His teachings were
> shrouded in obscurity; today He is recognized by millions of followers
> around the world as the Manifestation of God or Divine Teacher for this age.
> According to Bahá'í belief, Manifestations of God, including Moses,
> Abraham, Christ, Muhammad, Krishna, and Buddha, have appeared at
> intervals throughout history to found the world's great religious systems.
> They have been sent by a loving Creator to enable us to know and to worship
> Him and to bring human civilization to ever higher levels of achievement.
> 
> The station of these Manifestations is unique in creation. Their essential
> nature is twofold: they are at once human and divine. But they are not
> identical with God, the Creator, Who is Unknowable. Of God, Bahá'u'lláh has
> written,
> 
> He, in truth, hath, throughout eternity, been one in His Essence, one in His
> attributes, one in His works. Any and every comparison is applicable only to
> His creatures, and all conceptions of association are conceptions that belong
> solely to those that serve Him. Immeasurably exalted is His Essence above
> the descriptions of His creatures. He, alone, occupieth the Seat of
> transcendent majesty, of supreme and inaccessible glory. The birds of men's
> hearts, however high they soar, can never hope to attain the heights of His
> unknowable Essence. It is He Who hath called into being the whole of
> creation, Who hath caused every created thing to spring forth at His
> behest.43
> 
> Furthermore, Bahá'u'lláh, addressing God in a prayer, says:
> 
> Exalted, immeasurably exalted art Thou above any attempt to measure the
> greatness of Thy Cause, above any comparison that one may seek to make,
> above the efforts of the human tongue to utter its import! From everlasting
> Thou hast existed, alone with no one else beside Thee, and wilt, to
> everlasting, continue to remain the same, in the sublimity of Thine essence
> and the inaccessible heights of Thy glory.
> 
> And when Thou didst purpose to make Thyself known unto men, Thou didst
> successively reveal the Manifestations of Thy Cause, and ordained each to be
> a sign of Thy Revelation among Thy people, and the Day-Spring of Thine
> invisible Self amidst Thy creatures…44
> 
> Describing the relationship between the Manifestations of God and Their
> Creator, Bahá'u'lláh used the analogy of the mirror: God is as the Sun, and the
> Manifestations are as Mirrors that reflect that divine light -- but they are in no
> way to be considered as identical to that Sun:
> 
> These sanctified Mirrors…are, one and all, the Exponents on earth of Him
> Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and ultimate Purpose.
> From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their
> sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image,
> and their revelation a sign of His deathless glory.45
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's central message for humanity in this day is one of unity and
> justice. "The best beloved of all things in My sight is justice,"46 He wrote,
> and "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens"47 in two oftenquoted passages. He also stated, "The well-being of mankind, its peace and
> security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established."48
> This is the prescription of God, the divine and all-knowing Physician, for our
> ailing world.
> While such statements have become part of mainstream thinking in the
> contemporary world, we can only imagine the startling effect they would
> have had on someone like E.G. Browne, to whom Bahá'u'lláh uttered the
> following remarkable statement:
> 
> Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile…. We desire but the good of
> the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of
> strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment…. That all nations
> should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of
> affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that
> diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled -- what
> harm is there in this?…Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous
> wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come…
> 
> Born into a noble family in nineteenth century Persia, Bahá'u'lláh's destiny
> would seem to have been one of wealth and ease. Yet, from an early age He
> showed little interest in following in His father's footsteps at the Shah's court,
> preferring to spend His time and resources in ministering to the poor. Later,
> His recognition of the religion of the Báb, which arose in 1844 in Persia and
> was destined to fulfil the prophecies of Islam, caused Him to be cast into
> prison and subsequently exiled.
> 
> In His writings, the Báb alluded to the imminent coming of the Promised One
> foretold in all the world's religions -- a role claimed by Bahá'u'lláh. "This is
> the King of Days," Bahá'u'lláh thus extols the age that has witnessed the
> advent of His Revelation, "the Day that hath seen the coming of the Bestbeloved, Him Who through all eternity hath been acclaimed the Desire of the
> World."49 "I am the One," He in another connection affirms, "Whom the
> tongue of Isaiah hath extolled, the One with Whose name both the Torah and
> the Evangel were adorned."50 Of Himself, He wrote: "Naught is seen in My
> temple but the Temple of God, and in My beauty but His Beauty, and in My
> being but His Being, and in My self but His Self, and in My movement but His
> Movement, and in My acquiescence but His Acquiescence, and in My pen but
> His Pen, the Mighty, the All-Praised. There hath not been in My soul but the
> Truth, and in Myself naught could be seen but God."51 And of His mission,
> He said:
> 
> And when the entire creation was stirred up, and the whole earth was
> convulsed, and the sweet savors of Thy name, the All-Praised, had almost
> ceased to breathe over Thy realms, and the winds of Thy mercy had well-nigh
> been stilled throughout Thy dominions, Thou didst, through the power of Thy
> might, raise me up among Thy servants, and bid me to show forth Thy
> sovereignty amidst Thy people. Thereupon I arose before all Thy creatures,
> strengthened by Thy help and Thy power, and summoned all the multitudes
> unto Thee, and announced unto all Thy servants Thy favors and Thy gifts,
> and invited them to turn towards this Ocean, every drop of the waters of
> which crieth out, proclaiming unto all that are in heaven and on earth that
> He is, in truth, the Fountain of all life, and the Quickener of the entire
> creation, and the Object of the adoration of all worlds, and the Best-Beloved
> of every understanding heart, and the Desire of all them that are nigh unto
> Thee.52
> 
> It was during His initial imprisonment that Bahá'u'lláh first experienced
> divine revelation. Of it, He wrote:
> 
> During the days I lay in the prison of Tihran, though the galling weight of the
> chains and the stench-filled air allowed Me but little sleep, still in those
> infrequent moments of slumber I felt as if something flowed from the crown of
> My head over My breast, even as a mighty torrent that precipitateth itself
> upon the earth from the summit of a lofty mountain. Every limb of My body
> would, as a result, be set afire. At such moments My tongue recited what no
> man could bear to hear.53
> 
> Throughout the long years of exile He endured, Bahá'u'lláh revealed divinely
> inspired passages equivalent to over 100 volumes. This revelation comprises
> mystical writings54, social and ethical teachings55, laws and ordinances, and
> a fearless proclamation of His message to the kings and rulers of the world,
> including Napoleon III, Queen Victoria, Pope Pius IX, the Shah of Persia,
> Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, and
> others.
> 
> The conception of human nature found in Bahá'u'lláh's revelation is one of
> dignity and essential nobility. In one passage, He writes, with the voice of
> God, "O Son of Spirit! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased
> thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created."56 Elsewhere, He
> states, "Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education
> can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit
> therefrom."57 Every person, He asserts, is capable of recognizing God; all
> that is needed is a degree of detachment:
> 
> When the channel of the human soul is cleansed of all worldly and impeding
> attachments, it will unfailingly perceive the breath of the Beloved across
> immeasurable distances, and will, led by its perfume, attain and enter the
> City of Certitude.
> 
> …That city is none other than the Word of God revealed in every age and
> dispensation…. All the guidance, the blessings, the learning, the
> understanding, the faith, and certitude, conferred upon all that is in heaven
> and on earth, are hidden and treasured within these Cities.58
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's Son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who was appointed by Him as His successor,
> described the mission of His Father in these words:
> 
> He bore these ordeals, suffered these calamities and difficulties in order that
> a manifestation of selflessness and service might become apparent in the
> world of humanity; that the Most Great Peace should become a reality; that
> human souls might appear as the angels of heaven; that heavenly miracles
> would be wrought among men; that human faith should be strengthened and
> perfected; that the precious, priceless bestowal of God, the human mind,
> might be developed to its fullest capacity in the temple of the body; and man
> become the reflection and likeness of God, even as it hath been revealed in
> the Bible: 'We shall create man in Our own image.'
> 
> Briefly, the Blessed Perfection [Bahá'u'lláh] bore all these ordeals and
> calamities in order that our hearts might become enkindled and radiant, our
> spirits be glorified, our faults become virtues, our ignorance transformed into
> knowledge; in order that we might attain the real fruits of humanity and
> acquire heavenly graces; although pilgrims upon earth we should travel the
> road of the heavenly kingdom; although needy and poor we might receive the
> treasures of life eternal. For this has He borne these difficulties and
> sorrows.59
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh passed from this earthly world in 1892, still nominally a prisoner
> in Palestine. One hundred years later, in 1992, the Bahá'í international
> community observed a Holy Year to commemorate the centenary of His
> ascension. In May of that year, a delegation of several thousand Bahá'ís from
> over 200 countries and territories gathered at His shrine in the Holy Land to
> pay homage to Him. And the following November a congress of some 27,000
> followers assembled in New York City in an atmosphere of reverence and joy
> to celebrate the inauguration of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant which has preserved
> the unity of His Faith since its inception. A statement60 written to acquaint
> people everywhere with the details of Bahá'u'lláh's life and mission was also
> released during this special year.
> 
> We invite you to learn more about Bahá'u'lláh's life and mission; to study the
> prayers and sacred writings revealed by Him; and to investigate His
> astounding claim to be "the Promised One of All Ages" and His promise of a
> future when "these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and
> the 'Most Great Peace' shall come."
> 
> The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> "So powerful is the light of unity," Bahá'u'lláh declared, "that it can illuminate
> the whole earth."61 "We, verily," He further stated, "have come to unite and
> weld together all that dwell on earth."62Bahá'u'lláh made the oneness of
> humankind the central principle and goal of His Faith, an emphasis that
> implies the organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations and
> signalizes the "coming of age of the entire human race." 63
> 
> Humanity's evolution has been marked by such progressive stages of social
> organization as family, tribe, city-state and nation. Bahá'u'lláh's express
> purpose was to usher in the next and ultimate stage, namely, world unity --
> the harbinger of the Great Peace foretold in the world's religions. As the
> Word of God as revealed by Bahá'u'lláh is the source and impetus of the
> oneness of humankind, so the Covenant He has established is the organizing
> principle for its realization.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant guarantees both unity of understanding of His Faith's
> fundamental doctrines and actualization of that unity in the Bahá'í
> community's spiritual and social development. It is distinguished by its
> provision for authentic interpretation of the sacred texts and for an authorized
> system of administration, at the apex of which is an elected legislative body
> empowered to supplement the laws revealed by Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> This Covenant is the most remarkable feature of His Revelation, for it is
> designed, unlike any religious system of the past, to preserve the unity of all
> humanity through the organic workings of a social order based on spiritual
> principles. "So firm and mighty" is this Covenant, Bahá'u'lláh's son 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá has affirmed, "that from the beginning of time until the present day, no
> religious Dispensation hath produced its like." 64
> 
> The Bahá'í Faith is thus the first religion in history that has survived its
> critical first century with its unity firmly established. "Were it not for the
> protecting power of the Covenant to guard the impregnable fort of the Cause
> of God," said 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "there would arise among the Bahá'ís, in one
> day, a thousand different sects as was the case in former ages." 65 But in this
> Revelation, Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant is the magnet that draws the hearts of its
> followers together.
> 
> While issues of succession and leadership within the Bahá'í Faith are
> addressed by Bahá'u'lláh in His Covenant, its significance is far more
> encompassing. As He wrote, "The aim of this Wronged One in sustaining
> woes and tribulations, in revealing the Holy Verses and in demonstrating
> proofs hath been naught but to quench the flame of hate and enmity, that the
> horizon of the hearts of men may be illumined with the light of concord and
> attain real peace and tranquillity."66
> 
> Elaborating this theme, Bahá'u'lláh exhorted the people of the world to
> behave in a manner that will elevate their station; to "hold fast to the fear of
> God and firmly adhere to what is right"; to refrain from engaging in "slander,
> abuse and whatever causeth sadness"; to "hold fast to righteousness and
> truth"; to recognize that the "religion of God is for love and unity" and not to
> be made the "cause of enmity or dissension"; to respect those who have been
> invested with the power to rule or govern, and to "aid those daysprings of
> authority and sources of command who are adorned with the ornament of
> equity and justice"; "to serve all nations and to strive for the betterment of the
> world." 67
> 
> "Conflict and contention are categorically forbidden in His Book,"
> Bahá'u'lláh asserted, emphasizing the importance of harmony in human
> relationships. And again He addressed these words to His followers: "O
> Servants! Let not the means of order be made the cause of confusion and the
> instrument of union an occasion for discord." 68
> 
> The Center of the Covenant
> 
> It is in the pursuit of such aims and injunctions that Bahá'u'lláh appointed His
> Son 'Abdu'l-Bahá as His successor: "When the ocean of My presence hath
> ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended," He wrote in the Kitab-i-
> Aqdas, His Book of Laws, "turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath
> purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root." 69 In His Will and
> Testament, known as The Book of the Covenant, Bahá'u'lláh explained further
> that, "The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty
> Branch ['Abdu'l-Bahá]." 70
> 
> This appointment invested 'Abdu'l-Bahá with authority as the sole interpreter
> of Bahá'u'lláh's writings and the executor of Bahá'u'lláh's purpose in the
> establishment of the Bahá'í administrative order; moreover, in His personal
> life, His words and deeds, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was the perfect exemplar of the
> qualities and ideals of Bahá'í living. The combination of these functions in
> one person gave rise to a unique office in religious history -- Center of the
> Covenant -- and makes 'Abdu'l-Bahá an unparalleled figure in all history.
> 
> The uniqueness of Bahá'u'lláh's purpose for 'Abdu'l-Bahá is indicated in
> various statements. For example, in a work known as Tablet of the Branch,
> Bahá'u'lláh, referring to 'Abdu'l-Bahá as "this sacred and glorious Being, this
> Branch of Holiness," said, "well is it with him that hath sought His shelter
> and abideth beneath His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of God hath
> sprung forth from this Root which God hath firmly implanted in the Ground
> of His Will and Whose Branch hath been uplifted as to encompass the whole
> of creation….Render thanks unto God, O people, for His appearance; for
> verily He is the most great Favor unto you, the most perfect bounty upon you;
> and through Him every mouldering bone is quickened. Whoso turneth
> towards Him hath turned towards God, and whoso turneth away from Him
> hath turned away from My Beauty, hath repudiated My Proof, and
> transgressed against Me. He is the Trust of God amongst you, His charge
> within you, His manifestation unto you and His appearance among His
> favored servants."71
> 
> The explicitness of Bahá'u'lláh's written appointment of His Son and the
> elaborations of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's station were meant to prevent any
> misunderstanding among the faithful as to the leadership of the community
> following Bahá'u'lláh's passing. These provisions by the Manifestation of
> God Himself, in and of themselves, demonstrate an exceptional aspect of the
> Bahá'í Revelation.
> 
> As the successor of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá became the tangible center of
> unity round which the development of the Bahá'í world community would
> revolve. As Bahá'u'lláh's chosen interpreter and expounder of His teachings,
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá was the "incorruptible medium for applying the Word to
> practical measures for the raising up of a new civilization." Each of the
> institutions created in Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant was more clearly explained,
> sometimes elaborated and in several cases erected by 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself.
> 
> The whole range of Bahá'u'lláh's moral teachings was perfectly manifested in
> the life lived by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and the great diversity of the Bahá'í
> community owes its major impulse to the undiscriminating love with which
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá welcomed persons of every background, interest and
> personality, and the manner in which He patiently nurtured those who
> responded. Bahá'u'lláh "vested in Him the virtues of perfection in personal
> and social behavior, that humanity may have an enduring model to emulate."
> To counteract the destructive forces at work in society everywhere, it was
> necessary to establish a center of unity which could correlate within itself the
> Bahá'í principles and their expression in deeds and provide an example of
> Bahá'í ideals in personal behavior that could inspire and be followed by all
> people. In 'Abdu'l-Bahá can be found that perfect coherence of mind, heart,
> deeds and relationships which expressed itself in the fullness of His functions
> as the Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant.
> 
> "He is, above and beyond these appelations," His grandson and the appointed
> Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith wrote after citing the many designations
> conferred by Bahá'u'lláh upon Him, "the 'Mystery of God' -- an expression
> which Bahá'u'lláh Himself has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it
> does not by any means justify us to assign to Him the station of Prophethood,
> indicates how in the person of 'Abdu'l-Bahá the incompatible characteristics
> of a human nature and superhuman knowledge and perfection have been
> blended and are completely harmonized." 72
> 
> The Administrative Order
> 
> The idea of the existence of a divine pattern for the continuous administration
> and development of the Bahá'í Faith is as important to the definition of Bahá'í
> belief as are the spiritual and social doctrines of Bahá'u'lláh. The Bahá'í
> administrative order is a tangible expression of the covenantal arrangement
> made betwen Bahá'u'lláh and His followers. 'Abdu'l-Bahá gave significant
> attention to delineating the administrative system conceived by Bahá'u'lláh,
> and in His Will and Testament specified the responsibilities and functions,
> powers and authority particularly of the two institutions that would succeed
> Him, thus providing for continuity in the unity of the Bahá'í Faith. The twin
> institutions at the apex of the administrative order are the Guardianship and
> the Universal House of Justice.
> 
> In the same manner as He had been Himself appointed Center of the
> Covenant by Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá designated His grandson Shoghi
> Effendi as Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. "For he is, after 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the
> guardian of the Cause of God… and the beloved of the Lord must obey him
> and turn unto him" is the explicit language of the Will and Testament of
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá. 73 To the Guardian was given the role of authoritative
> interpreter, and he was charged with the further expansion of the Bahá'í world
> community along the lines previously revealed by Bahá'u'lláh and elaborated
> by 'Abdu'l-Bahá. As one writer has said, "By the appointment of a Guardian
> of the Bahá'í Cause, 'Abdu'l-Bahá created an executive head and center
> possessing unquestioned consecration and capacity for the tremendous task
> of inspiring the worldwide Bahá'í community to develop along the path of
> human service marked out for it…." 74
> 
> The Will and Testament also authorized Shoghi Effendi to appoint, as an
> auxiliary institution to the Guardianship, Hands of the Cause of God, who
> would give particular attention to the propagation and protection of the Faith.
> "This body of the Hands of the Cause of God," 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote, "is under
> the direction of the guardian of the Cause of God. He must continually urge
> them to strive and endeavor to the utmost of their ability to diffuse the sweet
> savors of God, and to guide all the peoples of the world, for it is the light of
> Divine Guidance that causeth all the universe to be illumined." 75
> 
> One of Shoghi Effendi's chief goals was the development of the community
> to the point where it could sustain the establishment of the Universal House
> of Justice, the elected international council ordained by Bahá'u'lláh. Later,
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá through the provisions of His Will and Testament, had shown
> how its aims and purposes were to be complementary to those of the
> Guardianship.
> 
> Alluding to the complementary functions and authority of His twin
> successors, 'Abdu'l-Bahá further wrote, "The sacred and youthful branch, the
> guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be
> universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of
> the Abha Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh), under the shelter and unerring guidance of
> His Holiness, the Exalted One (the Báb). Whatsoever they decide is of God.
> Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso
> rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso
> opposeth him hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them hath
> contended with God." 76
> 
> Through the thirty-six years of the Guardian's ministry, the Bahá'í community
> remained unified, grew rapidly, and spread over vast regions of the globe,
> gradually erecting the local, national and international institutions that
> constitute the Bahá'í administrative order. Eventually conditions necessary
> for the establishment of the Universal House of Justice were fulfilled, five
> and a half years after the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957.
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá defined the work of the Universal House of Justice in His Will
> and Testament, specifying that secondary Houses of Justices (temporarily
> known as National Spiritual Assembies) must be instituted in all countries,
> and their members are to elect the Universal House of Justice. The first
> election of this institution in 1963 by the members of 56 National Spiritual
> Assemblies not only initiated a new stage in the evolution of the
> administrative order; it also marked the first time in history that an
> international governing body of this character had been brought into being by
> a democratic election devoid of campaigning or nominations, in the manner
> of all Bahá'í elections. Since then the number of National Spiritual
> Assemblies has increased more than threefold.
> 
> Regarding the duties of members of the Universal House of Justice, 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá wrote, "It is incumbent upon these members to gather in a certain place
> and deliberate upon all problems which have caused difference, questions
> that are obscure and matters that are not expressly recorded in the Book.
> Whatsoever they decide has the same effect as the Text itself. And inasmuch
> as this House of Justice hath power to enact laws that are not expressly
> recorded in the Book and bear upon daily transactions, so also it hath power
> to repeal the same."77
> 
> The Universal House of Justice arrives at decisions through consultation, a
> process uniquely defined by Bahá'u'lláh and which is essential to the
> existence of the administrative order. Consultation is the method by which
> unity is maintained in the conduct of Bahá'í community affairs throughout the
> world. As a procedure for building consensus and investigating truth, they
> have the potential for wide application. Indeed, Bahá'ís have found them to
> be useful in virtually any arena where group decision-making and
> cooperation is required. These principles are used not only by the Faith's own
> institutions, but in Bahá'í-owned businesses, in Bahá'í-operated schools, and
> in day-to-day decision-making of Bahá'í families. In essence, consultation
> seeks to build consensus in a manner that unites various constituencies
> instead of dividing them. It encourages diversity of opinion and acts to
> control the struggle for power that is otherwise so common in traditional
> decision-making systems.
> 
> Bahá'í consultation is based on the following principles:
> 
> * Information should be gathered from the widest possible range of sources,
> seeking a diversity of points of view. This may mean making special efforts
> to seek the views of specialists--such as lawyers, doctors, or scientists. It may
> also mean looking for information outside traditional specialties or making a
> special effort to consider the views of community members from diverse
> backgrounds.
> 
> * During discussion, participants must make every effort to be as frank and
> candid as possible, while maintaining a courteous interest in the views of
> others. Personal attacks, blanket ultimatums and prejudicial statements are to
> be avoided.
> 
> * When an idea is put forth it becomes at once the property of the group.
> Although this notion sounds simple, it is perhaps the most profound principle
> of consultation. For in this rule, all ideas cease to be the property of any
> individual, sub-group, or constituency. When followed, this principle
> encourages those ideas that spring forth from a sincere desire to serve, as
> opposed to ideas that emanate from a desire for personal aggrandizement or
> constituency-building.
> 
> * The group strives for unanimity, but a majority vote can be taken to bring
> about a conclusion and make the decision. An important aspect to this
> principle is the understanding that once a decision is made, it is incumbent on
> the entire group to act on it with unity--regardless of how many supported the
> measure.
> 
> In this sense, there can be no "minority" report or "position of the opposition"
> in consultation. Rather, Bahá'ís believe that if a decision is a wrong one, it
> wlll become evident in its implementation--but only if the decision-making
> group and, indeed, the community at large, support it wholeheartedly.
> 
> This commitment to unity ensures that if a decision or a project fails, the
> problem lies in the idea itself, and not in lack of support from the community
> or the obstinate actions of opponents.
> 
> The principle, again, harks back to an understanding of the power of unity.
> Bahá'u'lláh's Son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, said that Bahá'ís should strive always to seek
> agreement on an issue:
> 
> If they agree on a subject, even though it be wrong, it is better than to
> disagree and be in the right, for this difference will produce the demolition of
> the divine foundation. Though one of the parties may be in the right and they
> disagree that will be the cause of a thousand wrongs, but if they agree and
> both parties are in the wrong, as it is in unity the truth will be revealed and
> the wrong made right.
> 
> Thus, through the definite arrangements made by Bahá'u'lláh and amplified
> by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Covenant has remained and remains inviolate; the
> channel of divine guidance, which provides flexibility in all the affairs of
> mankind, has stayed open through the time of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, that of Shoghi
> Effendi, and subsequently through the years since the election of the
> Universal House of Justice which was founded by Bahá'u'lláh and endowed
> by Him with supreme authority and unfailing guidance and of which 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá wrote: "Unto this body all things must be referred."
> 
> The completeness of the Covenant is evident through these arrangements, as
> the international, national and local institutions of the administrative order
> provide points of unity around which the Bahá'í community revolves.
> Illustrative of this characteristic is the following statement of Shoghi Effendi:
> 
> And now as I look into the future, I hope to see the [Bahá'ís] at all times, in
> every land, and of every shade of thought and character, voluntarily and
> joyously rallying round their local and in particular their national centers of
> activity, upholding and promoting their interests with complete unanimity
> and contentment, with perfect understanding, genuine enthusiasm, and
> sustained vigor. This indeed is the one joy and yearning of my life, for it is
> the fountain-head from which all future blessings will flow, the broad
> foundation upon which the security of the Divine Edifice must ultimately
> rest.78
> 
> Such rallying points for the Bahá'í community, whatever their rank, are
> mutually interactive and reinforcing; operating in a relationship similar to that
> of concentric circles, all of which focus on the indispensable Center of
> Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi expressed this view about the Covenant in a letter written on
> his behalf by his secretary:
> 
> As regards the meaning of the Bahá'í Covenant, the Guardian considers the
> existence of two forms of Covenant, both of which are explicitly mentioned in
> the literature of the Cause. First is the Covenant that every Prophet makes
> with humanity or, more definitely, with His people that they will accept and
> follow the coming Manifestation Who will be the reappearance of His reality.
> [Bahá'u'lláh states that a Manifestation will come not less than a thousand
> years after Him.] The second form of Covenant is such as the one Bahá'u'lláh
> made with His people that they should accept the Master ['Abdu'l-Bahá].
> This is merely to establish and strengthen the succession of the series of
> Lights that appear after every Manifestation. Under the same category falls
> the Covenant the Master made with the Bahá'ís that they should accept His
> administration after Him…79
> 
> Throughout the past century, the sphere of unity encompassed by the
> Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh has steadily widened as the Bahá'í community has
> grown and spread around the world. Today, over 150 years after the birth of
> the Bahá'í Revelation, millions of followers in hundreds of countries and
> territories all over the world remain united through the provisions of
> Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant.
> 
> Our Covenant with Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> A Covenant implies a solemn agreement between two parties. As already
> noted, Bahá'u'lláh's part of His Covenant is to bring us teachings that
> transform both the inner and outer conditions of life on earth, to provide us
> with an authoritative interpreter to keep us from misunderstanding God's will
> for us, and to give us guidance to establish institutions that will pursue the
> goals of the achievement of unity. Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant affects us at all
> levels of existence, from our social organizations to our individual lives.
> 
> As individuals, we in turn have the responsibility to observe the laws God has
> given to us to safeguard our dignity and to enable us to become the noble
> beings He created us to be -- to pray, to meditate, to read the Sacred Writings,
> to fast, to live a chaste life, to be trustworthy. It is our responsibility to show
> love towards each other, as imperfect as we may be; it is our obligation to
> love and to obey the institutions Bahá'u'lláh brought into being. Unless we do
> these things, we do not open ourselves to the benefits of Bahá'u'lláh's
> Covenant with us.
> 
> In an appealing collection of ethical writings called The Hidden Words,
> Bahá'u'lláh wrote, in the voice of the Divine: "Love Me, that I may love thee.
> If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O
> servant." This brief passage encapsulates the essence of the Covenant and our
> responsibility. It shows the Creator's abiding love for us as well as our
> freedom to choose whether to love Him in return -- and the consequences of
> that choice.
> 
> A Universally Transformative Power
> 
> The Bahá'í community is currently traversing the first stage in the flowering
> of the divine authority which Bahá'u'lláh planted in human affairs through the
> establishment of His Covenant and His appointment of 'Abdu'l-Bahá as its
> Center. This authority, which is an expression of the love of God, has the
> power, at the individual level, to captivate hearts and transform character. It
> provides us with a code of conduct that leads towards social progress. At the
> community level, the loving authority at the heart of the Faith moulds our
> social relationships. It guides us to manifest a quality of love and to maintain
> unity in our dealings with each other. At an institutional level, the Covenant
> gives us administrative channels through which love flows, and it defines our
> relationship with those institutions. The transformative power of the
> Covenant expresses the essential feature of Bahá'u'lláh's World Order,
> cherished by Him above anything else: "The best beloved of all things in My
> sight is Justice."
> 
> As humanity comes of age, the peoples of the world are awakening to the fact
> of their oneness and to the vision of the earth as a single homeland. The
> spiritual authority of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant provides us with a framework for
> healing past differences, whether of race, class or creed, and establishes a
> new kind of relationship between us and our Creator. The moral
> empowerment that comes to us through this divine bestowal will enable us,
> for the first time in human history, to build a unified global society.
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá: the Center of the Covenant
> 
> On November 29, 1921, ten thousand people--Jews, Christians, and Muslims
> from all persuasions and denominations--gathered on Mount Carmel in the
> Holy Land to mourn the passing of One who was eulogized as the essence of
> "Virtue and Wisdom, of Knowledge and Generosity."80 On that occasion,
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá--Bahá'u'lláh's Son and chosen successor--was described by a
> Jewish leader as a "living example of self-sacrifice," by a Christian orator as
> One who led humanity to the "Way of Truth," and by a prominent Muslim
> leader as a "pillar of peace" and the embodiment of "glory and greatness."
> His funeral, according to a Western observer, brought together a great throng
> "sorrowing for His death, but rejoicing also for His life." 81
> 
> Throughout the Occident and the Orient, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was known as an
> ambassador of peace, a champion of justice, and the leading exponent of a
> new Faith. Through a series of epoch-making travels across North America
> and Europe, 'Abdu'l-Bahá--by word and example--proclaimed with
> persuasiveness and force the essential principles of His Father's religion.
> Affirming that "Love is the most great law" that is the foundation of "true
> civilization," and that the "supreme need of humanity is cooperation and
> reciprocity" among all its peoples, 'Abdu'l-Bahá reached out to leaders and
> the meek alike, to every soul who crossed His path.
> 
> An American commentator wrote,
> 
> He found a large and sympathetic audience waiting to greet Him personally
> and to receive from His own lips His loving and spiritual message…. Beyond
> the words spoken there was something indescribable in His personality that
> impressed profoundly all who came into His presence. The dome-like head,
> the patriarchal beard, the eyes that seemed to have looked beyond the reach
> of time and sense, the soft yet clearly penetrating voice, the translucent
> humility, the never failing love,--but above all, the sense of power mingled
> with gentleness that invested His whole being with a rare majesty of spiritual
> exaltation that both set Him apart, and yet brought Him near to the lowliest
> soul,--it was all this, and much more that can never be defined, that have left
> with His many… friends, memories that are ineffaceable and unspeakably
> precious.
> 
> Yet, however magnetic His personality or penetrating His insights into the
> human condition, such characteristics cannot adequately capture 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá's unique station in religious history. In the words of Bahá'u'lláh
> Himself, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was the "Trust of God," "a shelter for all mankind,"
> "the most great Favor," and God's "ancient and immutable Mystery." The
> Bahá'í writings further affirm that "in the person of 'Abdu'l-Bahá the
> incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman knowledge
> and perfection have been blended and are completely harmonized."
> The question of religious succession has been crucial to all faiths. Failure to
> resolve this question has inevitably led to acrimony and division. The
> ambiguity surrounding the true successors of Jesus and Muhammad, for
> example, led to differing interpretations of sacred scripture and deep discord
> within both Christianity and Islam. However, Bahá'u'lláh prevented schism
> and established an unassailable foundation for His Faith through the
> provision of His will and testament, entitled "The Book of My Covenant." He
> wrote: "When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My
> Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed,
> Who hast branched from this Ancient Root. The object of this sacred verse is
> none other except the Most Mighty Branch ['Abdu'l-Bahá]."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh's appointment of 'Abdu'l-Bahá as His successor was the means for
> diffusing His message of hope and universal peace to all corners of the world,
> for realizing the essential unity of all peoples. In referring to 'Abdu'l-Bahá,
> Bahá'u'lláh wrote: "The glory of God rest upon Thee, and upon whosoever
> serveth Thee and circleth around Thee. Woe, great woe, betide him that
> opposeth and injureth Thee. Well is it with him that sweareth fealty to Thee."
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá was, in short, the Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant --the
> instrument for ensuring the unity of the Bahá'í community and preserving the
> integrity of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings.
> 
> As the authorized interpreter of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings, 'Abdu'l-Bahá became
> the "living mouth of the Book, the expounder of the Word." Without 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá, the enormous creative power of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation could not have
> been transmitted to humanity, nor its import fully comprehended. He
> elucidated the teachings of His Father's Faith, amplified its doctrines, and
> delineated the central features of its administrative institutions. He was the
> unerring guide and architect of a rapidly expanding Bahá'í community. In
> addition, Bahá'u'lláh vested in 'Abdu'l-Bahá "the virtues of perfection in
> personal and social behavior, that humanity may have an enduring model to
> emulate." As the perfect Exemplar of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings and the Pivot of
> His Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Bahá became "the incorruptible medium for applying
> the Word to practical measures for the raising up of a new civilization."
> 
> In retrospect, it became clear that Bahá'u'lláh had carefully prepared 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá to succeed Him. He was born on May 23, 1844, the very night that the
> Báb had declared the beginning of a new religious cycle in history. As a
> child, He suffered along with His Father during the persecutions against the
> Bábis. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was eight years old when Bahá'u'lláh was first
> imprisoned for His role as a leading exponent and defender of the Bábi Faith.
> He accompanied Bahá'u'lláh throughout His long exile from Persia to the
> capital of the Ottoman empire, and ultimately, to Palestine. As He grew older,
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá became His Father's closest companion and emerged as His
> deputy, shield, and principal representative to the political and religious
> leaders of the day. 'Abdu'l-Bahá's extraordinary demonstration of leadership,
> knowledge, and service brought great prestige to the exiled Bahá'í
> community. He assumed His role as the Head of the Bahá'í Faith following
> Bahá'u'lláh's passing in May 1892.
> 
> In 1911, after more than four decades of imprisonment and suffering, 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá journeyed to the West and presented with brilliant simplicity, to high
> and low alike, Bahá'u'lláh's prescription for the moral and spiritual renewal of
> society. This "Call of God," 'Abdu'l-Bahá stated, "…breathed a new life into
> the body of mankind, and infused a new spirit into the whole creation. It is for
> this reason that the world hath been moved to its depths, and the hearts and
> consciences of men been quickened. Erelong the evidences of this
> regeneration will be revealed, and the fast asleep will be awakened."
> 
> Among the vital truths that 'Abdu'l-Bahá tirelessly proclaimed to leaders of
> thought as well as countless groups and masses at large were: "The
> independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or tradition; the
> oneness of the entire human race, the pivotal principle and fundamental
> doctrine of the Faith; the basic unity of all religions; the condemnation of all
> forms of prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national; the harmony
> which must exist between religion and science; the equality of men and
> women, the two wings on which the bird of humankind is able to soar; the
> introduction of compulsory education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary
> language; the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; the institution
> of a world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations; the
> exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship;
> the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society, and of
> religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples and nations; and the
> establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all
> mankind."
> 
> He affirmed time and again that He was a "herald of peace and
> reconciliation," "an advocate of the oneness of humanity," and an agent
> calling humanity to the "Kingdom of God." Despite the receptivity and
> acclaim given Him, 'Abdu'l-Bahá made clear the Source of His thought and
> His true station. In a letter to His followers in America He wrote:
> 
> My name is 'Abdu'l-Bahá [literally, Servant of Baha]. My qualification is
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My reality is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My praise is 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
> Thraldom to the Blessed Perfection [Bahá'u'lláh] is my glorious and
> refulgent diadem, and servitude to all the human race my perpetual
> religion… No name, no title, no mention, no commendation have I, nor will
> ever have, except 'Abdu'l-Bahá. This is my longing. This is my greatest
> yearning. This is my eternal life. This is my everlasting glory.
> 
> The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith
> 
> After the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 1921, the leadership of the Bahá'í
> community entered a new phase, evolving from that of a single individual to
> an administrative order founded on the "twin pillars" of the Guardianship and
> the Universal House of Justice.
> 
> This administrative order was originally envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh in his Book
> of Laws and was given further shape by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, particularly in His
> Will and Testament. In that document He appointed His eldest grandson,
> Shoghi Effendi, as Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith and also referred to the future
> election of the Universal House of Justice, a legislative body of which the
> Guardian would be the "sacred head and the distinguished member for
> life."82
> 
> The Universal House of Justice was not established in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's
> lifetime; it fell to the Guardian to lay the base for its foundation throughout
> the thirty-six years of his tenure as head of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Throughout those years, Shoghi Effendi educated the Bahá'í community
> about the administrative order of the Faith and prepared it for the eventual
> establishment of that order's other central institution by writing consistently
> about the interconnection of the Guardianship and the Universal House of
> Justice, both of which he described as "divine in origin, essential in their
> functions and complementary in their aim and purpose."83 He continued on
> to state that their common purpose is "to insure the continuity of that
> divinely-appointed authority which flows from the Source of our Faith, to
> safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and
> flexibility of its teachings."84 The institution of the Guardianship is
> Bahá'u'lláh's means for providing for the continuation of the unerring
> interpretation of His word. The function of the Universal House of Justice, on
> the other hand, is to legislate upon matters "not expressly revealed in the
> Sacred Texts." 85 As Shoghi Effendi said, "Acting in conjunction with each
> other these two inseparable institutions administer [the Bahá'í Faith's] affairs,
> coordinate its activities, promote its interests, execute its laws and defend its
> subsidiary institutions."86
> 
> The interconnection of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice
> is further evidenced by the Guardian's ceaseless labor to foster the expansion
> of the Bahá'í community around the world in order to establish and develop
> the national legislative bodies of the administrative order; the goal of this
> work was the election of the Universal House of Justice and the full
> development in all aspects of the order ordained by Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> While the Guardianship was outlined as a hereditary institution and 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá's Will and Testament provided for the possibility of a line of succession
> to His appointee as Guardian, Shoghi Effendi died without any heirs and
> without being able to appoint a successor, as no other members of his family
> met the stipulations that had been outlined by 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The vitality of
> the Guardianship continues, however, through the voluminous writings, the
> extensive guidance, and other legacies left to the Bahá'í community from
> Shoghi Effendi's ministry between 1921 and 1957. To appreciate fully the
> scope of these legacies, it is helpful for us to take a more detailed look at the
> many facets of the Guardian's work to develop the Bahá'í community.
> 
> The Work of Shoghi Effendi
> 
> In His Will and Testament 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote in these touching words of the
> one who would succeed Him after His death:
> 
> O ye the faithful loved ones of 'Abdu'l-Bahá! It is incumbent upon you to take
> the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi….
> 
> For he is, after 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the guardian of the Cause of God…. He that
> obeyeth him not, hath not obeyed God; he that turneth away from him, hath
> turned away from God and he that denieth him, hath denied the True One.
> Beware lest anyone falsely interpret these words….87
> 
> Thus, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's choice of a successor to the leadership of the Bahá'í
> community after His passing was explicitly stated. The Guardianship
> protected the unity of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh by continuing the line of
> authority, which had passed from Bahá'u'lláh to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and now rested
> on the shoulders of Shoghi Effendi, who was also called by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in
> His Will and Testament 'the Sign of God'.88
> 
> When he was appointed Guardian, Shoghi Effendi was in his early twenties,
> studying at Balliol College, Oxford. The grief he felt upon the death of his
> dearly-loved Grandfather, added to the weight of the responsibility he had
> been given in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's will, was initially crushing, since he had had no
> intimation that he was to be appointed to any such position.
> 
> To deal with his grief and to prepare himself to assume the burden of
> authority placed upon his shoulders, he left the Holy Land and entered a
> several-month period of seclusion. During this time, he left the affairs of the
> Faith under the leadership of his great aunt, Bahiyyih Khanum -- Bahá'u'lláh's
> daughter and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's sister. Shoghi Effendi and his great aunt were
> very close; she, of all the members of his family, understood his crushing
> grief at the loss of his beloved Grandfather, and she was a wise and loyal
> support to him during the early years of the Guardianship until her passing in
> 1932. The depth of his regard for her is evident in the tender tribute he
> penned immediately following her death, a small portion of which is
> excerpted here:
> 
> Dearly-beloved Greatest Holy Leaf!…The memory of the ineffable beauty of
> thy smile shall ever continue to cheer and hearten me in the thorny path I am
> destined to pursue. The remembrance of the touch of thine hand shall spur me
> on to follow steadfastly in thy way. The sweet magic of thy voice shall
> remind me, when the hour of adversity is at its darkest, to hold fast to the
> rope thou didst seize so firmly all the days of thy life.89
> 
> The "thorny path" to which the Guardian alludes in this passage perhaps
> refers to one of the crucial and difficult tasks he was called upon to perform:
> the protection of the young Faith from enemies from both outside and within
> its ranks. He also served as the sole authoritative interpreter and expounder of
> its teachings; he erected the administrative order of the Faith; he prosecuted
> global plans for the worldwide expansion of the Bahá'í Faith, as outlined in
> the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá; he translated volumes of the Faith's sacred
> writings from their original Persian and Arabic into English, which
> subsequently served as the standard for further translations into other
> languages; he wrote a history of the first century of the Faith; and he
> developed and beautified the properties at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa
> and Acre. Those are the major tangible legacies of the Guardianship, but
> perhaps as important as any of these was the way Shoghi Effendi inspired
> ordinary people to arise and do extraordinary things. In much the same way
> that a general marshals his troops to battle, he wrote numerous letters to the
> Bahá'í communities, large and small, all over the world and called them to
> greater service to their Faith and to humanity. For example, in a letter to the
> American Bahá'ís in 1948, he referred to them as "the champion builders of
> Bahá'u'lláh's rising World Order" and urged them to "scale nobler heights of
> heroism as humanity plunges into greater depths of despair, degradation,
> dissension and distress."90
> 
> He safeguarded the unity of the Faith by acting, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá before him
> had acted, as the authoritative interpreter and expounder of the Bahá'í sacred
> writings. All questions regarding interpretation were to be directed to him.
> Although he did not have the authority to alter in any way what Bahá'u'lláh or
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá had revealed, he performed the crucial tasks of clarifying points
> which may not have been clearly understood and of elaborating upon
> previously revealed teachings. To this end, he wrote thousands of letters to
> individual believers and to Bahá'í communities around the world. Through
> such guidance, the Bahá'ís remained unified in their clear understanding of
> the Faith's sacred writings.
> Shoghi Effendi translated the Bahá'í writings from the language in which they
> were revealed -- either Persian or Arabic -- into a majestic style of English. In
> 1921, relatively few of Bahá'u'lláh's extensive writings were available in
> English. The Guardian translated Bahá'u'lláh's central works and compiled
> them so the Bahá'ís would have access to authoritative translations, and he
> published, under the title of The Dawn-Breakers, his annotated and edited
> translation of the main historical account of the early years of the Bahá'í Faith
> by Nabil-i-A'zam so the English-speaking Bahá'ís would be able to gain
> inspiration from the examples of their spiritual forebears and to read
> eyewitness accounts of those who met the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. Shoghi
> Effendi also penned his own historical account of the first century of the
> Bahá'í Faith called God Passes By.
> 
> As builder of the administrative order, Shoghi Effendi took the writings of
> Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá concerning the establishment of Bahá'í
> institutions that would administer the affairs of the community, and he
> developed a plan to bring them into being. Taking as his guide Bahá'u'lláh's
> and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's statements about the administrative order of the Faith,
> Shoghi Effendi developed the fledgling communities around the world to the
> point where they could support the institutions envisioned by Bahá'u'lláh.
> When he was first appointed Guardian, there were no national administrative
> bodies in the Bahá'í Faith; at the time of his passing, there were 26; at the
> time of the completion of the Ten Year Plan he had initiated for the global
> expansion and consolidation of the Faith between 1953 and 1963, there were
> 56.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi carried on an extensive correspondence with Bahá'í
> communities all over the world concerning the development of the Bahá'í
> administrative order. As early as March 1923, for example, he wrote a letter
> to the Bahá'ís in America, Great Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy,
> Japan, and Australasia, in which he outlined the conditions necessary for
> establishment of Local and National Spiritual Assemblies, guidelines for
> Assembly elections, and the parameters of Assembly functioning. He also
> offered the Bahá'ís the long view of such elections: "With these Assemblies,
> local as well as national, harmoniously, vigorously, and efficiently
> functioning throughout the Bahá'í world, the only means for the
> establishment of the Supreme House of Justice will have been secured."91
> The development of the administrative order was obviously not brought
> about in isolation. Coordinated with this was a series of plans designed to
> effect the systematic expansion of the Bahá'í community around the globe.
> Volunteers known as "pioneers" dispersed to remote areas to teach their Faith
> and found Bahá'í communities. In the Ten Year Plan which ran from 1953 to
> 1963, hundreds of pioneers settled in countries and territories throughout the
> world, establishing 44 new National and Regional Assemblies to add to the
> existing twelve, and the Bahá'í population swelled.
> 
> As well as coordinating the dispersal of Bahá'í pioneers to all parts of the
> globe, Shoghi Effendi greatly advanced the development of the Bahá'í World
> Centre in Haifa. He arranged for the construction of a superstructure over the
> tomb 'Abdu'l-Bahá had erected where the remains of the Báb had been laid to
> rest; he beautified and expanded the gardens surrounding the Shrine of
> Bahá'u'lláh outside Acre; he constructed the International Bahá'í Archives
> building on the slopes of Mount Carmel, where the tablets and relics of the
> Báb and Bahá'u'lláh were to be appropriately housed and displayed for Bahá'í
> pilgrims; he had the remains of Navvab, the wife of Bahá'u'lláh who had
> accompanied Him through all His exiles, and His son Mirza Mihdi, who had
> died in the prison in Acre, transferred to their final resting places in the
> shadow of the Shrine of the Báb and near the grave of the Greatest Holy
> Leaf. All of this work was undertaken to create an atmosphere appropriate to
> the spiritual and administrative center of a world religion. As head of this
> religion, the Guardian also conducted activities related to the external affairs
> of the Faith and its World Centre.
> 
> Addressing even one of the various facets of the work undertaken by the
> Guardian was a herculean task; that the Guardian accomplished the vast
> number of objectives he set in so many different areas over a thirty-six year
> period is astounding, in retrospect. For this reason, and particularly for his
> accomplishment in bringing into tangible existence the new social order
> given by God to the world through the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, he has been
> extolled by one writer as "the one human being in all history, past, present or
> future, to exercise the greatest influence on the ultimate shape and modus
> operandi of the social order of the world."92 His widow, Amatu'l-Bahá
> Ruhiyyih Khanum, expressed it this way:
> The Guardian had fused in the alembic of his creative mind all the elements
> of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh into one great indivisible whole; he had created an
> organized community of His followers which was the receptacle of His
> teachings, His laws and His Administrative Order; the teachings of the twin
> Manifestations of God and the Perfect Exemplar had been woven into a
> shining cloak that would clothe and protect man for a thousand years, a cloak
> on which the fingers of Shoghi Effendi had picked out the patterns, knitted
> the seams, fashioned the brilliant protective clasps of his interpretations of the
> Sacred Texts, never to be sundered, never to be torn away until that day when
> a new Law-giver comes to the world and once again wraps His creature man
> in yet another divine garment.93
> 
> The Universal House of Justice
> 
> "The essence of all that We have revealed for thee," Bahá'u'lláh declares, "is
> Justice."94 The chief instrument for the transformation of society and the
> achievement of lasting peace, He asserts, is the establishment of justice in
> every aspect of life. Bahá'u'lláh explains that the "purpose of justice is the
> appearance of unity among men."95 A conviction of the practicality of world
> unity, coupled with a dedication and willingness to work toward this goal, is
> the single most distinguishing characteristic of the Bahá'í community. The
> efforts of Bahá'ís around the world to build communities founded on
> cooperation and justice are guided by a unique system of administration
> established by Bahá'u'lláh Himself.
> 
> The practical expression of the religious impulse in the modern age,
> Bahá'u'lláh says, is collective decision-making and collective action based on
> spiritual principles. To ensure that power is used as an instrument of justice,
> and that governance serves humanity's true needs, decision-making authority,
> He insists, must rest with corporate bodies and not be left in the hands of
> individuals. "In all things it is necessary to consult," is His advice96. "The
> maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through
> consultation."97 Thus, although Bahá'u'lláh, like all Manifestations of God
> before Him, enunciated and reiterated certain fundamental spiritual truths,
> and through His appearance imbued humankind with a "new and regenerating
> Spirit," He also established laws and institutional mechanisms to ensure the
> realization of justice in human affairs.
> Bahá'ís believe that the "Administrative Order" created by Bahá'u'lláh, and
> built up by His successors 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, defines a pattern
> of cooperative decision-making and social interaction that cultivates the
> moral and creative capacities latent in human nature. It provides a model of
> the institutional structures necessary for global community life--a pattern of
> living that embraces diversity and fosters mutuality of purpose, compassion,
> and rectitude of conduct. A singular feature of this administrative system is
> the balance it strikes between preserving individual freedom and promoting
> the collective good. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, wrote:
> 
> …this Administrative Order is fundamentally different from anything that
> any Prophet has previously established, inasmuch as Bahá'u'lláh Himself
> revealed its principles, established its institutions, appointed the person to
> interpret His Word, and conferred the necessary authority on the body [the
> Universal House of Justice] designed to supplement and apply His legislative
> ordinances.98
> 
> Founded on a set of unique electoral and consultative principles that are
> democratic in spirit and method, the Bahá'í administrative order is organized
> around freely elected governing councils which operate at the local, national,
> and international levels. This hierarchy devolves decision-making to the
> lowest practicable level--thereby instituting a unique vehicle for grassroots
> participation in governance--while at the same time providing a level of
> coordination and authority that makes possible cooperation on a global scale.
> Bahá'u'lláh called these governing councils "Houses of Justice."
> 
> The Universal House of Justice today guides the activities of the global
> Bahá'í community. This body was instituted by Bahá'u'lláh Himself as the
> supreme legislative organ of the Bahá'í administrative order. Its members,
> Bahá'u'lláh wrote, are "the Trustees of God among His servants."99 The
> Universal House of Justice itself states that "The provenance, the authority,
> the duties, the sphere of action of the Universal House of Justice all derive
> from the revealed Word of Bahá'u'lláh which, together with the
> interpretations and expositions of the Centre of the Covenant and of the
> Guardian of the Cause -- who, after 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is the sole authority in the
> interpretation of Bahá'í Scripture -- constitute the binding terms of reference
> of the Universal House of Justice and are its bedrock foundation."100
> According to the explicit texts of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the legislative
> enactments of the Universal House of Justice have the same authority for
> Bahá'ís as do the sacred texts themselves. The difference is that the House of
> Justice has the right to repeal and alter any of its enactments as the Bahá'í
> community evolves and new conditions emerge, whereas the laws enshrined
> in the Bahá'í texts will remain unchanged. 'Abdu'l-Bahá states that all
> questions and issues not explicitly addressed in the Bahá'í sacred writings
> "must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this body,
> whether unanimously or by a majority doth carry, that is verily the truth and
> the purpose of God Himself."101
> 
> The administration of the Bahá'í Faith on the national and local levels is
> presently carried out by national and local "Spiritual Assemblies." These
> elected institutions function in accordance with the same consultative
> principles as the Universal House of Justice and will eventually be called
> "Houses of Justice." Bahá'ís believe that, while local and national Houses of
> Justice will be the instruments for ensuring human well-being, the decisions
> of the Universal House of Justice are uniquely inspired and authoritative.
> Bahá'u'lláh stated that God Himself has made this possible and will preserve
> the enactments of the Universal House of Justice from error: "It is incumbent
> upon the Trustees of the House of Justice to take counsel together regarding
> those things which have not outwardly been revealed in the Book, and to
> enforce that which is agreeable to them. God will verily inspire them with
> whatsoever He willeth, and He, verily, is the Provider, the Omniscient."102
> Bahá'u'lláh wrote that since for "each day there is a new problem and for
> every problem an expedient solution, such affairs should be referred to the
> Ministers of the House of Justice that they may act according to the needs
> and requirements of the time. They…are the recipients of divine inspiration
> from the unseen kingdom."103
> 
> Thus, the Universal House of Justice has been ordained by Bahá'u'lláh as an
> instrument of divine guidance and is not to be considered as merely the
> international administrative body of the Bahá'í Faith. 'Abdu'l-Bahá confirms
> that the Universal House of Justice is "under the protection and the unerring
> guidance of God."104 However, it is only the corporate body itself that has
> been endowed with such guidance and not the individual members.
> With the coming into being of the Universal House of Justice a new era
> opened in the history of the Bahá'í Faith. Authoritative direction flowed to the
> Bahá'í community first through the Manifestation of God (Bahá'u'lláh), then
> through the chosen Center of the Faith ('Abdu'l-Bahá) and the Guardian of
> the Faith (Shoghi Effendi). But with the passing of Shoghi Effendi and the
> establishment of the Universal House of Justice, guidance for the Bahá'í
> community no longer came from a personal channel, organically linked to the
> Manifestation of God, but from an elected body chosen by the Bahá'í
> membership itself.
> 
> The relationship between the Universal House of Justice and the national and
> local governing bodies that support it has an extremely important feature.
> Having arrived at a period in which humanity is awakening to new powers of
> reason and perception, Bahá'u'lláh pays particular attention to the
> development of decision-making skills at the grassroots of human society.
> Thus, the Bahá'í administrative order devolves authority to national and local
> levels to engender new patterns of interaction and participation, especially
> among individuals and groups that have been historically excluded from
> decision-making. Consequently, responsibility for the implementation of
> Bahá'u'lláh's spiritual and social principles essentially resides with National
> and Local Spiritual Assemblies. It is these bodies that are charged with
> ensuring that Bahá'u'lláh's prescription of moral renewal and harmonious
> community life is realized. In addition, national and local Bahá'í
> administrative institutions are enjoined by Bahá'u'lláh to ensure that Bahá'í
> communities promote the interests and abide by the laws of localities,
> regions, and nations. He emphatically declares that He has only "singled out
> the hearts of men as His Own domain."105 Loyalty and obedience to the
> governments under which Bahá'ís reside obtain whether or not Bahá'ís
> constitute numerical majorities. In any particular nation, the National
> Spiritual Assembly has specific responsibility for effecting conformity with
> this vital principle. In this regard, the Universal House of Justice serves as the
> ultimate guarantor of the Bahá'í community's adherence to the laws and
> ordinances of Bahá'u'lláh in all parts of the world.
> 
> The Universal House of Justice was instituted when, in 1963, members of
> National Spiritual Assemblies from around the globe, in an atmosphere of
> deep reflection and profound devotion, elected nine individuals from among
> the Bahá'ís of the world as members of this institution. The occasion is
> considered by Bahá'ís to be, next to the appointment of Shoghi Effendi as the
> Guardian of the Faith, the most momentous event in the history of what is
> known as the "Formative Age" of the Bahá'í Faith. Even the manner of the
> election itself was befitting that institution described by 'Abdu'l-Bahá as the
> "source of all good."106 Conducted by secret ballot, the Bahá'í electoral
> process prohibits the nomination and presentation of candidates, thereby
> giving maximum freedom of choice to each elector and avoiding the
> partisanship and power-seeking behavior so characteristic of conventional
> political elections. The election of the Universal House of Justice takes place
> every five years in the same atmosphere of spirituality and dedication. At the
> most recent international convention in April 1998, delegates from more than
> 160 national communities participated in the election.
> 
> Beyond its institutional importance, the establishment of the Universal House
> of Justice symbolized the distinguishing characteristic which Bahá'ís regard
> as the essence of their Faith: unity. No matter how wholehearted and sincere,
> faith alone cannot ensure that the unity of a religious community will endure.
> The emergence of the Universal House of Justice as the guiding authority in
> all the affairs of the community meant that the Bahá'í Faith had remained
> united through the most critical period of a religion's history, the vulnerable
> first century during which schism almost invariably takes root. Shortly after
> its formation in 1963, the Universal House of Justice wrote: "The Covenant
> of Bahá'u'lláh is unbroken, its all-encompassing power inviolate…The
> channel of Divine guidance, providing flexibility in all the affairs of
> mankind, remains open through that institution which was founded by
> Bahá'u'lláh and endowed by Him with supreme authority and unfailing
> guidance…"107 For Bahá'ís, the emphatic promise of Bahá'u'lláh had been
> realized: "The Hand of Omnipotence hath established His Revelation upon an
> enduring foundation. Storms of human strife are powerless to undermine its
> basis, nor will men's fanciful theories succeed in damaging its structure."108
> 
> In its position at the apex of the Bahá'í administrative order, the Universal
> House of Justice protects the spiritual inheritance bequeathed to it by
> promoting "the attainment of those spiritual qualities which should
> characterize Bahá'í life individually and collectively"; preserving the Bahá'í
> Sacred Texts and safeguarding their "inviolability"; defending and protecting
> the Bahá'í community and emancipating it from the "fetters of repression and
> persecution"; preserving and developing the world spiritual and
> administrative centre of the Bahá'í Faith; and safeguarding "the personal
> rights, freedom and initiative of individuals."109 It is also given the charge of
> adapting the Bahá'í Faith to the "requirements of progressive society," and
> thus is empowered to legislate on matters not explicitly covered in the Bahá'í
> sacred texts.110 The approach to legislation in the Bahá'í Faith is explained
> in a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice: "The human
> tendency in past [religious] Dispensations has been to want every question
> answered and to arrive at a binding decision affecting every small detail of
> belief or practice. The tendency in the Bahá'í Dispensation, from the time of
> Bahá'u'lláh Himself, has been to clarify the governing principles, to make
> binding pronouncements on details that are considered essential, but to leave
> a wide area to the conscience of the individual. The same tendency appears
> also in administrative matters."111
> 
> In addition to its responsibility for guiding the growth and development of
> the global Bahá'í community, the Universal House of Justice is counselled by
> Bahá'u'lláh to exert a positive influence on the general welfare of humankind.
> It is called upon by Him to promote a permanent peace among the nations of
> the world so that "the people of the earth may be relieved from the burden of
> exorbitant expenditures," and freed from the "affliction" of "conflict."112 It is
> also exhorted to take steps to ensure the "training of peoples, the upbuilding
> of nations, the protection of man and the safeguarding of his honor."113 In
> accordance with these injunctions of Bahá'u'lláh, the Universal House of
> Justice has vigorously pursued a campaign promoting international peace and
> stability, and has set in motion a variety of initiatives in the areas of human
> rights, the advancement of women, and social and economic development. In
> 1985, in a message entitled "The Promise of World Peace," addressed to "the
> peoples of the world" and presented to nearly all heads of state around the
> world, the Universal House of Justice outlined the essential prerequisites for
> the establishment of global peace and prosperity.
> 
> As stipulated by Bahá'u'lláh, the Seat of the Universal House of Justice is
> located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, in close proximity to the resting
> places of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh.
> Spiritual Truths
> 
> God, Faith, and Immortality
> 
> In the Bahá'í view, the purpose of this life on earth is for each individual to
> develop the spiritual and moral qualities that lie at the core of his or her
> nature. Bahá'u'lláh referred to the human being as a "mine rich in gems of
> inestimable value." These "gems" or qualities can be "mined" or developed
> only when a person turns to God. But while this awesome task must remain
> the responsibility of the individual, humanity has received continual guidance
> from a loving Creator on how to accomplish it. The Bahá'í conceptions of
> human nature and the soul, then, are essentially positive, as are Bahá'í views
> on the purpose of life and life after death.
> 
> Bahá'ís believe that there is only one God, the Creator of the universe.
> Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series
> of divine Messengers, each of Whom has founded a great religion. The
> Messengers have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha,
> Jesus, and Muhammad. This succession of divine Teachers reflects a single
> historic "plan of God" for educating humanity about the Creator and for
> cultivating the spiritual, intellectual, and moral capacities of the race. The
> goal has been to develop the innate noble characteristics of every human
> being, and to prepare the way for an advancing global civilization.
> Knowledge of God's will for humanity in the modern age, Bahá'ís believe,
> was revealed just over one hundred years ago by Bahá'u'lláh, Who is the
> latest of these divine Messengers.
> 
> The Bahá'í Concept of God
> 
> The Bahá'í belief in one God114 means that the universe and all creatures and
> forces within it have been created by a single supernatural Being. This Being,
> Whom we call God, has absolute control over His creation (omnipotence) as
> well as perfect and complete knowledge of it (omniscience). Although we
> may have different concepts of God's nature, although we may pray to Him in
> different languages and call Him by different names--Allah or Yahweh, God
> or Brahma--nevertheless, we are speaking about the same unique Being.
> 
> Extolling God's act of creation, Bahá'u'lláh said:
> 
> All-praise to the unity of God, and all-honor to Him, the sovereign Lord, the
> incomparable and all-glorious Ruler of the universe, Who, out of utter
> nothingness, hath created the reality of all things, Who, from naught, hath
> brought into being the most refined and subtle elements of His creation, and
> Who, rescuing His creatures from the abasement of remoteness and the perils
> of ultimate extinction, hath received them into His kingdom of incorruptible
> glory. Nothing short of His all-encompassing grace, His all-pervading mercy,
> could have possibly achieved it115
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that God is too great and too subtle a Being for the finite
> human mind ever to understand Him adequately or to construct an accurate
> image of Him:
> 
> How wondrous is the unity of the Living, the Ever-Abiding God--a unity
> which is exalted above all limitations, that transcendeth the comprehension
> of all created things…. How lofty hath been His incorruptible Essence, how
> completely independent of the knowledge of all created things, and how
> immensely exalted will it remain above the praise of all the inhabitants of the
> heavens and the earth!116
> 
> According to Bahá'í teachings, God is so far beyond His creation that,
> throughout all eternity, human beings will never be able to formulate any
> clear image of Him or attain to anything but the most remote appreciation of
> His superior nature. Even if we say that God is the All-Powerful, the All-
> Loving, the Infinitely Just, such terms are derived from a very limited human
> experience of power, love, or justice. Indeed, our knowledge of anything is
> limited to our knowledge of those attributes or qualities perceptible to us:
> 
> Know that there are two kinds of knowledge: the knowledge of the essence of
> a thing and the knowledge of its qualities. The essence of a thing is known
> through its qualities; otherwise, it is unknown and hidden.
> 
> As our knowledge of things, even of created and limited things, is knowledge
> of their qualities and not of their essence, how is it possible to comprehend in
> its essence the Divine Reality, which is unlimited?… Knowing God, therefore,
> means the comprehension and the knowledge of His attributes, and not of His
> Reality. This knowledge of the attributes is also proportioned to the capacity
> and power of man; it is not absolute.117
> 
> Thus for human beings the knowledge of God means the knowledge of the
> attributes and qualities of God, not a direct knowledge of His essence. But
> how are we to attain the knowledge of the attributes of God? Bahá'u'lláh
> wrote that everything in creation is God's handiwork and therefore reflects
> something of His attributes. For example, even in the intimate structure of a
> rock or a crystal can be seen the order of God's creation. However, the more
> refined the object, the more completely is it capable of reflecting God's
> attributes. Since the Messenger of God or Manifestation of God is the highest
> form of creation known to us, the Manifestation affords the most complete
> knowledge of God available to us:
> 
> Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a direct evidence
> of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God, inasmuch as
> within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent testimony to the
> revelation of that Most Great Light…. To a supreme degree is this true of
> man…. For in him are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of
> God to a degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpasssed….
> And of all men, the most accomplished, the most distinguished, and the most
> excellent are the Manifestations of the Sun of Truth. Nay, all else besides
> these Manifestations, live by the operation of their Will, and move and have
> their being through the outpourings of their grace.118
> 
> Although a rock or a tree reveals something of the subtlety of its Creator,
> only a conscious being such as man can dramatize God's attributes in his life
> and actions. Since the Manifestations are already in a perfected state, it is in
> their lives that the deeper meaning of God's attributes can be most perfectly
> understood. God is not limited by a physical body, and so we cannot see Him
> directly or observe His personality. Hence our knowledge of the
> Manifestation is, in fact, the closest we can come to the knowledge of God.
> 
> Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise incarnate His
> essence and reveal it unto men. He is, and hath ever been, immensely exalted
> beyond all that can either be recounted or perceived…. He Who is
> everlastingly hidden from the eyes of men can never be known except through
> His Manifestation, and His Manifestation can adduce no greater proof of the
> truth of His mission than the proof of His Own Person.119
> 
> And in another similar passage:
> 
> The door of the knowledge of the Ancient Being [God] hath ever been, and
> will continue to be, closed in the face of men. No man's understanding shall
> ever gain access unto His holy court. As a token of His mercy, however, and
> as a proof of His loving-kindness, He hath manifested unto men the Day Stars
> of His divine guidance, the Symbols of His divine unity, and hath ordained
> the knowledge of these sanctified Beings to be identical with the knowledge of
> His own Self.120
> 
> Of course, only those who live during the time of a Manifestation have the
> opportunity of observing Him directly. It is for this reason, Bahá'u'lláh
> explained, that the essential connection between the individual and God is
> maintained through the writings and words of each Manifestation. For
> Bahá'ís, the word of the Manifestation is the Word of God, and it is to this
> Word that the individual can turn in his or her daily life in order to grow
> closer to God and to acquire a deeper knowledge of Him. The written Word
> of God is the instrument that creates a consciousness of God's presence in
> one's daily life:
> 
> Say: The first and foremost testimony establishing His truth is His own Self.
> Next to this testimony is His Revelation. For whoso faileth to recognize either
> the one or the other He hath established the words He hath revealed as proof
> of His reality and truth…. He hath endowed every soul with the capacity to
> recognize the signs of God.121
> 
> It is for this reason that the discipline of daily prayer, meditation, and study
> of the holy writings constitutes an important part of the individual spiritual
> practice of Bahá'ís. They feel that this discipline is one of the most important
> ways of growing closer to their Creator.
> 
> To summarize: the Bahá'í view of God is that His essence is eternally
> transcendent, but that His attributes and qualities are completely immanent in
> the Manifestations.122 Since our knowledge of anything is limited to our
> knowledge of the perceptible attributes of that thing, knowledge of the
> Manifestations is (for ordinary humans) equivalent to knowledge of God.123
> In practical terms, this knowledge is gained through study, prayer,
> meditation, and practical application based on the revealed Word of God (i.e.,
> the sacred scriptures of the Manifestations).
> 
> Who are the Prophets?
> 
> The Bahá'í teachings hold that the motive force in all human development is
> the coming of the Manifestations or Prophets of God124. There can be little
> disagreement that human history is strongly influenced by the Founders of
> the world's great religions. The powerful impact on civilization of Jesus
> Christ, Buddha, Moses, or Muhammad is seen not only in the cultural forms
> and value systems which arise from Their works and teachings, but is also
> reflected in the effects that the example of Their lives has on humankind.
> Even those who have not been believers or followers have nevertheless
> acknowledged the profound influence of these figures on individuals and on
> humanity's collective life.
> 
> The realization of the extraordinary impact on human history of the Founders
> of the major religions naturally leads to the philosphical question of their
> exact nature. This is one of the most controversial of all questions in the
> philosophy of religion, and many different answers have been given. On the
> one hand, the religious Founders have been viewed as human philosophers or
> great thinkers who have perhaps gone further or studied more profoundly
> than other philosophers of their age. On the other hand, They have been
> declared to be God or the incarnation of God. There have also been a
> multitude of theories that fall somewhere between these two extremes.125
> 
> It is thus not surprising that the Bahá'í writings deal extensively with this
> subject, which lies so close to the heart of religion. One of Bahá'u'lláh's major
> works, the Kitáb-i-Íqán, (Book of Certitude), sets out in some detail the
> Bahá'í concept of the nature of the Manifestations of God.
> 
> According to Bahá'u'lláh, all of the Manifestations of God have the same
> metaphysical nature and the same spiritual stature. There is absolute equality
> among Them. No one of Them is superior to another. Speaking of the
> Manifestations, He wrote:
> 
> These sanctified Mirrors, these Day Springs of ancient glory, are, one and
> all, the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its
> Essence and ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and
> power; from Him is derived their sovereignty…. By the revelation of these
> Gems of Divine virtue all the names and attributes of God, such as
> knowledge and power, sovereignty and dominion, mercy and wisdom, glory,
> bounty, and grace, are made manifest.
> 
> These attributes of God are not, and have never been, vouchsafed specially
> unto certain Prophets, and withheld from others…. That a certain attribute of
> God hath not been outwardly manifested by these Essences of Detachment
> doth in no wise imply that they who are the Day Springs of God's attributes
> and the Treasuries of His holy names did not actually possess it.126
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh explained that the differences which exist between the teachings
> of the various Manifestations of God are not due to any differences in stature
> or level of importance, but only to the varying needs and capacities of the
> civilizations to which They appeared:
> 
> These… mighty systems, have proceeded from one Source, and are the rays
> of one Light. That they differ one from another is to be attributed to the
> varying requirements of the ages in which they were promulgated.127
> 
> In the strongest terms, he warned people not to take the variations in the
> teachings and personalities of the Manifestations to imply a difference in
> their statures:
> 
> Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make any
> distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to
> discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed their
> Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine unity…. Be ye assured,
> moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of these
> Manifestations of God… are all ordained by God, and are a reflection of His
> will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the slightest possible difference between
> their persons, their words, their messages, their acts and manners, hath
> indeed disbelieved in God, hath repudiated His signs and betrayed the Cause
> of His Messengers.128
> 
> However, the Bahá'í doctrine of the oneness of the Manifestations does not
> mean that the same individual soul is born again in different physical bodies.
> Moses, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, and Bahá'u'lláh were all different
> personalities, separate individual realities. Their oneness lies in the fact that
> Each manifested and revealed the qualities and attributes of God to the same
> degree: the spirit of God which dwelled within any one of Them was
> identical to that which dwelled in the others.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh offered an analogy to explain the relationship between the
> different Manifestations, and the relationship between each Manifestation and
> God. In this analogy, God is likened to the sun because He is the unique
> source of life in the universe in the same way that the physical sun is the
> unique source of all physical life on earth. The spirit and attributes of God are
> the rays of this sun and the individual Manifestation is like a perfect mirror. If
> there are several mirrors all turned toward the same sun, that unique sun is
> reflected in each mirror. Yet the individual mirrors are different, each having
> been made in its own form and distinct from any other.
> 
> In the same way, each Manifestation is a distinct individual being, but the
> spirit and attributes of God reflected in Each are the same. The analogy of the
> sun and the mirrors enables us to understand the Bahá'í interpretation of the
> traditional notion of the "return" or "reappearance" of former Manifestations.
> The theme of return is found in the sacred scriptures all the major religions,
> often couched in highly symbolic language. Western readers will be most
> familiar with the Christian expectation of the return or "Second Coming" of
> Christ, based on certain passages of the Old and New Testaments of the
> Bible. Bahá'u'lláh explains that the return alluded to in former scriptures is
> the return of the attributes and spirit of God in the mirror of another
> Manifestation, not the return of the same human personality: "It is clear and
> evident… that all the Prophets are the Temples of the Cause of God, Who
> have appeared clothed in divers attire. If thou wilt observe with
> discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold Them all abiding in the same
> tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven, seated upon the same throne,
> uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the same Faith…. Wherefore,
> should one of these Manifestations of Holiness proclaim saying: 'I am the
> return of all the Prophets,' He, verily, speaketh the truth. In like manner, in
> every subsequent Revelation, the return of the former Revelation is a fact, the
> truth of which is firmly established…."129
> 
> In this way, Bahá'ís consider that the Manifestation Bahá'u'lláh fulfills the
> promise of the return of Christ even though Bahá'u'lláh and Jesus have
> distinct individual souls and therefore distinct human personalities.
> 
> The Manifestations represent a level of existence intermediate between God
> and humanity. Just as humans are superior to the animal because they possess
> capacities that the animal does not (i.e., the rational and intuitive capacities of
> the nonmaterial soul), so the Manifestations possess capacities which
> ordinary humans lack. It is not a difference in degree, but rather a difference
> in kind which distinguishes Them from other. The Manifestations are not
> simply great human thinkers, or philosophers, with a greater understanding or
> knowledge than others. They are, by their very nature, superior to those who
> do not possess a similar capacity.
> 
> The Bahá'í teachings emphasize that human beings have a dual nature: the
> physical body, which is composed of elements and which functions according
> to the same principles as an animal's body; and the nonmaterial rational and
> immortal human soul. The Manifestations, Bahá'u'lláh taught, also have these
> two natures, but in addition They possess a third nature unique to Their
> station: the capacity to receive divine revelation and to transmit it infallibly to
> humanity:
> 
> Know that the Holy manifestations, though they have the degrees of endless
> perfections, yet, speaking generally, have only three stations. The first station
> is the physical; the second station is the human, which is that of the rational
> soul; the third is that of the divine appearance and the heavenly splendor.
> 
> The physical station is phenomenal; it is composed of elements, and
> necessarily everything that is composed is subject to decomposition…. The
> second is the station of the rational soul, which is the human reality. This
> also is phenomenal, and the Holy Manifestations share it with all mankind….
> The spirit of man has a beginning, but it has no end; it continues
> eternally….The third station is that of the divine appearance and heavenly
> splendor: it is the Word of God, the Eternal Bounty, the Holy Spirit. It has
> neither beginning nor end….the reality of prophethood, which is the Word of
> God and the perfect state of manifestation, did not have any beginning and
> will not have any end; its rising is different from all others and is like that of
> the sun.130
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá explained that even the individual soul of the Manifestation is
> different from that of ordinary people:
> 
> But the individual reality of the Manifestations of God is a holy reality, and
> for that reason, it is sanctified, and in that which concerns its nature and
> quality, is distinguished from all other things. It is like the sun, which by its
> essential nature produces light and cannot be compared to the moon…. So
> other human realities are those souls who, like the moon, take light from the
> sun; but that holy reality is luminous in Himself.131
> 
> The Manifestation then, is not simply an ordinary person whom God chooses
> at some point in His natural lifetime to be His messenger. Rather, the
> Manifestation is a special Being, having a unique relationship to God and
> sent by Him from the spiritual world as an instrument of divine revelation.
> Even though the individual soul of the Manifestation had a phenomenal
> beginning, it nevertheless existed in the spiritual world prior to physical birth
> in this life. The immortal souls of ordinary men, on the other hand, have no
> such preexistence, but come into existence at the moment of human
> conception. Of the preexistence of the souls of the Manifestations, Shoghi
> Effendi said:
> 
> The Prophets, unlike us, are pre-existent. The soul of Christ existed in the
> spiritual world before His birth in this world. We cannot imagine what that
> world is like, so words are inadequate to picture His state of being.132
> 
> The Manifestation has the awareness of His reality and identity even from
> childhood, though He may not begin His mission of openly teaching and
> instructing others until later in life. Because They are the direct recipients of
> revelation from God, the Manifestations possess absolute knowledge of the
> realities of life. This innate, divinely revealed knowledge alone enables Them
> to formulate teachings and laws that correspond to human needs and
> conditions at a given time in history:
> Since the Sanctified Realities, the supreme Manifestations of God, surround
> the essence and qualities of the creatures, transcend and contain existing
> realities and understand all things, therefore Their knowledge is divine
> knowledge, and not acquired--that is to say, it is a holy bounty, it is a divine
> revelation…. the supreme Manifestations of God are aware of the reality of
> the mysteries of beings. Therefore They establish laws which are suitable and
> adapted to the state of the world of man, for religion is the essential
> connection which proceeds from the realities of things…. [T]he supreme
> Manifestations of God… understand this essential connection, and by this
> knowledge establish the Law of God.133
> 
> The preceding passage makes clear that God's laws are inherent in the
> structure of reality: the Manifestation understands these laws, but did not
> create them. Humans can therefore discover some of these laws on their own,
> but other statements in the Bahá'í writings indicate that humanity would
> destroy itself if left unaided (i.e., without Divine Revelation) to discover all
> of them.
> 
> No one can "become" a Manifestation of God. Each individual soul is
> capable of being touched by the spirit of God and may therefore make
> spiritual progress. But the Manifestation remains on an ideal level beyond
> that which even the most perfect person is capable of attaining.
> 
> Extending the mirror analogy, the souls of ordinary people may also be
> likened to mirrors--but, unlike the Manifestations, they are imperfect. In other
> words, each human being can reflect something of God's attributes, but only
> in an imperfect and limited way. For ordinary human beings, spiritual
> progress implies perfecting, cleansing, and polishing the mirror of the soul so
> that it may reflect ever more clearly the attributes of God. In several
> passages, Bahá'u'lláh explicitly used this example of "cleansing the mirror" as
> an analogy for spiritual progress. The analogy emphasizes the belief that
> humans are created imperfect, but with an endless potential for perfection;
> whereas the Manifestation is already in a perfected state of being.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá taught that there are no levels of being other
> than the three discussed above: human beings, the Manifestations, and God.
> There is no hierarchy of demons, angels, and archangels. Insofar as these
> terms have any significant meaning, they are seen as symbolic of varying
> stages of human development, imperfection being demonic and spirituality
> being angelic. The Manifestations are already in a state of perfection, while
> human beings are potentially perfect in that each soul has the potential to
> reflect the attributes of its Creator. The ultimate state of perfection for a
> person, as explained below by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, is one of absolute servitude to
> God:
> 
> Know that the conditions of existence are limited to the conditions of
> servitude, of prophethood, and of Deity, but the divine and the contingent
> perfections are unlimited…. As the divine bounties are endless, so human
> perfections are endless. If it were possible to reach a limit of perfection, then
> one of the realities of the beings might reach the condition of being
> independent of God, and the contingent might attain to the condition of the
> absolute. But for every being there is a point which it cannot overpass… he
> who is in the condition of servitude, however far he may progress in gaining
> limitless perfections, will never reach the condition of Deity…. Peter cannot
> become Christ. All that he can do is, in the condition of servitude, to attain
> endless perfections….134
> 
> However, because a human being is capable of entering into communion with
> God and thereby becoming aware of the spirit of God, he or she is also
> capable of "inspiration." The Bahá'í writings distinguish between inspiration
> and revelation. Revelation is that infallible and direct perception of God's
> creative Word that is accessible only to the Manifestations, Who transmit it to
> humankind. Inspiration is the indirect and relative perception of spiritual truth
> which is available to every human soul. It arises out of the context of the
> spiritual life of a culture influenced by a Manifestation of God. Any human is
> capable of being inspired by the spirit of God. But the experience of
> inspiration is available to us because the spirit of God is mediated to us
> through the Manifestations. In short: inspiration depends upon revelation.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh explained that the Divine Will of God does sometimes choose
> ordinary people as "prophets" and inspires them to play certain roles in
> human affairs. Examples include the Hebrew prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.
> Still others have been inspired as "seers" or "saints." Not even the prophets,
> however, are anywhere close to the station of the Manifestations, Who
> provide humankind with God's infallible revelation. The prophets are still
> ordinary men and women whose powers of inspiration have been developed
> and used by God. They are referred to as "minor prophets" or "dependent
> prophets" in the Bahá'í writings. When this terminology is used, the
> Manifestations are called "universal" or "independent" Prophets:
> 
> Universally, the Prophets are of two kinds. One are the independent Prophets
> who are followed; the other kind are not independent, and are themselves
> followers.
> 
> The independent Prophets are the lawgivers and the founders of a new
> cycle…. Without an intermediary They receive bounty from the Reality of the
> Divinity, and Their illumination is an essential illumination. They are like the
> sun which is luminous in itself…. The other Prophets are followers and
> promoters, for they are branches and not independent; they receive the
> Bounty of the independent Prophets, and they profit by the light of the
> Guidance of the universal Prophets. They are like the moon which is not
> luminous and radiant in itself, but receives its light from the sun.135
> 
> Consequently, Bahá'ís consider philosophers, reformers, saints, mystics, and
> founders of humanitarian movements as ordinary people. In many cases they
> may have been inspired by God. Revelation, however, is the endowment of
> the Manifestations alone, and it is the ultimate generating force of all human
> progress.
> 
> The Oneness of Religion
> 
> The principle of the unity of religion136 is at the center of Bahá'í teachings.
> Bahá'u'lláh states that humanity is engaged in a collective growth process
> quite similar to the growth process of an individual: just as a person begins
> life as a helpless infant and attains maturity in successive stages, so
> humankind began its collective social life in a primitive state, gradually
> attaining maturity. In the case of the individual, it is clear that his or her
> development takes place as a result of the education he or she receives from
> parents, teachers, and society in general. But what is the motive force in
> humankind's collective evolution?
> 
> The answer the Bahá'í Faith provides to this question is "revealed religion."
> In one of His major works, the Kitáb-i-Íqán (the Book of Certitude),
> Bahá'u'lláh explained that God, the Creator, has intervened and will continue
> to intervene in human history by means of chosen Messengers. These
> Messengers, Whom Bahá'u'lláh called "Manifestations of God," are
> principally the Founders of the major revealed religions, such as Abraham,
> Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus, Muhammad, and so forth. It is the spirit
> released by the coming of these Manifestations, together with the influence of
> Their teachings and the social systems established by Their laws and
> precepts, that enable humankind to progress in its collective evolution.
> Simply put: the Manifestations of God are the chief educators of humanity.
> With regard to the various religious systems that have appeared in human
> history, Bahá'u'lláh has said:
> 
> These principles and laws, these firmly-established and mighty systems, have
> proceeded from one Source and are the rays of one Light. That they differ
> one from another is to be attributed to the varying requirements of the ages
> in which they were promulgated.137
> 
> Thus the principle of the unity of religion means that all of the great religious
> Founders--the Manifestations--have come from God, and that all of the
> religious systems established by Them are part of a single divine plan
> directed by God.
> 
> In reality, there is only one religion, the religion of God. This one religion is
> continually evolving, and each particular religious system represents a stage
> in the evolution of the whole. The Bahá'í Faith represents the current stage in
> the evolution of religion. To emphasize the idea that all of the teachings and
> actions of the Manifestation are directed by God and do not originate from
> natural, human sources, Bahá'u'lláh used the term "revelation" to describe the
> phenomenon that occurs each time a Manifestation appears. In particular, the
> writings of the Manifestation represent the infallible Word of God. Because
> these writings remain long after the earthly life of the Manifestation is
> finished, they constitute an especially important part of the phenomenon of
> revelation. So much is this so, that the term "revelation" is sometimes used in
> a restricted sense to refer to the writings and words of the Manifestation.
> 
> Religious history is seen as a succession of revelations from God and the
> term "progressive revelation" is used to describe this process. Thus,
> according to Bahá'ís, progressive revelation is the motive force of human
> progress, and the Manifestation Bahá'u'lláh is the most recent instance of
> revelation.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that the time interval between two Manifestations may be
> about one thousand years. He also taught that the process of revelation will
> not stop with His revelation and that another Manifestation will come after
> Him, though not before the expiration of one thousand years from
> Bahá'u'lláh's coming. According to the Bahá'í writings, the process of
> revelation will continue indefinitely into the future and humankind will see
> the coming of a great many more Manifestations.
> 
> To put the Bahá'í concept of religion more clearly in focus, let us compare it
> with some other ways in which religion has been regarded. On one hand is
> the view that the various religious systems result from human striving after
> truth. In this conception, the Founders of the great religions do not reveal
> God to us, but are rather philosophers or thinkers, human beings who may
> have progressed farther than others in the discovery of truth. This notion
> excludes the idea of a basic unity of religion since the various religious
> systems are seen as representing different opinions and beliefs arrived at by
> fallible human beings rather than infallible revelations of truth from a single
> source.
> 
> Many orthodox adherents of various religious traditions, on the other hand,
> argue that the Prophet or Founder of their particular tradition represents a true
> revelation of God to humanity, but that the other religious Founders are false
> prophets, or at least essentially inferior to the Founder of the tradition in
> question. For example, many Jews believe that Moses was a true Messenger
> of God, but that Jesus was not. Similarly, many Christians believe in Jesus'
> revelation, but consider that Muhammad was a false prophet, and hold that
> Moses was inferior in status to Christ.
> 
> The Bahá'í principle of the oneness of religion differs fundamentally from
> both of these traditional concepts. Bahá'u'lláh attributed the differences in
> some teachings of the great religions not to any human fallibility of the
> Founders, but rather to the different requirements of the ages in which the
> revelations occurred. Moreover, Bahá'ís consider that no one of the Founders
> is superior to another. Shoghi Effendi has summarized this view in the
> following words:
> 
> The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh, the followers of His
> Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that
> Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great
> religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in
> complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that
> their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are
> complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their
> doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual
> evolution of human society.138
> 
> Life, Death, and the Soul
> 
> According to Bahá'í teachings human nature is fundamentally spiritual.
> Although human beings exist on earth in physical bodies, the essential
> identity of each person is defined by an invisible, rational, and everlasting
> soul:
> 
> "the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of
> men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can
> ever hope to unravel."139
> 
> The soul animates the body and distinguishes human beings from the
> animals. It grows and develops only through the individual's relationship with
> God, as mediated by His Messengers. The relationship is fostered through
> prayer, knowledge of the scriptures revealed by these Teachers, love for God,
> moral self-discipline, and service to humanity. This process is what gives
> meaning to life.
> 
> Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of all
> infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is
> due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his soul and his
> body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by any bodily ailments…. When
> it leaveth the body, however, it will evince such ascendancy, and reveal such
> influence as no force on earth can equal… consider the sun which hath been
> obscured by the clouds. Observe how its splendor appeareth to have
> diminished, when in reality the source of that light hath remained unchanged.
> The soul of man should be likened unto this sun, and all things on earth
> should be regarded as his body. So long as no external impediment
> interveneth between them, the body will, in its entirety, continue to reflect the
> light of the soul, and to be sustained by its power. As soon as, however, a veil
> interposeth itself between them, the brightness of the light seemeth to
> lessen…. The soul of man is the sun by which his body is illumined, and from
> which it draweth its sustenance, and should be so regarded.140
> 
> In commenting on the immortality of the rational soul, 'Abdu'l- Baha
> explained that everything in creation which is composed of elements is
> subject to decomposition:
> 
> The soul is not a combination of elements, it is not composed of many atoms,
> it is of one indivisible substance and therefore eternal. It is entirely out of the
> order of the physical creation; it is immortal!141
> 
> Cultivation of life's spiritual side has several benefits. First, the individual
> increasingly develops those innate qualities that lie at the foundation of
> human happiness and social progress. Such qualities include faith, courage,
> love, compassion, trustworthiness and humility. As these qualities are
> increasingly manifest, society as a whole advances.
> 
> Another effect of spiritual development is alignment with God's will. This
> growing closer to God prepares the individual for the afterlife. The soul lives
> on after the body's death, embarking on a spiritual journey towards God
> through many "worlds" or planes of existence. Progress on this journey, in
> traditional terms, is likened to "heaven." If the soul fails to develop, one
> remains distant from God. This condition of remoteness from God can in
> some sense be understood as "hell." Thus, heaven and hell are regarded not as
> literal places but descriptions of one's spiritual progress toward the light of
> God.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that individuals have no existence previous to their life
> here on earth. Neither is the soul reborn several times in different bodies. He
> explained, rather, that the soul's evolution is always towards God and away
> from the material world. A human being spends nine months in the womb in
> preparation for entry into this physical life. During that nine-month period,
> the fetus acquires the physical tools (e.g., eyes, limbs, and so forth) necessary
> for existence in this world. Similarly, this physical world is like a womb for
> entry into the spiritual world. Our time here is thus a period of preparation
> during which we are to acquire the spiritual and intellectual tools necessary
> for life in the next world.
> 
> The crucial difference is that, whereas physical development in the mother's
> womb is involuntary, spiritual and intellectual development in this world
> depend strictly on conscious individual effort:
> 
> The incomparable Creator hath created all men from one same substance,
> and hath exalted their reality above the rest of His creatures. Success or
> failure, gain or loss, must, therefore, depend upon man's own exertions. The
> more he striveth, the greater will be his progress.142
> 
> The Bahá'í writings often speak of the bounty or grace of God towards
> humanity, but explain that an appropriate human response is always
> necessary for God's grace and mercy to penetrate the human soul and bring
> about any genuine change within us: "No matter how strong the measure of
> Divine grace, unless supplemented by personal, sustained and intelligent
> effort, it cannot become fully effective and be of any real and abiding
> advantage."143 Thus, in the Bahá'í conception, salvation is not simply a
> unidirectional gift from God to us, but is rather a dialogue, a collaborative
> venture initiated by God but requiring vigorous and intelligent human
> participation.
> 
> Since human nature is spiritual, the essential capacities of women and men
> are the capacities of the soul. In other words, one's personality, one's basic
> intellectual and spiritual faculties, reside in the soul, even though they are
> expressed through the instrumentality of the body for the short duration of
> earthly life. Some of the faculties that Bahá'u'lláh mentioned as capacities of
> the soul are
> 
> 1. the mind, which represents the capacity for rational thought and
> intellectual investigation;
> 
> 2. the will, which represents the capacity for self- initiated action; and
> 3. the "heart," or the capacity for conscious, deliberate, self-sacrificing love
> (sometimes called altruism).
> 
> The Bahá'í teachings confirm that the soul retains its individuality and
> consciousness after death, and is able to associate with other souls that are
> drawn together by love.
> 
> The Purpose of Life
> 
> What does the Bahá'í Faith see as the purpose of human existence144? What
> is the true nature of human beings and what role does religion play in our
> spiritual development? What is "good" and what is "evil"? What are man's
> responsibilities to God and what is the spiritual meaning of life?
> 
> Many people live their lives without ever reflecting on life itself or its
> meaning for them. Their lives may be full of activities. They may marry, have
> children, run a business, or become scientists or musicians, without ever
> obtaining any degree of understanding of why they do these things. Their
> lives have no overall purpose to give meaning to separate events, and they
> may have no clear idea of their own nature or identity, of who they really are.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that only true religion can give purpose to human
> existence. If there were no Creator, if humans were simply chance products
> of a thermodynamic system, as many in the world today assert, there would
> be no purpose in life. Each individual human being would represent the
> temporary material existence of a conscious animal trying to move through
> his or her brief life with as much pleasure and as little pain and suffering as
> possible.
> 
> It is only in relation to the Creator, and the purpose which that Creator has
> fixed for His creatures, that human existence has any meaning. Bahá'u'lláh
> described God's purpose for man in the following way:
> 
> The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable
> him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent
> aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed
> and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness.145
> Life should be seen as an eternal process of joyous spiritual discovery and
> growth: in the beginning stages of earthly life, the individual undergoes a
> period of training and education which, if it is successful, gives him or her
> the basic intellectual and spiritual tools necessary for continued growth.
> When individuals attain physical maturity in adulthood, they become
> responsible for their further progress, which now depends entirely on the
> efforts they themselves make. Through the daily struggles of material
> existence, people gradually deepen their understanding of the spiritual
> principles underlying reality, and this understanding enables them to relate
> more effectively to themselves, to others, and to God. After physical death,
> the individual continues to grow and develop in the spiritual world, which is
> greater than the physical world, just as the physical world is greater than the
> world we inhabit while in our mother's womb.
> 
> This last statement is based on the Bahá'í concept of the soul and of life after
> physical death . According to the Bahá'í teachings, the true nature of human
> beings is spiritual. Beyond the physical body, each human being has a
> rational soul, created by God. This soul is a nonmaterial entity, which does
> not depend on the body. Rather, the body serves as its vehicle in the physical
> world. The soul of an individual comes into being at the moment the physical
> body is conceived and continues to exist after the death of the physical body.
> The soul (also called the spirit) of the individual is the seat or locus of his or
> her personality, self, and consciousness.
> 
> The evolution or development of the soul and its capacities is the basic
> purpose of human existence. This evolution is towards God and its motive
> force is knowledge of God and love for Him. As we learn about God, our
> love for Him increases; and this, in turn, enables us to attain a closer
> communion with our Creator. Also, as we draw closer to God, our character
> becomes more refined and our actions reflect more and more the attributes
> and qualities of God.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh taught that this potential to reflect the attributes of God is the
> soul's essential reality. It is the meaning of human beings being created "in
> the image of God." The divine qualities are not external to the soul. They are
> latent within it, just as the color, the fragrance, and the vitality of a flower are
> latent within the seed. They need only to be developed. In the words of
> Bahá'u'lláh:
> 
> Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He [God] hath shed
> the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of
> His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the
> radiance of all His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own
> self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a
> favour, so enduring a bounty.146
> 
> The Bahá'í writings refer to the gradual evolution or development of the
> individual soul as "spiritual progress." Spiritual progress means acquiring the
> capacity to act in conformity with the Will of God and to express the
> attributes and spirit of God in one's dealings with one's self and with other
> human beings. Bahá'u'lláh teaches that the only true and enduring happiness
> for human beings lies in the pursuit of spiritual development.
> 
> A person who has become aware of his or her spiritual nature and who
> consciously strives to progress spiritually is called a "seeker" by Bahá'u'lláh.
> Bahá'u'lláh described some of the qualities of the true seeker:
> 
> That seeker must, at all times, put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples
> of the earth, must detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him
> Who is the Lord of Lords. He must never seek to exalt himself above any one,
> must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vainglory, must cling unto patience and resignation, observe silence and refrain
> from idle talk. For the tongue is a smoldering fire, and excess of speech a
> deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the
> tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for
> a time, whilst the effects of the latter endureth a century.
> 
> That seeker should, also, regard backbiting as grievous error, and keep
> himself aloof from its dominion, inasmuch as backbiting quencheth the light
> of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul. He should be content with
> little, and be freed from all inordinate desire. He should treasure the
> companionship of them that have renounced the world, and regard avoidance
> of boastful and worldly people a precious benefit. At the dawn of every day
> he should commune with God, and with all his soul, persevere in the quest of
> his Beloved…. He should not wish for others that which he doth not wish for
> himself, nor promise that which he doth not fulfill…. He should forgive the
> sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end
> shall be. How often hath a sinner attained, at the hour of death, to the
> essence of faith, and quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto
> the Concourse on high! And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of
> his soul's ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire!
> 
> Our purpose in revealing these convincing and weighty utterances is to
> impress upon the seeker that he should regard all else beside God as
> transient, and count all things save Him, Who is the Object of all adoration,
> as utter nothingness.
> 
> These are among the attributes of the exalted, and constitute the hallmark of
> the spiritually-minded…. When the detached wayfarer and sincere seeker
> hath fulfilled these essential conditions, then and only then can he be called a
> true seeker.147
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh explained that the fundamental, spiritual role of religion is to
> enable people to achieve a true understanding of their own nature and of
> God's will and purpose for them. The spiritual teachings sent down by God
> through the Messengers or Manifestations of God serve to guide us to a
> proper comprehension of the spiritual dynamics of life. These principles
> enable us to understand the laws of existence. Moreover, the very efforts we
> must make to conform to the teachings of the Manifestations serve to develop
> our spiritual capacities. For example, when one makes an effort to rid oneself
> of prejudice and superstition in response to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, the
> result is an increased knowledge of and love for other human beings, and this,
> in turn, helps the individual to live life more effectively.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh stressed that, without the coming of the Manifestations and their
> revelation of God's laws and teachings, we would not be able to grow and
> develop spiritually. The spiritual meaning of life would remain hidden from
> us, even if we made great efforts to discover it. This is why revealed religion
> is seen by Bahá'ís as the necessary key to successful spiritual living.
> 
> Speaking of the Manifestations, and Their influence on human spiritual
> development, Bahá'u'lláh said:
> Through the Teachings of the Day Star of Truth [i.e. the Manifestation] every
> man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at which he can
> manifest all the potential forces with which his inmost true self hath been
> endowed. It is for this very purpose that in every age and dispensation, the
> Prophets of God and His chosen Ones have appeared amongst men, and have
> evinced such power as is born of God and such might, as only the Eternal
> can reveal.148
> 
> Since religion has a social dimension, Bahá'ís feel that prolonged withdrawal
> from the world and from contact with society and one's fellow human beings
> is usually not necessary or helpful to spiritual growth (although a temporary
> withdrawal from time to time may be legitimate and healthy). Because we are
> social beings, our greatest progress is made through living in association with
> others. Indeed, close association with others in the spirit of loving service and
> cooperation is essential to the process of spiritual growth.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh related God's purpose for us to the two aspects of religion, the
> spiritual and the social:
> 
> God's purpose in sending His Prophets unto men is twofold. The first is to
> liberate the children of men from the darkness of ignorance, and guide them
> to the light of true understanding. The second is to ensure the peace and
> tranquillity of mankind, and provide all the means by which they can be
> established.149
> 
> In other words, humankind's social development, if properly carried out,
> should be a collective expression of our spiritual development. All human
> beings, Bahá'u'lláh states, "have been created to carry forward an everadvancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the
> beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are
> forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples
> and kindreds of the earth."150
> 
> In summary, the spiritual reason for our life on earth is to provide us with a
> training ground; our life is a period of growth during which we focus on the
> development of our innate spiritual and intellectual capacities. Because these
> capacities are faculties of our immortal soul, they are eternal, and we must
> make great efforts to develop them. But such efforts are worthwhile, since the
> soul is the only part of us which endures. Whatever promotes our spiritual
> development is good, and whatever hinders it is bad.
> 
> Heaven and hell: a Bahá'í view of life after death
> 
> As in the world's other religions, the Bahá'í concept of life after death is
> deeply integrated into teachings about the nature of the soul and the purpose
> of this earthly life.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh confirmed the existence of a separate, rational soul for every
> human. In this life, He said, the soul is related to the physical body. It
> provides the underlying animation for the body and is our real self.
> 
> Although undetectable by physical instruments, the soul shows itself through
> the qualities of character that we associate with each person. The soul is the
> focal point for love and compassion, for faith and courage, and for other such
> "human" qualities that cannot be explained solely by thinking of a human
> being as an animal or as a sophisticated organic machine.
> 
> The soul does not die; it endures everlastingly. When the human body dies,
> the soul is freed from ties with the physical body and the surrounding
> physical world and begins its progress through the spiritual world. Bahá'ís
> understand the spiritual world to be a timeless and placeless extension of our
> own universe--and not some physically remote or removed place.
> 
> Entry into the next life has the potential to bring great joy. Bahá'u'lláh likened
> death to the process of birth. He explains: "The world beyond is as different
> from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in
> the womb of its mother."
> 
> The analogy to the womb in many ways summarizes the Bahá'í view of
> earthly existence. Just as the womb constitutes an important place for a
> person's initial physical development, the physical world provides the matrix
> for the development of the individual soul. Accordingly, Bahá'ís view life as
> a sort of workshop, where one can develop and perfect those qualities which
> will be needed in the next life.
> 
> "Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of
> God, it will, assuredly return and be gathered to the glory of the Beloved,"
> Bahá'u'lláh wrote. "By the righteousness of God! It shall attain a station such
> as no pen can depict, or tongue can describe."
> 
> In the final analysis, heaven can be seen partly as a state of nearness to God;
> hell is a state of remoteness from God. Each state follows as a natural
> consequence of individual efforts, or the lack thereof, to develop spiritually.
> The key to spiritual progress is to follow the path outlined by the
> Manifestations of God.
> 
> Beyond this, the exact nature of the afterlife remains a mystery. "The nature
> of the soul after death can never be described," Bahá'u'lláh writes.
> 
> 'The Changeless Faith of God'
> 
> When Bahá'ís say that the various religions are one, they do not mean that the
> various religious creeds and organizations are the same. Rather, they believe
> that there is only one religion and all of the Messengers of God have
> progressively revealed its nature. Together, the world's great religions are
> expressions of a single unfolding Divine plan, "the changeless Faith of God,
> eternal in the past, eternal in the future."
> 
> People from all of the major religious backgrounds have found that the
> promises and expectations of their own beliefs are fulfilled in the Bahá'í
> Faith. Bahá'ís from Native American, African and other indigenous
> backgrounds, similarly, find in the Bahá'í teachings fulfillment of prophetic
> visions.
> 
> For Bahá'ís of Jewish background, Bahá'u'lláh is the appearance of the
> promised "Lord of Hosts" come down "with ten thousands of saints." A
> descendent of Abraham and a "scion from the root of Jesse," Bahá'u'lláh has
> come to lead the way for nations to "beat their swords into plowshares."
> Many features of Bahá'u'lláh's involuntary exile to the Land of Israel, along
> with other historical events during Bahá'u'lláh's life and since are seen as
> fulfilling numerous prophecies in the Bible.
> 
> For Bahá'ís of Buddhist background, Bahá'u'lláh fulfils the prophecies for the
> coming of "a Buddha named Maitreye, the Buddha of universal fellowship"
> who will, according to Buddhist traditions, bring peace and enlightenment for
> all humanity. They see the fulfillment of numerous prophecies, such as the
> fact that the Buddha Maitreye is to come from "the West", noting the fact that
> Iran is West of India.
> 
> For Bahá'ís of Hindu background, Bahá'u'lláh comes as the new incarnation
> of Krishna, the "Tenth Avatar" and the "Most Great Spirit." He is "the
> birthless, the deathless," the One who, "when goodness grows weak," returns
> "in every age" to "establish righteousness" as promised in the Bhagavad-Gita.
> 
> For Bahá'ís of Christian background, Bahá'u'lláh fulfils the paradoxical
> promises of Christ's return "in the Glory of the Father" and as a "thief in the
> night." That the Faith was founded in 1844 relates to numerous Christian
> prophecies. Bahá'ís note, for example, that central Africa was finally opened
> to Christianity in the 1840s, and that event was widely seen as fulfilling the
> promise that Christ would return after "the Gospel had been preached 'to all
> nations.' " In Bahá'u'lláh's teachings Bahá'ís see fulfillment of Christ's
> promise to bring all people together so that "there shall be one fold, and one
> shepherd."
> 
> For Bahá'ís of Muslim background, Bahá'u'lláh fulfils the promise of the
> Qur'an for the "Day of God" and the "Great Announcement," when "God"
> will come down "overshadowed with clouds." They see in the dramatic
> events of the Bábi and Bahá'í movements the fulfillment of many traditional
> statements of Muhammad, which have long been a puzzle.
> 
> Life, Death, and the Soul
> 
> According to Bahá'í teachings human nature is fundamentally spiritual.
> Although human beings exist on earth in physical bodies, the essential
> identity of each person is defined by an invisible, rational, and everlasting
> soul.
> 
> The soul animates the body and distinguishes human beings from the
> animals. It grows and develops only through the individual's relationship with
> God, as mediated by His Messengers. The relationship is fostered through
> prayer, knowledge of the scriptures revealed by these Teachers, love for God,
> moral self-discipline, and service to humanity. This process is what gives
> meaning to life.
> 
> Cultivation of life's spiritual side has several benefits. First, the individual
> increasingly develops those innate qualities that lie at the foundation of
> human happiness and social progress. Such qualities include faith, courage,
> love, compassion, trustworthiness and humility. As these qualities are
> increasingly manifest, society as a whole advances.
> 
> Another effect of spiritual development is alignment with God's will. This
> growing closer to God prepares the individual for the afterlife. The soul lives
> on after the body's death, embarking on a spiritual journey towards God
> through many "worlds" or planes of existence. Progress on this journey, in
> traditional terms, is likened to "heaven." If the soul fails to develop, one
> remains distant from God. This condition of remoteness from God can in
> some sense be understood as "hell." Thus, heaven and hell are regarded not as
> literal places but descriptions of one's spiritual progress toward the light of
> God.
> 
> Prayer, Meditation, and Fasting
> 
> …the core of religious faith is that mystic feeling that unites man with God.
> This state of spiritual communion can be brought about and maintained by
> means of meditation and prayer. And this is the reason why Bahá'u'lláh has
> so much stressed the importance of worship. It is not sufficient for a believer
> to merely accept and observe the teachings. He should, in addition, cultivate
> the sense of spirituality, which he can acquire chiefly by the means of prayer.
> The Bahá'í Faith, like all other Divine religions, is thus fundamentally mystic
> in character. Its chief goal is the development of the individual and society,
> through the acquisition of spiritual virtues and powers. It is the soul of man
> that has first to be fed. And this spiritual nourishment prayer can best
> provide. Laws and institutions, as viewed by Bahá'u'lláh, can become really
> effective only when our inner spiritual life has been perfected and
> transformed. Otherwise religion will degenerate into a mere organization,
> and become a dead thing.151
> For Bahá'ís, the purpose of life is to know and love God, and thus to progress
> spiritually. As in most other religions, prayer and meditation are primary
> tools for spiritual development.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh Himself wrote hundreds of prayers. There are prayers for general
> use, for healing, for spiritual growth, for facing difficulties, for marriage, for
> community life, and for humanity itself.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh also asked His followers to choose one of three "obligatory"
> prayers for recitation each day. The shortest of these prayers is just three
> sentences long. It says much about the relationship between God and
> humanity. It reads:
> 
> I bear witness, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to
> worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy
> might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee,
> the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
> 
> The term "obligatory," as applied to these prayers, implies for Bahá'ís an
> understanding that humans have certain spiritual duties before God.
> Bahá'u'lláh also urged His followers to spend each day in meditation:
> 
> "Meditate profoundly, that the secret of things unseen may be revealed unto
> you, that you may inhale the sweetness of a spiritual and imperishable
> fragrance…"
> 
> Specifically, He encouraged us to reflect at the end of each day on our deeds
> and their worth. Other than this, Bahá'u'lláh did not specify a particular
> approach to meditation. Instead, each individual is free to choose his or her
> own meditational form.
> 
> Morality and Spiritual Growth
> 
> The ultimate aim in life of every human soul, the Bahá'í writings state, should
> be to attain moral and spiritual excellence--to align one's inner being and
> outward behavior with the will of an all-loving Creator. That each individual
> has been bestowed with a unique destiny by God--a destiny which unfolds in
> accordance with the free exercise of the choices and opportunities presented
> in life--lies at the center of Bahá'í belief. In particular, it is through the moral
> exercise of our divinely conferred free will that opportunities are provided for
> spiritual advancement. "All that which ye potentially possess," Bahá'u'lláh
> confirms, "can…be manifested only as a result of your own volition."152
> 
> In a poetic passage, Bahá'u'lláh described the actions of the moral individual
> and urged His followers to live accordingly:
> 
> Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of
> thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a
> treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the
> needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and
> guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all
> men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a
> sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the
> victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts.
> Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for
> the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the
> erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of
> fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of
> mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of
> virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of
> knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a
> shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of
> humility.153
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh, like Abraham, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad and the other Divine
> Messengers who preceded Him, sought to awaken the moral and creative
> capacities latent in human nature. "Noble have I created thee," is the Divine
> assurance, "Rise then unto that for which thou wast created."154 He states
> that "the purpose for which mortal men have…stepped into the realm of
> being, is that they may work for the betterment of the world and live together
> in concord and harmony."155 "Let each morn," He urges, "be better than its
> eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday. Man's merit lieth in service
> and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches. Take heed that your
> words be purged from idle fancies and worldly desires and your deeds be
> cleansed from craftiness and suspicion. Dissipate not the wealth of your
> precious lives in the pursuit of evil and corrupt affection, nor let your
> endeavors be spent in promoting your personal interest… Guard against
> idleness and sloth, and cling unto that which profiteth mankind, whether
> young or old, whether high or low."156
> 
> From the Bahá'í perspective, religion has been the chief civilizing force in
> human history. Moral maturity thus comes from spiritual awareness. As
> stressed throughout the Bahá'í writings, the primary purpose of God in
> revealing His will through His Messengers is to effect a transformation in the
> moral and material conditions of human existence. The transformation called
> for by Bahá'u'lláh is directed to the inner character of every human being and
> to the organization of society--a transformation that engenders cooperation,
> compassion, rectitude of conduct, and justice.
> 
> In linking spiritual development to personal behavior, Bahá'u'lláh wrote "that
> the citadels of men's hearts should be subdued through the hosts of a noble
> character and praiseworthy deeds."157 He exhorts the world's peoples to
> "illumine their beings with the light of trustworthiness," "the ornament of
> honesty," and the "emblems" of "generosity."158 Service to humankind is the
> purpose of both individual life and all social arrangements: "Do not busy
> yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which
> will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of
> men."159
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh sets before us the highest standard of morality and urges us to
> strive to attain it. To do so is the only path to true happiness and fulfillment.
> Our moral and spiritual advancement is therefore crucial to our well-being in
> both this life and the next. As Bahá'u'lláh counsels:
> 
> "Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty
> ancient, imperishable and everlasting." 160
> 
> On Good and Evil
> 
> In contrast to a number of other religious doctrines and philosophies, the
> Bahá'í Faith does not teach that the physical desires of human beings are
> "evil" or "bad"161. Everything in God's creation is regarded as essentially
> and fundamentally good. In fact, the very purpose of the human body and its
> physical faculties is to serve as a proper vehicle for the development of the
> soul. As the energies of the body are gradually brought under the conscious
> control of the soul, they become instruments for the expression of spiritual
> qualities. It is only undisciplined physical passions that become causes of
> harm, and hinder spiritual progress.
> 
> For example, the human sexual urge is considered to be a gift from God. Its
> disciplined expression within the legitimate bonds of marriage can be a
> powerful expression of the spiritual quality of love. However, the same
> sexual urge, if misused, can lead one into perverse, wasteful, and even
> destructive actions.
> 
> Since the body is the vehicle of the rational soul in this life on earth, it is
> important to maintain and care for it. Bahá'u'lláh strongly discouraged any
> form of asceticism or extreme self-denial. His emphasis was on healthy
> discipline. Therefore the Bahá'í writings contain a number of practical laws
> relating to the care of the human body: proper nutrition, regular bathing, and
> so forth. Underlying these, as with many other aspects of Bahá'í belief, is the
> principle of moderation: things that are beneficial when kept within the limits
> of moderation become harmful when taken to extremes.
> 
> The Bahá'í writings acknowledge explicitly that certain physical factors
> beyond the control of the individual, such as genetic weaknesses, or
> inadequate childhood nutrition, can have a significant effect on one's
> development during his earthly life. But such material influences are not
> permanent, and they have no power in themselves to harm or damage the
> soul. At most, they can only retard temporarily the spiritual growth process,
> and even this effect can be counterbalanced by a subsequent burst of more
> rapid development. Indeed, the Bahá'í writings explain that it is often in the
> individual's determined and courageous struggle against physical, emotional,
> and mental handicaps that the greatest spiritual growth occurs, and the
> individual may come to view his handicaps as blessings in disguise that have,
> ultimately, helped him grow spiritually. Thus, admitting that physical
> conditions can affect, temporarily but significantly, the spiritual growth
> process is far from believing, as many philosophical materialists do, that we
> are totally determined by some combination of genetic and environmental
> physical factors:
> 
> …movement is essential to all existence. All material things progress to a
> certain point, then begin to decline. This is the law which governs the whole
> physical creation…. But with the human soul, there is no decline. Its only
> movement is toward perfection; growth and progress alone constitute the
> motion of the soul….
> 
> The world of mortality is a world of contradictions, of opposites; motion
> being compulsory everything must either go forward or retreat. In the realm
> of spirit there is no retreat possible, all movement is bound to be towards a
> perfect state.162
> 
> The theme of growth through struggle and suffering occurs at several places
> in the Bahá'í writings. Although many of our sufferings result from careless
> living and are therefore potentially avoidable, a certain amount of suffering is
> necessary in any growth process. Indeed, we understand and accept that
> suffering and self-sacrifice are essential components of achieving material or
> intellectual success. Thus, we should not be surprised that the even more
> important endeavor of achieving spiritual growth might also involve those
> same elements:
> 
> Everything of importance in this world demands the close attention of its
> seeker. The one in pursuit of anything must undergo difficulties and
> hardships until the object in view is attained and the great success is obtained.
> This is the case of things pertaining to the world. How much higher is that
> which concerns the Supreme Concourse!163
> 
> This brings us to the Bahá'í concept of the relationship between good and evil
> in man. 'Abdu'l-Bahá describes it thus:
> 
> In creation there is no evil, all is good. Certain qualities and natures innate in
> some men and apparently blameworthy are not so in reality. For example,
> from the beginning of his life you can see in a nursing child the signs of
> greed, of anger, and of temper. Then, it may be said, good and evil are innate
> in the reality of man, and this is contrary to the pure goodness of nature and
> creation. The answer to this is that greed, which is to ask for something more,
> is a praiseworthy quality provided that it is used suitably. So, if a man is
> greedy to acquire science and knowledge, or to become compassionate,
> generous, and just, it is most praiseworthy. If he exercises his anger and
> wrath against the bloodthirsty tyrants who are like ferocious beasts, it is very
> praiseworthy; but if he does not use these qualities in a right way, they are
> blameworthy…. It is the same with all the natural qualities of man, which
> constitute the capital of life; if they be used and displayed in an unlawful
> way, they become blameworthy. Therefore, it is clear that creation is purely
> good.164
> 
> The Bahá'í Faith does not therefore accept the concept of "original sin" or any
> related doctrine which considers that people are basically evil or have
> intrinsically evil elements in their nature. All the forces and faculties within
> us are God-given and thus potentially beneficial to our spiritual development.
> In the same way, the Bahá'í teachings deny the existence of Satan, a devil, or
> an "evil force." Evil, it is explained, is the absence of good; darkness is the
> absence of light; cold is the absence of heat.165 Just as the sun is the unique
> source of all life in a solar system, so ultimately is there only one force or
> power in the universe, the force we call God.
> 
> However, if a person, through his own God-given free will, turns away from
> this force or fails to make the necessary effort to develop his spiritual
> capacities, the result is imperfection. Both within the individual and in
> society, there will be what one might term "dark spots." These dark spots are
> imperfections, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá has said that "evil is imperfection."
> 
> If a tiger kills and eats another animal, this is not evil, because it is an
> expression of the tiger's natural instinct for survival. But if a person kills and
> eats a fellow human being, this same act may be considered evil because man
> is capable of doing otherwise. Such an act is not an expression of his true
> nature.
> 
> As relatively undeveloped creatures, we have certain intrinsic needs that
> demand satisfaction. These needs are partly physical and tangible and partly
> spiritual and intangible. It is God who has created us in this manner and
> placed us in this situation. Because God truly loves us, he has provided for
> the legitimate satisfaction of all our needs. But if, whether through simple
> ignorance or willful rebellion, we try to satisfy some of our needs in an
> illegitimate or unhealthy way, then we may distort our true nature and
> generate within ourselves new appetites incapable of genuine satisfaction:
> 
> … capacity is of two kinds: natural capacity and acquired capacity. The first,
> which is the creation of God, is purely good--in the creation of God there is
> no evil; but the acquired capacity has become the cause of the appearance of
> evil. For example, God has created all men in such a manner and has given
> them such a constitution and such capacities that they are benefited by sugar
> and honey and harmed and destroyed by poison. This nature and constitution
> is innate, and God has given it equally to all mankind. But man begins little
> by little to accustom himself to poison by taking a small quantity each day,
> and gradually increasing it, until he reaches such a point that he cannot live
> without a gram of opium every day. The natural capacities are thus
> completely perverted. Observe how much the natural capacity and
> constitution can be changed, until by different habits and training they
> become entirely perverted. One does not criticize vicious people because of
> their innate capacities and nature, but rather for their acquired capacities and
> nature.166
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh said that pride, or self-centeredness, is one of the greatest
> hindrances to spiritual progress. Pride represents an exaggerated sense of
> one's own importance in the universe and leads to an attitude of superiority
> over others. The prideful person feels as though he is or ought to be in
> absolute control of his life and the circumstances surrounding it, and he seeks
> power and dominance over others because such power helps him maintain
> this illusion of superiority. Thus, pride is such a hindrance to spiritual growth
> because it impels the prideful individual on an endless quest to fulfill the
> expectations of his vainly-conceived and illusory self-concept.
> 
> In other words, the key to understanding Bahá'í morality and ethics is to be
> found in the Bahá'í notion of spiritual progress: that which is conducive to
> spiritual progress is good, and whatever tends to hinder spiritual progress is
> bad. Thus, from the Bahá'í viewpoint, learning "good" from "bad" (or "right"
> from "wrong") means attaining a degree of self-knowledge that permits us to
> know when something is helpful to our spiritual growth and when it is
> not.167 And this knowledge can only be obtained through the teachings of
> the Manifestations.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh repeatedly stressed that only revealed religion can save us from
> our imperfections. It is because God has sent his Manifestations to show us
> the path to spiritual development and to touch our hearts with the spirit of
> God's love that we are able to realize our true potential and make the effort to
> be united with God. This is the "salvation" that religion brings. It does not
> save us from the stain of some "original sin," nor does it protect us from some
> external evil force or devil. Rather, it delivers us from captivity to our own
> lower nature, a captivity that breeds private despair and threatens social
> destruction, and it shows us the path to a deep and satisfying happiness.
> 
> Indeed, the essential reason for such widespread unhappiness and terrible
> social conflict and crises in the world today is that humankind has turned
> away from true religion and spiritual principles. The only salvation in any
> age, Bahá'ís believe, is to turn again towards God, to accept his Manifestation
> for that day, and to follow his teachings. Bahá'u'lláh pointed out that, if we
> reflect deeply on the conditions of our existence, we must eventually realize
> and admit to ourselves that, in absolute terms, we possess nothing.
> Everything we are or have--our physical body and our rational soul--all
> comes from our Creator. Since God has freely given us so much, we have, in
> turn, an obligation to God. Bahá'u'lláh stated that human beings have two
> basic duties towards God:
> 
> The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him
> Who is the Day Spring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who
> representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of
> creation [i.e. the Manifestation]…. It behoveth every one who reacheth this
> most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every
> ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are
> inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. 168
> 
> In another passage, Bahá'u'lláh reminded his followers that the duties which
> God has given to us are only for our benefit: God Himself has no need of our
> worship or allegiance, for God is entirely self-sufficient and independent of
> all His creation. We can therefore be certain that everything God does is
> motivated uniquely by His pure love for us. There is no "self-interest" on the
> part of God:
> 
> Whatever duty Thou [God] hast prescribed unto Thy servants of extolling to
> the utmost Thy majesty and glory is but a token of Thy grace unto them, that
> they may be enabled to ascend unto the station conferred upon their own
> inmost being, the station of the knowledge of their own selves.169
> A Global Community
> 
> Women and men gather in Garoua Boulai, a rural region of eastern
> Cameroon, to discuss how they can work together to alleviate some of the
> burdens placed on the women with regard to child care. In Cambridge,
> Massachusetts, scholars come together to exchange ideas on the topic
> "Anarchy into Order: Understanding Humanity's Role and Destiny." People
> on Goodenough Island, Papua New Guinea, escort a flower-strewn platform
> carrying a new Book of Laws to their village, ushering it in with respect and
> joyful songs. In Panchgani, India, young boys are learning how to plant and
> tend tree seedlings in the course of their studies in sustainable development at
> a locally run institute. A youth group performs a dance about the terrible
> consequences of racism to schoolchildren in a school auditorium in British
> Columbia, Canada. In Colombia, South America, a conga musical group
> imbues its traditional Latin rhythms with a spiritual message about the unity
> of humanity, to the delight of listeners at open-air venues. A team of medical
> specialists from the United Kingdom "twins" efforts with doctors at a hospital
> in Bulgaria, offering assistance in training local practioners. These people,
> though they have in all probability never met one another, share a united
> view of the world and its future, as well as their own role in shaping that
> future. They are members of the Bahá'í International Community.
> 
> The Bahá'í community, comprising members of the Bahá'í Faith from all over
> the globe, now numbers some five million souls. They represent 2,112 ethnic
> and tribal groups and live in over 116,000 localities in 188 independent
> countries and 45 dependent territories or overseas departments. What was
> once regarded by some as an obscure, tiny sect is now recognized by the
> Encyclopedia Britannica as the second-most widely spread independent
> religion in the world, after Christianity. Its membership cuts across all
> boundaries of class and race, governing itself through the establishment of
> local and national elected bodies known as Spiritual Assemblies. Haifa,
> Israel, is the site of its international center and the seat of its world-governing
> council, known as the Universal House of Justice.
> 
> The worldwide Bahá'í community may well be the most diverse and
> widespread body of people on earth. It is also among the world's most unified
> organizations, a feature that is perhaps its most distinguishing characteristic.
> 
> Bahá'ís the world over come from all religious backgrounds: Buddhist,
> Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jew, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian, animist, and nonreligious. Yet they study a common set of sacred writings, observe a unifying
> code of religious laws, and look to a single international administrative
> system for continuing guidance.
> 
> Their sense of unity goes beyond a shared theology. It is expressed in an
> abiding commitment to a global program for moral, spiritual and social
> progress that represents many of the finest ideals of civilization.
> 
> Promoting equality of women and men is a primary goal, as are ending racial
> and ethnic strife, promoting economic justice for all peoples, and ensuring
> access to good education for all. The community eschews all forms of
> superstition, emphasizes the importance of an unfettered search for scientific
> and religious truth, and sets for its followers the goal of meeting the highest
> moral standards. World peace and the establishment of a united global
> commonwealth have been and remain distinguishing concerns.
> 
> The Rhythms and Routines of Bahá'í Communities
> 
> As a worldwide community, with individuals from more than 2,100 ethnic
> and tribal groups who reside in more than 230 countries and territories, the
> Bahá'í Faith is certainly among the most diverse bodies of people on earth.
> 
> More often than not, such diversity extends to the local and national levels, as
> people from a wide variety of backgrounds, ages, professions, and
> educational levels come together in more than 132,000 localities around the
> world with common aims: to worship the Creator, promote peace and unity,
> and serve humanity.
> 
> Yet whether in an isolated African village or a cosmopolitan center in North
> America, the structures that govern the rhythms and routines of Bahá'í
> community life are both flexible enough to accommodate this diversity and
> yet strong enough to maintain the essential unity of the Faith, which, unlike
> the world's other major religions, has resisted splitting into sects and subgroups.
> 
> The result is a rich community life. Not only do most Bahá'í communities of
> any significant size sponsor a wide range of activities -- from social events to
> economic development projects -- individuals within Bahá'í communities also
> find a joyful and supportive group of friends who, despite the sometimes
> wide difference in their backgrounds, find common ground in the high ideals
> and principles of the Faith.
> 
> Roberto Eghrari of Brazil recalls an encounter at a national Bahá'í meeting
> recently that illustrated this sense of unity in diversity. "I was watching three
> people standing together, discussing issues of community development," said
> Mr. Eghrari, who is a member of the national Bahá'í governing body of the
> Bahá'ís of Brazil. "One was a woman ticket seller for a circus, from Bahia, in
> the north. She is illiterate, but is nevertheless quite articulate. Another was an
> indigenous person, from the Kariri-Xoco tribe in the state of Alagoas, in the
> Northeast. And another was a man of Iranian background, who has a PhD in
> nuclear engineering.
> 
> "And it struck me how unusual this would be in many places, where it is
> often felt that only highly educated people are articulate and able to discuss
> important issues," Mr. Eghrari said, who is himself trained as an electronics
> engineer. "But that is not true among Bahá'ís. It is accepted that everyone is
> equal, and that everyone -- whether highly educated or not -- can and should
> participate in discussions about such things as the future of their
> communities."
> 
> At the local level, Bahá'í community life is governed by the local Spiritual
> Assembly, a freely elected governing body of lay people who guide and
> administer the affairs of the community as a whole. In this way, governance
> in Bahá'í communities springs from the grassroots.
> 
> Common activities in Bahá'í communities include classes for the education of
> children, devotional services, study classes, discussions on global issues,
> social events, the observance of holy days, marriages, and funeral services.
> Many local Spiritual Assemblies around the world also oversee small-scale
> educational, economic or environmental development projects. Such efforts
> range from the sponsorship of community health workers to small
> agricultural projects.
> 
> The centerpiece of Bahá'í community life is the Nineteen-Day Feast. Held
> once every 19 days, the Feast is the local community's regular worship
> gathering -- and more.
> 
> Open to both adults and children, the Feast is the regular gathering that
> promotes and sustains the unity of the local Bahá'í community. The Feast
> always contains three elements: spiritual devotion, administrative
> consultation, and social fellowship. As such, the Feast combines religious
> worship with grassroots governance and social enjoyment.
> 
> Yet its program is adaptable to a wide variety of cultural and social needs.
> Music is often a component of its program, and such music often reflects the
> geographic and cultural setting. In the southern United States, for example,
> Feast might well feature Gospel-style music, while in Asia the songs might
> be pentatonic.
> 
> "One thing that is a common theme in our Feasts in Kenya is a love of
> music," said Charles Mungonya, a 52-year-old sales and marketing specialist
> in Nairobi who has been a Bahá'í since 1961. And the music at Feast, Mr.
> Mungonya said, itself reflects the diversity of the community.
> 
> "We have about 40 different tribal groups in Kenya, and almost all of them
> are represented in the Faith," said Mr. Mungonya. "And in the cities and
> towns, especially, you will find Bahá'ís from many different backgrounds
> coming together. This is unusual. Most other religious groups in Kenya are
> likely to be from a single tribe.
> 
> "But we see multi-tribal groups that come together to enter into 'one fold' and
> pray together and worship together and socialize together. Yet even in Bahá'í
> communities here where, because of geography, one tribe predominates, the
> music is from different groups and is often sung in 5 or 6 different languages.
> Because most of our Bahá'í songs come from all over," said Mr. Mungonya.
> "And diverse music is enjoyed by everyone, we find."
> 
> The use of the word "feast" might seem to imply that a large meal will be
> served. That is not necessarily the case. While food and beverages are usually
> served, the term itself is meant to suggest that the community should enjoy a
> "spiritual feast" of worship, companionship and unity. Bahá'u'lláh stressed the
> importance of gathering every nineteen days, "to bind your hearts together,"
> even if nothing more than water is served.
> 
> During the devotional program, selections from the Bahá'í writings, and often
> the scriptures from other religions, are read aloud. A general discussion
> follows, allowing every member a voice in community affairs and making the
> Feast an "arena of democracy at the very root of society." The Feast ends
> with a period for socializing.
> 
> While the Feast serves to bind Bahá'ís and their families more closely
> together, Bahá'í communities as a whole are not isolated from society at
> large. Indeed, Bahá'u'lláh encouraged His followers to be fully involved with
> the rest of humanity. And most Bahá'ís lead lives that would not seem out of
> place in their native society -- following their professions, raising families,
> participating in local affairs -- save perhaps for a strong commitment to the
> high moral and ethical standards that are encouraged by the Faith.
> 
> In Belfast, Northern Ireland, for example, many of the women members of
> the Bahá'í community there have been involved for years with other women
> in quiet efforts to promote peace in that strife-torn country. It was something
> that Bahá'í women did as a natural extension of their belief in the importance
> of tolerance and peace, and this effort evolved as a consequence of their
> collaboration with other women's organizations.
> 
> "We've been essentially working in the background," said Patrica Ann Irvine,
> a 50-year-old mother. "The women's organizations have been primarily
> concerned with anything to do with women and children. As Bahá'ís, we
> participated in this, but we also always talked about peace. Not in the
> Northern Ireland specific sense, but in the global sense, and we like to think
> that some of this has filtered through."
> 
> There is also a great deal of communication and other forms of networking
> that goes on between Bahá'í communities at the local, national and
> international levels -- all of which serves to connect the individual and their
> participation at the local level to the great global issues of our time.
> Many Bahá'í communities around the world sponsor local seminars or panel
> discussions on issues such as the equality of women and men, the need to
> eliminate racism, or the importance of promoting human rights.
> 
> The Bahá'í community of Brazil, for example, itself sponsored a number of
> events at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Among other things,
> members of the community assisted in organizing a major cultural program
> during the Summit and in erecting a special Peace Monument to
> commemorate the meeting.
> 
> "By participating in such international events, or working on global issues at
> the local level, we feel a part of something that has a much larger purpose,"
> said Mr. Eghrari of Brazil. "Being part of the whole world is very much a part
> of our vision."
> 
> The Bahá'í World Centre: Focal Point for a Global Community
> 
> Before His passing, Bahá'u'lláh indicated that the world headquarters for the
> Faith He had founded would be in the Haifa/Acre area in the north of what is
> now Israel. The region today is home to the spiritual and administrative heart
> of the Bahá'í Faith.
> 
> The final resting places of both Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb are in the region. The
> gold-domed Shrine of the Báb sits on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa
> while the majestic Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh is located just across the bay at Bahji,
> outside of Acre. Situated in the heart of magnificent gardens, these two spots
> are the most holy places in the Bahá'í world.
> 
> The administrative center of the Bahá'í Faith is in Haifa. Located on Mount
> Carmel, just above the Shrine of the Báb and at the top of an arc-shaped path
> in a monument garden, is the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, the
> international governing body of the Bahá'í Faith. From this building and
> others nearby, a staff of more than 600 people from 60 countries administers
> the international affairs of the Bahá'í world community.
> 
> From Haifa, information is transmitted back and forth between national
> Bahá'í communities; international goals and plans are disseminated; social
> and economic development projects are monitored; statistics are collected
> and kept; and international funds are managed. There is also an international
> archives building, within which are housed relics, writings and artifacts
> associated with the lives of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
> 
> In the early 1990s, a new phase of construction was launched, reflecting the
> rapid expansion of the Faith. Ground was broken for a series of terraces
> extending above and below the Shrine of the Báb and for several other new
> institutional buildings in a program expected to be completed by the end of
> the century.
> 
> Each year, thousands of pilgrims come from around the world to pray and
> meditate in the Shrines, and to visit the other Bahá'í holy places in the
> Haifa/Acre area. These pilgrimages, which bring together Bahá'ís from all
> over the world, serve further to give social cohesion and integration to the
> Faith.
> 
> The Bahá'í International Community and the United Nations
> 
> More than a century ago, Bahá'u'lláh called for the creation of a system of
> international governance, based on the principle of collective security, which
> would encompass all of the nations of the world and lay the foundations for a
> lasting and universal peace. In seeking to promote this concept, as well as to
> engender justice, peace and prosperity at the international level, the
> worldwide Bahá'í community has, as a duly accredited non-governmental
> organization, long worked closely with the United Nations, supporting many
> of its goals and programs. Bahá'í representatives were present in 1945 in San
> Francisco at the founding of the United Nations. In 1947, the Bahá'í
> communities of the United States and Canada were recognized by the UN
> Department of Public Information (DPI). The next year, in 1948, the Bahá'í
> International Community itself was recognized by the UN DPI as an
> international non-governmental organization.
> 
> In May 1970, the Bahá'í International Community was granted consultative
> status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), allowing for a
> greater degree of interaction with the Council and its subsidiary bodies in
> efforts to promote social and economic development worldwide. In March
> 1976, the Bahá'í International Community was granted consultative status
> with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), similarly extending
> opportunities for interaction with the United Nations to promote the health,
> education and well-being of children.
> 
> Relationships with these and other UN bodies and agencies have deepened
> over the years. Today, for example, the Community enjoys a working
> relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), it has an
> association with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and it
> has undertaken joint activities with the United Nations Development Fund for
> Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
> 
> As an international non-governmental organization, the Bahá'í International
> Community is involved in a wide range of activities, including peacebuilding, human rights, women's affairs, education, health, and sustainable
> development.
> 
> These concerns are addressed not only at the United Nations, but through
> collaboration with other international non-governmental organizations. The
> Bahá'í International Community, for example, is a member of the Advocates
> for African Food Security: Lessening the Burden on Women; of World Wide
> Fund for Nature's Network on Conservation and Religion; of the Center for
> Our Common Future in Geneva; and of the Education for All Network.
> 
> Bahá'í Houses of Worship
> 
> As gathering places for prayer and meditation, Bahá'í Houses of Worship are
> buildings that most closely approximate the place of the church, the temple or
> the mosque in other religions. Yet they are also something more.
> 
> As envisioned by Bahá'u'lláh, local Houses of Worship will someday be the
> focal point for a community's spiritual life--and an expression of its
> humanitarian concern.
> 
> So far, seven Houses of Worship have been built--at least one on each
> continent, a token of the Faith's global progress. At the present stage of the
> Faith's development, Bahá'ís have focused on creating and developing the
> social and spiritual institutions of community life rather than on the
> construction of physical buildings in every community. Yet those Houses of
> Worship which have been constructed stand as beacons calling the world to a
> new mode of religious worship and life.
> 
> Each temple has its own distinctive design, and yet conforms to a set of
> architectural requirements that give a unifying theme. All Bahá'í Houses of
> Worship must have nine sides and a central dome.
> 
> The first House of Worship was built in Russia, in the city of Ashkhabad in
> Central Asia. Completed around 1908, the Ashkhabad House of Worship
> served the Bahá'í community of that region until 1938, when the site was
> appropriated by the Soviet Government. The building was demolished in
> 1962 after being damaged by an earthquake.
> 
> The Ashkhabad House of Worship was in many ways ahead of its time. In
> addition to serving as a spiritual center for the thriving Bahá'í community in
> that region, it gave practical expression to the community's humanitarian
> ideas. Attached to it were a number of subsidiaries, including a hospital, a
> school, and a hostel for travelers.
> 
> The first House of Worship in the West was completed in 1953, in Wilmette,
> Illinois, U.S.A., on the shores of Lake Michigan, just north of Chicago. Its
> filigree dome and extraordinary ornamentation combine features drawn from
> the architectural styles of both East and West, and it has attracted millions of
> visitors over the years. Other Bahá'í Houses of Worship were subsequently
> built in Kampala, Uganda; near Sydney, Australia; outside Frankfurt,
> Germany; overlooking Panama City, Panama; and in Apia, Western Samoa.
> 
> The newest House of Worship was completed in 1986 in New Delhi, India.
> Since that time the structure has won numerous architectural awards and been
> featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. Inspired by the
> lotus flower, its design is composed of 27 free-standing marble-clad "petals"-
> -arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides. Nine doors open onto a
> central hall, capable of holding up to 2,500 people. Slightly more than 40
> meters tall, its surface luminous, the temple at times seems to float above its
> 26-acre site on the outskirts of the Indian capital. In a few short years the
> New Delhi temple has become one of the world's major attractions, drawing
> more than two and a half million visitors a year. On Hindu holy days, it has
> drawn as many as 100,000--so revered is the Bahá'í temple by India's people,
> whatever their religious background.
> 
> Indeed, all Houses of Worship are open to people of every religion. There are
> no sermons, rituals or clergy.
> 
> Around the world, more than 120 sites have so far been set aside for future
> Houses of Worship. Ultimately, every local Bahá'í community will have its
> own House of Worship. Like the first one in Ashkhabad, each will become
> the focus of community life, as well as a center for social, scientific,
> educational, and humanitarian services.
> A New Vision for Humanity's Future
> 
> One of the most distinctive aspects of the worldwide Bahá'í community is the
> hopeful and yet pragmatic way in which its members face the future. Far
> from fearing it, Bahá'ís the world over are dedicated to creating a new and
> peaceful world civilization based on principles of justice, prosperity, and
> continuing advancement. This vision reflects not only an appreciation for
> humanity's historic longing for peace and collective well-being, but also our
> understanding that humanity as a whole has now reached a new level of
> maturity. That it is possible to create societies founded upon cooperation,
> trust, and genuine concern for others is at the heart of Bahá'í belief and
> action. Indeed, Bahá'ís believe that humanity is on the verge of an
> evolutionary leap that will carry humankind to a future where "world peace is
> not only possible but inevitable."
> 
> A number of other characteristics evident in the Bahá'í community today will,
> Bahá'ís believe, come to characterize the humanity of our planet's future.
> 
> The first of these is unity, the mainspring of humanity's future in a world
> where disunity is increasingly recognized as the ultimate source of danger
> and suffering. As national, religious, and ethnic conflicts divide peoples
> around the globe, the imperative of building bonds of reconciliation and
> understanding takes on greater urgency. Bahá'u'lláh asserted, "So powerful is
> the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth."
> 
> Second only to its unity is the universality of the community created by
> Bahá'u'lláh. No one is left out; no one takes second place. Embracing more
> than 2,100 ethnic, racial, and tribal groups, the Bahá'í community is quite
> likely the most diverse organized body of people on the planet. Its very
> existence challenges prevailing theories about human nature and the
> prospects for creating peaceful patterns of life.
> 
> Third is the new system of values necessary for the development of a global
> civilization. Such an ethos--where each member of the human race is
> regarded as a trust of the whole--is guided by an inner ethical orientation
> relevant to the challenges of the next stage of human development--an
> orientation that does not come only from legislation and education but from a
> divine source. Evidence that such a transformation in moral behavior is
> possible can be found in the response to Bahá'u'lláh's teachings in Bahá'í
> communities around the globe.
> 
> A mechanism promoting the ability to think and decide collectively is the
> fourth attribute of an evolving world civilization. A mode of decision-making
> both inclusive and cooperative and that avoids adversarial posturing and
> partisanship while still democratic in spirit and method now exists uniquely
> in the Bahá'í community. This administrative order functions at the village,
> regional, national, and global level.
> 
> The will to address the problems confronting humanity is a fifth attribute. In
> this, the Bahá'í community can offer its experience in the field of social and
> economic development. More than 1,500 grassroots projects in the areas of
> health, agriculture, education, and environmental preservation are now being
> undertaken by Bahá'ís throughout the world. These activities focus not on the
> delivery of services but rather on the development of capacities within people
> themselves. Underpinning such efforts is the recognition that every culture
> and segment of humanity represents a distinct heritage that must be permitted
> to bear fruit in a global society.
> 
> Such strength of will has also enabled members of the Bahá'í community to
> endure through recurrent waves of persecution170 and suffering, particularly
> in the cradle of their Faith, Iran, where over 200 believers have been killed
> for their Faith since 1979. This strength is also reflected by the systematic
> growth and consolidation of the Bahá'í Faith all over the globe. Tens of
> thousands of ordinary people have willingly accepted every type of sacrifice
> for this goal because of their love for Bahá'u'lláh. As a result, the five-million
> member Bahá'í community has become the second most widespread religion
> in the world.
> 
> Finally, the manner in which members of the Bahá'í community draw upon
> the resources of both reason and faith to address challenging problems is a
> significant model for a future civilization. Bahá'u'lláh stated that the greatest
> gift of God to humankind is reason, a quality that is continually developed
> through the maturation of Bahá'í administrative institutions. The turmoil and
> dislocations confronting present-day society will not be solved until both the
> scientific and religious genius of the human race are fully utilized.
> 
> While the pattern of a future global civilization already exists, in embryonic
> form, in their community, Bahá'ís see all of these attributes as endowments of
> Bahá'u'lláh's guidance to humankind in this day--guidance available to
> everybody and not the sole property of Bahá'ís. This conviction is the source
> of their inspiring and hopeful vision of the future
> 
> The Promise of World Peace
> 
> Released in October 1985, on the eve of the United Nations International
> Year of Peace, this statement of the Universal House of Justice, the
> international governing council of the Bahá'í Faith and its international
> community, was addressed "To the Peoples of the World." Presented to over
> 160 heads of state and government over the past 10 years, it outlines the
> major prerequisites for, as well as the obstacles working against, the
> establishment of world peace.
> 
> The Promise of World Peace
> 
> Introduction
> 
> October 1985
> 
> To the Peoples of the World:
> 
> The Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries
> have inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless generations
> have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the sacred
> scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last
> within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history it is possible for
> everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in
> one perspective. World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next
> stage in the evolution of this planet--in the words of one great thinker, "the
> planetization of mankind".
> 
> Whether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors precipitated
> by humanity's stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour, or is to be
> embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice before all who
> inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the intractable problems
> confronting nations have been fused into one common concern for the whole
> world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and disorder would be
> unconscionably irresponsible.
> 
> Among the favourable signs are the steadily growing strength of the steps
> towards world order taken initially near the beginning of this century in the
> creation of the League of Nations, succeeded by the more broadly based
> United Nations Organization; the achievement since the Second World War
> of independence by the majority of all the nations on earth, indicating the
> completion of the process of nation building, and the involvement of these
> fledgling nations with older ones in matters of mutual concern; the
> consequent vast increase in co-operation among hitherto isolated and
> antagonistic peoples and groups in international undertakings in the
> scientific, educational, legal, economic and cultural fields; the rise in recent
> decades of an unprecedented number of international humanitarian
> organizations; the spread of women's and youth movements calling for an end
> to war; and the spontaneous spawning of widening networks of ordinary
> people seeking understanding through personal communication.
> 
> The scientific and technological advances occurring in this unusually blessed
> century portend a great surge forward in the social evolution of the planet,
> and indicate the means by which the practical problems of humanity may be
> solved. They provide, indeed, the very means for the administration of the
> complex life of a united world. Yet barriers persist. Doubts, misconceptions,
> prejudices, suspicions and narrow self-interest beset nations and peoples in
> their relations one to another.
> 
> It is out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty that we are impelled at
> this opportune moment to invite your attention to the penetrating insights first
> communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century ago by
> Bahá'u'lláh, Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, of which we are the Trustees.
> 
> "The winds of despair", Bahá'u'lláh wrote, "are, alas, blowing from every
> direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily
> increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be
> discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably
> defective." This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the
> common experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are
> conspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United Nations
> to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the international
> economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the intense
> suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to increasing millions.
> Indeed, so much have aggression and conflict come to characterize our social,
> economic and religious systems, that many have succumbed to the view that
> such behaviour is intrinsic to human nature and therefore ineradicable.
> 
> With the entrenchment of this view, a paralyzing contradiction has developed
> in human affairs. On the one hand, people of all nations proclaim not only
> their readiness but their longing for peace and harmony, for an end to the
> harrowing apprehensions tormenting their daily lives. On the other, uncritical
> assent is given to the proposition that human beings are incorrigibly selfish
> and aggressive and thus incapable of erecting a social system at once
> progressive and peaceful, dynamic and harmonious, a system giving free play
> to individual creativity and initiative but based on co-operation and
> reciprocity.
> 
> As the need for peace becomes more urgent, this fundamental contradiction,
> which hinders its realization, demands a reassessment of the assumptions
> upon which the commonly held view of mankind's historical predicament is
> based. Dispassionately examined, the evidence reveals that such conduct, far
> from expressing man's true self, represents a distortion of the human spirit.
> Satisfaction on this point will enable all people to set in motion constructive
> social forces which, because they are consistent with human nature, will
> encourage harmony and co-operation instead of war and conflict.
> 
> To choose such a course is not to deny humanity's past but to understand it.
> The Bahá'í Faith regards the current world confusion and calamitous
> condition in human affairs as a natural phase in an organic process leading
> ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human race in a single
> social order whose boundaries are those of the planet. The human race, as a
> distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary stages analogous to the
> stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of its individual members, and is
> now in the culminating period of its turbulent adolescence approaching its
> long-awaited coming of age.
> 
> A candid acknowledgement that prejudice, war and exploitation have been
> the expression of immature stages in a vast historical process and that the
> human race is today experiencing the unavoidable tumult which marks its
> collective coming of age is not a reason for despair but a prerequisite to
> undertaking the stupendous enterprise of building a peaceful world. That such
> an enterprise is possible, that the necessary constructive forces do exist, that
> unifying social structures can be erected, is the theme we urge you to
> examine.
> 
> Whatever suffering and turmoil the years immediately ahead may hold,
> however dark the immediate circumstances, the Bahá'í community believes
> that humanity can confront this supreme trial with confidence in its ultimate
> outcome. Far from signalizing the end of civilization, the convulsive changes
> towards which humanity is being ever more rapidly impelled will serve to
> release the "potentialities inherent in the station of man" and reveal "the full
> measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality".
> 
> Section I
> 
> The endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of
> life are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its
> essential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build
> civilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone have
> never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it towards
> transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the ultimate
> reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God. The religions
> brought to mankind by a succession of spiritual luminaries have been the
> primary link between humanity and that ultimate reality, and have galvanized
> and refined mankind's capacity to achieve spiritual success together with
> social progress.
> 
> No serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace, can
> ignore religion. Man's perception and practice of it are largely the stuff of
> history. An eminent historian described religion as a "faculty of human
> nature". That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much of the
> confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals can hardly
> be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount the
> preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions of
> civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has repeatedly
> been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.
> 
> Writing of religion as a social force, Bahá'u'lláh said: "Religion is the greatest
> of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peaceful
> contentment of all that dwell therein." Referring to the eclipse or corruption
> of religion, he wrote: "Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and
> confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness, of justice, of tranquillity and
> peace cease to shine." In an enumeration of such consequences the Bahá'í
> writings point out that the "perversion of human nature, the degradation of
> human conduct, the corruption and dissolution of human institutions, reveal
> themselves, under such circumstances, in their worst and most revolting
> aspects. Human character is debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of
> discipline are relaxed, the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of
> decency and shame is obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of
> reciprocity and loyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of
> joy and of hope is gradually extinguished."
> 
> If, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must look
> to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has listened, for
> the source of the misunderstandings and confusion perpetrated in the name of
> religion. Those who have held blindly and selfishly to their particular
> orthodoxies, who have imposed on their votaries erroneous and conflicting
> interpretations of the pronouncements of the Prophets of God, bear heavy
> responsibility for this confusion--a confusion compounded by the artificial
> barriers erected between faith and reason, science and religion. For from a
> fair-minded examination of the actual utterances of the Founders of the great
> religions, and of the social milieus in which they were obliged to carry out
> their missions, there is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices
> deranging the religious communities of mankind and therefore all human
> affairs.
> 
> The teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be
> treated, an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, lends force to
> this latter observation in two particular respects: it sums up the moral attitude,
> the peace-inducing aspect, extending through these religions irrespective of
> their place or time of origin; it also signifies an aspect of unity which is their
> essential virtue, a virtue mankind in its disjointed view of history has failed to
> appreciate.
> 
> Had humanity seen the Educators of its collective childhood in their true
> character, as agents of one civilizing process, it would no doubt have reaped
> incalculably greater benefits from the cumulative effects of their successive
> missions. This, alas, it failed to do.
> 
> The resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands cannot
> be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the violent
> and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the spiritual
> bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and saddest features of
> the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the extent to which, in each
> case, it is undermining not only the spiritual values which are conducive to
> the unity of mankind but also those unique moral victories won by the
> particular religion it purports to serve.
> 
> However vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and
> however dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism,
> religion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by
> increasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the
> modern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic pursuit of
> material satisfactions or to the following of man-made ideologies designed to
> rescue society from the evident evils under which it groans. All too many of
> these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing the concept of the oneness of
> mankind and promoting the increase of concord among different peoples,
> have tended to deify the state, to subordinate the rest of mankind to one
> nation, race or class, to attempt to suppress all discussion and interchange of
> ideas, or to callously abandon starving millions to the operations of a market
> system that all too clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of
> mankind, while enabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence
> scarcely dreamed of by our forebears.
> 
> How tragic is the record of the substitute faiths that the worldly-wise of our
> age have created. In the massive disillusionment of entire populations who
> have been taught to worship at their altars can be read history's irreversible
> verdict on their value. The fruits these doctrines have produced, after decades
> of an increasingly unrestrained exercise of power by those who owe their
> ascendancy in human affairs to them, are the social and economic ills that
> blight every region of our world in the closing years of the twentieth century.
> Underlying all these outward afflictions is the spiritual damage reflected in
> the apathy that has gripped the mass of the peoples of all nations and by the
> extinction of hope in the hearts of deprived and anguished millions.
> 
> The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism,
> whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give
> account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is
> the "new world" promised by these ideologies? Where is the international
> peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the
> breakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the
> aggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why is the
> vast majority of the world's peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and
> wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the
> Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the
> disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?
> 
> Most particularly, it is in the glorification of material pursuits, at once the
> progenitor and common feature of all such ideologies, that we find the roots
> which nourish the falsehood that human beings are incorrigibly selfish and
> aggressive. It is here that the ground must be cleared for the building of a
> new world fit for our descendants.
> 
> That materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to satisfy the
> needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a fresh effort
> must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing problems of the
> planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society bespeak a common
> failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite rather than relieve the
> entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common remedial effort is urgently
> required. It is primarily a matter of attitude. Will humanity continue in its
> waywardness, holding to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or
> will its leaders, regardless of ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will,
> consult together in a united search for appropriate solutions?
> Those who care for the future of the human race may well ponder this advice.
> "If long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if certain social
> assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the
> generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually
> evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of
> obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to
> the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration
> that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards,
> political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests
> of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation
> of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine."
> 
> Section II
> 
> Banning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing
> germ warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important
> such practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process, they
> are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence. Peoples are
> ingenious enough to invent yet other forms of warfare, and to use food, raw
> materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and terrorism to subvert one
> another in an endless quest for supremacy and dominion. Nor can the present
> massive dislocation in the affairs of humanity be resolved through the
> settlement of specific conflicts or disagreements among nations. A genuine
> universal framework must be adopted.
> 
> Certainly, there is no lack of recognition by national leaders of the worldwide character of the problem, which is self-evident in the mounting issues
> that confront them daily. And there are the accumulating studies and
> solutions proposed by many concerned and enlightened groups as well as by
> agencies of the United Nations, to remove any possibility of ignorance as to
> the challenging requirements to be met. There is, however, a paralysis of will;
> and it is this that must be carefully examined and resolutely dealt with. This
> paralysis is rooted, as we have stated, in a deep-seated conviction of the
> inevitable quarrelsomeness of mankind, which has led to the reluctance to
> entertain the possibility of subordinating national self-interest to the
> requirements of world order, and in an unwillingness to face courageously
> the far-reaching implications of establishing a united world authority. It is
> also traceable to the incapacity of largely ignorant and subjugated masses to
> articulate their desire for a new order in which they can live in peace,
> harmony and prosperity with all humanity.
> 
> The tentative steps towards world order, especially since World War II, give
> hopeful signs. The increasing tendency of groups of nations to formalize
> relationships which enable them to co-operate in matters of mutual interest
> suggests that eventually all nations could overcome this paralysis. The
> Association of South East Asian Nations, the Caribbean Community and
> Common Market, the Central American Common Market, the Council for
> Mutual Economic Assistance, the European Communities, the League of
> Arab States, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of American
> States, the South Pacific Forum--all the joint endeavours represented by such
> organizations prepare the path to world order.
> 
> The increasing attention being focused on some of the most deep-rooted
> problems of the planet is yet another hopeful sign. Despite the obvious
> shortcomings of the United Nations, the more than two score declarations and
> conventions adopted by that organization, even where governments have not
> been enthusiastic in their commitment, have given ordinary people a sense of
> a new lease on life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
> Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and
> the similar measures concerned with eliminating all forms of discrimination
> based on race, sex or religious belief; upholding the rights of the child;
> protecting all persons against being subjected to torture; eradicating hunger
> and malnutrition; using scientific and technological progress in the interest of
> peace and the benefit of mankind--all such measures, if courageously
> enforced and expanded, will advance the day when the spectre of war will
> have lost its power to dominate international relations. There is no need to
> stress the significance of the issues addressed by these declarations and
> conventions. However, a few such issues, because of their immediate
> relevance to establishing world peace, deserve additional comment.
> 
> Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier to
> peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the dignity of
> human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism retards the
> unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims, corrupts its
> perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the oneness of
> mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be universally
> upheld if this problem is to be overcome.
> 
> The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering,
> keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. Few
> societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the
> combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh
> look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a
> wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics,
> and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently
> be made. It is an issue that is bound up not only with the necessity for
> eliminating extremes of wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual
> verities the understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude.
> Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution.
> 
> Unbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate
> patriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a
> whole. Bahá'u'lláh's statement is: "The earth is but one country, and mankind
> its citizens." The concept of world citizenship is a direct result of the
> contraction of the world into a single neighbourhood through scientific
> advances and of the indisputable interdependence of nations. Love of all the
> world's peoples does not exclude love of one's country. The advantage of the
> part in a world society is best served by promoting the advantage of the
> whole. Current international activities in various fields which nurture mutual
> affection and a sense of solidarity among peoples need greatly to be
> increased.
> 
> Religious strife, throughout history, has been the cause of innumerable wars
> and conflicts, a major blight to progress, and is increasingly abhorrent to the
> people of all faiths and no faith. Followers of all religions must be willing to
> face the basic questions which this strife raises, and to arrive at clear answers.
> How are the differences between them to be resolved, both in theory and in
> practice? The challenge facing the religious leaders of mankind is to
> contemplate, with hearts filled with the spirit of compassion and a desire for
> truth, the plight of humanity, and to ask themselves whether they cannot, in
> humility before their Almighty Creator, submerge their theological
> differences in a great spirit of mutual forbearance that will enable them to
> work together for the advancement of human understanding and peace.
> 
> The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the
> sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites
> of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half
> of the world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits
> that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and
> ultimately to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical, or
> biological, upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are
> welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavour will the
> moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can
> emerge.
> 
> The cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its service an
> army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves the utmost
> support that the governments of the world can lend it. For ignorance is
> indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples and the
> perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is
> accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations
> to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. The decisionmaking agencies involved would do well to consider giving first priority to
> the education of women and girls, since it is through educated mothers that
> the benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused
> throughout society. In keeping with the requirements of the times,
> consideration should also be given to teaching the concept of world
> citizenship as part of the standard education of every child.
> 
> A fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines
> efforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language
> would go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent
> attention.
> 
> Two points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition of
> war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a complex
> task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not customarily
> associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political agreements alone, the
> idea of collective security is a chimera. The other point is that the primary
> challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to raise the context to the level of
> principle, as distinct from pure pragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems
> from an inner state supported by a spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly
> in evoking this attitude that the possibility of enduring solutions can be
> found.
> 
> There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which
> solutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned group
> can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems, but good
> intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The essential
> merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a perspective which
> harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature, it also induces an
> attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and
> implementation of practical measures. Leaders of governments and all in
> authority would be well served in their efforts to solve problems if they
> would first seek to identify the principles involved and then be guided by
> them.
> 
> Section III
> 
> The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its
> entrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and
> co-operation will prevail.
> 
> World order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the
> oneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm.
> Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human species,
> albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life. Recognition of this
> truth requires abandonment of prejudice--prejudice of every kind--race, class,
> colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which
> enables people to consider themselves superior to others.
> 
> Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite
> for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home
> of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to
> any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be
> universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every
> nation as preparation for the organic change in the structure of society which
> it implies.
> 
> In the Bahá'í view, recognition of the oneness of mankind "calls for no less
> than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world--
> a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political
> machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and
> language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its
> federated units."
> 
> Elaborating the implications of this pivotal principle, Shoghi Effendi, the
> Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, commented in 1931 that: "Far from aiming at
> the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its
> basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an
> ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it
> undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a
> sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of
> national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to
> be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of
> ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought
> and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a
> wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human
> race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the
> imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on
> one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its
> watchword is unity in diversity".
> 
> The achievement of such ends requires several stages in the adjustment of
> national political attitudes, which now verge on anarchy in the absence of
> clearly defined laws or universally accepted and enforceable principles
> regulating the relationships between nations. The League of Nations, the
> United Nations, and the many organizations and agreements produced by
> them have unquestionably been helpful in attenuating some of the negative
> effects of international conflicts, but they have shown themselves incapable
> of preventing war. Indeed, there have been scores of wars since the end of the
> Second World War; many are yet raging.
> 
> The predominant aspects of this problem had already emerged in the
> nineteenth century when Bahá'u'lláh first advanced his proposals for the
> establishment of world peace. The principle of collective security was
> propounded by him in statements addressed to the rulers of the world. Shoghi
> Effendi commented on his meaning: "What else could these weighty words
> signify," he wrote, "if they did not point to the inevitable curtailment of
> unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable preliminary to the
> formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations of the world? Some
> form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in whose favour all the
> nations of the world will have willingly ceded every claim to make war,
> certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except
> for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions.
> Such a state will have to include within its orbit an International Executive
> adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every
> recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a World Parliament whose
> members shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and
> whose election shall be confirmed by their respective governments; and a
> Supreme Tribunal whose judgement will have a binding effect even in such
> cases where the parties concerned did not voluntarily agree to submit their
> case to its consideration.
> 
> "A world community in which all economic barriers will have been
> permanently demolished and the interdependence of capital and labour
> definitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and strife
> will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will
> have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law--
> the product of the considered judgement of the world's federated
> representatives--shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive
> intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world
> community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will
> have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship--
> such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by
> Bahá'u'lláh, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a
> slowly maturing age."
> 
> The implementation of these far-reaching measures was indicated by
> Bahá'u'lláh: "The time must come when the imperative necessity for the
> holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally
> realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,
> participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will
> lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace amongst men."
> 
> The courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one people
> for another--all the spiritual and moral qualities required for effecting this
> momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to act. And it is
> towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest consideration must be
> given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To understand the relevance
> of this potent reality is also to appreciate the social necessity of actualizing its
> unique value through candid, dispassionate and cordial consultation, and of
> acting upon the results of this process. Bahá'u'lláh insistently drew attention
> to the virtues and indispensability of consultation for ordering human affairs.
> He said: "Consultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture
> into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and
> guides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of perfection
> and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest
> through consultation." The very attempt to achieve peace through the
> consultative action he proposed can release such a salutary spirit among the
> peoples of the earth that no power could resist the final, triumphal outcome.
> 
> Concerning the proceedings for this world gathering, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of
> Bahá'u'lláh and authorized interpreter of his teachings, offered these insights:
> "They must make the Cause of Peace the object of general consultation, and
> seek by every means in their power to establish a Union of the nations of the
> world. They must conclude a binding treaty and establish a covenant, the
> provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must
> proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human
> race. This supreme and noble undertaking--the real source of the peace and
> well-being of all the world--should be regarded as sacred by all that dwell on
> earth. All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to ensure the stability
> and permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the
> limits and frontiers of each and every nation should be clearly fixed, the
> principles underlying the relations of governments towards one another
> definitely laid down, and all international agreements and obligations
> ascertained. In like manner, the size of the armaments of every government
> should be strictly limited, for if the preparations for war and the military
> forces of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will arouse the
> suspicion of others. The fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact
> should be so fixed that if any government later violate any one of its
> provisions, all the governments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter
> submission, nay the human race as a whole should resolve, with every power
> at its disposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all
> remedies be applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover
> from its ills and will remain eternally safe and secure."
> 
> The holding of this mighty convocation is long overdue.
> 
> With all the ardour of our hearts, we appeal to the leaders of all nations to
> seize this opportune moment and take irreversible steps to convoke this world
> meeting. All the forces of history impel the human race towards this act
> which will mark for all time the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.
> 
> Will not the United Nations, with the full support of its membership, rise to
> the high purposes of such a crowning event?
> 
> Let men and women, youth and children everywhere recognize the eternal
> merit of this imperative action for all peoples and lift up their voices in
> willing assent. Indeed, let it be this generation that inaugurates this glorious
> stage in the evolution of social life on the planet.
> 
> Section IV
> 
> The source of the optimism we feel is a vision transcending the cessation of
> war and the creation of agencies of international co-operation. Permanent
> peace among nations is an essential stage, but not, Bahá'u'lláh asserts, the
> ultimate goal of the social development of humanity. Beyond the initial
> armistice forced upon the world by the fear of nuclear holocaust, beyond the
> political peace reluctantly entered into by suspicious rival nations, beyond
> pragmatic arrangements for security and coexistence, beyond even the many
> experiments in co-operation which these steps will make possible lies the
> crowning goal: the unification of all the peoples of the world in one universal
> family.
> 
> Disunity is a danger that the nations and peoples of the earth can no longer
> endure; the consequences are too terrible to contemplate, too obvious to
> require any demonstration. "The well-being of mankind," Bahá'u'lláh wrote
> more than a century ago, "its peace and security, are unattainable unless and
> until its unity is firmly established." In observing that "mankind is groaning,
> is dying to be led to unity, and to terminate its age-long martyrdom", Shoghi
> Effendi further commented that: "Unification of the whole of mankind is the
> hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of
> family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted
> and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed
> humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy
> inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing
> to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of
> human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best
> incarnate this fundamental principle of its life."
> 
> All contemporary forces of change validate this view. The proofs can be
> discerned in the many examples already cited of the favourable signs towards
> world peace in current international movements and developments. The army
> of men and women, drawn from virtually every culture, race and nation on
> earth, who serve the multifarious agencies of the United Nations, represent a
> planetary "civil service" whose impressive accomplishments are indicative of
> the degree of co-operation that can be attained even under discouraging
> conditions. An urge towards unity, like a spiritual springtime, struggles to
> express itself through countless international congresses that bring together
> people from a vast array of disciplines. It motivates appeals for international
> projects involving children and youth. Indeed, it is the real source of the
> remarkable movement towards ecumenism by which members of historically
> antagonistic religions and sects seem irresistibly drawn towards one another.
> Together with the opposing tendency to warfare and self-aggrandizement
> against which it ceaselessly struggles, the drive towards world unity is one of
> the dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing years
> of the twentieth century.
> 
> The experience of the Bahá'í community may be seen as an example of this
> enlarging unity. It is a community of some three to four million people drawn
> from many nations, cultures, classes and creeds, engaged in a wide range of
> activities serving the spiritual, social and economic needs of the peoples of
> many lands. It is a single social organism, representative of the diversity of
> the human family, conducting its affairs through a system of commonly
> accepted consultative principles, and cherishing equally all the great
> outpourings of divine guidance in human history. Its existence is yet another
> convincing proof of the practicality of its Founder's vision of a united world,
> another evidence that humanity can live as one global society, equal to
> whatever challenges its coming of age may entail. If the Bahá'í experience
> can contribute in whatever measure to reinforcing hope in the unity of the
> human race, we are happy to offer it as a model for study.
> 
> In contemplating the supreme importance of the task now challenging the
> entire world, we bow our heads in humility before the awesome majesty of
> the divine Creator, Who out of His infinite love has created all humanity
> from the same stock; exalted the gem-like reality of man; honoured it with
> intellect and wisdom, nobility and immortality; and conferred upon man the
> "unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him", a capacity
> that "must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary
> purpose underlying the whole of creation."
> 
> We hold firmly the conviction that all human beings have been created "to
> carry forward an ever-advancing civilization"; that "to act like the beasts of
> the field is unworthy of man"; that the virtues that befit human dignity are
> trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness
> towards all peoples. We reaffirm the belief that the "potentialities inherent in
> the station of man, the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate
> excellence of his reality, must all be manifested in this promised Day of
> God." These are the motivations for our unshakeable faith that unity and
> peace are the attainable goal towards which humanity is striving.
> 
> At this writing, the expectant voices of Bahá'ís can be heard despite the
> persecution they still endure in the land in which their Faith was born. By
> their example of steadfast hope, they bear witness to the belief that the
> imminent realization of this age-old dream of peace is now, by virtue of the
> transforming effects of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation, invested with the force of
> divine authority. Thus we convey to you not only a vision in words: we
> summon the power of deeds of faith and sacrifice; we convey the anxious
> plea of our co-religionists everywhere for peace and unity. We join with all
> who are the victims of aggression, all who yearn for an end to conflict and
> contention, all whose devotion to principles of peace and world order
> promotes the ennobling purposes for which humanity was called into being
> by an all-loving Creator.
> 
> In the earnestness of our desire to impart to you the fervour of our hope and
> the depth of our confidence, we cite the emphatic promise of Bahá'u'lláh:
> "These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most
> Great Peace' shall come."
> 
> THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
> 
> The Prosperity of Humankind
> 
> This statement of the Bahá'í International Community's Office of Public
> Information, released in January 1995 in preparation for the United Nations
> World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, examines prevailing
> attitudes and practices in social and economic development. It redefines the
> roles of all those involved and questions underlying assumptions about the
> nature of true global prosperity.
> 
> The Prosperity of Humankind171
> 
> To an extent unimaginable a decade ago, the ideal of world peace is taking on
> form and substance. Obstacles that long seemed immovable have collapsed in
> humanity's path; apparently irreconcilable conflicts have begun to surrender
> to processes of consultation and resolution; a willingness to counter military
> aggression through unified international action is emerging. The effect has
> been to awaken in both the masses of humanity and many world leaders a
> degree of hopefulness about the future of our planet that had been nearly
> extinguished.
> 
> Throughout the world, immense intellectual and spiritual energies are seeking
> expression, energies whose gathering pressure is in direct proportion to the
> frustrations of recent decades. Everywhere the signs multiply that the earth's
> peoples yearn for an end to conflict and to the suffering and ruin from which
> no land is any longer immune. These rising impulses for change must be
> seized upon and channeled into overcoming the remaining barriers that block
> realization of the age-old dream of global peace. The effort of will required
> for such a task cannot be summoned up merely by appeals for action against
> the countless ills afflicting society. It must be galvanized by a vision of
> human prosperity in the fullest sense of the term -- an awakening to the
> possibilities of the spiritual and material well-being now brought within
> grasp. Its beneficiaries must be all of the planet's inhabitants, without
> distinction, without the imposition of conditions unrelated to the fundamental
> goals of such a reorganization of human affairs.
> 
> History has thus far recorded principally the experience of tribes, cultures,
> classes, and nations. With the physical unification of the planet in this
> century and acknowledgement of the interdependence of all who live on it,
> the history of humanity as one people is now beginning. The long, slow
> civilizing of human character has been a sporadic development, uneven and
> admittedly inequitable in the material advantages it has conferred.
> Nevertheless, endowed with the wealth of all the genetic and cultural
> diversity that has evolved through past ages, the earth's inhabitants are now
> challenged to draw on their collective inheritance to take up, consciously and
> systematically, the responsibility for the design of their future.
> 
> It is unrealistic to imagine that the vision of the next stage in the advancement
> of civilization can be formulated without a searching reexamination of the
> attitudes and assumptions that currently underlie approaches to social and
> economic development. At the most obvious level, such rethinking will have
> to address practical matters of policy, resource utilization, planning
> procedures, implementation methodologies, and organization. As it proceeds,
> however, fundamental issues will quickly emerge, related to the long-term
> goals to be pursued, the social structures required, the implications for
> development of principles of social justice, and the nature and role of
> knowledge in effecting enduring change. Indeed, such a reexamination will
> be driven to seek a broad consensus of understanding about human nature
> itself.
> 
> Two avenues of discussion open directly onto all of these issues, whether
> conceptual or practical, and it is along these two avenues that we wish to
> explore, in the pages that follow, the subject of a strategy of global
> development. The first is prevailing beliefs about the nature and purpose of
> the development process; the second is the roles assigned in it to the various
> protagonists.
> 
> The assumptions directing most of current development planning are
> essentially materialistic. That is to say, the purpose of development is defined
> in terms of the successful cultivation in all societies of those means for the
> achievement of material prosperity that have, through trial and error, already
> come to characterize certain regions of the world. Modifications in
> development discourse do indeed occur, accommodating differences of
> culture and political system and responding to the alarming dangers posed by
> environmental degradation. Yet the underlying materialistic assumptions
> remain essentially unchallenged.
> 
> As the twentieth century draws to a close, it is no longer possible to maintain
> the belief that the approach to social and economic development to which the
> materialistic conception of life has given rise is capable of meeting
> humanity's needs. Optimistic forecasts about the changes it would generate
> have vanished into the ever-widening abyss that separates the living
> standards of a small and relatively diminishing minority of the world's
> inhabitants from the poverty experienced by the vast majority of the globe's
> population.
> 
> This unprecedented economic crisis, together with the social breakdown it
> has helped to engender, reflects a profound error of conception about human
> nature itself. For the levels of response elicited from human beings by the
> incentives of the prevailing order are not only inadequate, but seem almost
> irrelevant in the face of world events. We are being shown that, unless the
> development of society finds a purpose beyond the mere amelioration of
> material conditions, it will fail of attaining even these goals. That purpose
> must be sought in spiritual dimensions of life and motivation that transcend a
> constantly changing economic landscape and an artificially imposed division
> of human societies into "developed" and "developing".
> 
> As the purpose of development is being redefined, it will become necessary
> also to look again at assumptions about the appropriate roles to be played by
> the protagonists in the process. The crucial role of government, at whatever
> level, requires no elaboration. Future generations, however, will find almost
> incomprehensible the circumstance that, in an age paying tribute to an
> egalitarian philosophy and related democratic principles, development
> planning should view the masses of humanity as essentially recipients of
> benefits from aid and training. Despite acknowledgement of participation as a
> principle, the scope of the decision making left to most of the world's
> population is at best secondary, limited to a range of choices formulated by
> agencies inaccessible to them and determined by goals that are often
> irreconcilable with their perceptions of reality.
> 
> This approach is even endorsed, implicitly if not explicitly, by established
> religion. Burdened by traditions of paternalism, prevailing religious thought
> seems incapable of translating an expressed faith in the spiritual dimensions
> of human nature into confidence in humanity's collective capacity to
> transcend material conditions.
> 
> Such an attitude misses the significance of what is likely the most important
> social phenomenon of our time. If it is true that the governments of the world
> are striving through the medium of the United Nations system to construct a
> new global order, it is equally true that the peoples of the world are
> galvanized by this same vision. Their response has taken the form of a
> sudden efflorescence of countless movements and organizations of social
> change at local, regional, and international levels. Human rights, the advance
> of women, the social requirements of sustainable economic development, the
> overcoming of prejudices, the moral education of children, literacy, primary
> health care, and a host of other vital concerns each commands the urgent
> advocacy of organizations supported by growing numbers in every part of the
> globe.
> 
> This response of the world's people themselves to the crying needs of the age
> echoes the call that Bahá'u'lláh raised over a hundred years ago: "Be
> anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your
> deliberations on its exigencies and requirements." The transformation in the
> way that great numbers of ordinary people are coming to see themselves -- a
> change that is dramatically abrupt in the perspective of the history of
> civilization -- raises fundamental questions about the role assigned to the
> general body of humanity in the planning of our planet's future.
> 
> Section I
> The bedrock of a strategy that can engage the world's population in assuming
> responsibility for its collective destiny must be the consciousness of the
> oneness of humankind. Deceptively simple in popular discourse, the concept
> that humanity constitutes a single people presents fundamental challenges to
> the way that most of the institutions of contemporary society carry out their
> functions. Whether in the form of the adversarial structure of civil
> government, the advocacy principle informing most of civil law, a
> glorification of the struggle between classes and other social groups, or the
> competitive spirit dominating so much of modern life, conflict is accepted as
> the mainspring of human interaction. It represents yet another expression in
> social organization of the materialistic interpretation of life that has
> progressively consolidated itself over the past two centuries.
> 
> In a letter addressed to Queen Victoria over a century ago, and employing an
> analogy that points to the one model holding convincing promise for the
> organization of a planetary society, Bahá'u'lláh compared the world to the
> human body. There is, indeed, no other model in phenomenal existence to
> which we can reasonably look. Human society is composed not of a mass of
> merely differentiated cells but of associations of individuals, each one of
> whom is endowed with intelligence and will; nevertheless, the modes of
> operation that characterize man's biological nature illustrate fundamental
> principles of existence. Chief among these is that of unity in diversity.
> Paradoxically, it is precisely the wholeness and complexity of the order
> constituting the human body -- and the perfect integration into it of the body's
> cells -- that permit the full realization of the distinctive capacities inherent in
> each of these component elements. No cell lives apart from the body, whether
> in contributing to its functioning or in deriving its share from the well-being
> of the whole. The physical well-being thus achieved finds its purpose in
> making possible the expression of human consciousness; that is to say, the
> purpose of biological development transcends the mere existence of the body
> and its parts.
> 
> What is true of the life of the individual has its parallels in human society.
> The human species is an organic whole, the leading edge of the evolutionary
> process. That human consciousness necessarily operates through an infinite
> diversity of individual minds and motivations detracts in no way from its
> essential unity. Indeed, it is precisely an inhering diversity that distinguishes
> unity from homogeneity or uniformity. What the peoples of the world are
> today experiencing, Bahá'u'lláh said, is their collective coming-of-age, and it
> is through this emerging maturity of the race that the principle of unity in
> diversity will find full expression. From its earliest beginnings in the
> consolidation of family life, the process of social organization has
> successively moved from the simple structures of clan and tribe, through
> multitudinous forms of urban society, to the eventual emergence of the
> nation-state, each stage opening up a wealth of new opportunities for the
> exercise of human capacity.
> 
> Clearly, the advancement of the race has not occurred at the expense of
> human individuality. As social organization has increased, the scope for the
> expression of the capacities latent in each human being has correspondingly
> expanded. Because the relationship between the individual and society is a
> reciprocal one, the transformation now required must occur simultaneously
> within human consciousness and the structure of social institutions. It is in
> the opportunities afforded by this twofold process of change that a strategy of
> global development will find its purpose. At this crucial stage of history, that
> purpose must be to establish enduring foundations on which planetary
> civilization can gradually take shape.
> 
> Laying the groundwork for global civilization calls for the creation of laws
> and institutions that are universal in both character and authority. The effort
> can begin only when the concept of the oneness of humanity has been
> wholeheartedly embraced by those in whose hands the responsibility for
> decision making rests, and when the related principles are propagated through
> both educational systems and the media of mass communication. Once this
> threshold is crossed, a process will have been set in motion through which the
> peoples of the world can be drawn into the task of formulating common goals
> and committing themselves to their attainment. Only so fundamental a
> reorientation can protect them, too, from the age-old demons of ethnic and
> religious strife. Only through the dawning consciousness that they constitute
> a single people will the inhabitants of the planet be enabled to turn away from
> the patterns of conflict that have dominated social organization in the past
> and begin to learn the ways of collaboration and conciliation. "The wellbeing of mankind," Bahá'u'lláh writes, "its peace and security, are
> unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established."
> Section II
> 
> Justice is the one power that can translate the dawning consciousness of
> humanity's oneness into a collective will through which the necessary
> structures of global community life can be confidently erected. An age that
> sees the people of the world increasingly gaining access to information of
> every kind and to a diversity of ideas will find justice asserting itself as the
> ruling principle of successful social organization. With ever greater
> frequency, proposals aiming at the development of the planet will have to
> submit to the candid light of the standards it requires.
> 
> At the individual level, justice is that faculty of the human soul that enables
> each person to distinguish truth from falsehood. In the sight of God,
> Bahá'u'lláh avers, justice is "the best beloved of all things" since it permits
> each individual to see with his own eyes rather than the eyes of others, to
> know through his own knowledge rather than the knowledge of his neighbor
> or his group. It calls for fair-mindedness in one's judgments, for equity in
> one's treatment of others, and is thus a constant if demanding companion in
> the daily occasions of life.
> 
> At the group level, a concern for justice is the indispensable compass in
> collective decision making, because it is the only means by which unity of
> thought and action can be achieved. Far from encouraging the punitive spirit
> that has often masqueraded under its name in past ages, justice is the practical
> expression of awareness that, in the achievement of human progress, the
> interests of the individual and those of society are inextricably linked. To the
> extent that justice becomes a guiding concern of human interaction, a
> consultative climate is encouraged that permits options to be examined
> dispassionately and appropriate courses of action selected. In such a climate
> the perennial tendencies toward manipulation and partisanship are far less
> likely to deflect the decision-making process.
> 
> The implications for social and economic development are profound.
> Concern for justice protects the task of defining progress from the temptation
> to sacrifice the well-being of the generality of humankind -- and even of the
> planet itself -- to the advantages which technological breakthroughs can make
> available to privileged minorities. In design and planning, it ensures that
> limited resources are not diverted to the pursuit of projects extraneous to a
> community's essential social or economic priorities. Above all, only
> development programs that are perceived as meeting their needs and as being
> just and equitable in objective can hope to engage the commitment of the
> masses of humanity, upon whom implementation depends. The relevant
> human qualities such as honesty, a willingness to work, and a spirit of
> cooperation are successfully harnessed to the accomplishment of enormously
> demanding collective goals when every member of society -- indeed every
> component group within society -- can trust that they are protected by
> standards and assured of benefits that apply equally to all.
> 
> At the heart of the discussion of a strategy of social and economic
> development, therefore, lies the issue of human rights. The shaping of such a
> strategy calls for the promotion of human rights to be freed from the grip of
> the false dichotomies that have for so long held it hostage. Concern that each
> human being should enjoy the freedom of thought and action conducive to
> his or her personal growth does not justify devotion to the cult of
> individualism that so deeply corrupts many areas of contemporary life. Nor
> does concern to ensure the welfare of society as a whole require a deification
> of the state as the supposed source of humanity's well-being. Far otherwise:
> the history of the present century shows all too clearly that such ideologies
> and the partisan agendas to which they give rise have been themselves the
> principal enemies of the interests they purport to serve. Only in a consultative
> framework made possible by the consciousness of the organic unity of
> humankind can all aspects of the concern for human rights find legitimate
> and creative expression.
> 
> Today, the agency on whom has devolved the task of creating this framework
> and of liberating the promotion of human rights from those who would
> exploit it is the system of international institutions born out of the tragedies of
> two ruinous world wars and the experience of worldwide economic
> breakdown. Significantly, the term "human rights" has come into general use
> only since the promulgation of the United Nations Charter in l945 and the
> adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights three years later. In
> these history-making documents, formal recognition has been given to
> respect for social justice as a correlative of the establishment of world peace.
> The fact that the Declaration passed without a dissenting vote in the General
> Assembly conferred on it from the outset an authority that has grown steadily
> in the intervening years.
> 
> The activity most intimately linked to the consciousness that distinguishes
> human nature is the individual's exploration of reality for himself or herself.
> The freedom to investigate the purpose of existence and to develop the
> endowments of human nature that make it achievable requires protection.
> Human beings must be free to know. That such freedom is often abused and
> such abuse grossly encouraged by features of contemporary society does not
> detract in any degree from the validity of the impulse itself.
> 
> It is this distinguishing impulse of human consciousness that provides the
> moral imperative for the enunciation of many of the rights enshrined in the
> Universal Declaration and the related Covenants. Universal education,
> freedom of movement, access to information, and the opportunity to
> participate in political life are all aspects of its operation that require explicit
> guarantee by the international community. The same is true of freedom of
> thought and belief, including religious liberty, along with the right to hold
> opinions and express these opinions appropriately.
> 
> Since the body of humankind is one and indivisible, each member of the race
> is born into the world as a trust of the whole. This trusteeship constitutes the
> moral foundation of most of the other rights -- principally economic and
> social -- which the instruments of the United Nations are attempting similarly
> to define. The security of the family and the home, the ownership of property,
> and the right to privacy are all implied in such a trusteeship. The obligations
> on the part of the community extend to the provision of employment, mental
> and physical health care, social security, fair wages, rest and recreation, and a
> host of other reasonable expectations on the part of the individual members
> of society.
> 
> The principle of collective trusteeship creates also the right of every person to
> expect that those cultural conditions essential to his or her identity enjoy the
> protection of national and international law. Much like the role played by the
> gene pool in the biological life of humankind and its environment, the
> immense wealth of cultural diversity achieved over thousands of years is vital
> to the social and economic development of a human race experiencing its
> collective coming-of-age. It represents a heritage that must be permitted to
> bear its fruit in a global civilization. On the one hand, cultural expressions
> need to be protected from suffocation by the materialistic influences currently
> holding sway. On the other, cultures must be enabled to interact with one
> another in ever-changing patterns of civilization, free of manipulation for
> partisan political ends.
> 
> "The light of men", Bahá'u'lláh says, "is Justice. Quench it not with the
> contrary winds of oppression and tyranny. The purpose of justice is the
> appearance of unity among men. The ocean of divine wisdom surgeth within
> this exalted word, while the books of the world cannot contain its inner
> significance."
> 
> Section III
> 
> In order for the standard of human rights now in the process of formulation
> by the community of nations to be promoted and established as prevailing
> international norms, a fundamental redefinition of human relationships is
> called for. Present-day conceptions of what is natural and appropriate in
> relationships -- among human beings themselves, between human beings and
> nature, between the individual and society, and between the members of
> society and its institutions -- reflect levels of understanding arrived at by the
> human race during earlier and less mature stages in its development. If
> humanity is indeed coming of age, if all the inhabitants of the planet
> constitute a single people, if justice is to be the ruling principle of social
> organization -- then existing conceptions that were born out of ignorance of
> these emerging realities have to be recast.
> 
> Movement in this direction has barely begun. It will lead, as it unfolds, to a
> new understanding of the nature of the family and of the rights and
> responsibilities of each of its members. It will entirely transform the role of
> women at every level of society. Its effect in reordering people's relation to
> the work they do and their understanding of the place of economic activity in
> their lives will be sweeping. It will bring about far-reaching changes in the
> governance of human affairs and in the institutions created to carry it out.
> Through its influence, the work of society's rapidly proliferating nongovernmental organizations will be increasingly rationalized. It will ensure
> the creation of binding legislation that will protect both the environment and
> the development needs of all peoples. Ultimately, the restructuring or
> transformation of the United Nations system that this movement is already
> bringing about will no doubt lead to the establishment of a world federation
> of nations with its own legislative, judicial, and executive bodies.
> 
> Central to the task of reconceptualizing the system of human relationships is
> the process that Bahá'u'lláh refers to as consultation. "In all things it is
> necessary to consult," is His advice. "The maturity of the gift of
> understanding is made manifest through consultation."
> 
> The standard of truth seeking this process demands is far beyond the patterns
> of negotiation and compromise that tend to characterize the present-day
> discussion of human affairs. It cannot be achieved -- indeed, its attainment is
> severely handicapped -- by the culture of protest that is another widely
> prevailing feature of contemporary society. Debate, propaganda, the
> adversarial method, the entire apparatus of partisanship that have long been
> such familiar features of collective action are all fundamentally harmful to its
> purpose: that is, arriving at a consensus about the truth of a given situation
> and the wisest choice of action among the options open at any given moment.
> 
> What Bahá'u'lláh is calling for is a consultative process in which the
> individual participants strive to transcend their respective points of view, in
> order to function as members of a body with its own interests and goals. In
> such an atmosphere, characterized by both candor and courtesy, ideas belong
> not to the individual to whom they occur during the discussion but to the
> group as a whole, to take up, discard, or revise as seems to best serve the goal
> pursued. Consultation succeeds to the extent that all participants support the
> decisions arrived at, regardless of the individual opinions with which they
> entered the discussion. Under such circumstances an earlier decision can be
> readily reconsidered if experience exposes any shortcomings.
> 
> Viewed in such a light, consultation is the operating expression of justice in
> human affairs. So vital is it to the success of collective endeavor that it must
> constitute a basic feature of a viable strategy of social and economic
> development. Indeed, the participation of the people on whose commitment
> and efforts the success of such a strategy depends becomes effective only as
> consultation is made the organizing principle of every project. "No man can
> attain his true station", is Bahá'u'lláh's counsel, "except through his justice.
> No power can exist except through unity. No welfare and no well-being can
> be attained except through consultation."
> 
> Section IV
> 
> The tasks entailed in the development of a global society call for levels of
> capacity far beyond anything the human race has so far been able to muster.
> Reaching these levels will require an enormous expansion in access to
> knowledge, on the part of individuals and social organizations alike.
> Universal education will be an indispensable contributor to this process of
> capacity building, but the effort will succeed only as human affairs are so
> reorganized as to enable both individuals and groups in every sector of
> society to acquire knowledge and apply it to the shaping of human affairs.
> 
> Throughout recorded history, human consciousness has depended upon two
> basic knowledge systems through which its potentialities have progressively
> been expressed: science and religion. Through these two agencies, the race's
> experience has been organized, its environment interpreted, its latent powers
> explored, and its moral and intellectual life disciplined. They have acted as
> the real progenitors of civilization. With the benefit of hindsight, it is evident,
> moreover, that the effectiveness of this dual structure has been greatest during
> those periods when, each in its own sphere, religion and science were able to
> work in concert.
> 
> Given the almost universal respect in which science is currently held, its
> credentials need no elaboration. In the context of a strategy of social and
> economic development, the issue rather is how scientific and technological
> activity is to be organized. If the work involved is viewed chiefly as the
> preserve of established elites living in a small number of nations, it is obvious
> that the enormous gap which such an arrangement has already created
> between the world's rich and poor will only continue to widen, with the
> disastrous consequences for the world's economy already noted. Indeed, if
> most of humankind continue to be regarded mainly as users of products of
> science and technology created elsewhere, then programs ostensibly designed
> to serve their needs cannot properly be termed "development".
> 
> A central challenge, therefore -- and an enormous one -- is the expansion of
> scientific and technological activity. Instruments of social and economic
> change so powerful must cease to be the patrimony of advantaged segments
> of society, and must be so organized as to permit people everywhere to
> participate in such activity on the basis of capacity. Apart from the creation of
> programs that make the required education available to all who are able to
> benefit from it, such reorganization will require the establishment of viable
> centers of learning throughout the world, institutions that will enhance the
> capability of the world's peoples to participate in the generation and
> application of knowledge. Development strategy, while acknowledging the
> wide differences of individual capacity, must take as a major goal the task of
> making it possible for all of the earth's inhabitants to approach on an equal
> basis the processes of science and technology which are their common
> birthright. Familiar arguments for maintaining the status quo grow daily less
> compelling as the accelerating revolution in communication technologies
> now brings information and training within reach of vast numbers of people
> around the globe, wherever they may be, whatever their cultural
> backgrounds.
> 
> The challenges facing humanity in its religious life, if different in character,
> are equally daunting. For the vast majority of the world's population, the idea
> that human nature has a spiritual dimension -- indeed that its fundamental
> identity is spiritual -- is a truth requiring no demonstration. It is a perception
> of reality that can be discovered in the earliest records of civilization and that
> has been cultivated for several millennia by every one of the great religious
> traditions of humanity's past. Its enduring achievements in law, the fine arts,
> and the civilizing of human intercourse are what give substance and meaning
> to history. In one form or another its promptings are a daily influence in the
> lives of most people on earth and, as events around the world today
> dramatically show, the longings it awakens are both inextinguishable and
> incalculably potent.
> 
> It would seem obvious, therefore, that efforts of any kind to promote human
> progress must seek to tap capacities so universal and so immensely creative.
> Why, then, have spiritual issues facing humanity not been central to the
> development discourse? Why have most of the priorities -- indeed most of the
> underlying assumptions -- of the international development agenda been
> determined so far by materialistic world views to which only small minorities
> of the earth's population subscribe? How much weight can be placed on a
> professed devotion to the principle of universal participation that denies the
> validity of the participants' defining cultural experience?
> 
> It may be argued that, since spiritual and moral issues have historically been
> bound up with contending theological doctrines which are not susceptible of
> objective proof, these issues lie outside the framework of the international
> community's development concerns. To accord them any significant role
> would be to open the door to precisely those dogmatic influences that have
> nurtured social conflict and blocked human progress. There is doubtless a
> measure of truth in such an argument. Exponents of the world's various
> theological systems bear a heavy responsibility not only for the disrepute into
> which faith itself has fallen among many progressive thinkers, but for the
> inhibitions and distortions produced in humanity's continuing discourse on
> spiritual meaning. To conclude, however, that the answer lies in discouraging
> the investigation of spiritual reality and ignoring the deepest roots of human
> motivation is a self-evident delusion. The sole effect, to the degree that such
> censorship has been achieved in recent history, has been to deliver the
> shaping of humanity's future into the hands of a new orthodoxy, one which
> argues that truth is amoral and facts are independent of values.
> 
> So far as earthly existence is concerned, many of the greatest achievements of
> religion have been moral in character. Through its teachings and through the
> examples of human lives illumined by these teachings, masses of people in
> all ages and lands have developed the capacity to love. They have learned to
> discipline the animal side of their natures, to make great sacrifices for the
> common good, to practice forgiveness, generosity, and trust, to use wealth
> and other resources in ways that serve the advancement of civilization.
> Institutional systems have been devised to translate these moral advances into
> the norms of social life on a vast scale. However obscured by dogmatic
> accretions and diverted by sectarian conflict, the spiritual impulses set in
> motion by such transcendent figures as Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster,
> Jesus, and Muhammad have been the chief influence in the civilizing of
> human character.
> 
> Since, then, the challenge is the empowerment of humankind through a vast
> increase in access to knowledge, the strategy that can make this possible must
> be constructed around an ongoing and intensifying dialogue between science
> and religion. It is -- or by now should be -- a truism that, in every sphere of
> human activity and at every level, the insights and skills that represent
> scientific accomplishment must look to the force of spiritual commitment and
> moral principle to ensure their appropriate application. People need, for
> example, to learn how to separate fact from conjecture -- indeed to
> distinguish between subjective views and objective reality; the extent to
> which individuals and institutions so equipped can contribute to human
> progress, however, will be determined by their devotion to truth and their
> detachment from the promptings of their own interests and passions. Another
> capacity that science must cultivate in all people is that of thinking in terms
> of process, including historical process; however, if this intellectual
> advancement is to contribute ultimately to promoting development, its
> perspective must be unclouded by prejudices of race, culture, sex, or
> sectarian belief. Similarly, the training that can make it possible for the
> earth's inhabitants to participate in the production of wealth will advance the
> aims of development only to the extent that such an impulse is illumined by
> the spiritual insight that service to humankind is the purpose of both
> individual life and social organization.
> 
> Section V
> 
> It is in the context of raising the level of human capacity through the
> expansion of knowledge at all levels that the economic issues facing
> humankind need to be addressed. As the experience of recent decades has
> demonstrated, material benefits and endeavors cannot be regarded as ends in
> themselves. Their value consists not only in providing for humanity's basic
> needs in housing, food, health care, and the like, but in extending the reach of
> human abilities. The most important role that economic efforts must play in
> development lies, therefore, in equipping people and institutions with the
> means through which they can achieve the real purpose of development: that
> is, laying foundations for a new social order that can cultivate the limitless
> potentialities latent in human consciousness.
> 
> The challenge to economic thinking is to accept unambiguously this purpose
> of development -- and its own role in fostering creation of the means to
> achieve it. Only in this way can economics and the related sciences free
> themselves from the undertow of the materialistic preoccupations that now
> distract them, and fulfill their potential as tools vital to achieving human
> well-being in the full sense of the term. Nowhere is the need for a rigorous
> dialogue between the work of science and the insights of religion more
> apparent.
> 
> The problem of poverty is a case in point. Proposals aimed at addressing it
> are predicated on the conviction that material resources exist, or can be
> created by scientific and technological endeavor, which will alleviate and
> eventually entirely eradicate this age-old condition as a feature of human life.
> A major reason why such relief is not achieved is that the necessary scientific
> and technological advances respond to a set of priorities only tangentially
> related to the real interests of the generality of humankind. A radical
> reordering of these priorities will be required if the burden of poverty is
> finally to be lifted from the world. Such an achievement demands a
> determined quest for appropriate values, a quest that will test profoundly both
> the spiritual and scientific resources of humankind. Religion will be severely
> hampered in contributing to this joint undertaking so long as it is held
> prisoner by sectarian doctrines which cannot distinguish between
> contentment and mere passivity and which teach that poverty is an inherent
> feature of earthly life, escape from which lies only in the world beyond. To
> participate effectively in the struggle to bring material well-being to
> humanity, the religious spirit must find -- in the Source of inspiration from
> which it flows -- new spiritual concepts and principles relevant to an age that
> seeks to establish unity and justice in human affairs.
> 
> Unemployment raises similar issues. In most of contemporary thinking, the
> concept of work has been largely reduced to that of gainful employment
> aimed at acquiring the means for the consumption of available goods. The
> system is circular: acquisition and consumption resulting in the maintenance
> and expansion of the production of goods and, in consequence, in supporting
> paid employment. Taken individually, all of these activities are essential to
> the well-being of society. The inadequacy of the overall conception, however,
> can be read in both the apathy that social commentators discern among large
> numbers of the employed in every land and the demoralization of the
> growing armies of the unemployed.
> 
> Not surprisingly, therefore, there is increasing recognition that the world is in
> urgent need of a new "work ethic". Here again, nothing less than insights
> generated by the creative interaction of the scientific and religious systems of
> knowledge can produce so fundamental a reorientation of habits and
> attitudes. Unlike animals, which depend for their sustenance on whatever the
> environment readily affords, human beings are impelled to express the
> immense capacities latent within them through productive work designed to
> meet their own needs and those of others. In acting thus they become
> participants, at however modest a level, in the processes of the advancement
> of civilization. They fulfill purposes that unite them with others. To the extent
> that work is consciously undertaken in a spirit of service to humanity,
> Bahá'u'lláh says, it is a form of prayer, a means of worshipping God. Every
> individual has the capacity to see himself or herself in this light, and it is to
> this inalienable capacity of the self that development strategy must appeal,
> whatever the nature of the plans being pursued, whatever the rewards they
> promise. No narrower a perspective will ever call up from the people of the
> world the magnitude of effort and commitment that the economic tasks ahead
> will require.
> 
> A challenge of similar nature faces economic thinking as a result of the
> environmental crisis. The fallacies in theories based on the belief that there is
> no limit to nature's capacity to fulfill any demand made on it by human
> beings have now been coldly exposed. A culture which attaches absolute
> value to expansion, to acquisition, and to the satisfaction of people's wants is
> being compelled to recognize that such goals are not, by themselves, realistic
> guides to policy. Inadequate, too, are approaches to economic issues whose
> decision-making tools cannot deal with the fact that most of the major
> challenges are global rather than particular in scope.
> 
> The earnest hope that this moral crisis can somehow be met by deifying
> nature itself is an evidence of the spiritual and intellectual desperation that the
> crisis has engendered. Recognition that creation is an organic whole and that
> humanity has the responsibility to care for this whole, welcome as it is, does
> not represent an influence which can by itself establish in the consciousness
> of people a new system of values. Only a breakthrough in understanding that
> is scientific and spiritual in the fullest sense of the terms will empower the
> human race to assume the trusteeship toward which history impels it.
> 
> All people will have sooner or later to recover, for example, the capacity for
> contentment, the welcoming of moral discipline, and the devotion to duty
> that, until relatively recently, were considered essential aspects of being
> human. Repeatedly throughout history, the teachings of the Founders of the
> great religions have been able to instill these qualities of character in the mass
> of people who responded to them. The qualities themselves are even more
> vital today, but their expression must now take a form consistent with
> humanity's coming-of-age. Here again, religion's challenge is to free itself
> from the obsessions of the past: contentment is not fatalism; morality has
> nothing in common with the life-denying Puritanism that has so often
> presumed to speak in its name; and a genuine devotion to duty brings feelings
> not of self-righteousness but of self-worth.
> 
> The effect of the persistent denial to women of full equality with men
> sharpens still further the challenge to science and religion in the economic
> life of humankind. To any objective observer the principle of the equality of
> the sexes is fundamental to all realistic thinking about the future well-being
> of the earth and its people. It represents a truth about human nature that has
> waited largely unrecognized throughout the long ages of the race's childhood
> and adolescence. "Women and men", is Bahá'u'lláh's emphatic assertion,
> "have been and will always be equal in the sight of God." The rational soul
> has no sex, and whatever social inequities may have been dictated by the
> survival requirements of the past, they clearly cannot be justified at a time
> when humanity stands at the threshold of maturity. A commitment to the
> establishment of full equality between men and women, in all departments of
> life and at every level of society, will be central to the success of efforts to
> conceive and implement a strategy of global development.
> 
> Indeed, in an important sense, progress in this area will itself be a measure of
> the success of any development program. Given the vital role of economic
> activity in the advancement of civilization, visible evidence of the pace at
> which development is progressing will be the extent to which women gain
> access to all avenues of economic endeavor. The challenge goes beyond
> ensuring an equitable distribution of opportunity, important as that is. It calls
> for a fundamental rethinking of economic issues in a manner that will invite
> the full participation of a range of human experience and insight hitherto
> largely excluded from the discourse. The classical economic models of
> impersonal markets in which human beings act as autonomous makers of
> self-regarding choices will not serve the needs of a world motivated by ideals
> of unity and justice. Society will find itself increasingly challenged to
> develop new economic models shaped by insights that arise from a
> sympathetic understanding of shared experience, from viewing human beings
> in relation to others, and from a recognition of the centrality to social wellbeing of the role of the family and the community. Such an intellectual
> breakthrough -- strongly altruistic rather than self-centered in focus -- must
> draw heavily on both the spiritual and scientific sensibilities of the race, and
> millennia of experience have prepared women to make crucial contributions
> to the common effort.
> 
> Section VI
> 
> To contemplate a transformation of society on this scale is to raise both the
> question of the power that can be harnessed to accomplish it and the issue
> inextricably linked to it, the authority to exercise that power. As with all other
> implications of the accelerating integration of the planet and its people, both
> of these familiar terms stand in urgent need of redefinition.
> 
> Throughout history -- and despite theologically or ideologically inspired
> assurances to the contrary -- power has been largely interpreted as advantage
> enjoyed by persons or groups. Often, indeed, it has been expressed simply in
> terms of means to be used against others. This interpretation of power has
> become an inherent feature of the culture of division and conflict that has
> characterized the human race during the past several millennia, regardless of
> the social, religious, or political orientations that have enjoyed ascendancy in
> given ages, in given parts of the world. In general, power has been an
> attribute of individuals, factions, peoples, classes, and nations. It has been an
> attribute especially associated with men rather than women. Its chief effect
> has been to confer on its beneficiaries the ability to acquire, to surpass, to
> dominate, to resist, to win.
> 
> The resulting historical processes have been responsible for both ruinous
> setbacks in human well-being and extraordinary advances in civilization. To
> appreciate the benefits is to acknowledge also the setbacks, as well as the
> clear limitations of the behavioral patterns that have produced both. Habits
> and attitudes related to the use of power which emerged during the long ages
> of humanity's infancy and adolescence have reached the outer limits of their
> effectiveness. Today, in an era most of whose pressing problems are global in
> nature, persistence in the idea that power means advantage for various
> segments of the human family is profoundly mistaken in theory and of no
> practical service to the social and economic development of the planet. Those
> who still adhere to it -- and who could in earlier eras have felt confident in
> such adherence -- now find their plans enmeshed in inexplicable frustrations
> and hindrances. In its traditional, competitive expression, power is as
> irrelevant to the needs of humanity's future as would be the technologies of
> railway locomotion to the task of lifting space satellites into orbits around the
> earth.
> 
> The analogy is more than a little apt. The human race is being urged by the
> requirements of its own maturation to free itself from its inherited
> understanding and use of power. That it can do so is demonstrated by the fact
> that, although dominated by the traditional conception, humanity has always
> been able to conceive of power in other forms critical to its hopes. History
> provides ample evidence that, however intermittently and ineptly, people of
> every background, throughout the ages, have tapped a wide range of creative
> resources within themselves. The most obvious example, perhaps, has been
> the power of truth itself, an agent of change associated with some of the
> greatest advances in the philosophical, religious, artistic, and scientific
> experience of the race. Force of character represents yet another means of
> mobilizing immense human response, as does the influence of example,
> whether in the lives of individual human beings or in human societies.
> Almost wholly unappreciated is the magnitude of the force that will be
> generated by the achievement of unity, an influence "so powerful", in
> Bahá'u'lláh's words, "that it can illuminate the whole Earth."
> 
> The institutions of society will succeed in eliciting and directing the
> potentialities latent in the consciousness of the world's peoples to the extent
> that the exercise of authority is governed by principles that are in harmony
> with the evolving interests of a rapidly maturing human race. Such principles
> include the obligation of those in authority to win the confidence, respect,
> and genuine support of those whose actions they seek to govern; to consult
> openly and to the fullest extent possible with all whose interests are affected
> by decisions being arrived at; to assess in an objective manner both the real
> needs and the aspirations of the communities they serve; to benefit from
> scientific and moral advancement in order to make appropriate use of the
> community's resources, including the energies of its members. No single
> principle of effective authority is so important as giving priority to building
> and maintaining unity among the members of a society and the members of
> its administrative institutions. Reference has already been made to the
> intimately associated issue of commitment to the search for justice in all
> matters.
> 
> Clearly, such principles can operate only within a culture that is essentially
> democratic in spirit and method. To say this, however, is not to endorse the
> ideology of partisanship that has everywhere boldly assumed democracy's
> name and which, despite impressive contributions to human progress in the
> past, today finds itself mired in the cynicism, apathy, and corruption to which
> it has given rise. In selecting those who are to take collective decisions on its
> behalf, society does not need and is not well served by the political theater of
> nominations, candidature, electioneering, and solicitation. It lies within the
> capacity of all people, as they become progressively educated and convinced
> that their real development interests are being served by programs proposed
> to them, to adopt electoral procedures that will gradually refine the selection
> of their decision-making bodies.
> 
> As the integration of humanity gains momentum, those who are thus selected
> will increasingly have to see all their efforts in a global perspective. Not only
> at the national, but also at the local level, the elected governors of human
> affairs should, in Bahá'u'lláh's view, consider themselves responsible for the
> welfare of all of humankind.
> 
> Section VII
> 
> The task of creating a global development strategy that will accelerate
> humanity's coming-of-age constitutes a challenge to reshape fundamentally
> all the institutions of society. The protagonists to whom the challenge
> addresses itself are all of the inhabitants of the planet: the generality of
> humankind, members of governing institutions at all levels, persons serving
> in agencies of international coordination, scientists and social thinkers, all
> those endowed with artistic talents or with access to the media of
> communication, and leaders of non-governmental organizations. The
> response called for must base itself on an unconditioned recognition of the
> oneness of humankind, a commitment to the establishment of justice as the
> organizing principle of society, and a determination to exploit to their utmost
> the possibilities that a systematic dialogue between the scientific and
> religious genius of the race can bring to the building of human capacity. The
> enterprise requires a radical rethinking of most of the concepts and
> assumptions currently governing social and economic life. It must be
> wedded, as well, to a conviction that, however long the process and whatever
> setbacks may be encountered, the governance of human affairs can be
> conducted along lines that serve humanity's real needs.
> 
> Only if humanity's collective childhood has indeed come to an end and the
> age of its adulthood is dawning does such a prospect represent more than
> another utopian mirage. To imagine that an effort of the magnitude
> envisioned here can be summoned up by despondent and mutually
> antagonistic peoples and nations runs counter to the whole of received
> wisdom. Only if, as Bahá'u'lláh asserts to be the case, the course of social
> evolution has arrived at one of those decisive turning points through which
> all of the phenomena of existence are impelled suddenly forward into new
> stages of their development, can such a possibility be conceived. A profound
> conviction that just so great a transformation in human consciousness is
> underway has inspired the views set forth in this statement. To all who
> recognize in it familiar promptings from within their own hearts, Bahá'u'lláh's
> words bring assurance that God has, in this matchless day, endowed
> humanity with spiritual resources fully equal to the challenge:
> 
> O ye that inhabit the heavens and the earth! There hath appeared what hath
> never previously appeared.
> 
> This is the Day in which God's most excellent favors have been poured out
> upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all
> created things.
> 
> The turmoil now convulsing human affairs is unprecedented, and many of its
> consequences enormously destructive. Dangers unimagined in all history
> gather around a distracted humanity. The greatest error that the world's
> leadership could make at this juncture, however, would be to allow the crisis
> to cast doubt on the ultimate outcome of the process that is occurring. A
> world is passing away and a new one is struggling to be born. The habits,
> attitudes, and institutions that have accumulated over the centuries are being
> subjected to tests that are as necessary to human development as they are
> inescapable. What is required of the peoples of the world is a measure of faith
> and resolve to match the enormous energies with which the Creator of all
> things has endowed this spiritual springtime of the race. "Be united in
> counsel," is Bahá'u'lláh's appeal,
> 
> be one in thought. May each morn be better than its eve and each morrow
> richer than its yesterday. Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not in
> the pageantry of wealth and riches. Take heed that your words be purged
> from idle fancies and worldly desires and your deeds be cleansed from
> craftiness and suspicion. Dissipate not the wealth of your precious lives in
> the pursuit of evil and corrupt affection, nor let your endeavors be spent in
> promoting your personal interest. Be generous in your days of plenty, and be
> patient in the hour of loss. Adversity is followed by success and rejoicings
> follow woe. Guard against idleness and sloth, and cling unto that which
> profiteth mankind, whether young or old, whether high or low. Beware lest ye
> sow tares of dissension among men or plant thorns of doubt in pure and
> radiant hearts.
> 
> Who Is Writing the Future?
> 
> This statement of the Bahá'í International Community's Office of Public
> Information, released in February 1999, examines the events of the twentieth
> century in the light of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings and relates these developments
> to the challenges facing humanity at century's end.
> 
> Who Is Writing the Future? Reflections on the Twentieth Century
> 
> 0n May 28, 1992, Brazil's Chamber of Deputies met in special session to
> commemorate the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh, whose influence is
> becoming an increasingly familiar feature of the world's social and
> intellectual landscape. His message of unity had clearly struck a deep chord
> with the Brazilian legislators. During the course of the proceedings, speakers
> representing all parties in the Chamber paid tribute to a body of writings
> which one deputy described as "the most colossal religious work written by
> the pen of a single Man," and to a conception of our planet's future which,
> "transcending material frontiers", in the words of another, "reached out to
> humanity as a whole, without petty differences of nationality, race, limits, or
> beliefs." 172
> 
> The tribute was all the more striking because of the fact that, in the land of
> his birth, Bahá'u'lláh's work continues to be bitterly condemned by the
> Muslim clergy who rule Iran. Their predecessors had been responsible for his
> banishment and imprisonment in the middle years of the nineteenth century,
> and for the massacre of thousands of those who shared his ideals for the
> transforming of human life and society. Even as the proceedings in Brasilia
> were under way, refusal to deny beliefs that have won high praise throughout
> most of the rest of the world was bringing the 300,000 Bahá'ís living in Iran
> persecution, privation, and, in all too many cases, imprisonment and death.
> 
> Similar opposition characterized the attitudes of various totalitarian regimes
> over the past century.
> 
> What is the nature of the body of thought that has aroused such sharply
> divergent reactions?
> 
> I
> 
> The mainspring of Bahá'u'lláh's message is an exposition of reality as
> fundamentally spiritual in nature, and of the laws that govern that reality's
> operation. It not only sees the individual as a spiritual being, a "rational soul",
> but also insists that the entire enterprise that we call civilization is itself a
> spiritual process, one in which the human mind and heart have created
> progressively more complex and efficient means to express their inherent
> moral and intellectual capacities.
> 
> Rejecting the reigning dogmas of materialism, Bahá'u'lláh asserts an
> opposing interpretation of the historical process. Humanity, the arrowhead of
> the evolution of consciousness, passes through stages analogous to the
> periods of infancy, childhood, and adolescence in the lives of its individual
> members. The journey has brought us to the threshold of our long-awaited
> coming of age as a unified human race. The wars, exploitation, and prejudice
> that have marked immature stages in the process should not be a cause of
> despair but a stimulus to assuming the responsibilities of collective maturity.
> 
> Writing to the political and religious leaders of his own day, Bahá'u'lláh said
> that new capacities of incalculable power--beyond the conception of the
> generation then living--were awakening in the earth's peoples, capacities
> which would soon transform the material life of the planet. It was essential,
> he said, to make of these coming material advances vehicles for moral and
> social development. If nationalistic and sectarian conflicts prevented this
> from happening, then material progress would produce not only benefits, but
> unimagined evils. Some of Bahá'u'lláh's warnings awaken grim echoes in our
> own age: "Strange and astonishing things exist in the earth", he cautioned.
> "These things are capable of changing the whole atmosphere of the earth and
> their contamination would prove lethal."173
> 
> II
> 
> The central spiritual issue facing all people, Bahá'u'lláh says, whatever their
> nation, religion, or ethnic origin, is that of laying the foundations of a global
> society that can reflect the oneness of human nature. The unification of the
> earth's inhabitants is neither a remote utopian vision nor, ultimately, a matter
> of choice. It constitutes the next, inescapable stage in the process of social
> evolution, a stage toward which all the experience of past and present is
> impelling us. Until this issue is acknowledged and addressed, none of the ills
> afflicting our planet will find solutions, because all the essential challenges of
> the age we have entered are global and universal, not particular or regional.
> 
> The many passages of Bahá'u'lláh's writings dealing with humanity's coming
> of age are permeated by his use of light as a metaphor to capture the
> transforming power of unity: "So powerful is the light of unity", they insist,
> "that it can illuminate the whole earth".174The assertion places current
> history in a perspective sharply different from the one that prevails at the end
> of the twentieth century. It urges us to find--within the suffering and
> breakdown of our times--the operation of forces that are liberating human
> consciousness for a new stage in its evolution. It calls on us to re-examine
> what has been happening over the past one hundred years and the effect that
> these developments have had on the heterogeneous mass of peoples, races,
> nations, and communities who have experienced them.
> 
> If, as Bahá'u'lláh asserts, "the well-being of mankind, its peace and security,
> are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established"175 it is
> understandable why Bahá'ís view the twentieth century--with all its disasters-
> -as "the century of light".176 For these one hundred years witnessed a
> transformation in both the way the earth's inhabitants have begun to plan our
> collective future and in the way we are coming to regard one another. The
> hallmark of both has been a process of unification. Upheavals beyond the
> control of existing institutions compelled world leaders to begin putting in
> place new systems of global organization that would have been unthinkable
> at the century's beginning. As this was occurring, rapid erosion was
> overtaking habits and attitudes that had divided peoples and nations through
> unnumbered centuries of conflict and that had seemed likely to endure for
> ages to come.
> 
> At the midpoint of the century, these two developments produced a
> breakthrough whose historic significance only future generations will
> properly appreciate. In the stunned aftermath of World War II, far-sighted
> leaders found it at last possible, through the United Nations organization, to
> begin consolidating the foundations of world order. Long dreamed of by
> progressive thinkers, the new system of international conventions and related
> agencies was now endowed with crucial powers that had tragically been
> denied to the abortive League of Nations. As the century advanced, the
> system's primitive muscles of international peacekeeping were progressively
> exercised in such a way as to demonstrate persuasively what can be
> accomplished. With this came the steady expansion throughout the world of
> democratic institutions of governance. If the practical effects are still
> disappointing, this in no way diminishes the historic and irreversible change
> of direction that has taken place in the organization of human affairs.
> 
> As with the cause of world order, so with the rights of the world's people.
> Exposure of the appalling suffering visited on the victims of human
> perversity during the course of the war produced a worldwide sense of shock-
> -and what can only be termed deep feelings of shame. Out of this trauma
> emerged a new kind of moral commitment that was formally institutionalized
> in the work of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and its
> associated agencies, a development inconceivable to the nineteenth century
> rulers to whom Bahá'u'lláh had addressed himself on the subject. Thus
> empowered, a growing body of nongovernmental organizations have set out
> to ensure that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is established as
> the foundation of normative international standards and is enforced
> accordingly.
> 
> A parallel process took place with respect to economic life. During the first
> half of the century, as a consequence of the havoc wrought by the great
> depression, many governments adopted legislation that created social welfare
> programs and systems of financial control, reserve funds, and trade
> regulations that sought to protect their societies from a recurrence of such
> devastation. The period following World War II brought the establishment of
> institutions whose field of operation is global: the International Monetary
> Fund, the World Bank, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and a
> network of development agencies devoted to rationalizing and advancing the
> material prosperity of the planet. At century's end--whatever the intentions
> and however crude the present generation of tools--the masses of humanity
> have been shown that the use of the planet's wealth can be fundamentally
> reorganized in response to entirely new conceptions of need.
> 
> The effect of these developments was enormously amplified by the
> accelerating extension of education to the masses. Apart from the willingness
> of national and local governments to allocate greatly increased resources to
> this field and the society's ability to mobilize and train armies of
> professionally qualified teachers, two twentieth century advances at the
> international level were particularly influential. The first was the series of
> development plans focussed on educational needs and massively financed by
> such bodies as the World Bank, government agencies, major foundations and
> several branches of the United Nations system. The second was the
> information technology explosion that has made all of the earth's inhabitants
> potential beneficiaries of the whole of the race's learning.
> 
> This process of structural reorganization on a planetary scale was animated
> and reinforced by a profound shift of consciousness. Entire populations found
> themselves abruptly compelled to face the costs of ingrained habits of mind
> that breed conflict--and to do so in the full glare of worldwide censure of
> what were once considered acceptable practices and attitudes. The effect was
> to stimulate revolutionary change in the way that people regard one another.
> 
> Throughout history, for example, experience seemed to demonstrate--and
> religious teaching to confirm--that women are essentially inferior in nature to
> men. Overnight, in the historical scheme of things, this prevailing perception
> was suddenly everywhere in retreat. However long and painful may be the
> process of giving full effect to Bahá'u'lláh's assertion that women and men are
> in every sense equal, intellectual and moral support for any opposing view
> steadily disintegrates.
> 
> Yet another fixture of humanity's view of itself throughout past millennia was
> a celebration of ethnic distinctions which, in recent centuries, had hardened
> into various racist fantasies. With a swiftness that is breathtaking in the
> perspective of history, the twentieth century saw the unity of the human race
> establish itself as a guiding principle of international order. Today, the ethnic
> conflicts that continue to wreak havoc in many parts of the world are seen not
> as natural features of the relations among diverse peoples, but as willful
> aberrations that must be brought under effective international control.
> 
> Throughout humanity's long childhood, it was also assumed--again with the
> full concurrence of organized religion--that poverty was an enduring and
> inescapable feature of the social order. Now, however, this mind-set, an
> assumption that had shaped the priorities of every economic system the world
> had ever known, has been universally rejected. In theory at least, government
> has come to be everywhere regarded as essentially a trustee responsible to
> ensure the well-being of all of society's members.
> 
> Particularly significant--because of its intimate relationship with the roots of
> human motivation--was the loosening of the grip of religious prejudice.
> Prefigured in the "Parliament of Religions" that attracted intense interest as
> the nineteenth century was drawing to a close, the process of interfaith
> dialogue and collaboration reinforced the effects of secularism in
> undermining the once impregnable walls of clerical authority. In the face of
> the transformation in religious conceptions that the past hundred years
> witnessed, even the current outburst of fundamentalist reaction may come, in
> retrospect, to be seen as little more than desperate rear-guard actions against
> an inevitable dissolution of sectarian control. In the words of Bahá'u'lláh,
> "There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of whatever
> race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are
> the subjects of one God."177
> 
> During these critical decades the human mind was also experiencing
> fundamental changes in the way that it understood the physical universe. The
> first half of the century saw the new theories of relativity and quantum
> mechanics--both of them intimately related to the nature and operation of
> light--revolutionize the field of physics and alter the entire course of
> scientific development. It became apparent that classical physics could
> explain phenomena within only a limited range. A new door had suddenly
> opened into the study of both the minute constituents of the universe and its
> large cosmological systems, a change whose effects went far beyond physics,
> shaking the very foundations of a world view that had dominated scientific
> thinking for centuries. Gone forever were the images of a mechanical
> universe run like a clock and a presumed separation between observer and
> observed, between mind and matter. Against the background of the farreaching studies thus made possible, theoretical science now begins to
> address the possibility that purpose and intelligence are indeed intrinsic to the
> nature and operation of the universe.
> 
> In the wake of these conceptual changes, humanity entered an era in which
> interaction among physical sciences--physics, chemistry, and biology, along
> with the nascent science of ecology--opened breathtaking possibilities for the
> enhancement of life. The benefits in such vital areas of concern as agriculture
> and medicine became dramatically apparent as did those brought about by
> success in tapping new sources of energy. Simultaneously, the new field of
> materials science began providing a wealth of specialized resources unknown
> when the century opened--plastics, optical fibers, carbon fibers.
> 
> Such advances in science and technology were reciprocal in their effects.
> Grains of sand--the most humble and ostensibly worthless of materials--
> metamorphosed into silicon wafers and optically pure glass, making possible
> the creation of worldwide communications networks. This, together with the
> deployment of ever more sophisticated satellite systems, has begun providing
> access to the accumulated knowledge of the entire human race for people
> everywhere, without distinction. It is apparent that the decades immediately
> ahead will see the integration of telephone, television, and computer
> technologies into a single, unified system of communication and information,
> whose inexpensive appliances will be available on a mass scale. It would be
> difficult to exaggerate the psychological and social impact of the anticipated
> replacement of the jumble of existing monetary systems--for many, the
> ultimate fortress of nationalist pride--by a single world currency operating
> largely through electronic impulses.
> 
> Indeed, the unifying effect of the twentieth century revolution is nowhere
> more readily apparent than in the implications of the changes that took place
> in scientific and technological life. At the most obvious level, the human race
> is now endowed with the means needed to realize the visionary goals
> summoned up by a steadily maturing consciousness. Viewed more deeply,
> this empowerment is potentially available to all of the earth's inhabitants,
> without regard to race, culture, or nation. "A new life", Bahá'u'lláh
> prophetically saw, "is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth;
> and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive." 178Today,
> more than a century after these words were written, the implications of what
> has since taken place begin to be apparent to thoughtful minds everywhere.
> 
> III
> 
> To appreciate the transformations brought about by the period of history now
> ending is not to deny the accompanying darkness that throws the
> achievements into sharp relief: the deliberate extermination of millions of
> helpless human beings, the invention and use of new weapons of destruction
> capable of annihilating whole populations, the rise of ideologies that
> suffocated the spiritual and intellectual life of entire nations, damage to the
> physical environment of the planet on a scale so massive that it may take
> centuries to heal, and the incalculably greater damage done to generations of
> children taught to believe that violence, indecency, and selfishness are
> triumphs of personal liberty. Such are only the more obvious of a catalogue
> of evils, unmatched in history, whose lessons our era will leave for the
> education of the chastened generations who will follow us.
> 
> Darkness, however, is not a phenomenon endowed with some form of
> existence, much less autonomy. It does not extinguish light nor diminish it,
> but marks out those areas that light has not reached or adequately illumined.
> So will twentieth century civilization no doubt be assessed by the historians
> of a more mature and dispassionate age. The ferocities of animal nature,
> which raged out of control through these critical years and seemed at times to
> threaten society's very survival, did not in fact prevent the steady unfoldment
> of the creative potentialities which human consciousness possesses. On the
> contrary. As the century advanced, growing numbers of people awakened to
> how empty were the allegiances and how insubstantial the fears that had held
> them captive only short years before.
> 
> "Peerless is this Day," Bahá'u'lláh insists, "for it is as the eye to past ages and
> centuries, and as a light unto the darkness of the times." 179 In this
> perspective, the issue is not the darkness that slowed and obscured the
> progress achieved in the extraordinary hundred years now ending. It is,
> rather, how much more suffering and ruin must be experienced by our race
> before we wholeheartedly accept the spiritual nature that makes us a single
> people, and gather the courage to plan our future in the light of what has been
> so painfully learned.
> 
> IV
> 
> The conception of civilization's future course laid out in Bahá'u'lláh's writings
> challenges much that today imposes itself on our world as normative and
> unchangeable. The breakthroughs made during the century of light have
> opened the door to a new kind of world. If social and intellectual evolution is
> in fact responding to a moral intelligence inherent in existence, a great deal of
> the theory determining contemporary approaches to decision-making is
> fatally flawed. If human consciousness is essentially spiritual in nature--as
> the vast majority of ordinary people have always been intuitively aware--, its
> development needs cannot be understood or served through an interpretation
> of reality that dogmatically insists otherwise.
> 
> No aspect of contemporary civilization is more directly challenged by
> Bahá'u'lláh's conception of the future than is the prevailing cult of
> individualism, which has spread to most parts of the world. Nurtured by such
> cultural forces as political ideology, academic elitism, and a consumer
> economy, the "pursuit of happiness" has given rise to an aggressive and
> almost boundless sense of personal entitlement. The moral consequences
> have been corrosive for the individual and society alike--and devastating in
> terms of disease, drug addiction and other all-too-familiar blights of century's
> end. The task of freeing humanity from an error so fundamental and
> pervasive will call into question some of the twentieth century's most deeply
> entrenched assumptions about right and wrong.
> 
> What are some of these unexamined assumptions? The most obvious is the
> conviction that unity is a distant, almost unattainable ideal to be addressed
> only after a host of political conflicts have been somehow resolved, material
> needs somehow satisfied, and injustices somehow corrected. The opposite,
> Bahá'u'lláh asserts, is the case. The primary disease that afflicts society and
> generates the ills that cripple it, he says, is the disunity of a human race that is
> distinguished by its capacity for collaboration and whose progress to date has
> depended on the extent to which unified action has, at various times and in
> various societies, been achieved. To cling to the notion that conflict is an
> intrinsic feature of human nature, rather than a complex of learned habits and
> attitudes, is to impose on a new century an error which, more than any other
> single factor, has tragically handicapped humanity's past. "Regard the world",
> Bahá'u'lláh advised elected leaders, "as the human body which, though at its
> creation whole and perfect, hath been afflicted, through various causes, with
> grave disorders and maladies." 180
> 
> Intimately related to the issue of unity is a second moral challenge that the
> past century has posed with ever increasing urgency. In the sight of God,
> Bahá'u'lláh insists, justice is the "best beloved of all things".181It enables the
> individual to see reality through his or her own eyes rather than those of
> others and endows collective decision making with the authority that alone
> can ensure unity of thought and action. However gratifying is the system of
> international order that has emerged from the harrowing experiences of the
> twentieth century, its enduring influence will depend on acceptance of the
> moral principle implicit in it. If the body of humankind is indeed one and
> indivisible, then the authority exercised by its governing institutions
> represents essentially a trusteeship. Each individual person comes into the
> world as a trust of the whole, and it is this feature of human existence that
> constitutes the real foundation of the social, economic and cultural rights that
> the United Nations Charter and its related documents articulate. Justice and
> unity are reciprocal in their effect. "The purpose of justice", Bahá'u'lláh
> wrote, "is the appearance of unity among men. The ocean of divine wisdom
> surgeth within this exalted word, while the books of the world cannot contain
> its inner significance." 182
> 
> As society commits itself--however hesitantly and fearfully--to these and
> related moral principles, the most meaningful role it will offer the individual
> will be that of service. One of the paradoxes of human life is that
> development of the self comes primarily through commitment to larger
> undertakings in which the self--even if only temporarily--is forgotten. In an
> age that opens up to people of every condition an opportunity to participate
> effectively in the shaping of the social order itself, the ideal of service to
> others assumes entirely new significance. To exalt such goals as acquisition
> and self-assertion as the purpose of life is to promote chiefly the animal side
> of human nature. Nor can simplistic messages of personal salvation any
> longer address the yearnings of generations who have come to know, with
> deep certainty, that true fulfillment is as much a matter of this world as it is of
> the next. "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in," is
> Bahá'u'lláh's counsel, "and center your deliberations on its exigencies and
> requirements." 183
> 
> Such perspectives have profound implications for the conduct of human
> affairs. It is obvious, for example, that, whatever its past contributions, the
> longer the nation state persists as the dominant influence in determining the
> fate of humankind, the longer will the achievement of world peace be delayed
> and the greater will be the suffering inflicted on the earth's population. In
> humanity's economic life, no matter how great the blessings brought by
> globalization, it is apparent that this process has also created unparalleled
> concentrations of autocratic power that must be brought under international
> democratic control if they are not to produce poverty and despair for
> countless millions. Similarly, the historic breakthrough in information and
> communication technology, which represents so potent a means to promote
> social development and the deepening of people's sense of their common
> humanity, can, with equal force, divert and coarsen impulses vital to the
> service of this very process.
> 
> V
> What Bahá'u'lláh is speaking of is a new relationship between God and
> humankind, one that is in harmony with the dawning maturity of the race.
> The ultimate Reality that has created and sustains the universe will forever
> remain beyond the reach of the human mind. Humanity's conscious
> relationship with it, to the extent that one has been established, has been the
> result of the influence of the Founders of the great religions, Moses,
> Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and earlier figures whose names are,
> for the most part, lost to memory. Through responding to these impulses of
> the Divine, the earth's peoples have progressively developed the spiritual,
> intellectual, and moral capacities that have combined to civilize human
> character. This millennia-long, cumulative process has now reached the stage
> characteristic of all the decisive turning points in the evolutionary process,
> when previously unrealized possibilities suddenly emerge: "This is the Day",
> Bahá'u'lláh asserts, "in which God's most excellent favors have been poured
> out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused
> into all created things." 184
> 
> Viewed through Bahá'u'lláh's eyes, the history of tribes, peoples, and nations
> has effectively reached its conclusion. What we are witnessing is the
> beginning of the history of humankind, the history of a human race conscious
> of its own oneness. To this turning point in the course of civilization, his
> writings bring a redefinition of the nature and processes of civilization and a
> reordering of its priorities. Their aim is to call us back to spiritual awareness
> and responsibility.
> 
> There is nothing in Bahá'u'lláh's writings to encourage the illusion that the
> changes envisioned will come about easily. Far otherwise. As the events of
> the twentieth century have already demonstrated, patterns of habit and
> attitude which have taken root over thousands of years are not abandoned
> either spontaneously or in response simply to education or legislative action.
> Whether in the life of the individual or that of society, profound change
> occurs more often than not in response to intense suffering and to
> unendurable difficulties that can be overcome in no other way. Just so great a
> testing experience, Bahá'u'lláh warned, is needed to weld the earth's diverse
> peoples into a single people.
> 
> Spiritual and materialistic conceptions of the nature of reality are
> irreconcilable with one another and lead in opposite directions. As a new
> century opens, the course set by the second of these two opposing views has
> already carried a hapless humanity far beyond the outermost point where an
> illusion of rationality, let alone of human well-being, could once be
> sustained. With every passing day, the signs multiply that great numbers of
> people everywhere are awakening to this realization.
> 
> Despite widely prevalent opinion to the contrary, the human race is not a
> blank tablet on which privileged arbiters of human affairs can freely inscribe
> their own wishes. The springs of the spirit rise up where they will, as they
> will. They will not indefinitely be suppressed by the detritus of contemporary
> society. It no longer requires prophetic insight to appreciate that the opening
> years of the new century will see the release of energies and aspirations
> infinitely more potent than the accumulated routines, falsities, and addictions
> that have so long blocked their expression.
> 
> However great the turmoil, the period into which humanity is moving will
> open to every individual, every institution, and every community on earth
> unprecedented opportunities to participate in the writing of the planet's future.
> "Soon", is Bahá'u'lláh's confident promise, "will the present-day order be
> rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead." 185
> 
> Turning Point for All Nations
> 
> [This statement186, which calls on world leaders to take bold new steps to
> strengthen the United Nations' capacity for global coordination to meet the
> challenges of the post-Cold War world, was issued on the 50th anniversary of
> the UN and urges leaders to convene a world summit on global governance
> before the end of the century.]
> 
> Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which
> human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state,
> and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World
> unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nationbuilding has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is
> moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this
> fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and
> establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental
> principle of its life.
> 
> -Shoghi Effendi, 1936
> 
> I. Overview: An Opportunity for Reflection
> 
> The 20th Century, one of the most tumultuous periods in human history, has
> been marked by numerous upheavals, revolutions and radical departures from
> the past. Ranging from the collapse of the colonial system and the great
> nineteenth century empires to the rise and fall of broad and disastrous
> experiments with totalitarianism, fascism and communism, some of these
> upheavals have been extremely destructive, involving the deaths of millions,
> the eradication of old lifestyles and traditions, and the collapse of timehonored institutions.
> 
> Other movements and trends have been more obviously positive. Scientific
> discoveries and new social insights have spurred many progressive social,
> economic and cultural transformations. The way has been cleared for new
> definitions of human rights and affirmations of personal dignity, expanded
> opportunities for individual and collective achievement, and bold new
> avenues for the advancement of human knowledge and consciousness.
> 
> These twin processes -- the collapse of old institutions on the one hand and
> the blossoming of new ways of thinking on the other -- are evidence of a
> single trend which has been gaining momentum during the last hundred
> years: the trend toward ever-increasing interdependence and integration of
> humanity.
> 
> This trend is observable in wide-ranging phenomena, from the fusion of
> world financial markets, which in turn reflect humanity's reliance on diverse
> and interdependent sources of energy, food, raw materials, technology and
> knowledge, to the construction of globe-girdling systems of communications
> and transportation. It is reflected in the scientific understanding of the earth's
> interconnected biosphere, which has in turn given a new urgency to the need
> for global coordination. It is manifest, albeit in a destructive way, in the
> capacities of modern weapons systems, which have gradually increased in
> power to the point where it is now possible for a handful of men to bring an
> end to human civilization itself. It is the universal consciousness of this trend
> -- in both its constructive and destructive expressions -- that lends such
> poignancy to the familiar photograph of the earth as a swirling sphere of blue
> and white against the infinite blackness of space, an image crystallizing the
> realization that we are a single people, rich in diversity, living in a common
> homeland.
> 
> This trend is reflected, too, in steady efforts by the nations of the world to
> forge a world political system that can secure for humanity the possibility of
> peace, justice and prosperity. Twice in this century humanity has attempted to
> bring about a new international order. Each attempt sought to address the
> emergent recognition of global interdependence, while nevertheless
> preserving intact a system which put the sovereignty of the state above all
> else. In the perspective of the century now ending, the League of Nations, a
> breakthrough in the concept of collective security, marked a first decisive
> step toward world order.
> 
> The second effort, born from the cataclysm of World War II and based on a
> Charter drawn up principally by the victors of that conflagration, has for fifty
> years provided an international forum of last resort, a unique institution
> standing as a noble symbol for the collective interests of humanity as a
> whole.
> 
> As an international organization, the United Nations has demonstrated
> humanity's capacity for united action in health, agriculture, education,
> environmental protection, and the welfare of children. It has affirmed our
> collective moral will to build a better future, evinced in the widespread
> adoption of international human rights Covenants. It has revealed the human
> race's deep-seated compassion, evidenced by the devotion of financial and
> human resources to the assistance of people in distress. And in the allimportant realms of peace-building, peace-making and peace-keeping, the
> United Nations has blazed a bold path toward a future without war.187
> 
> Yet the overall goals set out in the Charter of the United Nations have proved
> elusive. Despite the high hopes of its founders, the establishment of the
> United Nations some fifty years ago did not usher in an era of peace and
> prosperity for all.188 Although the United Nations has surely played a role in
> preventing a third world war, the last half decade has nevertheless been
> marked by numerous local, national and regional conflicts costing millions of
> lives. No sooner had improved relations between the superpowers removed
> the ideological motivation for such conflicts, than long-smoldering ethnic and
> sectarian passions surfaced as a new source of conflagration. In addition,
> although the end of the Cold War has reduced the threat of a global, terminal
> war, there remain instruments and technologies -- and to some extent the
> underlying passions -- which could bring about planet-wide destruction.
> 
> With respect to social issues, likewise, grave problems persist. While new
> levels of consensus have been reached on global programs to promote health,
> sustainable development and human rights, the situation on the ground in
> many areas has deteriorated. The alarming spread of militant racialism and
> religious fanaticism, the cancerous growth of materialism, the epidemic rise
> of crime and organized criminality, the widespread increase in mindless
> violence, the ever-deepening disparity between rich and poor, the continuing
> inequities faced by women, the intergenerational damage caused by the
> pervasive break-down of family life, the immoral excesses of unbridled
> capitalism and the growth of political corruption -- all speak to this point. At
> least a billion live in abject poverty and more than a third of the world's
> people are illiterate.189
> 
> As the twin processes of collapse and renewal carry the world toward some
> sort of culmination, the 50th anniversary of the United Nations offers a
> timely opportunity to pause and reflect on how humanity may collectively
> face its future. Indeed, there has emerged of late a wide range of useful
> proposals for strengthening the United Nations and improving its capacity to
> coordinate the responses of nations to these challenges.
> 
> These proposals fall roughly into three categories. One group addresses
> primarily bureaucratic, administrative and financial problems within the
> United Nations system. Another group comprises those that suggest
> reconfiguring bodies like the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship
> Council and the Bretton Woods economic institutions. Still others propose to
> undertake changes in the United Nations political structure, calling, for
> example, for an expansion of the Security Council and/or a reconsideration of
> the United Nations Charter itself.190
> Most of these works are constructive; some are also provocative. Among
> them, one of the most balanced and thoughtful is the report of the
> Commission on Global Governance, entitled Our Global Neighborhood,
> which argues for the widespread adoption of new values, as well as structural
> reforms in the United Nations system.191
> 
> It is in the spirit of contributing to the ongoing discussion and consultation on
> this issue of paramount importance that the Bahá'í International Community
> has been moved to share its views. Our perspective is based on three initial
> propositions. First, discussions about the future of the United Nations need to
> take place within the broad context of the evolution of the international order
> and its direction. The United Nations has co-evolved with other great
> institutions of the late twentieth century. It is in the aggregate that these
> institutions will define -- and themselves be shaped by -- the evolution of the
> international order. Therefore, the mission, role, operating principles and
> even activities of the United Nations should be examined only in the light of
> how they fit within the broader objective of the international order.
> 
> Second, since the body of humankind is one and indivisible, each member of
> the human race is born into the world as a trust of the whole. This
> relationship between the individual and the collective constitutes the moral
> foundation of most of the human rights which the instruments of the United
> Nations are attempting to define. It also serves to define an overriding
> purpose for the international order in establishing and preserving the rights of
> the individual.
> 
> Third, the discussions about the future of the international order must involve
> and excite the generality of humankind. This discussion is so important that it
> cannot be confined to leaders -- be they in government, business, the
> academic community, religion, or organizations of civil society. On the
> contrary, this conversation must engage women and men at the grassroots
> level. Broad participation will make the process self-reinforcing by raising
> awareness of world citizenship and increase support for an expanded
> international order.
> 
> II. Recognizing the Historical Context: A Call to World Leaders
> The Bahá'í International Community regards the current world confusion and
> the calamitous condition of human affairs as a natural phase in an organic
> process leading ultimately and irresistibly to the unification of the human
> race in a single social order whose boundaries are those of the planet.
> 
> The human race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary
> stages analogous to the stages of infancy and childhood in the lives of its
> individual members, and is now in the culminating period of its turbulent
> adolescence approaching its long-awaited coming of age.192 The process of
> global integration, already a reality in the realms of business, finance, and
> communications, is beginning to materialize in the political arena.
> 
> Historically, this process has been accelerated by sudden and catastrophic
> events. It was the devastation of World Wars I and II that gave birth to the
> League of Nations and the United Nations, respectively. Whether future
> accomplishments are also to be reached after similarly unimaginable horrors
> or embraced through an act of consultative will, is the choice before all who
> inhabit the earth. Failure to take decisive action would be unconscionably
> irresponsible.
> 
> Since sovereignty currently resides with the nation-state, the task of
> determining the exact architecture of the emerging international order is an
> obligation that rests with heads of state and with governments. We urge
> leaders at all levels to take a deliberate role in supporting a convocation of
> world leaders before the turn of this century to consider how the international
> order might be redefined and restructured to meet the challenges facing the
> world. As some have suggested, this gathering might be called the World
> Summit on Global Governance.193
> 
> This proposed Summit might build on the experience gained from the series
> of highly successful United Nations conferences in the early 1990s. These
> conferences, which have included the World Summit for Children in 1990,
> the Earth Summit in 1992, the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993,
> the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994, the
> World Summit for Social Development in 1995 and the Fourth World
> Conference on Women in 1995, have established a new methodology for
> global deliberations on critical issues.
> A key to the success of these deliberations has been the substantive
> participation by organizations of civil society. Painstaking negotiations
> among government delegations about changes in the world's political, social
> and economic structures have been informed and shaped by the vigorous
> involvement of these organizations, which tend to reflect the needs and
> concerns of people at the grass roots. It is also significant that in each case,
> the gathering of world leaders, in the presence of civil society and the global
> media, gave the stamp of legitimacy and consensus to the processes of the
> conference.
> 
> In preparing for the proposed Summit, world leaders would be wise to heed
> these lessons, to reach out to as wide a circle as possible and to secure the
> goodwill and support of the world's peoples.
> 
> Some fear that international political institutions inevitably evolve toward
> excessive centralization and constitute an unwarranted layer of bureaucracy.
> It needs to be explicitly and forcefully stated that any new structures for
> global governance must, as a matter of both principle and practicality, ensure
> that the responsibility for decision-making remains at appropriate levels.194
> 
> Striking the right balance may not always be easy. On the one hand, genuine
> development and real progress can be achieved only by people themselves,
> acting individually and collectively, in response to the specific concerns and
> needs of their time and place. It can be argued that the decentralization of
> governance is the sine qua non of development.195 On the other hand, the
> international order clearly requires a degree of global direction and
> coordination.
> 
> Therefore, in accordance with the principles of decentralization outlined
> above, international institutions should be given the authority to act only on
> issues of international concern where states cannot act on their own or to
> intervene for the preservation of the rights of peoples and member states. All
> other matters should be relegated to national and local institutions.196
> 
> Furthermore, in devising a specific framework for the future international
> order, leaders should survey a broad range of approaches to governance.
> Rather than being modeled after any single one of the recognized systems of
> government, the solution may embody, reconcile and assimilate within its
> framework such wholesome elements as are to be found in each one of them.
> 
> For example, one of the time-tested models of governance that may
> accommodate the world's diversity within a unified framework is the federal
> system. Federalism has proved effective in decentralizing authority and
> decision-making in large, complex, and heterogeneous states, while
> maintaining a degree of overall unity and stability. Another model worth
> examining is the commonwealth, which at the global level would place the
> interest of the whole ahead of the interest of any individual nation.
> 
> Extraordinary care must be taken in designing the architecture of the
> international order so that it does not over time degenerate into any form of
> despotism, of oligarchy, or of demagogy corrupting the life and machinery of
> the constituent political institutions.
> 
> In 1955, during the first decade review of the UN charter, the Bahá'í
> International Community offered a statement to the United Nations, based on
> ideas articulated nearly a century before by Bahá'u'lláh. "The Bahá'í concept
> of world order is defined in these terms: A world Super-State in whose favor
> all the nations of the world will have ceded every claim to make war, certain
> rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for the
> purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions.
> This State will have to include an International Executive adequate to enforce
> supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the
> Commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members are elected by the
> peoples in their respective countries and whose election is confirmed by their
> respective governments; a Supreme Tribunal whose judgment has a binding
> effect even in cases where the parties concerned have not voluntarily agreed
> to submit their case to its consideration."197
> 
> While we believe this formulation of a world government is at once the
> ultimate safeguard and the inevitable destiny of humankind, we do recognize
> that it represents a long-term picture of a global society. Given the pressing
> nature of the current state of affairs, the world requires bold, practical and
> actionable strategies that go beyond inspiring visions of the future.
> Nevertheless, by focusing on a compelling concept, a clear and consistent
> direction for evolutionary change emerges from the mire of contradictory
> views and doctrines.
> III. Defining a Role for the UN Within the Emerging International
> Order
> 
> The United Nations was the centerpiece of the international system created
> by the victors of World War II and, during the long decades of ideological
> conflict between the East and the West, it served as a forum for international
> dialogue. Over the years, its activities have expanded to include not only
> international standard-setting and promotion of social and economic
> development but also peacekeeping operations on several continents.
> 
> Over the same period, the political reality of our world has experienced a
> dramatic transformation. At the time of the UN's inception, there were some
> fifty independent states. That number has grown to exceed 185. At the close
> of World War II, governments were the main actors on the global scene.
> Today, the growing influence of organizations of civil society and of
> multinational corporations has created a much more intricate political
> landscape.
> 
> Despite the growing complexity in its mission, the United Nations system has
> retained more or less the same structure that was designed for a new
> international organization some fifty years ago. It is not surprising then that
> the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary has stimulated a new dialogue about its
> ability to meet the political realities of the 21st Century. Unfortunately, in this
> dialogue, criticism has far outweighed praise.
> 
> Most criticisms of the operations of the United Nations are based on
> comparisons with the operations of the leading organizations in the private
> sector or on measurements relative to inflated initial expectations. Although
> some specific comparisons may be useful in increasing the efficiency of the
> United Nations more general exercises of this kind are essentially unfair. The
> United Nations lacks not only the clear authority, but also the requisite
> resources to act effectively in most instances. Accusations of the UN's failure
> are in fact indictments of the member states themselves.
> 
> Judged in isolation from the reality within which it operates, the United
> Nations will always seem inefficient and ineffective. However, if it is viewed
> as one element of a larger process of development in systems of international
> order, the bright light of analysis would shift from the UN's shortcomings and
> failures to shine on its victories and accomplishments. To those with an
> evolutionary mindset, the early experience of the United Nations offers us a
> rich source of learning about its future role within the international regime.
> 
> An evolutionary mindset implies the ability to envision an institution over a
> long time frame perceiving its inherent potential for development, identifying
> the fundamental principles governing its growth, formulating high-impact
> strategies for short-term implementation, and even anticipating radical
> discontinuities along its path.
> 
> Studying the United Nations from this perspective unveils significant
> opportunities to strengthen the current system without the wholesale
> restructuring of its principal institutions or the intensive re-engineering of its
> core processes. In fact, we submit that no proposal for UN reform can
> produce high impact unless its recommendations are internally consistent and
> direct the UN along a projected evolutionary path toward a distinctive and
> relevant role within the future international order.
> 
> We believe the combination of recommendations described herein meets
> these conditions and that their adoption would represent a measured but
> significant step toward building a more just world order.198
> 
> A. Resuscitating the General Assembly
> 
> The foundation for any system of governance is the rule of law and the
> primary institution for promulgating law is the legislature. While the
> authority of local and national legislatures is generally respected, regional
> and international legislative bodies have been the subject of fear and
> suspicion.
> 
> In addition, the United Nations General Assembly has been a target of attack
> for its ineffectiveness. Although some of the accusations hurled against it are
> unfounded, there are at least two shortcomings that hamper the ability of the
> General Assembly to have impact.
> 
> First, the current arrangement gives undue weight to state sovereignty,
> resulting in a curious mix of anarchy and conservatism. In a reformed United
> Nations, the legislative branch and its voting structure will need to represent
> more accurately the people of the world as well as nation-states.199
> 
> Second, General Assembly resolutions are not binding unless they are
> separately ratified as a treaty by each member state. If the current system,
> which places state sovereignty above all other concerns, is to give way to a
> system which can address the interests of a single and interdependent
> humanity, the resolutions of the General Assembly -- within a limited domain
> of issues -- must gradually come to possess the force of law with provisions
> for both enforcement and sanctions.
> 
> These two shortcomings are closely linked inasmuch as the majority of the
> world's people, suspicious and fearful of world government, are unlikely to
> submit to an international institution unless it is itself more genuinely
> representative.200
> 
> Nevertheless, in the short term, five practical measures are possible to
> strengthen the General Assembly, enhance its reputation and align it with a
> longer term direction.
> 
> 1. Raising minimum requirements for membership
> 
> The minimum standards for conduct by a government towards its people have
> been well established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
> subsequent international covenants, collectively referred to as the
> International Bill of Human Rights.
> 
> Without an unshakable commitment to regular and periodic elections with
> universal participation by secret ballot, to freedom of expression and to other
> such human rights, a member state stands in the way of the active and
> intelligent participation of the vast majority of its population in the affairs of
> its own communities.
> 
> We propose that there should be consequences for member states that violate
> these standards. Similarly, nations seeking recognition should be denied
> membership until they openly espouse these standards or make recognizable
> efforts to move in that direction.
> 2. Appointing a commission to study borders and frontiers
> 
> Outstanding irredentist claims continue to be a major source of conflict and
> war, highlighting the critical need for general agreements on national
> boundaries. Such treaties can only be arrived at after consideration of the
> arbitrary manner in which many nation-states were originally defined and of
> all outstanding claims of nations and ethnic groups.
> 
> Rather than relegating such claims to the World Court, we believe it would
> be best to establish a special International Commission to research all claims
> affecting international boundaries and then, after careful consideration, to
> make recommendations for action.201 The results would serve as an early
> warning system for growing tension among civil or ethnic groups and
> assessment of threats in situations benefiting from early preventive
> diplomacy.
> 
> In order to establish a genuine community of nations in the long run, it will
> be necessary to settle finally all disputes over borders. This research would
> serve that end.
> 
> 3. Searching for new financial arrangements
> 
> Primarily triggered by the unwillingness of some member states to remit their
> general assessments on time, compounded by the absence of authority to
> collect any interest accrued because of that delay, and further aggravated by
> the bureaucratic inefficiencies in parts of its operations, the annual budget
> shortfall pressures the UN into a crisis management mentality.
> 
> Voluntary payments from member states will never be a reliable approach to
> finance an international institution. Vigorous approaches to revenue
> generation must be devised to enable the smooth functioning of the UN
> machinery. We propose the immediate appointment of an expert Task Force
> to begin a rigorous search for solutions.
> 
> In studying alternatives, the Task Force should be mindful of several
> fundamental principles. First, there should be no assessments without
> representation. Second, in the interest of fairness and justice, assessments
> should be graduated. Third, mechanisms for encouraging voluntary
> contributions by individuals and communities should not be overlooked.202
> 
> 4. Making a commitment to a universal auxiliary language and a common script
> 
> The United Nations, which currently uses six official languages, would
> derive substantial benefit from either choosing a single existing language or
> creating a new one to be used as an auxiliary language in all its fora. Such a
> step has long been advocated by many groups, from the Esperantists to the
> Bahá'í International Community itself.203 In addition to saving money and
> simplifying bureaucratic procedures, such a move would go far toward
> promoting a spirit of unity.
> 
> We propose the appointment of a high-level Commission, with members
> from various regions and drawn from relevant fields, including linguistics,
> economics, the social sciences, education and the media, to begin careful
> study on the matter of an international auxiliary language and the adoption of
> a common script.
> 
> We foresee that eventually, the world cannot but adopt a single, universally
> agreed-upon auxiliary language and script to be taught in schools worldwide,
> as a supplement to the language or languages of each country. The objective
> would be to facilitate the transition to a global society through better
> communication among nations, reduction of administrative costs for
> businesses, governments and others involved in global enterprise, and a
> general fostering of more cordial relations between all members of the human
> family.204
> 
> This proposal should be read narrowly. It does not in any way envision the
> decline of any living language or culture.
> 
> 5. Investigating the possibility of a single international currency
> 
> The need to promote the adoption of a global currency as a vital element in
> the integration of the global economy is self-evident. Among other benefits,
> economists believe that a single currency will curb unproductive speculation
> and unpredictable market swings, promote a leveling of incomes and prices
> worldwide, and thereby result in significant savings.205
> The possibility of savings will not lead to action unless there is an
> overwhelming body of evidence addressing the relevant concerns and doubts
> of skeptics, accompanied by a credible implementation plan. We propose the
> appointment of a Commission consisting of the most accomplished
> government leaders, academics and professionals to begin immediate
> exploration into the economic benefits and the political costs of a single
> currency and to hypothesize about an effective implementation approach.
> 
> B. Developing a Meaningful Executive Function
> 
> At the international level, the single most important executive function is the
> enforcement of a collective security pact.206
> 
> Collective security implies a binding covenant among nations to act in
> concert against threats to the collective. The effectiveness of the covenant
> depends on the degree to which members commit themselves to the collective
> good, even if motivated by a sense of enlightened self-interest.
> 
> Within the United Nations, the enforcement role is largely carried out by the
> Security Council, with other functions of the executive being shared with the
> Secretariat. Both are hampered in fulfilling their mandated roles. The
> Security Council suffers from an inability to take decisive action. The
> Secretariat is pressured by the complex demands of the member states.
> 
> In the short term, four practical measures are possible to strengthen the
> executive function within the United Nations.
> 
> 1. Limiting the exercise of the veto power
> 
> The original intention of the UN Charter in conferring veto power on the five
> Permanent Members was to prevent the Security Council from authorizing
> military actions against a Permanent Member or requiring the use of its forces
> against its will.207 In fact, beginning with the Cold War, the veto power has
> been exercised repeatedly for reasons that have to do with regional or
> national security.
> 
> In its 1955 submission on UN reform, the Bahá'í International Community
> argued for the gradual elimination of the concepts of "permanent
> membership" and "veto power" as confidence in the Security Council would
> build. Today, forty years later, we reaffirm that position. However, we also
> propose that, as a transitionary step, measures be introduced to curb the
> exercise of the veto power to reflect the original intention of the Charter.
> 
> 2. Institutionalizing ad hoc military arrangements
> 
> To support the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations, and to add
> credibility to resolutions of the Security Council, an International Force
> should be created.208 Its loyalty to the UN and its independence from
> national considerations must be assured. The command and control of such a
> fully armed Force would reside with the Secretary-General under the
> authority of the Security Council. Its finances, however, would be determined
> by the General Assembly. In constructing such a force, the Secretary-General
> would seek to draw competent personnel from all regions of the world.
> 
> If properly implemented, this Force would also provide a sense of security
> that might encourage steps toward global disarmament, thereby making
> possible an outright ban on all weapons of mass destruction.209 Furthermore,
> in line with the principle of collective security, it would become gradually
> understood that states need only maintain armaments sufficient for their own
> defense and the maintenance of internal order.
> 
> As an immediate step toward the establishment of this Force, the present
> system of ad hoc arrangements could be institutionalized to establish core
> regional forces for rapid deployment during a crisis.
> 
> 3. Applying the notion of collective security to other problems of the global commons
> 
> Although originally conceived within the context of a threat of military
> aggression, the principle of collective security, some argue, may now be
> applied in an expansive manner to all threats which, although apparently
> local in nature, are actually the result of the complex breakdown of the
> present-day global order. These threats include but are not limited to
> international drug trafficking, food security, and the emergence of new global
> pandemics.210
> 
> We believe this issue would have to be included on the agenda of the
> proposed Global Summit. However, it is unlikely that expansive formulations
> of collective security would preclude the fundamental cause of military
> aggression.
> 
> 4. Retaining successful UN institutions with independent executive function
> 
> Some of the more independent organizations within the UN family, such as
> the UN International Children's Emergency Fund, the International Civil
> Aviation Organization, the Universal Postal Union, the International
> Telegraph and Communications Union, the International Labor Organization,
> and the World Health Organization, have enjoyed conspicuous success with
> focused but important areas of international concern.
> 
> Generally, these organizations already have their own executive function.
> Their independence should be retained and reinforced as part of the
> international executive.211
> 
> C. A Strengthened World Court
> 
> In any system of governance, a strong judicial function is necessary to
> moderate the powers of the other branches and to enunciate, promulgate,
> protect and deliver justice. The drive to create just societies has been among
> the fundamental forces in history212 -- and without doubt no lasting world
> civilization can be founded unless it is firmly grounded in the principle of
> justice.
> 
> Justice is the one power that can translate the dawning consciousness of
> humanity's oneness into a collective will through which the necessary
> structures of global community life can be confidently erected. An age that
> sees the people of the world increasingly gaining access to information of
> every kind and to a diversity of ideas will find justice asserting itself as the
> ruling principle of successful social organization.
> 
> At the individual level, justice is that faculty of the human soul that enables
> each person to distinguish truth from falsehood. In the sight of God,
> Bahá'u'lláh avers, justice is "the best beloved of all things" since it permits
> each individual to see with his own eyes rather than the eyes of others, to
> know through his own knowledge rather than the knowledge of his neighbor
> or his group.
> 
> At the group level, a concern for justice is the indispensable compass in
> collective decision-making, because it is the only means by which unity of
> thought and action can be achieved. Far from encouraging the punitive spirit
> that has often masqueraded under its name in past ages, justice is the practical
> expression of awareness that, in the achievement of human progress, the
> interests of the individual and those of society are inextricably linked. To the
> extent that justice becomes a guiding concern of human interaction, a
> consultative climate is encouraged that permits options to be examined
> dispassionately and appropriate courses of action selected. In such a climate
> the perennial tendencies toward manipulation and partisanship are far less
> likely to deflect the decision-making process.
> 
> Such a conception of justice will be gradually reinforced by the realization
> that in an interdependent world, the interests of the individual and society are
> inextricably intertwined. In this context, justice is a thread that must be
> woven into the consideration of every interaction, whether in the family, the
> neighborhood, or at the global level.
> 
> We see in the current United Nations system the foundation for a
> strengthened World Court. Established in 1945 as the principal judicial organ
> of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice is characterized by
> many positive elements. The current system for the selection of judges, for
> example, seeks to create a judicial panel which is representative of a wide
> range of peoples, regions, and judicial systems.213
> 
> The Court's primary shortcoming is that it lacks the authority to issue legally
> binding decisions, except in those cases where states have chosen in advance
> to be bound by its decisions. Without jurisdiction, the Court is powerless to
> administer justice.214 In time, the decisions of the World Court may become
> binding and enforceable upon all states; however, in the short term, the
> World Court might be strengthened through two other measures.
> 
> 1. Extending the court's jurisdiction
> 
> Currently, the Court's jurisdiction is limited to a few categories of cases, and
> only nations have standing to bring an action. We propose that in addition to
> member states, other organs of the United Nations should be given the right
> to bring cases before the Court.
> 
> 2. Coordinating the thematic courts
> 
> The World Court should act as an umbrella for existing and new thematic
> courts, that arbitrate and adjudicate international cases within specific
> thematic domains.
> 
> Early components of a unified system can already be found in the specialized
> courts for arbitration of such matters as commerce and transportation, and in
> the proposals for such bodies as an International Criminal Court and a
> Chamber for Environmental Matters. Other issue areas that might need to be
> addressed under such a system would include courts for international
> terrorism and drug trafficking.
> 
> IV. Releasing the Power of the Individual: A Critical Challenge of the
> Emerging International Order
> 
> The primary objective of governing institutions at all levels is the
> advancement of human civilization. This objective is difficult to satisfy
> without the inspired and intelligent participation of the generality of
> humankind in the life and affairs of the community.
> 
> With a focus on building institutions and creating a community of nations,
> international bodies have historically remained distant from the minds and
> hearts of the world's people. Separated by several layers of government from
> the international arena and confused by the media's coverage of international
> news, the vast majority of people have not yet developed an affinity for
> institutions like the United Nations. Only those individuals who have had
> some access to the international arena through channels like organizations of
> civil society seem able to identify with these institutions.
> 
> Paradoxically, international institutions cannot develop into an effective and
> mature level of government and fulfill their primary objective to advance
> human civilization, if they do not recognize and nurture their relationship of
> mutual dependency with the people of the world. Such recognition would set
> in motion a virtuous cycle of trust and support that would accelerate the
> transition to a new world order.
> 
> The tasks entailed in the development of a global society call for levels of
> capacity far beyond anything the human race has so far been able to muster.
> Reaching these levels will require an enormous expansion in access to
> knowledge on the part of every individual. International institutions will
> succeed in eliciting and directing the potentialities latent in the peoples of the
> world to the extent that their exercise of authority is moderated by their
> obligation to win the confidence, respect, and genuine support of those whose
> actions they seek to govern and to consult openly and to the fullest extent
> possible with all those whose interests are affected.
> 
> Individuals who become confident and respectful of these institutions will, in
> turn, demand that their national governments increase their support, both
> political and economic, for the international order. In turn, the international
> institutions, with increased influence and power, will be better positioned to
> undertake further actions to establish a legitimate and effective world order.
> 
> Along with the measures for strengthening its structure, the United Nations
> needs to adopt initiatives that release the latent power in all people to
> participate in this galvanizing process. To this end, certain themes that
> accelerate the advancement of the individual and society warrant special
> consideration. Among them, promoting economic development, protecting
> human rights, advancing the status of women, and emphasizing moral
> development are four priorities so closely tied to the advancement of
> civilization that they must be emphasized as part of the United Nations
> agenda.
> 
> A. Promoting Economic Development
> 
> Economic development strategies employed by the United Nations, the
> World Bank and a number of governments during the last fifty years,
> however sincerely conceived and executed, have fallen far short of
> aspirations. In much of the world, the gap between the "haves" and "havenots" has widened and is accelerating with the persistent disparity in income
> levels. Social problems have not subsided. In fact, crime and disease are not
> just on the rise; they are also becoming endemic and more difficult to
> combat.
> 
> These failures can be traced to a number of factors. They include a misplaced
> focus on large-scale projects and bureaucratic over-centralization, unjust
> terms of international trade, a pervasive corruption that has been allowed to
> flourish throughout the system, the exclusion of women from the decisionmaking processes at all levels, a general inability to ensure that resources
> reach the poor, and the diversion of development resources into military
> hardware.
> 
> A dispassionate examination of these factors betrays a common systematic
> and fundamental flaw in the current paradigm for economic development:
> material needs are often addressed without taking into account the spiritual
> factors and their motivating power.
> 
> Development should not become confused with the creation of an
> unsustainable consumer society. True prosperity encompasses spiritual as
> well as material well-being. Food, drink, shelter and a degree of material
> comfort are essential, but human beings cannot and never will find
> fulfillment in these necessities. Nor is contentment to be found in the
> somewhat more intangible material attainments such as social recognition or
> political power. Ultimately, not even intellectual achievement satisfies our
> deepest needs.
> 
> It is in the hunger for something more, something beyond ourselves, that the
> reality of the human spirit can be properly understood. Although the spiritual
> side of our nature is obscured by the day-to-day struggle for material
> attainment, our need for the transcendent cannot long be disregarded. Thus a
> sustainable development paradigm must address both the spiritual aspirations
> of human beings and their material needs and desires.
> 
> Education is the best investment in economic development. "Man is the
> supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him
> of that which he doth inherently possess," writes Bahá'u'lláh. "Regard man as
> a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to
> reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom."215 Education
> implies more than a process of mastering a narrow body of knowledge or
> learning a set of life skills. In truth, education, which should be a
> fundamental imperative of development, must also teach the process for
> knowledge acquisition, cultivate the powers of intellect and reasoning, and
> infuse the student with indispensable moral qualities.
> 
> It is this comprehensive approach to education that allows people to
> contribute to the creation of wealth and encourage its just distribution. 216
> 
> Genuine wealth is created when work is undertaken not simply as a means of
> earning a livelihood but also as a way to contribute to society. We hold that
> meaningful work is a basic need of the human soul, as important to the proper
> development of the individual as nutritious food, clean water and fresh air are
> to the physical body.
> 
> Because of the spiritually damaging nature of dependency, schemes which
> focus solely on redistributing material wealth are doomed to failure in the
> long run. Distribution of wealth must be approached in an efficient and
> equitable manner. In fact, it must be intimately integrated with the process of
> wealth creation.
> 
> We propose the following recommendation to the United Nations system for
> promoting more effective development.
> 
> 1. Launching a determined campaign to implement Agenda 21
> 
> The plan of action formulated at the United Nations Conference on
> Environment and Development incorporated a wide range of views from civil
> society and a set of principles not unlike those articulated in this statement.
> Unfortunately, however, little has been done by member states to implement
> the measures described in the plan.
> 
> If the objectives of Agenda 21 are to be addressed and satisfied, an expanded
> effort, different in nature but comparable in scale and commitment to the
> Marshall Plan for the redevelopment of post-war Europe, might be necessary.
> In this case, the Bretton Woods institutions would be called upon to mount a
> pronounced campaign to expedite national implementation efforts. A
> mandate of this nature can result only from a conference, similar to the first
> Bretton Woods meetings fifty years ago, dedicated to a wholesale reexamination of these institutions. The purpose of this re-examination would
> be to make available to the people of the world sufficient resources so that
> they could implement local initiatives. Moreover, the conference could also
> expand its agenda to address deeper issues of global economic security
> through the redefinition of existing institutions or the creation of new
> structures.217
> 
> If successful, this new machinery could also be extended to coordinate
> implementation of the measures identified at the recent Social Summit.
> 
> B. Protecting Fundamental Human Rights
> 
> Over the five decades since the United Nations was founded, an
> understanding has emerged that human rights must be recognized and
> protected internationally if peace, social progress and economic prosperity
> are to be established.
> 
> The foundation for international agreement on the nature of human rights is
> the all-important Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the
> United Nations in 1948 and elaborated in two international covenants -- the
> International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International
> Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights. In addition, some 75
> other conventions and declarations identify and promote the rights of women
> and children, the right to freedom of worship, and the right to development,
> to name but a few.
> 
> The current United Nations human rights regime has two major
> shortcomings: limited means for enforcement and follow-up, and too little
> emphasis on the responsibilities that accompany all rights.
> 
> Human rights enforcement at the international level needs to be handled in a
> manner similar to the treatment of military aggression under a collective
> security regime. The violation of human rights in one state must be
> considered the concern of all, and enforcement mechanisms must provide for
> a unified response on the part of the entire international community. The
> question of when and how to intervene to protect human rights is more
> difficult to answer. Vigorous enforcement will require a high degree of global
> consensus on what constitutes a flagrant and willful violation.
> Important steps toward global consensus were taken during the process
> leading up to the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which affirmed
> unequivocally that human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent,
> and ended the long-standing debate about the relative importance of civil and
> political rights as compared to social, economic and cultural rights.218
> Conference resolutions also confirmed that human rights must be applied
> irrespective of differences of racial background, ethnic origin, religious belief
> or national identity. They encompass the equality of women and men; they
> include for all individuals worldwide the same rights to freedom of
> investigation, information and religious practice; and they embody the right
> of everyone to basic necessities such as food, shelter, and health care.219
> Beyond the need to build consensus and strengthen enforcement of human
> rights, it is important to establish a greater understanding that to each right is
> attached a corresponding responsibility.
> 
> The right to be recognized as a person before the law, for example, implies
> the responsibility to obey the law -- and to make both the laws and the legal
> system more just. Likewise, in the socio-economic realm, the right to marry
> carries with it the responsibility to support the family unit, to educate one's
> children and to treat all family members with respect.220 The right to work
> cannot be divorced from the responsibility to perform one's duties to the best
> of one's ability. In the broadest sense, the notion of "universal" human rights
> implies a responsibility to humanity as a whole.
> 
> Ultimately, while it is up to the individual to fulfill the responsibility in each
> such area, it is up to international institutions to protect the related human
> right. We propose three measures for immediate action.
> 
> 1. Strengthening the machinery of the UN for monitoring, implementation and follow-up
> 
> The United Nations machinery for the monitoring, implementation and
> follow-up of government compliance with international covenants is
> inadequate. The Centre for Human Rights consists of a very small
> professional staff struggling to support efforts to monitor the compliance by
> countries of all treaties they have ratified.
> 
> We believe the resources assigned to this Centre must be dramatically
> increased if it is to discharge its duties properly.
> 
> 2. Encouraging universal ratification of international conventions on human rights
> 
> Since ratifying the international conventions on human rights creates an
> obligation for member states, albeit not a practically enforceable one, the
> Secretary-General and all bodies of the UN might consider every opportunity
> to encourage member states to act on this issue. In fact, a demanding timeline
> for universal ratification may be an inspiring goal to be set by the General
> Assembly.
> 
> 3. Assuring respect for the monitoring organs of UN involved in human rights
> 
> Since the mandate of the human rights monitoring agencies is of a very
> serious nature, the UN needs to be particularly mindful of perceptions created
> by the structure and processes of these agencies and equally deliberate in
> acting to resolve compromising situations.
> 
> We believe it would be prudent to explore during the nomination process the
> qualifications of member states in visible positions and to exclude from
> election to membership on the Commission on Human Rights and other
> monitoring agencies, any member states that have not yet ratified the
> international conventions. While these member states would still be able to
> fully participate in deliberations, it would protect the United Nations from a
> potentially embarrassing and compromising situation.
> 
> We also believe that a single exception is warranted to the above rule.
> Member states, not under the scrutiny of the UN, that have sufficient
> protection for fundamental human rights within their constitutions, but which
> have not been able to complete the ratification process because of internal
> political reasons, should not be barred from election to visible positions.
> 
> Finally, it also seems prudent for member states that have ratified the
> international conventions but are under scrutiny for gross human rights
> violations to be disqualified from election to the offices of conferences and
> other meetings of the Commission on Human Rights. This will prevent a
> widespread perception of the proceedings as a mockery.
> C. Advancing the Status of Women
> 
> The creation of a peaceful and sustainable world civilization will be
> impossible without the full participation of women in every arena of human
> activity.221 While this proposition is increasingly supported, there is a
> marked difference between intellectual acceptance and its implementation.
> 
> It is time for the institutions of the world, composed mainly of men, to use
> their influence to promote the systematic inclusion of women, not out of
> condescension or presumed self-sacrifice but as an act motivated by the belief
> that the contributions of women are required for society to progress.222 Only
> as the contributions of women are valued will they be sought out and woven
> into the fabric of society. The result will be a more peaceful, balanced, just
> and prosperous civilization.223
> 
> The obvious biological differences between the sexes need not be a cause for
> inequality or disunity. Rather, they are an aspect of complementarity. If the
> role of women as mothers is properly valued, their work in nurturing and
> educating children will be respected and properly rewarded. It should also be
> acknowledged that the child-bearing role does not diminish one's aptitude for
> leadership, or undermine one's intellectual, scientific or creative capacity.
> Indeed, it may be an enhancement.
> 
> We believe progress on a few critical fronts would have the greatest impact
> on the advancement of women. We share the following perspectives which
> are foundational to the recommendations which follow.
> 
> First and foremost, violence against women and girls, one of the most blatant
> and widespread abuses of human rights, must be eradicated. Violence has
> been a fact of life for many women throughout the world, regardless of race,
> class, or educational background. In many societies, traditional beliefs that
> women are inferior or a burden make them easy targets of anger and
> frustration. Even strong legal remedies and enforcement mechanisms will
> have little effect until they are supported by a transformation in the attitudes
> of men. Women will not be safe until a new social conscience takes hold, one
> which will make the mere expression of condescending attitudes towards
> women, let alone any form of physical violence, a cause for deep shame.
> Second, the family remains the basic building block of society and behaviors
> observed and learned there will be projected onto interactions at all other
> levels of society. Therefore, the members of the institution of the family must
> be transformed so that the principle of equality of women and men is
> internalized. Further, if the bonds of love and unity cement family
> relationships, the impact will reach beyond its borders and affect society as a
> whole.
> 
> Third, while the overall goal of any society must be to educate all its
> members, at this stage in human history the greatest need is to educate
> women and girls.224 For over twenty years, studies have consistently
> documented that, of all possible investments, educating women and girls pays
> the highest overall dividends in terms of social development, the eradication
> of poverty and the advancement of community.225
> 
> Fourth, the global dialogue on the role of men and women must promote
> recognition of the intrinsic complementarity of the two sexes. For the
> differences between them are a natural assertion of the necessity of women
> and men to work together to bring to fruition their potentialities for
> advancing civilization, no less than for perpetuating the human race. Such
> differences are inherent in the interactive character of their common
> humanity. This dialogue needs to consider the historical forces which have
> led to the oppression of women and examine the new social, political and
> spiritual realities which are today transforming our civilization.
> 
> As a starting point for this dialogue we offer this analogy from the Bahá'í
> Writings: "The world of humanity has two wings -- one is women and the
> other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly.
> Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible."226 In addition, we
> support the following three specific measures.
> 
> 1. Increasing the participation of women in member state delegations
> 
> We recommend that member states be encouraged to appoint an increased
> number of women to ambassadorial or similar diplomatic positions.
> 
> 2. Encouraging universal ratification of international conventions that protect women's rights and improve their status
> As with the international conventions on human rights, the Secretary-General
> and all bodies of the UN should consider every opportunity to encourage
> member states to proceed with ratification of conventions and protocols that
> protect women's rights and seek their advancement.
> 
> 3. Planning ahead for implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action
> 
> The Forward-Looking Strategies declaration adopted at the Nairobi
> conference was highly bold and imaginative, yet its implementation was
> rather ineffective.227 We believe that a lesson should be learned from this
> unfortunate experience and deliberate plans be put into place to ensure that
> the Platform of Action emerging from the Beijing conference does not meet a
> similar fate.
> 
> We propose that a monitoring system be established to prepare status reports
> on the implementation of adopted measures and to make presentations to the
> General Assembly annually, highlighting the top twenty and bottom twenty
> member states in terms of compliance.
> 
> D. Emphasizing Moral Development
> 
> The process of integrating human beings into larger and larger groups,
> although influenced by culture and geography, has been driven largely by
> religion, the most powerful agent for changing human attitudes and behavior.
> By religion, however, we mean the essential foundation or reality of religion,
> not the dogmas and blind imitations which have gradually encrusted it and
> which are the cause of its decline and effacement.
> 
> In the words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "Material civilization is like the body. No
> matter how infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it may be, it is dead.
> Divine civilization is like the spirit, and the body gets its life from the
> spirit…. Without the spirit the world of mankind is lifeless."228
> 
> The concept of promoting specific morals or values may be controversial,
> especially in this age of humanistic relativism. Nevertheless, we firmly
> believe there exists a common set of values that have been obscured from
> recognition by those who exaggerate minor differences in religious or
> cultural practice for political purposes.229 These foundation virtues, taught
> by all spiritual communities, constitute a basic framework for moral
> development.
> 
> Reflection on the commonalties inherent in the great religious and moral
> systems of the world reveals that each one espouses unity, cooperation and
> harmony among people, establishes guidelines for responsible behavior and
> supports the development of virtues which are the foundation for trust-based
> and principled interactions.230
> 
> 1. Promoting the development of curricula for moral education in schools
> 
> We advocate a universal campaign to promote moral development. Simply
> put, this campaign should encourage and assist local initiatives all over the
> world to incorporate a moral dimension into the education of children. It may
> necessitate the holding of conferences, the publication of relevant materials
> and many other supportive activities, all of which represent a solid
> investment in a future generation.
> 
> This campaign for moral development may begin with a few simple precepts.
> For example, rectitude of conduct, trustworthiness, and honesty are the
> foundation for stability and progress; altruism should guide all human
> endeavor, such that sincerity and respect for the rights of others become an
> integral part of every individual's actions; service to humanity is the true
> source of happiness, honor and meaning in life.
> 
> We also believe the campaign will be successful only to the extent that the
> force of religion is relied upon in the effort. The doctrine of the separation of
> church and state should not be used as a shield to block this salutary
> influence. Specifically, religious communities will have to be drawn in as
> collaborative partners in this important initiative.
> 
> As it proceeds, this campaign will accelerate a process of individual
> empowerment that will transform the way in which people, regardless of
> economic class, social standing, or ethnic, racial or religious background,
> interact with their society.
> 
> V. A Turning Point for All Nations: A Call to World Leaders
> We have reached a turning point in the progress of nations.
> 
> "Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which
> human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state,
> and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World
> unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nationbuilding has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is
> moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this
> fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and
> establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental
> principle of its life."231
> 
> Over a century ago, Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is but one God, that there is
> only one human race, and that all the world's religions represent stages in the
> revelation of God's will and purpose for humanity. Bahá'u'lláh announced the
> arrival of the time, foretold in all of the world's scriptures, when humanity
> would at last witness the uniting of all peoples into a peaceful and integrated
> society.
> 
> He said that human destiny lies not merely in the creation of a materially
> prosperous society, but also in the construction of a global civilization where
> individuals are encouraged to act as moral beings who understand their true
> nature and are able to progress toward a greater fulfillment that no degree of
> material bounty alone can provide.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh was also among the first to invoke the phrase "new world order"
> to describe the momentous changes in the political, social and religious life of
> the world. "The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be
> discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing Order appeareth to be lamentably
> defective," He wrote. "Soon will the present-day order be rolled up and a new
> one spread out in its stead." 232To this end, He laid a charge on the leaders
> and members of society alike. "It is not for him to pride himself who loveth
> his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is
> but one country and mankind its citizens."233 Above all else, leaders for the
> next generation must be motivated by a sincere desire to serve the entire
> community and must understand that leadership is a responsibility; not a path
> to privilege. For too long, leadership has been understood, by both leaders
> and followers, as the assertion of control over others. Indeed, this age
> demands a new definition of leadership and a new type of leader. 234This is
> especially true in the international arena. In order to establish a sense of trust,
> win the confidence, and inculcate a fond affinity in the hearts of the world's
> people for institutions of the international order, these leaders will have to
> reflect on their own actions.
> 
> Through an unblemished record of personal integrity, they must help restore
> confidence and trust in government. They must embody the characteristics of
> honesty, humility and sincerity of purpose in seeking the truth of a situation.
> They must be committed to and guided by principles, thereby acting in the
> best long-term interests of humanity as a whole.
> 
> "Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own
> selves," Bahá'u'lláh wrote. "Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let
> your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of
> mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men."235
> 
> Advancing the Status of Women
> 
> "The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the
> sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites
> of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half
> of the world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits
> that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and
> ultimately to international relations.
> 
> There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such
> denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in
> all fields of human endeavor will the moral and psychological climate be
> created in which international peace can emerge."
> 
> This position, taken from a statement on peace written by the Universal
> House of Justice in 1985, reiterates the teaching of Bahá'u'lláh that society
> must reorganize its life to give practical expression to the principle of
> equality between women and men.
> 
> Since its inception nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, the Bahá'í Faith
> has taught the equality of the sexes. Indeed, the Bahá'í Faith is the only
> independent world religion whose Founder has stated unequivocally that
> women and men are equal.
> 
> "Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God,"
> said Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> In accordance with this teaching, the worldwide Bahá'í community has been
> at the forefront of the movement to advance the rights of women for more
> than a century. And the Bahá'í approach, which advocates full equality and a
> firm sense of partnership between women and men, is increasingly
> recognized as being on the cutting edge of women's issues worldwide.
> 
> Bahá'ís understand, for example, that the values which women bring to
> human interaction are necessary to the proper functioning and advancement
> of modern society, and that qualities that have formerly been associated with
> the feminine sides of our natures--such as compassion, nurturing, cooperation
> and empathy--will be increasingly important in creating a peaceful, just, and
> sustainable world civilization.
> 
> Bahá'í institutions around the world promote various educational efforts for
> women, and work to raise the consciousness of both women and men about
> this fundamental equality. Many of its schools, learning centers, and
> grassroots social and economic development projects specifically include the
> promotion of women's advancement into their curricula or agendas.
> 
> Women compose approximately 30 percent of elected leadership in Bahá'í
> councils at the national level, comparing favorably to national parliaments,
> which average 10 percent women worldwide.
> 
> Bahá'í women have long been active in the struggle to promote women's
> equality. The Bahá'í Faith was founded in 1844 in Iran and among its early
> followers was Tahirih, a Persian poet and scholar. In 1852, she laid down her
> life in defense of her beliefs, which included her right to lay aside the veil and
> to work for the complete emancipation of women.
> 
> Laura Dreyfus-Barney, a member of the first Bahá'í community in Europe,
> was among the leading figures in promoting the advancement of women in
> the early years of this century. In the years after World War I, she focused her
> attention on mobilizing women for peace. She represented the International
> Council of Women (ICW) in the League of Nations and was President of
> ICW's Peace and Arbitration Commission.
> 
> After World War II, Ms. Dreyfus-Barney played an important role in the
> development of the relationship between the United Nations International
> Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and non-governmental organizations
> (NGOs).
> 
> Martha Root, an American journalist from Pennsylvania, circled the globe
> several times in the 1920s and 1930s to promote the cause of women's
> equality--along with the other progressive principles of the Bahá'í Faith. With
> a unique facility for approaching high dignitaries, she took the Bahá'í
> message of interdependence and oneness to kings, queens, presidents,
> ministers, statesmen, professors, clergymen and poets in Europe, Asia, Africa
> and Australia.
> 
> Since the Bahá'í International Community (BIC) obtained consultative status
> with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1970, it
> has cooperated officially with the United Nations in its work to improve the
> status of women throughout the world.
> 
> The Bahá'í International Community has worked directly with the United
> Nations Commission on the Status of Women and its Secretariat, the UN
> Division for the Advancement of Women. In addition, the BIC has
> established close, cooperative relationships with other international nongovernmental organizations at the United Nations that seek to promote the
> advancement of women.
> 
> Initially the BIC contributed to the work of the United Nations by submitting
> statements to United Nations bodies, and in particular the Commission on the
> Status of Women, on various aspects of equality. Such statements have
> addressed the education of girls, the importance of elevating the status of
> women as mothers, the relevance of women's participation at local, national
> and international levels to the establishment of world peace.
> 
> As part of International Women's Year in 1975, the BIC participated in the
> first World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City. Two Bahá'í
> representatives were officially accredited to attend the Conference and nine
> representatives attended the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization)
> Tribune, the parallel meeting for non-governmental organizations.
> 
> During the next ten years, designated the United Nations Decade for Women,
> the Bahá'í International Community developed a solid reputation for its work
> promoting the advancement of women. BIC representatives served on NGO
> committees on the Status of Women in New York, Geneva and Vienna and
> participated in the World Conferences on Women held in Copenhagen,
> Denmark in l980, in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, and in Beijing, China in 1995.
> 
> The Community's representatives have also been involved in planning
> parallel activities for NGOs at these meetings. Relationships were established
> with major organizations worldwide whose focus is also the promotion of the
> advancement of women.
> 
> The BIC collaborates on an increasing basis with UN agencies such as the
> United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) the United Nations Development
> Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the United Nations Development Program
> (UNDP); and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).
> 
> Unity of the Human Race
> 
> In 1936, on the eve of the second World War, the Guardian of the Bahá'í
> Faith, Shoghi Effendi, wrote a letter to the Bahá'ís of the Western world in
> which he outlined the Bahá'í perspective on the establishment of a future
> global commonwealth. This visionary document, which reiterates and
> develops Bahá'u'lláh's teachings about the next stage in the development of
> human civilization, still reads as though it were composed yesterday.
> 
> Unity of the Human Race236
> 
> The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh, implies the
> establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds
> and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of
> its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals
> that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. This world
> commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world
> legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind,
> ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will
> enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and
> adjust the relationships of all races and peoples.
> 
> A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the
> decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and
> will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A world
> tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and
> any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this
> universal system.
> 
> A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the
> whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning
> with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity. A world metropolis will act
> as the nerve center of a world civilization, the focus towards which the
> unifying forces of life will converge and from which its energizing influences
> will radiate. A world language will either be invented or chosen from among
> the existing languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated
> nations as an auxiliary language to their mother tongue. A world script, a
> world literature, a uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and
> measures, will simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among
> the nations and races of mankind.
> 
> In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in
> human life, will be reconciled, will cooperate, and will harmoniously
> develop. The press will, under such a system, while giving full scope to the
> expression of the diversified views and convictions of mankind, cease to be
> mischievously manipulated by vested interests, whether private or public, and
> will be liberated from the influence of contending governments and peoples.
> The economic resources of the world will be tapped and fully utilized, its
> markets will be coordinated and developed, and the distribution of its
> products will be equitably regulated.
> 
> National rivalries, hatreds, and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and
> prejudice will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and cooperation.
> The causes of religious strife will be permanently removed, economic
> barriers and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate
> distinction between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand,
> and gross accumulation of ownership on the other, will disappear. The
> enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or
> political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human
> inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of
> mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific
> research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening
> and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and
> unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to
> the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the
> moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.
> 
> A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising
> unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and
> embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse
> of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available
> sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is
> made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal
> recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation--
> such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of
> life, is moving.
> Social Action
> 
> Social and Economic Development
> 
> All human beings, Bahá'u'lláh states, have been "created to carry forward an
> ever-advancing civilization." The creation of a peaceful global society that
> fosters both individual and collective well-being is at the heart of the Bahá'í
> vision of the future. Within the framework of a growing community
> concerned with moral and spiritual transformation, social and economic
> development is one expression of the Bahá'í commitment to realizing this
> vision.
> 
> The worldwide Bahá'í community, as an organic whole, transcends divisions
> prevalent in society today, such as "North" and "South", "developed" and
> "underdeveloped". Social and economic development efforts are undertaken
> by Bahá'ís everywhere, irrespective of the degree of material prosperity
> achieved by their nations, as they strive to apply the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh
> to the gradual process of building a new civilization. Every individual is a
> potential contributor to this process.
> 
> Thus, Bahá'í efforts in the field of social and economic development
> generally take the form of grassroots initiatives carried out by small groups of
> individuals in the towns and villages in which they reside. As these initiatives
> evolve, some grow into more substantial programs with permanent
> administrative structures. Yet very few can be compared with the kind of
> complex development projects promoted and funded by government agencies
> and large multilateral organizations.
> 
> The distinguishing features of the Bahá'í approach to development are the
> principles and processes being employed by Bahá'í communities around the
> world rather than the number or size of projects. In a very real sense, social
> and economic development activities are an expression of faith in action.
> Consequently, Bahá'í development initiatives are designed to engage and
> benefit all the members of a community and not just Bahá'ís.
> 
> At the heart of all Bahá'í development undertakings is the recognition of a
> deep and inseparable connection between the practical and spiritual aspects of
> daily life. Creating a desire for social change and instilling confidence that it
> can be achieved must ultimately come from an awakening of the human
> spirit. While pragmatic approaches to problem solving play a key role in
> development initiatives, tapping the spiritual roots of human motivation
> provides the essential impulse that ensures genuine social advancement.
> 
> Individual and community development, Bahá'ís believe, require both the
> "light" of spiritual awareness and the "lamp" of material resources. Material
> advancement is not viewed as an end in itself, but rather as a vehicle for
> moral, spiritual, and social progress. Meaningful social change does not
> simply result from the acquisition of technical skills, but more importantly
> from the development of qualities and attitudes that foster cooperative and
> creative patterns of human interaction.
> 
> In villages and cities around the globe, Bahá'ís are attempting to construct
> patterns of living that truly integrate the spiritual and practical. This
> understanding of development anticipates the emergence of communities in
> which the application of spiritual values such as justice, trustworthiness, and
> generosity will enhance material well-being, while material resources and
> advances will make possible new avenues of spiritual endeavor that will
> promote cohesion and unity of purpose within and across societies. "The
> progress of the world, the development of nations, the tranquility of peoples,
> and the peace of all that dwell on earth", Bahá'u'lláh explains, "are among the
> principles and ordinances of God."
> 
> Workers in the development field have increasingly come to understand that
> the creation and diffusion of knowledge lie at the heart of social progress.
> The Bahá'í experience confirms this understanding. Bahá'í social and
> economic development is therefore focused on increasing the capacity of
> individuals, communities, and institutions to take concrete steps that promote
> their spiritual and material well-being. This process of capacity building
> involves a global enterprise of learning in which Bahá'ís from virtually every
> cultural and ethnic background are working to apply the methods of science
> and the moral and spiritual insights found in the Bahá'í teachings to their
> particular local conditions. It is a process of action, evaluation, and
> adjustment; one in which local communities gradually improve their ability
> to define, analyze, and meet their own needs.
> 
> From the beginning, Bahá'í activities in the development area have
> emphasized collective decision-making and collective action at the grassroots
> level. Consultation among all the members of a community is central to the
> success of every Bahá'í development project. The use of consultative methods
> often promotes novel solutions to community problems and greater fairness
> in the distribution of community resources, and serves to uplift those
> members of a community, such as women and minorities, who have been
> historically excluded from decision-making. Experience has shown that
> consultation is an indispensable tool that enables communities to sustain and
> modify development initiatives and thereby contributes to self-sufficiency
> and a higher quality of life. The ability of people to be drawn together in new
> patterns of participation and interaction is in some respects more important
> than the specific practical goals of development projects themselves.
> 
> From the Bahá'í perspective, then, the set of capacities necessary for building
> up the social, economic, and moral fabric of collective life must draw upon
> the resources of both the mind and the heart. By fully integrating spiritual
> principles into community development activities, ideas, values, and practical
> measures emerge that promote self-reliance and safeguard human dignity. In
> this way, patterns of dependency are avoided and conditions of inequality are
> progressively eliminated.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh refers to the human being "as a mine rich in gems of inestimable
> value," and states that the purpose of life and society is to generate creative
> processes which serve to release those "gems" of human potential. As
> individuals begin to cultivate their innate capacities, so the community
> around them is transformed, and impetus is given to "an ever-advancing
> civilization." It is therefore the hope of the Bahá'í community that its current
> modest efforts in the development field will serve to promote a model of
> capacity building that results in widespread moral and material advancement.
> 
> Bahá'í Development Projects: A Global Process of Learning
> 
> A tangible expression of Bahá'í efforts to promote constructive change in the
> life of society is found in the various social and economic activities of Bahá'í
> communities around the world. For the most part, these activities are very
> simple initiatives that take place at the grassroots level. They are noteworthy
> not for their scope or scale, but rather for the new concepts and fresh
> approaches they utilize to unlock the moral and creative capabilities of
> individuals and communities.
> 
> Bahá'í development activities are initiated either by Bahá'í administrative
> institutions or by individuals or groups. Together, these activities contribute
> to a global process of learning about a Bahá'í approach to social and
> economic development. They presently fall into three general categories:
> Fixed Duration (Category 1) Sustained (Category 2) and Advanced (Category
> 3).
> 
> Activities of Fixed Duration
> 
> Most Bahá'í social and economic development efforts are fairly simple
> activities of fixed duration in which Bahá'ís in villages and towns around the
> world apply spiritual principles to the problems and challenges faced by their
> localities. These activities either originate in the Bahá'í communities
> themselves or are a response to the invitation of other organizations. It is
> estimated that in 1996-97 there were some 1,450 endeavors of this kind,
> including tree-planting and clean-up projects, health camps, workshops and
> seminars on such themes as race unity and the advancement of women, and
> short-term training courses.
> 
> Sustained Projects
> 
> The second category of Bahá'í social and economic development consists of
> approximately 225 ongoing projects. The vast majority are academic schools,
> while others focus on areas such as literacy, basic health care, immunization,
> substance abuse, child care, agriculture, the environment, or microenterprise.
> Some of these projects are administered by nascent development
> organizations which have the potential to grow in complexity and in their
> range of influence. All projects seek to apply or explore particular Bahá'í
> principles.
> 
> Organizations with Capacity to Undertake Complex Action
> Certain Bahá'í development efforts have achieved the stature of development
> organizations with relatively complex programmatic structures and
> significant spheres of influence. They systematically train human resources
> and manage a number of lines of action to address problems of local
> communities and regions in a coordinated, interdisciplinary manner. Also
> included in this category are several institutions--especially large schools--
> which, although focusing only on one field, have the potential to make a
> significant impact in contributing to the welfare of the communities in which
> they operate. In this category there are currently 31 such organizations, which
> are located in all continents of the globe.
> 
> Global Campaigns
> 
> While most projects begin at the local level this does not exclude the
> possibility of action at higher levels. In recent years, the Bahá'í community
> has initiated global campaigns in the areas of literacy, primary health care
> training, and the advancement of women. Projects are now underway in a
> number of countries in Africa, Asia, and South America. The campaigns
> attempt to draw on certain approaches and methodologies to development
> that have proven effective in different social contexts and seek to adapt such
> knowledge to a wider range of communities. In some cases, these initiatives
> have involved collaboration with national governments and international
> agencies. The campaigns demonstrate the potential for widespread
> implementation of development programs throughout the global network of
> Bahá'í communities.
> 
> Moral Development
> 
> New Virtues, New Moral Standards, New Capacities: Moral Development Activities in the Bahá'í
> World Community
> 
> All created things have their degree or stage of maturity. The period of
> maturity in the life of a tree is the time of its fruit-bearing… The animal
> attains a state of full growth and completeness, and in the human kingdom
> man reaches his maturity when the light of his intelligence attains its greatest
> power and development… Similarly there are periods and stages in the
> collective life of humanity. At one time it was passing through its stage of
> childhood, at another its period of youth, but now it has entered its longpredicted phase of maturity, the evidences of which are everywhere
> apparent… That which was applicable to human needs during the early
> history of the race can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this
> period of newness and consummation. Humanity has emerged from its
> former state of limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become
> imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities.
> New bounties, perfect bestowals, are awaiting and already descending upon
> him. The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and
> sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting
> the requirements of its maturity.237
> 
> This passage from the Bahá'í writings summarizes the Faith's basic approach
> to the development of humankind. Bahá'ís see the unfolding of history as the
> path of an "ever-advancing civilization," the progress of which is dependent
> upon humanity's moral as well as material development. We stand now at the
> threshold of maturity, for which we must acquire new virtues, new moral
> standards, and new capacities in order to reap the benefits of the age.
> Elsewhere in the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the Son of the Founder of the
> Bahá'í Faith, this theme has been elucidated as follows:
> 
> Two calls to success and prosperity are being raised from the heights of the
> happiness of mankind, awakening the slumbering, granting sight to the blind,
> causing the heedless to become mindful, bestowing hearing upon the deaf,
> unloosing the tongue of the mute and resuscitating the dead.
> 
> The one is the call of civilization, of the progress of the material world. This
> pertaineth to the world of phenomena, promoteth the principles of material
> achievement, and is the trainer for the physical accomplishments of mankind.
> It compriseth the laws, regulations, arts and sciences through which the world
> of humanity hath developed; laws and regulations which are the outcome of
> lofty ideals and the result of sound minds, and which have stepped forth into
> the arena of existence through the efforts of the wise and cultured in past and
> subsequent ages. The propagator and executive power of this call is just
> government.
> 
> The other is the soul-stirring call of God, Whose spiritual teachings are
> safeguards of the everlasting glory, the eternal happiness and illumination of
> the world of humanity, and cause attributes of mercy to be revealed in the
> human world and the life beyond.
> 
> This second call is founded upon the instructions and exhortations of the
> Lord and the admonitions and altruistic emotions belonging to the realm of
> morality which, like unto a brilliant light, brighten and illumine the lamp of
> the realities of mankind. Its penetrative power is the Word of God.
> 
> However, until material achievements, physical accomplishments and human
> virtues are reinforced by spiritual perfections, luminous qualities and
> characteristics of mercy, no fruit or result shall issue therefrom, nor will the
> happiness of the world of humanity, which is the ultimate aim, be
> attained.238
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá's statement outlines the basic approach of the Bahá'í community
> around the world in the activities it has undertaken with regard to moral
> development. Material progress is desirable, but it should be accompanied by
> spiritual growth--both individual and collective. During a talk given in
> America in April 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá compared these two elements or powers
> to the wings of a bird, saying, "Both must be developed, for flight is
> impossible with one wing."239
> 
> While the Bahá'í Faith is still a relatively young religion, it has made a
> number of efforts throughout the world to develop programs that will
> promote both the material and the spiritual progress not only of its members
> but of the wider communities in which they live. Many of these activities fall
> under the broad heading of social and economic development--health care
> and literacy training, the establishment of schools, income-generating
> projects--but some have a distinct focus on moral training. This article will
> survey five such projects and programs around the world: "ZIPOPO," or "The
> Happy Hippo Show," a television program in Russia that promotes awareness
> and discussion of moral issues among youthful viewers; the moral leadership
> training program at Nur University in Bolivia; the "On the Wings of Words"
> literacy project in Guyana; the School of the Nations in Macau; and the
> Moral Education Project in St. Petersburg, Russia.
> 
> "ZIPOPO" or "The Happy Hippo Show"
> This television show was first developed by Shamil Fattakhov, a journalist
> from Kazan, to promote consultation in youth groups on situations centered
> around themes connected to moral education. The name of the program,
> "ZIPOPO," is taken from the first letters of the words "Zaochniy institut
> pozitivnovo povedeniya," which translates as "The Academy of Positive
> Behavior." In English the program is called "The Happy Hippo Show," a title
> inspired by a story related about 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who, during His trip to
> America in 1911-12, is reported to have said to a crying child, "Don't be sad,
> be a happy hippopotamus!"
> 
> The concept underlying "ZIPOPO" is to present viewers with an opportunity
> to look at moral or ethical issues and to provide them with the means to
> approach life problems and find positive solutions through specific dramatic
> examples. As Mr. Fattakhov has noted, the power of positive example has a
> long and distinguished history in Russia. He cites the instance where,
> following the publication in the late nineteenth century of Leo Tolstoy's novel
> The Resurrection, about a man who forfeits his wealth and prominent
> position in society to repent for an evil deed he committed in his youth, many
> readers of the popular work radically changed their lives, confessing to
> crimes they had committed, donating their possessions to charity, and
> performing good works.
> 
> "ZIPOPO," which runs weekly in a number of cities in Russia and is about 40
> minutes in length, features a dramatic skit performed by actors, a live
> audience of between eighty and a hundred people--mostly youth--and hosts
> who facilitate the discussion. The hosts begin by warming up the audience
> and introducing the topic for the show, after which the first scene of a
> situation based on the topic is acted out. The drama freezes at a crucial point
> of tension, and audience discussion opens up, facilitated by the hosts who,
> from time to time, interject relevant points or perhaps quote brief passages
> from various literary or religious sources to further fuel the exchange of
> viewpoints. Sometimes an expert on the topic is present to contribute ideas as
> well. Following the discussion, which always focuses on finding positive
> solutions to the situation, the dramatic sketch resumes and one possible
> solution to the particular moral dilemma is presented. A second round of
> audience discussion following the dramatic conclusion helps those present to
> recognize a pattern of response to the problem, based on moral principles.
> Many of the scripts have been developed by Mr. Fattakhov, but he welcomes
> other authors and encourages youth to submit their ideas for future programs;
> one scenario was written by a seventeen-year-old high school student. Well
> over two hundred such sketches have now been written and performed,
> including ones on topics such as how to avoid drug addiction, suicide, the
> difference between sex and love, youth and the police, stealing,
> unemployment, racial conflict, divorce, running away from home, how to
> find the right partner to establish a healthy family life, how to develop
> virtues, and so on. In one sketch, for example, a girl and her boyfriend are
> sitting on a park bench talking about how much they love each other. He
> begins to pressure her to have sex; she says she wants to wait until they are
> married. "But everybody does it," he argues, and besides, they should "test
> each other out" before marriage. Finally he delivers an ultimatum: if she
> doesn't prove that she loves him by sleeping with him tonight, their
> relationship is over. At this point the action freezes. Should she give in or
> not? The audience discusses the issue before the sketch resumes to present
> one possible resolution to the situation.
> 
> The program has become very popular, not only with youth but with entire
> families, because it features ordinary people exploring moral solutions to
> common dilemmas that are often not addressed in society. Viewers, then, see
> how they can practically apply moral principles in their own lives. Mr.
> Fattakhov describes the goal of the program as "the healing and education of
> society through regular collective deepening in moral aspects, based on the
> highest moral principles proclaimed by prophets of all world religions, by
> outstanding philosophers and prominent people, accumulated by the wisdom
> of the whole of mankind."
> 
> The use of drama makes the problem more emotionally immediate and
> provides the opportunity for different social and age groups to share a
> common experience. The discussion allows youth to broaden their knowledge
> of life and experience consultation in a supportive atmosphere where
> collective thinking is used in search of positive solutions to life's problems.
> Positive actions and behavior are thus legitimized in the minds of young
> viewers; individuals can become responsible for their own moral choices,
> make positive decisions, and take action. Families, too, can consult in their
> own homes on topics introduced in the shows.
> Audience bases for "ZIPOPO" are expanding. Host training workshops have
> been held since 1994, and as a result the show is now established in a number
> of Russian cities, including Chita, Khabarovsk, Izhevsk, Ulan-Ude, Kazan,
> Leninogorsk, and Perm. It has also been introduced into India, China,
> Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, Moldov a, Latvia, and the Ukraine. And
> while "ZIPOPO" began as a program primarily directed at youth, different
> variations of the show have been developed, aimed at children, women,
> families, and social groups such as teachers, businessmen, journalists, and so
> on. Because the format of the show is flexible and portable, it can be (and has
> been) done in locations as varied as kindergartens, youth camps, schools,
> colleges and universities, and on mass media, including radio, television, and
> newspapers.
> 
> In the city of Khabarovsk eighteen-year-old Tanya Maros, who had been
> trained as a host, was galvanized to start up a radio version of the show,
> which she produced and hosted herself. Another young host, Leonid Osokin,
> hosted a live TV program called the "Orange Show," modeled on "ZIPOPO,"
> for some two years in his home city of Ulan-Ude. The popular show, which
> ran biweekly, reached some one million people and was discontinued only
> when Mr. Osokin left to pursue a doctoral degree in morality and ethics.
> 
> Recently, Mr. Fattakhov has adapted the basic format of "ZIPOPO" for
> different audiences. For example, he has offered seminars to businessmen on
> subjects such as ethics in business--an issue of real concern in Russian
> society. The dramatic sketch pres-ented at one such seminar opens with a
> businessman advising his wife over the telephone not to buy fruit or
> vegetables from a particular vendor who uses chemical sprays that could
> endanger the health of their family. Immediately following this conversation
> two people are ushered into the man's office, the first complaining about the
> pollution released by the businessman's factory and its effects on her child.
> The second, who is meanwhile quietly sobbing and obviously carrying
> something bulky under her coat, suddenly throws aside her wrap and deposits
> a dead dog on the businessman's desk, crying that this was her beloved pet
> that was poisoned by drinking from the stream next to the man's factory. At
> that point the action freezes and the seminar participants are invited to discuss
> what has happened, identify the moral principles involved in the situation,
> and devise a positive solution. According to Mr. Fattakhov, the businessmen
> at the seminar were galvanized by the sketch and engaged in a very energetic
> discussion of ethics in business practices--something they claimed they had
> not done previously.
> 
> Responses such as those of the businessmen--as well as the popular reception
> of "ZIPOPO" on the television and radio in various cities--underscore
> people's hunger for presentations and programs that address in a substantive,
> participatory way the issues of morality and ethics that are central to their
> lives. And the format developed by Mr. Fattakhov also shows that addressing
> such issues is far from a dull, dry exercise.
> 
> Moral Leadership Training Program at Nur University, Bolivia
> 
> Universidad Nur, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1996, is a private
> educational institution in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, founded by a number of
> Bahá'ís who were concerned with the lack of higher educational opportunities
> for Bolivians and were motivated by the need for trained professionals who
> could contribute to the development of the country.
> 
> Nur's mission statement is "to contribute to an educational proc-ess that
> facilitates individual and social transformation through the development of
> human capabilities, fostering a dynamic coherence between the intellectual,
> spiritual, and physical dimensions, for the establishment of a just, peaceful,
> and harmonious global society." Nur began its first academic year in April
> 1985 with 97 students; it currently has 2,600 undergraduate, 500 graduate,
> and more than 2,000 continuing education students; women compose 43% of
> the student body.
> 
> Underlying Nur's approach to education is the belief that the mere transfer of
> information and knowledge will not raise up people who can bring about a
> personal and collective transformation in service to the common good.
> Therefore, the university emphasizes ethical and moral education; courses
> also look at the integrative and disintegrative forces at work in the world that
> will eventually lead to the establishment of peace and the acceptance of the
> concept of world citizenship. Latin American nations are still consolidating
> stable forms of democratic government, which many leaders of thought in the
> region believe must be rooted in moral leadership. Nur hopes that its
> programs will help create such leaders.
> Nur has identified eighteen specific moral leadership capabili-ties that it
> seeks to develop, including the following: to participate effectively in
> consultation; to act with rectitude of conduct based on ethical and moral
> principles; to evaluate one's own strengths and weaknesses without involving
> the ego; to take initiative in a creative, disciplined form; to learn from
> systematic reflection on action within a consistent and evolutionary
> conceptual framework; to commit to empowering educational activities; to
> create a vision of a desired future based on shared values and principles, and
> to articulate it clearly and simply so that it inspires others to work for its
> fulfillment; to understand relationships based on dominance and to contribute
> towards their transformation into relationships based on interconnectedness,
> reciprocity, and service; to contribute to the establishment of justice.
> 
> Emphasis in the moral leadership program is placed on the individual's moral
> responsibility to search for and recognize truth, and then to apply that truth in
> all aspects of his or her life. Students are encouraged to find principles that
> can serve as the basis of their lives and then to base decisions and actions on
> them, while remaining open to the investigation of new principles so as to
> allow for continuing growth. Students thus develop a principle-based vision
> of the desired future of their community and examine different points of view
> and facts in order to investigate the truth.
> 
> A framework for teaching moral leadership has been incorporated into Nur's
> core curriculum. Since 1990, all undergraduate students have been required
> to complete 120 hours of community service as a requirement for graduation.
> Almost 1,000 students have now participated in more than 200 projects, some
> taking the initiative to offer leadership workshops to local high schools as
> part of their service.
> 
> Other programs also contain moral leadership components. A pilot project,
> carried out from May 1993 to October 1995 in the departments of Santa Cruz
> and Tarija, sought to empower 460 rural teachers to become community
> development agents. Emphasis was placed on the role that rural teachers can
> play in aiding communities to pursue their own path of development by
> analyzing their own needs, establishing their order of priority, and managing
> their own projects. Rural teachers, acting as facilitators, can serve as a source
> of initiative, knowledge, and guidance in community organization, in the
> empowerment of grassroots organizations, and in the management of their
> projects.
> 
> Training for the project was carried out by means of a three-semester degree
> course for the teachers, conducted through distance education. Spiritual
> principles, which are seen as an essential part of life and the development
> process, formed a central aspect of the course through an emphasis on moral
> leadership. The five elements underlying this component of the course are
> that leadership should be oriented towards service and should not be an
> exercise of power; that the aim of development is an active engagement in the
> process of individual and collective transformation; that participants commit
> to the fundamental moral responsibilities of searching for truth, of
> recognizing truth, and of applying truth in all aspects of their lives; that moral
> leadership is based on eternal values and a commitment to service and the
> process of personal and collective transformation; and that emphasis should
> be placed on the development of personal, interpersonal, and societal
> capabilities of leadership.
> 
> Another program seeks to strengthen women's leadership role in the field of
> community health, emphasizing moral leadership capabilities that increase
> women's ability to take initiative in improving health in their communities.
> Components of the program include study of moral leadership for social
> transformation and consultation as a method of group decision-making,
> learning how to form a collective vision and how to learn from reflecting on
> experience, how to take creative initiative, and how participatory evaluation
> aids in collective learning. The National Public Health System of Bolivia,
> women from a number of rural communities who belong to a Rural Women's
> Center, and the 35 member organizations of the Santa Cruz branch of the
> National Confederation of Women's Organizations have also received moral
> leadership training.
> 
> Several Bolivian NGOs active in the fields of women's rights, children's
> education, child survival, literacy, the protection of the environment, and the
> improvement of agricultural production have had their management and field
> staff trained in moral leadership by Nur, as have the National Secretariat for
> Popular Participation, the state government of Santa Cruz, and several
> municipal governments. Members of the Bahá'í community, including
> members of the institution of the Auxiliary Boards and their assistants and
> Bahá'í rural school teachers, have also received training.
> 
> Further extension of these activities is planned. Nur is developing a strategy
> to apply moral leadership training to environmental issues. It is seeking
> funding for a project focusing on the health of female adolescents, addressing
> problems such as venereal disease, AIDS, and abortions resulting from
> unwanted pregnancies by educating adolescents in these health risks,
> emphasizing the importance of moral responsibility and developing
> participants' capacity to prevent problems before they occur. Collaborating
> with the Harvard Institute for International Development, Nur is also working
> to design a comprehensive program to provide training in moral leadership,
> public administration, and concepts of just governance to civic authorities in
> 46 Bolivian municipalities.
> 
> "On the Wings of Words," Guyana
> 
> In 1994, pilot literacy projects were undertaken by the Bahá'í communities in
> three countries--Guyana, Cambodia, and the Central African Republic--at the
> invitation of the Office of Social and Economic Development at the Bahá'í
> World Centre as the initial part of a proposed global literacy campaign. The
> literacy projects seek to address the concern of the Universal House of
> Justice, which prompted it to call, in 1989, for systematic efforts toward the
> eventual elimination of illiteracy in the Bahá'í community.
> 
> The campaign is based on a concept of literacy achieved through a
> combination of study of the Bahá'í writings on education, the experience of
> some Bahá'ís in the field, the application of the work of Paulo Freire, and
> guidance received from the Bahá'í World Centre. In this view, literacy is seen
> as more than skills in basic reading, writing, and numeracy. The project
> combines spiritual and moral themes with the mechanics of writing, an
> approach that acknowledges each individual's need for direct access to the
> Word of God.
> 
> "On the Wings of Words," as the literacy project is called in Guyana,
> operates under the guidance of the Varqa Foundation, a Bahá'í-inspired
> agency. The program was initially offered in ten Bahá'í communities, and
> approximately thirty Bahá'í facilitators received intensive training in how to
> use the materials that had been developed, how to structure a literacy class,
> and how to use the generative themes to encourage development of the moral
> and spiritual aspects of the program.
> 
> Five of the ten initial areas began to flourish, as groups of up to 25 youth
> between ages ten and sixteen gathered weekly. The task force that had
> originated the project supplied study workbooks, which were supplemented
> by materials from local Bahá'í community libraries.
> 
> By the end of the first year, the project was strengthened when it was opened
> up to the involvement of the wider public. Concern about Guyana's declining
> literacy rate created a greater receptivity for the program among the country's
> leaders of thought and educators. Indeed, one leading columnist wrote, "I can
> think of no more important initiative under way in Guyana now." The
> Institute of Adult and Continuing Education, the extramural arm of the
> University of Guyana, became a partner of the Bahá'í community in the
> endeavor and offered a certificate to facilitators who received training and
> participated in the program.
> 
> In May 1996, the project's new phase was launched at Guyana's National
> Cultural Center, attracting over 200 people from all over the country. The
> launching was listed among events celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of
> Guyana's independence and received attention on both radio and television.
> The country's Senior Minister of Education, Dale Bisnauth, lauded the
> Bahá'ís for their initiative and mentioned that he was particularly pleased that
> the program focused not only on the mechanics of reading and writing but on
> moral aspects as well. The Director of the Institute of Adult and Continuing
> Education and a member of the Bahá'í Literacy Task Force also addressed the
> meeting.
> 
> A follow-up session a month later brought together 200 participants who
> learned more about the vision of the program and the materials to be used.
> They also consulted about how to popularize the program in their home
> communities. The next step was the holding in Georgetown of a five-day
> training program for the facilitators, who comprised a diverse group from
> different parts of the country, different religious backgrounds, different ages,
> and different levels of qualification. One indication of the success of the
> training sessions was that there were no dropouts; in fact, additional people
> appeared each day until the organizers regretfully had to turn away more
> prospective participants.
> 
> Some of the topics covered were the vision of literacy underlying the project,
> the concept of generative themes, the mechanics of reading, testing for
> baseline data, planning, memorization, logistics, aids and games, teaching
> styles and methodologies, and singing. The overall themes of the project--
> "We are noble beings," "We have control over our actions," and "Our actions
> affect others"--were also addressed. Additional training sessions were held in
> remote areas for people who wished to become facilitators but could not
> afford to attend the session in Georgetown. Organizers afterwards
> commented on the spirit of active participation throughout the initial training
> session and on the proactive approach of the facilitators in getting support
> from their communities when they began to set up classes.
> 
> In all, 33 literacy classes for over 1,200 children were held over the summer
> in the regions of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice, with a high level of
> interest and enthusiasm on the part of both facilitators and students. In the
> fall, after the rainy season, eight regions of the interior Rupununi region also
> held classes, which were attended by an additional 300 children. Support for
> the project was received from the Guyana Book Foundation, which provided
> $3,800 in funding, offered one set of free books to each community group
> that requested one, and made other books available on the same nominal
> terms on which they are provided to schools.
> 
> An evaluative meeting held at the end of the summer looked at the challenges
> encountered, and materials for new modules were introduced. Facilitators
> commented on the positive attitudinal changes they saw in the youth who had
> participated, and the spiritual aspect of the program came in for high praise
> from those present. Guyana TV covered the event and broadcast highlights.
> Throughout the following months further meetings provided continued
> training and support to the facilitators and helped them look back and
> evaluate the progress of the program. Weekend and vacation-time sessions
> with students also continued the education process throughout the year, and a
> newsletter on the groups' activities was started to provide students with
> reinforcement and encouragement. Other training programs are being planned
> for the future.
> The Project has also arranged a "Festival of Words" in each area where
> literacy classes have been held, during which the students present to the
> public a selection of songs, poems, and stories. In July 1997, a national
> Festival of Words, with youth representing each village, sub-region, and
> region, will be held in Georgetown.
> 
> School of the Nations, Macau
> 
> Founded in 1988, the School of the Nations has pioneered the development of
> a moral education component in the country's school curriculum. Generally,
> in Macau formal education is geared to academic subjects. Moral
> development, while a concern of teachers, is handled by them on an
> individual basis or by the parents of the student. Societal changes and
> pressures, however, have indicated an increasing need for a more formal
> program of moral education.
> 
> The Badi Foundation, which runs the School of the Nations, is a private nongovernmental organization whose purpose is to develop human resources for
> the social and economic progress of the region. All of the Foundation's
> programs include elements for the development of moral or spiritual values,
> qualities, and capabilities.
> 
> International in character, the School of the Nations has approximately 500
> students from 36 different countries and runs from kindergarten through
> Form 6 or 12th grade. Some 70 percent of the students are from Macau, Hong
> Kong, and China.
> 
> The school has committed itself to concerted experimentation in curriculum
> development in the area of moral education, focusing on the development of
> moral capabilities--particularly at the kin- dergarten and secondary levels.
> The activities and the qualities, attitudes, skills, abilities, and concepts
> promoted are geared to the children's level.
> 
> In kindergarten, the development of moral capabilities forms part of every
> subject--from math to science to languages--in the belief that not to include
> moral questions is to say that they are irrelevant.
> 
> The concept fundamental to the development of any moral capability is seen
> to be the oneness of humankind, which is reinforced throughout the
> curriculum. In science class, for example, the students study the scientific
> concept of "system" by looking at the family, the elements that compose it,
> and the behaviors and virtues that can be found in it; from here, they move on
> to look at the ways different families in their community interact; and finally,
> they expand their investigation to all the families in the world--the family of
> humankind. In mathematics, a similar approach is taken to teaching sets,
> where students look at concrete sets--sets of children who are happy or who
> want to be obedient, sets of children in their class, the set of children in
> Macau, and the set of children in the world.
> 
> The concept that each of us chooses his or her own behavior--and can choose
> to change--is also taught in various ways. In the science class for five-yearolds, for example, after learning the names of parts of their bodies, students
> discuss what the parts do. A mouth eats and sings, but it also speaks. Does
> the mouth decide what it will say? Do the feet decide where they will walk?
> By answering such questions, students become aware that there are decisions
> to be made and that they themselves--their spirits or souls--are what decides.
> This concept is, again, reinforced across the curriculum.
> 
> At the secondary level, the focus is on the development of five moral
> capabilities: creating a healthy family; empowering others; bringing joy to
> others; preserving and rationally using the environment; and consultation. All
> activities are organized around the core concept of service. Elements of the
> program include two hours weekly in moral education class, either doing
> service projects in the community or in the classroom, where students are
> asked to reflect on activities they have completed or to plan future activities.
> Consultation with teachers, with other students, and with the population they
> are serving, as well as the writing of journals and other assignments, all lead
> the students towards deep reflection and discussion on the capability they are
> exploring so that they can relate their experiences to the rest of their lives.
> 
> The Form 1 (Grade 8) students' program centers around working with the
> kindergarten students in the school and studying elements of child
> development and education. Students also reflect on their own families'
> values and values they have adopted for themselves. The following year
> students undertake service to promote environmental conservation and
> beautification of the environment, outside the school. In Form 3, cooperation
> with the Cultural Institute of Macau is the focus. Students have assisted in
> recording the history of Macau and have worked with social service
> organizations, seeing how a society takes care of its members and their own
> role in that process. During their final two years at the school, students work
> at homes for the elderly or with programs for the homebound and at a home
> for the mentally handicapped, receiving special training from professional
> social service workers. By the end of the program, the students have learned
> how to make others comfortable, how to listen and encourage others, and
> how to be more courageous, compassionate, and humble.
> 
> The moral capabilities program at the School of the Nations is continually
> being developed. It does not claim to turn out students who are perfect
> models of moral behavior, because it sees the development of moral
> capabilities as a lifelong process, but it does give students a start along the
> path of their own spiritual growth, encountering challenging life situations
> and seeing the reality of applying moral values in society--a process
> involving difficulties and ambiguities as well as rewards and triumphs. For its
> efforts in this area, the School of the Nations recently won an award from the
> Department of Education as Macau's top moral education program and was
> awarded third place in an international competition for moral education
> programs.
> 
> Moral Education Project, St. Petersburg, Russia
> 
> Begun in 1995, the Moral Education Project based in St. Petersburg aims to
> promote the development of a course on moral education for youth, to present
> lectures on religion and science at the university level, and to prepare
> materials on moral education for publication in English and Russian. In these
> endeavors, the Bahá'ís who spearhead the project seek to collaborate with
> Russian intellectuals and academics working in this field.
> 
> In 1996, the project sponsored a regular full-semester course in moral
> education at the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University, in which 38 thirdyear public relations students enrolled. Given the positive response to this
> initial offering, it appears likely that the course will be repeated. William S.
> Hatcher, the project founder, also presented a paper at the plenary session of
> an international conference on pedagogical issues in university education,
> held at the Electrotechnical University, using materials from the project.
> 
> At the request of the head of the ethics department of St. Petersburg State
> University, a short course on ethics based on the materials from the Moral
> Education Project was given, and future collaboration between the project
> and the university in the formulation of a new fundamental course in ethics,
> required for all philosophy students, is likely.
> 
> A monograph on moral education, generated by the project, is soon to be
> published in English in St. Petersburg, after which it will be released in
> Russian. This material will then form the basis of an annual course in moral
> education in the Master's program at Landegg Academy, Switzerland. Project
> materials have also formed the basis of lectures at the university in Minsk, in
> Brest, Belarus, and in Finland.
> 
> Publications include two booklets, containing some twelve lectures on
> various themes related to the Bahá'í Faith; a booklet compiling statements of
> philosophers, scientists, and artists concerning the existence and nature of
> God; a Russian translation of an article entitled Economics and Moral
> Values; and basic course materials for the project's program, entitled "A Non-
> Ideological Approach to the Moral Education of Youth and Young Adults."
> 
> The approach taken by the Moral Education Project is simply this: that moral
> development is a process that leads to the devel-opment of each individual as
> an independent human being who is able to attain true well-being. Project
> members call this model "non-ideological" because it is founded on the
> premise that the source of moral behavior comes from an individual's
> understanding of what they refer to as "the moral law of cause and effect"
> rather than through inculcation of a moral credo or a set of rules for moral
> behavior. The program, in fact, views religious fanaticism and sectarianism
> as moral evils because they lead to dependence on a restrictive moral credo
> rather than to authentic knowledge of moral law; they also contribute to
> various antisocial attitudes undermining one's own and others' spiritual wellbeing.
> 
> Moral development, then, is a process by which the individual learns how to
> generate and sustain positive encounters with the law of cause and effect
> embedded in every aspect of reality. According to our reading of these
> encounters, we construct our own individual "value paradigm," which is the
> system--albeit largely unarticulated--by which we make our value choices.
> The Moral Education Project sees the essential challenge of moral education
> as the understanding of this moral law of cause and effect and, as a result, the
> development of a correct value paradigm. To develop this paradigm we
> reflect upon and strive to understand the fundamental moral principles
> underlying our encounters with reality. The curriculum the project has
> developed for youth identifies and elaborates these fundamental principles. It
> also leads them towards experiencing "transformative interactions" and
> allows students to see for themselves the operation of the moral law of cause
> and effect in various contexts.
> 
> There are a number of categories of these interactions with reality on which
> the program focuses, including, notably, the self (which refers to the
> individual soul or spirit, as defined in the Bahá'í writings) with the Divine;
> the self with the self, the self with other humans, with social groups, and with
> objects and collections of objects.
> 
> Through developing an understanding of the dynamics of value choice in
> these various categories, the project pursues the goal of developing a
> scientifically based, Bahá'í-inspired curriculum for youth and young adults.
> Project founders identify scientific ideas or theories as "Bahá'í-inspired"
> insofar as they have been examined in light of the Bahá'í writings and fit with
> the basic spiritual conception of the human being that is found there. Since
> Bahá'u'lláh has taught that science and religion agree, the process is seen as
> both scientific and Bahá'í in nature.
> 
> If the goal of spiritual education is seen as producing genuinely happy and
> autonomous human beings, then training young people to recognize and
> evaluate their own experiences of the world--and to acquire the motivation to
> make moral choices that will bring about their own spiritual well-being--is an
> important contribution to that end. It rests on the belief that people's
> capacities of mind, will, and heart, when properly developed, will enable
> them to recognize the truth about reality, to pursue goodness, and to love and
> be faithful to beauty. The program of moral education conceived by the
> project begins this development with an examination of the origin of the most
> common notions about human value. The curriculum takes students through a
> critical examination of the concept of human value found in collectivism and
> individualism and then moves on to look at the spiritual conception of human
> value as an alternative to these two extremes. In the latter system, it is posited
> that the soul, which has inherent capacities not determined by external forces
> as in the other two systems, is directly created by God and thus possesses
> instrinsic universal value. Acting in accordance with this spiritual conception
> of human value gives meaning to individual life and also creates social
> harmony--without sacrifice of the quality and meaning of individual life nor
> the overall good of the collectivity.
> 
> One exercise that reinforces the spiritual conception of human value and
> assists students to learn to make moral choices has them compile a list of all
> their possessions, following which they are asked to determine which ones
> cannot be taken away by circumstances of life beyond their control. Through
> this exercise students learn that, in fact, there are no material possessions that
> cannot be taken away and that the proper relationship between the self and
> material objects is not "possession"--which is largely illusory--but rather
> "legitimate use." Knowing this, individuals can reevaluate their relationship
> to material things, which, of course, are not ends in themselves. Students can
> also formulate from this exercise a general moral principle concerning their
> interactions: that a higher or more valuable thing should never be sacrificed
> or made a means to obtain a lesser or less valuable thing.
> 
> Through the means developed by the project, students can experience
> spiritual growth, the true purpose of moral education, as a process of creative
> discovery.
> 
> Conclusion
> 
> While the five efforts surveyed in this article represent a wide range of
> undertakings to promote moral education and training in different parts of the
> world, they hold several common tenets of belief: first, that each human
> being is a noble creation--a "mine rich in gems of inestimable value," in the
> words of Bahá'u'lláh, which education alone can bring to the surface; second,
> that the individual, who must take responsibility for his or her own actions,
> can be trained in how to make decisions that will foster spiritual growth; and
> third, that the individual, his or her family, and society as a whole will benefit
> from such training. The moral person is a social actor who, having effected
> change in himself or herself, also has responsibility to contribute to the
> transformation of the social order.
> 
> At a talk He gave in Paris in 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of the "patient lives of
> active service" through which "the elect of God" have "brought light into the
> world." He exhorted His listeners,
> 
> Therefore strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers. Turn
> towards God, and seek always to do that which is right and noble. Enrich the
> poor, raise the fallen, comfort the sorrowful, bring healing to the sick,
> reassure the fearful, rescue the oppressed, bring hope to the hopeless, shelter
> the destitute!
> 
> This is the work of a true Bahá'í, and this is what is expected of him. If we
> strive to do all this, then are we true Bahá'ís, but if we neglect it, we are not
> followers of the Light, and we have no right to the name.
> 
> God, who sees all hearts, knows how far our lives are the fulfillment of our
> words.240
> 
> With this high ideal in mind, Bahá'ís strive to promote moral as well as
> material development of the peoples of the world.
> 
> Human Rights
> 
> Over the five decades since the United Nations was founded, there has
> emerged a growing understanding that the recognition and protection of
> human rights at the international level plays a fundamental role in the
> promotion of peace, democracy, social progress and economic prosperity.
> 
> Starting in 1948 with the all-important Universal Declaration of Human
> Rights, this understanding has given rise to the International Covenant on
> Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Social,
> Economic and Cultural Rights, which together are also known as the
> International Bill of Rights, as well as some 75 other conventions which
> identify and promote the rights of women and children, the right to freedom
> of worship, and development, to name but a few.
> 
> Viewed as a whole, it is worth noting that the international movement to
> recognize and codify human rights has risen in parallel with the everincreasing integration and interdependence of nations, cultures, and
> previously isolated peoples. The development of international human rights,
> in this sense, must be seen as yet another feature of the increasing maturation
> of humanity. And the continued development and emphasis on human rights
> is, likewise, a pre-condition for our continued advancement and progress.
> 
> For the worldwide Bahá'í community, activities in relation to international
> human rights have for the most part fallen into two areas: 1) the promotion of
> the concept of universal human rights in general; and, 2) efforts to protect
> specific Bahá'í communities that have been deprived of human rights, a
> process which has focused primarily on the persecution of the Bahá'í
> community of Iran.
> 
> As recognized in 1993 at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna,
> human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent. Upon reflection, it
> can be seen that these concepts stem from our underlying sense of oneness
> and the subconscious recognition that we are all parts of an interrelated
> whole.
> 
> The basic human rights which flow from this principle, as noted, are now
> widely recognized. They include, of course, the understanding that human
> rights must be applied irrespective of differences of racial background, ethnic
> origin, religious belief or national identity. They encompass the equality of
> women and men. And they comprehend that all individuals worldwide
> possess the same rights to freedom of investigation, information and religious
> practice. They also include an understanding that basic social, economic and
> cultural rights, such as the right to basic necessities such as food, shelter, and
> health care, also stem from the understanding that the benefits of medicine,
> science and technology, the products of agriculture, and the knowledge that is
> imparted by education come from a collective process of evolution that has
> led to the creation of our present day civilization. The fruits of civilization are
> the birthright of all, and steps to promote and protect human rights should
> keep this understanding clearly in the foreground.
> Bahá'í communities have promoted these and other similar concepts primarily
> at the international level, by participating at key United Nations conferences
> and meetings on human rights. At the local and national levels, Bahá'ís have
> promoted these ideas largely through the promotion of basic Bahá'í teachings,
> which are themselves supportive of these concepts. Indeed, Bahá'ís
> understand that at the most fundamental level, human rights are God-given
> rights.
> 
> In recent years, the systematic persecution of the Iranian Bahá'í community
> by the Government there has also been a major focus of Bahá'í activity in the
> realm of human rights as Bahá'ís around the world have sought to draw
> attention to the plight of their co-religionists.
> 
> Since 1979, Bahá'ís in Iran have suffered intimidation, discrimination,
> violence and even death simply because its religious beliefs differ from those
> held by the authorities. More than 200 Bahá'ís have been killed or executed
> and thousands more have been imprisoned, fired from their jobs, or deprived
> of access to education. All national Bahá'í administrative structures have been
> banned by the Government of Iran, and holy places, shrines and cemeteries
> have been confiscated or destroyed.
> 
> In response to international condemnation, the most violent aspects of this
> persecution had abated by the early 1990s -- although unequivocal evidence
> of a centrally orchestrated governmental campaign against the Bahá'í
> community came to light in 1993. Recent events, including the execution of a
> Bahá'í in Mashhad in July 1998, and the arrest in late September 1998 of 32
> faculty members of the Bahá'í Institute of Higher Education--an effort to
> provide education for Bahá'í youth who are denied educational opportunities
> by the Iranian authorities--demonstrate that whatever the official assertion of
> the Iranian Government, the Bahá'í community of Iran remains unprotected,
> and officials in that country can persecute the Bahá'ís at will and with
> impunity.
> 
> International efforts to ensure the basic human rights of the Iranian Bahá'ís
> continue. The successes so far in ameliorating what would otherwise have
> surely been the wholesale genocide of the Bahá'í community in Iran offers an
> important model for protecting minorities populations in general.
> The response of Bahá'ís to this persecution provides a glimpse into the
> community's spiritual reserves. In June 1983, when the persecution was
> reaching its peak, the Iranian authorities paraded the entire national
> leadership of the Tudeh (communist) Party on national television. The
> prisoners willingly confessed to every crime charged against them, and
> begged for their lives. During that same eventful month ten Bahá'í women
> and girls were subject to similar physical and mental abuse in an effort to
> coerce them to recant their Faith. Their persecutors did not dare to put them
> on television because these brutalities produced not a vestige of compliance.
> 
> Advancement of Women
> 
> The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the
> sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites
> of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half
> of the world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits
> that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and
> ultimately to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical,
> or biological, upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are
> welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavor will the moral
> and psychological climate be created in which international peace can
> emerge."
> 
> This position, taken from a statement on peace written by the Universal
> House of Justice in 1985, reiterates the teaching of Bahá'u'lláh that society
> must reorganize its life to give practical expression to the principle of
> equality between women and men.
> 
> Since its inception nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, the Bahá'í Faith
> has taught the equality of the sexes. Indeed, the Bahá'í Faith is the only
> independent world religion whose Founder has stated unequivocally that
> women and men are equal.
> 
> "Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God,"
> said Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> In accordance with this teaching, the worldwide Bahá'í community has been
> at the forefront of the movement to advance the rights of women for more
> than a century. And the Bahá'í approach, which advocates full equality and a
> firm sense of partnership between women and men, is increasingly
> recognized as being on the cutting edge of women's issues worldwide.
> 
> Bahá'ís understand, for example, that the values which women bring to
> human interaction are necessary to the proper functioning and advancement
> of modern society, and that qualities that have formerly been associated with
> the feminine sides of our natures--such as compassion, nurturing, cooperation
> and empathy--will be increasingly important in creating a peaceful, just, and
> sustainable world civilization.
> 
> Bahá'í institutions around the world promote various educational efforts for
> women, and work to raise the consciousness of both women and men about
> this fundamental equality. Many of its schools, learning centers, and
> grassroots social and economic development projects specifically include the
> promotion of women's advancement into their curricula or agendas.
> 
> Women compose approximately 30 percent of elected leadership in Bahá'í
> councils at the national level, comparing favorably to national parliaments,
> which average 10 percent women worldwide.
> 
> Bahá'í women have long been active in the struggle to promote women's
> equality. The Bahá'í Faith was founded in 1844 in Iran and among its early
> followers was Táhirih, a Persian poet and scholar. In 1852, she laid down her
> life in defense of her beliefs, which included her right to lay aside the veil and
> to work for the complete emancipation of women.
> 
> Laura Dreyfus-Barney, a member of the first Bahá'í community in Europe,
> was among the leading figures in promoting the advancement of women in
> the early years of this century. In the years after World War I, she focused her
> attention on mobilizing women for peace. She represented the International
> Council of Women (ICW) in the League of Nations and was President of
> ICW's Peace and Arbitration Commission.
> 
> After World War II, Ms. Dreyfus-Barney played an important role in the
> development of the relationship between the United Nations International
> Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and non-governmental organizations
> (NGOs).
> Martha Root, an American journalist from Pennsylvania, circled the globe
> several times in the 1920s and 1930s to promote the cause of women's
> equality--along with the other progressive principles of the Bahá'í Faith. With
> a unique facility for approaching high dignitaries, she took the Bahá'í
> message of interdependence and oneness to kings, queens, presidents,
> ministers, statesmen, professors, clergymen and poets in Europe, Asia, Africa
> and Australia.
> 
> Since the Bahá'í International Community (BIC) obtained consultative status
> with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1970, it
> has cooperated officially with the United Nations in its work to improve the
> status of women throughout the world.
> 
> The Bahá'í International Community has worked directly with the United
> Nations Commission on the Status of Women and its Secretariat, the UN
> Division for the Advancement of Women. In addition, the BIC has
> established close, cooperative relationships with other international nongovernmental organizations at the United Nations that seek to promote the
> advancement of women.
> 
> Initially the BIC contributed to the work of the United Nations by submitting
> statements to United Nations bodies, and in particular the Commission on the
> Status of Women, on various aspects of equality. Such statements have
> addressed the education of girls, the importance of elevating the status of
> women as mothers, the relevance of women's participation at local, national
> and international levels to the establishment of world peace.
> 
> As part of International Women's Year in 1975, the BIC participated in the
> first World Conference on Women, held in Mexico City. Two Bahá'í
> representatives were officially accredited to attend the Conference and nine
> representatives attended the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization)
> Tribune, the parallel meeting for non-governmental organizations.
> 
> During the next ten years, designated the United Nations Decade for Women,
> the Bahá'í International Community developed a solid reputation for its work
> promoting the advancement of women. BIC representatives served on NGO
> committees on the Status of Women in New York, Geneva and Vienna and
> participated in the World Conferences on Women held in Copenhagen,
> Denmark in l980, in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, and in Beijing, China in 1995.
> 
> The Community's representatives have also been involved in planning
> parallel activities for NGOs at these meetings. Relationships were established
> with major organizations worldwide whose focus is also the promotion of the
> advancement of women.
> 
> The BIC collaborates on an increasing basis with UN agencies such as the
> United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) the United Nations Development
> Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the United Nations Development Program
> (UNDP); and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).
> Perspectives and Profiles
> 
> Perspectives
> 
> Since its inception, the Bahá'í Faith has been intimately concerned with
> questions addressing the reconstruction and advancement of society. The
> teachings of Bahá'u'lláh are principally directed toward effecting a
> transformation in the spiritual and material conditions of humankind--a
> transformation that Bahá'u'lláh states "will ensure the freedom, well-being,
> tranquillity, exaltation and advancement of all men."
> 
> With every passing decade concepts that were bewildering or unthinkable
> when Bahá'u'lláh first identified and elaborated them have increasingly been
> accepted by leaders of thought and public opinion. Bahá'ís are therefore
> confident that the vision of global peace and prosperity set forth in the Bahá'í
> teachings will eventually be embraced by humanity.
> 
> Whether in areas of governance, community organization and identity,
> economic justice, social and economic development, the advancement of
> women, moral development, or human rights, the Bahá'í teachings offer
> unique perspectives on contemporary global trends and movements of social
> change. In this section, individual Bahá'í authors examine a variety of
> subjects of current interest. Also included are statements by various National
> Bahá'í institutions around the world. Essays by individual authors do not
> represent the official view of any Bahá'í institution.
> 
> Profiles
> 
> Around the globe, individual Bahá'ís and Bahá'í communities are giving
> creative expression to insights found in the Bahá'í teachings. "Let your vision
> be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self," wrote
> Bahá'u'lláh. Whether in the arts, youth initiatives, or in formal involvement
> with the United Nations, Bahá'ís everywhere are seeking to promote greater
> understanding and dialogue among diverse cultures, religions, and peoples.
> This section highlights a few of the many activities undertaken by Bahá'ís.
> Footnotes
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985), p.
> 20.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969), p. 129.
> return
> Universal House of Justice, The Constitution of the Universal House of
> Justice (Bahá'í World Centre, 1972), p. 4.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 149.
> return
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 68.
> return
> Ibid., p. 27.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1985), p. 172.
> return
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 221.
> return
> The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1968), p. 14.
> return
> Universal House of Justice, Wellspring of Guidance (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1969), p. 13.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 109.
> return
> The Constitution of the Universal House of Justice, p. 5.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1912. 11th ed.
> 1969), p. 136.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 20.
> return
> Letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual, 3
> January 1982.
> return
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 89.
> return
> Ibid., p. 125.
> return
> Adapted from William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin, The Bahá'í Faith:
> The Emerging Global Religion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), pp.
> 74-75, 123-26.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), pp. 64-65.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 261-62.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1981), pp. 220-21.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 177-79.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 49.
> return
> Adapted from William S. Hatcher and Douglas Martin, The Bahá'í Faith: The
> Emerging Global Religion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), pp. 87-
> 89.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 49-50.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 105-06.
> return
> In this connection, Bahá'ís regard Bahá'u'lláh as the "complete incarnation of
> the names and attributes of God." See Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of
> Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1974), p. 112.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 222.
> return
> Adapted from William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin, The Bahá'í Faith:
> The Emerging Global Religion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), pp.
> 115-123.
> return
> An objective discussion of this fundamental question of the nature of what
> Bahá'ís refer to as the Manifestation of God is made more difficult by
> traditional loyalties. Orthodox followers of each Manifestation have tended to
> claim some kind of uniqueness or superiority for the Founder of their faith.
> For example, many Christians view Jesus Christ as God incarnate, consider
> Moses to be inferior Him in some way, and regard Muhammad as an
> imposter. A majority of orthodox Jews see Moses as the human vehicle
> through which the Law of God was transmitted to humanity and consider
> Jesus Christ to be a false prophet. Muslims consider both Moses and Jesus
> Christ to be valid prophets, but the majority reject the Buddha and the
> Founders of other major faiths. For them, Muhammad was the last prophet
> whom God will send to man, and revelation of the Divine Will ended with
> the Qur'an.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), pp. 47-48.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 287-88.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp.59-60.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 52.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1922. 2nd edition 1982, p. 181.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1981), pp. 151-52.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 154.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, High Endeavours, Messages to Alaska (National Spiritual
> Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Alaska, 1976), p. 71.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pp. 157-59.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pp. 230-31.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 164.
> return
> Adapted from William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin, The Bahá'í Faith:
> The Emerging Global Religion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), pp.
> 81-84.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d. rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), pp. 287-88.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, "The Faith of Bahá'u'lláh" in World Order, Vol. 7, No. 2
> (1972-73), p.7.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), pp. 158-59.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1939. 2d rev. ed. 1976), p. 194.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 153-55.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks: Addresses given by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris in
> 1911-1912, 11th ed. (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969), p. 91.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 81-82.
> return
> From a letter date 27 February 1938 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an
> individual believer.
> return
> Adapted from William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin, The Bahá'í Faith:
> The Emerging Global Religion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), pp.
> 99-104.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), p. 70.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 65.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 264-66.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 68.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, pp. 79-80.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969), p. 143.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 215.
> return
> Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, published in Bahá'í News 102
> (August 1936), p. 3.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d. rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), p. 149.
> return
> Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh p. 285.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985), p.
> 9.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, quoted in Trustworthiness: A Compilation of Extracts from the
> Bahá'í Writings (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1987), p. 5.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 138.
> return
> Trustworthiness, p. 5.
> return
> Ibid., p. 2; and Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice (Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1984), p. 25.
> return
> Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 93-94.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969), p. 146.
> return
> The Hidden Words, p. 3.
> return
> Adapted from William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin, The Bahá'í Faith:
> The Emerging Global Religion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), pp.
> 108-114.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969), pp. 89-
> 90. However, there are inherent limits to human spiritual development,
> whether in this world or the next. The Bahá'í writings affirm that human
> beings can approach but never attain a state of absolute perfection. `Abdu'l-
> Bahá states: "If it were possible to reach a limit of perfection, then one of the
> realities of the beings might reach the condition of being independent of God,
> and the contingent might attain to the condition of the absolute. But for every
> being there is a point which it cannot overpass...he who is in the condition of
> servitude, however far he may progress in gaining limitless perfections, will
> never reach the condition of Deity...All that he can do is, in the condition of
> servitude, to attain endless perfections..." `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered
> Questions (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981) pp. 230-31.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Divine Art of Living (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1944), p. 92.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 215 (1981 ed.).
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh explained that references to Satan in the Scriptures of earlier
> religions are symbolic and should not be taken literally. Satan is the
> personification of man's lower nature which can destroy him if it is not
> brought into harmony with his spiritual nature. There is, in fact, a well-known
> philosophical problem concerning God's goodness and omnipotence and the
> possible existence of a Satan. This problem is discussed in some detail in
> both the writings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá. In the same way, heaven
> and hell are, Bahá'u'lláh taught, not literal places. Rather, they symbolize the
> psychological and spiritual states of being close to God or far from him.
> Heaven is the natural consequence of spiritual progress while Hell represents
> the results of failure to progress spiritually.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pp. 214-215 (1981 ed.).
> return
> In this connection, Bahá'u'lláh has said: "...man should know his own self and
> know those things which lead to loftiness or to baseness, to shame or to
> honor." Bahá'u'lláh in Bahá'í World Faith (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1976), p. 167.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1993), par. 1.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), pp. 4-5.
> return
> A.L.M. Nicolas, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad dit le Báb (Paris: Librairie Critique,
> 1908), pp. 203-4, 376. Quoted in The Dawnbreakers, p. 515 (footnote).
> return
> Throughout the past century, the Bahá'ís of Iran have been persecuted. With
> the triumph of the Islamic revolution in 1979, this persecution has been
> systematized. More than 200 Bahá'ís have been executed or killed, hundreds
> more have been imprisoned, and tens of thousands have been deprived of
> jobs, pensions, businesses, and educational opportunities. All national and
> local Bahá'í administrative institutions have been banned by the Government,
> and Bahá'í holy places, cemeteries and community properties have been
> confiscated, vandalized, or destroyed.
> 
> The 300,000-member Bahá'í community is the largest religious minority in
> that country, and Bahá'ís have been oppressed solely because of religious
> intolerance. Islamic leaders in Iran and elsewhere have long viewed the
> Bahá'í Faith as a threat to Islam and have branded the Bahá'ís as heretics. The
> progressive stands of the Faith on women's rights, independent investigation
> of truth, and education have particularly rankled Muslim clerics.
> 
> In June 1983, for example, the Iranian authorities arrested ten Bahá'í women
> and girls. The charge against them: teaching children's classes on the Bahá'í
> Faith -- the equivalent of Sunday school in the West.
> 
> The women were subjected to intense physical and mental abuse in an effort
> to coerce them to recant their Faith -- an option that is always pressed on
> Bahá'í prisoners. Yet, like most Bahá'ís who have been arrested in Iran, they
> refused to deny their beliefs. As a result, they were executed.
> 
> Similar attempts to force Iranian Bahá'ís to deny their beliefs have continued,
> although the Government has recently refrained from the worst human rights
> violations - killings and imprisonments - in the face of international pressure.
> 
> As recently as August 2004, Iranian authorities sought to force Iranian Bahá'í
> youth to identify themselves as Muslims by pre-printing "Islam" on college
> examination forms after holding out the prospect that Bahá'ís would be
> allowed to return to university after two decades of exclusion. Because
> Bahá'ís do not as a matter of religious principle misrepresent their faith, the
> move effectively extends the ban on Bahá'í students at national universities -
> a ban that has sought to deprive an entire generation of higher education.
> In early 2004, as well, the Government allowed the destruction of two
> important Bahá'í holy places. In April, the gravesite of Quddus, a prominent
> figure in early Baha'i history, was razed to the ground, despite protests from
> Baha'is at the local, national, and international levels. In June 2004, the
> Government destroyed another holy site, the house of Mirza Abbas Nuri, the
> father of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> The destruction of that building was made all the more terrible because Mirza
> Abbas Nuri was widely known as a great nineteenth century statesman,
> calligrapher and literary figure. His house was considered a precious example
> of Islamic-Iranian architecture, "a matchless model of art, spirituality, and
> architecture," as one Iranian commentator said.
> 
> These recent episodes reflect the continuation of a policy established by the
> Government of Iran that systematically seeks to destroy Iran's Bahá'í
> community as a viable entity. That policy came to light in 1993 with the
> discovery of a secret memorandum aimed at establishing a coordinated policy
> regarding "the Bahá'í question." Drafted by the Supreme Revolutionary
> Cultural Council and signed by Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic
> Republic of Iran, the document states unequivocally that the "progress and
> development" of the Bahá'í community "shall be blocked."
> 
> Such a statement flatly contravenes the Government's oft-repeated contention
> that it has no campaign of persecution directed against the Bahá'ís. To this
> day, the Government has not retracted this document or offered any
> indication that it has changed its mind about its long-held and deep-seated
> determination to eradicate the Bahá'í community of Iran.
> 
> Bahá'ís in many different localities in Iran are still subjected to arbitrary
> arrest, short-term detention, and persistent harassment, intimidation and
> discrimination. All attempts to obtain redress are systematically denied as
> officials continue to confiscate Bahá'í homes, deny them their rightfully
> earned pensions and inheritance, block their access to employment or impede
> their private business activities. The authorities also interfere with classes
> given to Bahá'í youth in private houses and persist in banning the sacred
> institutions that perform, in the Bahá'í Faith, important functions reserved to
> clergy in other religions.
> International pressure has greatly helped to protect Iran's Bahá'í community
> from wholesale eradication. Since 1979, thousands of newspaper articles
> about the situation of the Bahá'ís in Iran have appeared around the world.
> Prominent international organizations, including the European Parliament and
> several national legislatures, have passed resolutions condemning or
> expressing concern about the Bahá'ís of Iran. Most important, the United
> Nations Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly have
> pressed the Iranian regime to observe international human rights covenants
> with resolutions -- resolutions that have paid specific attention to the Bahá'í
> situation.
> 
> In the face of such pressure, the Iranian Government in the late 1980s
> reduced the rate of executions and the number of Bahá'ís held in prison.
> 
> The most recent documented killing of a Bahá'í in Iran was carried out on 21
> July 1998, when Mr. Rúhullah Rawhani, a Bahá'í businessman and father of
> four in Mashhad, was executed. Mr. Rawhani was not accorded any legal
> process or access to a lawyer and no sentence had been announced.
> 
> Yet, even though the killing of Bahá'ís in Iran has subsided, there is no
> evidence that conditions for the Bahá'í community in Iran have changed. The
> Bahá'ís of Iran continue to be denied fundamental human rights, including the
> right to practice their religion freely. The full emancipation of this peaceful,
> law-abiding community therefore remains a central concern of Bahá'ís around
> the world.
> return
> Statement prepared by the Bahá'í International Community's Office of Public
> Information, Haifa, Israel, 3 March 1995.
> return
> Remarks by Deputy Luis Gushiken and Deputy Rita Camata. "Sessão Solene
> da Câmara Federal em Homenagem ao Centenario da Ascensão de
> Bahá'u'lláh", Brasilia, 28 May 1992.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1997), p. 69.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1988), p. 14.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, section CXXXI.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by
> `Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912, rev.
> ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), pp. 74, 126.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, section CXI.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, section XCVI.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, quoted in Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1990), p. 79.
> return
> Selections from the Writings of the Báb (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1976),
> p. 50, 61.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, section CXX.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, no. 2 from the Arabic.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1997), p. 67.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, section CVI.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, section IV.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, section IV.
> return
> A Statement of the Bahá'í International Community on the Occasion of the
> 50th Anniversary of the United Nations, Bahá'í International Community,
> United Nations Office, New York, October 1995
> return
> Boutros-Ghali, Boutros. 1992. An Agenda for Peace: Peace-making and
> Peace-Keeping. (Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to the Statement
> Adopted by the Summit Meeting of the Security Council, January 31, New
> York: United Nations.)
> return
> Surely the preamble to the charter of the United Nations is among the most
> inspired passages in the history of human governance:
> 
> "WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
> 
> "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our
> lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
> 
> "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of
> the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large
> and small, and
> 
> "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations
> arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained,
> and
> 
> "to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
> 
> "AND FOR THESE ENDS
> 
> "to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good
> neighbors, and
> 
> "to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
> 
> "to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institutions of methods,
> that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
> 
> "to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and
> social advancement of all peoples,
> 
> "HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH
> THESE AIMS.
> 
> "Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives
> assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers
> found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the
> United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be
> known as the United Nations."
> 
> United Nations. 1994. Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the
> International Court of Justice. United Nations Department of Public
> Information. DPI/511 - 93243 - April 1994 - 40M.
> return
> The World Bank. 1994. World Development Report. (Oxford: Oxford
> University Press.) pp. 162 - 163.
> return
> Ibid., p. 77.
> return
> There have been a number of recent proposals which discuss the need for
> reforms in the United Nations system within a particular issue area. Our
> Common Future, the report of The World Commission on Environment and
> Development, for example, suggested a number of changes, such as the
> creation of a special UN "Board for Sustainable Development" to coordinate
> UN action in promoting development while protecting the environment.
> 
> The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common
> Future. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.)
> 
> Likewise, the report of The Brandt Commission, Common Crisis North-
> South: Co-operation for World Recovery, makes suggestions for reform in
> the critical area of finance, trade and energy, as they affect North-South
> imbalances.
> 
> The Brandt Commission, Common Crisis North-South: Co-operation for
> World Recovery. (London: Pan Books, 1983.)
> 
> The literature proposing widespread changes in the United Nations is also
> voluminous and continues to grow, especially in anticipation of the 50th
> anniversary of the United Nations. The first major and serious reassessments
> of the United Nations began in the 1950s, in anticipation of the 10th
> anniversary of the Charter. In this regard the publication in 1958 of World
> Peace Through World Law by Louis B. Sohn and Grenville Clark, which was
> among the first solid proposals to suggest eliminating the veto power, must
> be considered a milestone.
> 
> Grenville Clark, and Louis B. Sohn, World Peace Through World Law.
> (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966.)
> 
> More recent proposals range from The Stockholm Initiative, which offers a
> generalist vision of what might be done to strengthen the United Nations, to
> Harold Stassen's recent United Nations: a Working Paper for Restructuring,
> which gives an article-by-article proposal for rewriting the UN Charter.
> Benjamin Ferencz's latest book, New Legal Foundations for Global Survival,
> offers a series of hard-headed and legal-minded suggestions for reform based
> on the premise that nations, peoples and individuals must be free to pursue
> their destinies in whatever way they may see fit - providing it does not
> jeopardize or destroy the fundamental human rights of others to live in peace
> and dignity.
> 
> The Stockholm Initiative on Global Security and Governance 1991. Common
> Responsibility in the 1990's. (Stockholm: Prime Minister's Office,
> Stockholm, Sweden.)
> 
> Harold Stassen, United Nations: A Working Paper for Restructuring.
> (Minneapolis: Learner Publications Company, 1994.)
> 
> Benjamin Ferencz, New Legal Foundations for Global Survival. (Oceana
> Publications, 1994)
> return
> The Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighborhood. (New
> York: Oxford University Press, 1995.)
> return
> Many thinkers have recognized the reality of oneness and understood its
> implications for the development of human society, including paleontologist
> Richard Leaky: "We are one species, one people. Every individual on this
> earth is a member of 'homo sapiens sapiens', and the geographical variations
> we see among peoples are simply biological nuances on the basic theme. The
> human capacity for culture permits its elaboration in widely different and
> colorful ways. The often very deep differences between those cultures should
> not be seen as divisions between people. Instead, cultures should be
> interpreted for what they really are: the ultimate declaration of belonging to
> the human species."
> 
> Richard E. Leakey, and Rodger Lewin, Origins: What new discoveries reveal
> about the emergence of our species and its possible future. (New York:
> Dutton, 1977.)
> 
> In general terms, the writings of Shoghi Effendi offer a thorough and
> extended exposition on the concept of the oneness of humanity. A brief
> summary of the concept, as Bahá'ís view it, can be found in The World Order
> of Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust. 1938.) pp. 42-43.
> return
> We are not alone in making this proposal. The Commission on Global
> Governance writes in Our Global Neighborhood: "Our recommendation is
> that the General Assembly should agree to hold a World Conference on
> Governance in 1998, with its decisions to be ratified and put into effect by
> 2000."
> 
> The Report of the Commission on Global Governance, Our Global
> Neighborhood. (New York: Oxford University Press. 1995.) p.351.
> return
> Two commonly used maxims illustrate this principle. "Small is beautiful," a
> maxim coined in the early '70s as an economic principle, applies equally to
> governance. Schumacher explains: "In the affairs of men, there always
> appears to be a need for at least two things simultaneously, which, on the face
> of it, seem to be incompatible and to exclude one another. We always need
> both freedom and order. We need the freedom of lots and lots of small,
> autonomous unities, and, at the same time, the orderliness of large-scale,
> possibly global, unity and coordination."
> 
> E. F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered.
> (New York: Harper and Row, 1973.) p. 65.
> 
> "Think globally, act locally," a slogan promoted by environmental and
> community development activists, captures a perspective in which the need
> for overall global coordination is carefully balanced against the need for local
> and national autonomy.
> return
> "Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society... [a
> system of world governance] seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its
> institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world.
> It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential
> loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent
> patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so
> essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not
> ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of
> climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that
> differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty,
> for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists
> upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative
> claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand,
> and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other."
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust. 1974.) pp. 41-42.
> return
> Writing in the 1930s, Shoghi Effendi, who then led the worldwide Bahá'í
> community, sketched out some of the functions and responsibilities for a
> future world legislature. Among other things, he wrote: "a world legislature,
> whose members will, as trustees of the whole of mankind... enact such laws
> as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the
> relationships of all races and peoples."
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust. 1974.) p. 203.
> 
> This view is shared by such scholars as Jan Tinbergen, winner of the 1969
> Nobel prize for Economics, who stated, "Mankind's problems can no longer
> be solved by national governments. What is needed is a World Government.
> This can best be achieved by strengthening the United Nations system."
> 
> United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Human Development
> Report 1994. Global Governance for the 21st Century. (New York: Oxford
> University Press.) p.88.
> return
> Bahá'í International Community. Proposals to the United Nations for Charter
> Revision. May 23, 1955.
> return
> Throughout His writings, Bahá'u'lláh consistently uses the terms "order",
> "world order" and "new world order" to describe the ongoing and momentous
> series of changes in the political, social and religious life of the world. In the
> late 1860s, He wrote: "The world's equilibrium hath been upset through the
> vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's
> ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this
> wondrous System - the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed."
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Aqdas. Translated by Shoghi Effendi and a
> Committee at the Bahá'í World Centre. (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1992.)
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail.
> (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1957.) p. 24.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Divine Art of Living (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1944), pp. 109-110.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 62.
> return
> United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), States
> of Disarray: The Social Effects of Globalization. (London: KPC Group.
> 1995) pp. 106-109.
> return
> There are many ways that such a Commission, or even the World Legislature
> itself, might go about determining fair and just borders for all nations. But as
> daunting as the task may seem, it is an important part of the process of
> building a new order. Wrote 'Abdu'l-Bahá "True civilization will unfurl its
> banner in the midmost heart of the world whenever a certain number of its
> distinguished and high-minded sovereigns -- the shining exemplars of
> devotion and determination -- shall, for the good and happiness of all
> mankind, arise, with firm resolve and clear vision, to establish the Cause of
> Universal Peace. They must make the Cause of Peace the object of general
> consultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union of
> the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and establish a
> covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable and definite.
> They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the
> human race. This supreme and noble undertaking -- the real source of the
> peace and well-being of all the world -- should be regarded as sacred by all
> that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to ensure
> the stability and permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In this allembracing Pact the limits and frontiers of each and every nation should be
> clearly fixed, the principles underlying the relations of governments towards
> one another definitely laid down, and all international agreements and
> obligations ascertained. In like manner, the size of the armaments of every
> government should be strictly limited, for if the preparations for war and the
> military forces of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will arouse
> the suspicion of others. The fundamental principle underlying this solemn
> Pact should be so fixed that if any government later violate any one of its
> provisions, all the governments on earth should arise to reduce it to utter
> submission, nay the human race as a whole should resolve, with every power
> at its disposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all
> remedies be applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover
> from its ills and will remain eternally safe and secure."
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail.
> (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1957.) pp. 64-65.
> return
> According to a recent article in The New York Times, charitable giving in the
> United States in 1994 rose by 3.6 percent to $130 billion.
> 
> Karen W. Arenson, "Charitable Giving Rose 3.6% in 1994, Philanthropy
> Trust Says," The New York Times, Thursday, 25 May 1995, sec. A, p.22.
> return
> "Regarding the whole question of an International Language.... We, as
> Bahá'ís, are very anxious to see a universal auxiliary tongue adopted as soon
> as possible; we are not the protagonists of any one language to fill this post.
> If the governments of the world agree on an existing language, or a
> constructed, new tongue, to be used internationally, we would heartily
> support it because we desire to see this step in the unification of the human
> race take place as soon as possible."
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, Directives of the Guardian. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust.) p.39.
> 
> In making this proposal, we wish to call attention to the term "auxiliary." The
> Bahá'í teachings value and promote cultural diversity, not uniformity. At this
> point in history, then, we do not envision imposing a single language
> worldwide. Rather, what we imagine is that peoples and nations would keep
> their own local and national languages -- while at the same time be
> encouraged to learn a universal language. Certainly such a universal language
> should ultimately be taught, as a required subject, in all of the world's
> schools. But this should in no way detract from legitimate expressions of
> national and local linguistic and cultural diversity.
> return
> "The day is approaching when all the peoples of the world will have adopted
> one universal language and one common script," wrote Bahá'u'lláh in the late-
> 1800s. "When this is achieved, to whatsoever city a man may journey, it shall
> be as if he were entering his own home."
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, trans., Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh.
> (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1983.) p.250.
> return
> In a "special contribution" to the 1994 Human Development Report, James
> Tobin, winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Economics, observes that "a
> permanent single currency" would eliminate much if not all of the turbulence
> currently associated with the huge amount of currency speculation on world
> markets today. Observing that such a single world currency is probably a
> long way off, he proposes as an interim measure an "international uniform
> tax" on spot transactions in foreign exchange.
> 
> United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Human Development
> Report 1994. A Tax on International Currency Transactions. (New York:
> Oxford University Press.) p.70.
> return
> The principle of collective security was put forth by Bahá'u'lláh over a
> century ago in letters to the kings and rulers of the world: "Be united, O kings
> of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you,
> and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should anyone
> among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is
> naught but manifest justice."
> 
> Shoghi Effendi, trans. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. (Wilmette,
> Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1976.) p.254.
> return
> The Report of the Independent Working Group on the Future of the United
> Nations. The United Nations in its Second Half-Century. (Yale University
> Press Service, 1995.) p. 16.
> return
> Glenview Foundation, The Stassen Draft Charter for a New United Nations
> to Emerge from the Original, to Serve World Peace and Progress for the Next
> Forty Years. (Philadelphia: Glenview Foundation. 1985.)
> 
> Grenville Clark and Louis B. Sohn, World Peace Through World Law.
> (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966.)
> 
> Keith Hindell, "Reform of the United Nations?" in The World Today: Journal
> of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. (United Kingdom, Feb. 1992.)
> Vol. 48, No. 2. pp. 30-33.
> 
> John Logue, "New World Order Means Reformed UN", World Federalist
> News, July 1992.
> 
> Benjamin B. Ferencz and Ken Keyes Jr., Planethood: The Key to Your
> Future. (Coos Bay, Oregon: Love Line Books. 1991.)
> 
> Boutros-Ghali, Boutros. 1992. An Agenda for Peace: Peace-making and
> Peace-Keeping. Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to the Statement
> Adopted by the Summit Meeting of the Security Council, January 31, New
> York: United Nations.
> return
> This is not to say that steps to ban such weapons should await the full
> development and deployment of such a Force. We wholeheartedly support
> current steps to renew the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear
> Weapons and to firmly establish a comprehensive test ban, as well as any
> further efforts to eliminate nuclear, chemical and/or biological weapons.
> Likewise, stronger efforts must be made to restrict and control conventional
> weapons such as land mines, which kill indiscriminately.
> return
> Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 106.
> return
> Mahbub ul Haq, 1994. Senior Advisor to UNDP Administrator. Team Leader
> of the Group that prepares the UNDP annual Human Development Reports
> which have brought, in recent years, fresh insights to development theory and
> practice, including a new concept on human security
> return
> Erskine Childers, ed. Challenges to the United Nations: Building a Safer
> World. (New York: St. Martin's Press. 1994.) pp. 21-25.
> return
> John Huddleston, The Search for a Just Society. (Kidlington, Oxford: George
> Ronald. 1989.)
> return
> About 75 years ago 'Abdu'l-Bahá offered the following suggestions for a
> future world court: "the national assemblies of each country and nation -- that
> is to say parliaments -- should elect two or three persons who are the choicest
> of that nation, and are well informed concerning international laws and the
> relations between governments and aware of the essential needs of the world
> of humanity in this day. The number of these representatives should be in
> proportion to the number of inhabitants of that country. The election of these
> souls who are chosen by the national assembly, that is, the parliament, must
> be confirmed by the upper house, the congress and the cabinet and also by the
> president or monarch so these persons may be the elected ones of all the
> nation and the government. The Supreme Tribunal will be composed of these
> people, and all mankind will thus have a share therein, for every one of these
> delegates is fully representative of his nation. When the Supreme Tribunal
> gives a ruling on any international question, either unanimously or by
> majority rule, there will no longer be any pretext for the plaintiff or ground of
> objection for the defendant. In case any of the governments or nations, in the
> execution of the irrefutable decision of the Supreme Tribunal, be negligent or
> dilatory, the rest of the nations will rise up against it, because all the
> governments and nations of the world are the supporters of this Supreme
> Tribunal. Consider what a firm foundation this is! But by a limited and
> restricted League the purpose will not be realized as it ought and should."
> 
> Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Compiled by the Research
> Department of the Universal House of Justice. Translated by a Committee at
> the Bahá'í World Centre and by Marzieh Gail. (Great Britain: W & J Mackay
> Ltd. 1978.) pp. 306-307.
> return
> At the present time, for example, the Court's jurisdiction is limited to 1) cases
> which the parties refer to it jointly by special agreement, 2) matters
> concerning a treaty or convention in force which provides for reference to the
> Court, and 3) specified classes of legal disputes between States for which
> they have recognized the jurisdiction of the Court as compulsory.
> 
> Europa World Year Book 1994. Vol. I. International Court of Justice. p.22.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, trans. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. (Wilmette,
> Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1983.) p.260.
> 
> "The primary most urgent requirement is the promotion of education. It is
> inconceivable that any nation should achieve prosperity and success unless
> this paramount, this fundamental concern is carried forward. The principal
> reason for the decline and fall of peoples is ignorance. Today the mass of the
> people are uninformed even as to ordinary affairs, how much less do they
> grasp the core of the important problems and complex needs of the time."
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail.
> (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1957.) p.109.
> 
> "This same difference is noticeable among animals; some have been
> domesticated, educated, others left wild. The proof is clear that the world of
> nature is imperfect, the world of education perfect. That is to say, man is
> rescued from the exigencies of nature by training and culture; consequently,
> education is necessary, obligatory. But education is of various kinds. There is
> a training and development of the physical body which ensures strength and
> growth. There is intellectual education or mental training for which schools
> and colleges are founded. The third kind of education is that of the spirit.
> Through the breaths of the Holy Spirit man is uplifted into the world of
> moralities and illumined by the lights of divine bestowals. The moral world is
> only attained through the effulgence of the Sun of Reality and the quickening
> life of the divine spirit."
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in a Talk delivered in St. Paul on 20 September 1912. The
> Promulgation of Universal Peace. p.329-330.
> return
> Governments and their partners must bear in mind that material equality is
> neither achievable nor desirable. Absolute equality is a chimera. At various
> points along the way, there will nevertheless be the necessity for the
> redistribution of some of the world's wealth. For, indeed, it is becoming
> increasingly obvious that unbridled capitalism does not provide the answer
> either. Some regulation and redistribution is necessary to promote material
> justice. In this regard, a tax on income is, in principle, one of the fairest and
> most equitable means. There must also be a role for the voluntary sharing of
> wealth -- both at an individual and an institutional level. Equal opportunities
> for economic advancement and progress, however, must be woven into the
> very fabric of the new order. Ultimately, the most important regulation on
> any economic system is the moral regulation that begins in the hearts and
> minds of people.
> return
> The establishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a
> commendable first step in the right direction and may be useful in the long
> run, as one of the tools that could be the basis for funding Agenda 21, if its
> operational scale is enlarged and its mandate redefined.
> return
> World Conference on Human Rights. Vienna Declaration and Programme of
> Action. 14-25 June 1993. Vienna-Austria.
> return
> A further elaboration of this concept can be found in The Prosperity of
> Humankind, a statement of the Bahá'í International Community, Office of
> Public Information, published in February 1995: "The activity most
> intimately linked to the consciousness that distinguishes human nature is the
> individual's exploration of reality for himself or herself. The freedom to
> investigate the purpose of existence and to develop the endowments of
> human nature that make it achievable requires protection. Human beings
> must be free to know. That such freedom is often abused and such abuse
> grossly encouraged by features of contemporary society does not detract in
> any degree from the validity of the impulse itself.
> 
> "It is this distinguishing impulse of human consciousness that provides the
> moral imperative for the enunciation of many of the rights enshrined in the
> Universal Declaration and the related Covenants. Universal education,
> freedom of movement, access to information, and the opportunity to
> participate in political life are all aspects of its operation that require explicit
> guarantee by the international community. The same is true of freedom of
> thought and belief, including religious liberty, along with the right to hold
> opinions and express these opinions appropriately.
> 
> "Since the body of humankind is one and indivisible, each member of the
> race is born into the world as a trust of the whole. This trusteeship constitutes
> the moral foundation of most of the other rights -- principally economic and
> social -- which the instruments of the United Nations are attempting similarly
> to define. The security of the family and the home, the ownership of property,
> and the right to privacy are all implied in such a trusteeship. The obligations
> on the part of the community extend to the provision of employment, mental
> and physical health care, social security, fair wages, rest and recreation, and a
> host of other reasonable expectations on the part of the individual members
> of society.
> 
> "The principle of collective trusteeship creates also the right of every person
> to expect that those cultural conditions essential to his or her identity enjoy
> the protection of national and international law. Much like the role played by
> the gene pool in the biological life of humankind and its environment, the
> immense wealth of cultural diversity achieved over thousands of years is vital
> to the social and economic development of a human race experiencing its
> collective coming-of-age. It represents a heritage that must be permitted to
> bear its fruit in a global civilization. On the one hand, cultural expressions
> need to be protected from suffocation by the materialistic influences currently
> holding sway. On the other, cultures must be enabled to interact with one
> another in ever-changing patterns of civilization, free of manipulation for
> partisan political ends."
> 
> Bahá'í International Community, Office of Public Information, The
> Prosperity of Humankind. (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre. 1995.)
> return
> Ibid, p. 85.
> return
> Ultimately, respect for human rights must begin in the family: "Compare the
> nations of the world to the members of a family. A family is a nation in
> miniature. Simply enlarge the circle of the household, and you have the
> nation. Enlarge the circle of nations, and you have all humanity. The
> conditions surrounding the family surround the nation. The happenings in the
> family are the happenings in the life of the nation. Would it add to the
> progress and advancement of a family if dissensions should arise among its
> members, all fighting, pillaging each other, jealous and revengeful of injury,
> seeking selfish advantage? Nay, this would be the cause of the effacement of
> progress and advancement. So it is in the great family of nations, for nations
> are but an aggregate of families. Therefore, as strife and dissension destroy a
> family and prevent its progress, so nations are destroyed and advancement
> hindered."
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912.
> Comp. Howard MacNutt. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1982.)
> p.157.
> return
> "When all mankind shall receive the same opportunity of education and the
> equality of men and women be realized, the foundations of war will be utterly
> destroyed. Without equality this will be impossible because all differences
> and distinction are conducive to discord and strife. Equality between men and
> women is conducive to the abolition of warfare for the reason that women
> will never be willing to sanction it. Mothers will not give their sons as
> sacrifices upon the battlefield after twenty years of anxiety and loving
> devotion in rearing them from infancy, no matter what cause they are called
> upon to defend. There is no doubt that when women obtain equality of rights,
> war will entirely cease among mankind."
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace. Comp. Howard
> MacNutt. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1982.) pp. 174-175.
> return
> "Let it be known once more that until woman and man recognize and realize
> equality, social and political progress here or anywhere will not be possible.
> For the world of humanity consists of two parts or members: one is woman;
> the other is man. Until these two members are equal in strength, the oneness
> of humanity cannot be established, and the happiness and felicity of mankind
> will not be a reality. God willing, this is to be so." From a Talk by 'Abdu'l-
> Bahá to Federation of Women's Clubs, Chicago, Illinois on 2 May 1912.
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust. 1982.) p.77.
> return
> "The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over
> woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body
> and mind. But the balance is already shifting -- force is losing its weight and
> mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in
> which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be
> an age less masculine, and more permeated with the feminine ideals -- or, to
> speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine
> elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced."
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, quoted in John E. Esslemont, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, p.
> 156., 4th rev. ed., 1976, Wilmette: Bahá'í Books, published by Pyramid
> Publications for Bahá'í Publishing Trust.
> return
> This principle, that women and girls should receive priority over men and
> boys in access to education, has been a long-standing principle in the Bahá'í
> teachings. Speaking in 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá said: "In proclaiming the oneness
> of mankind [Bahá'u'lláh] taught that men and women are equal in the sight of
> God and that there is no distinction to be made between them. The only
> difference between them now is due to lack of education and training. If
> woman is given equal opportunity of education, distinction and estimate of
> inferiority will disappear.... Furthermore, the education of women is of
> greater importance than the education of men, for they are the mothers of the
> race, and mothers rear the children. The first teachers of children are the
> mothers. Therefore, they must be capably trained in order to educate both
> sons and daughters. There are many provisions in the words of Bahá'u'lláh in
> regard to this.
> 
> "He promulgated the adoption of the same course of education for man and
> woman. Daughters and sons must follow the same curriculum of study,
> thereby promoting unity of the sexes."
> 
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace. Comp. Howard
> MacNutt. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1982.) pp. 174-175.
> return
> Lawrence H. Summers, Vice President & Chief Economist for the World
> Bank, Investing in All the People. 1992. Also, USAID. 1989. Technical
> Reports in Gender and Development. Making the Case for the Gender
> Variable: Women and the Wealth and Well-being of Nations. Office of
> Women in Development.
> return
> Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Compiled by the Research
> Department of the Universal House of Justice. Translated by a Committee at
> the Bahá'í World Centre and by Marzieh Gail. (Great Britain: W & J. Mackay
> Ltd. 1978.) p.302.
> return
> The Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women.
> As adopted by the World Conference to Review and Appraise the
> Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality,
> Development and Peace, Nairobi, Kenya, 15-26 July 1985.
> return
> Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Compiled by the Research
> Department of the Universal House of Justice. Translated by a Committee at
> the Bahá'í World Centre and by Marzieh Gail. (Great Britain: W & J. Mackay
> Ltd. 1978.) p.303.
> return
> The interfaith declaration entitled "Towards a Global Ethic," which was
> produced by an assembly of religious and spiritual leaders from virtually
> every major world religion and spiritual movement at the 1993 Parliament of
> the World's Religions in Chicago, suggests that it is indeed possible for the
> world's religions to find much common ground in this regard. The declaration
> states: "We affirm that a common set of core values is found in the teachings
> of the religions, and that these form the basis of a global ethic... There already
> exist ancient guidelines for human behavior which are found in the teachings
> of the religions of the world and which are the condition for a sustainable
> world order."
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 12.
> return
> The Golden Rule, the teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves
> would wish to be treated, is an ethic variously repeated in all the great
> religions:
> 
> Buddhism: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful."
> Udana-Varqa, 5:18.
> 
> Zoroastrianism: "That nature only is good when it shall not do unto another
> whatever is not good for its own self." Dadistan-i Dinik, 94:5.
> 
> Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the
> entire Law, all the rest is commentary." The Talmud, Shabbat, 31a.
> 
> Hinduism: "This is the sum of all true righteousness: deal with others as thou
> wouldst thyself be dealt by. Do nothing to thy neighbour which thou wouldst
> not have him do to thee after." The Mahabharata.
> 
> Christianity: "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them
> likewise." Luke 6:31.
> 
> Islam: "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which
> he desires for himself." Sunnah.
> 
> Taoism: The good man "ought to pity the malignant tendencies of others; to
> regard their gains as if they were his own, and their losses in the same way."
> The Thai-Shang.
> 
> Confucianism: "Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others
> that you would not have them do unto you." Analects, XV, 23
> 
> Bahá'í Faith: "He should not wish for others that which he doth not wish for
> himself, nor promise that which he doth not fulfill." Gleanings.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust. 1938.) p. 202.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh. The Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh. (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre.
> 1978.) p.113.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh. Compiled by the Research Department of
> the Universal House of Justice. Translated by Habib Taherzadeh with the
> assistance of a Committee at the Bahá'í World Centre. (Haifa: Bahá'í World
> Centre. 1982.) p.167.
> return
> The Commission on Global Governance writes: "As the world faces the need
> for enlightened responses to the challenges that arise on the eve of the new
> century, we are concerned at the lack of leadership over a wide spectrum of
> human affairs. At national, regional, and international levels, within
> communities and in international organizations, in governments and in nongovernmental bodies, the world needs credible and sustained leadership.
> 
> "It needs leadership that is proactive, not simply reactive, that is inspired, not
> simply functional, that looks to the longer term and future generations for
> whom the present is held in trust. It needs leaders made strong by vision,
> sustained by ethics, and revealed by political courage that looks beyond the
> next election.
> 
> "This cannot be leadership confined within domestic walls. It must reach
> beyond country, race, religion, culture, language, life-style. It must embrace a
> wider human constituency, be infused with a sense of caring for others, a
> sense of responsibility to the global neighborhood."
> 
> Report of the Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighborhood.
> (New York: Oxford University Press. 1995.) p.353.
> return
> Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. Translated by Shoghi Effendi.
> (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. 1976.) p. 7.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, Selected Letters, 2d rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), pp. 202-03.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, cited in The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1991), pp. 163-65.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá (Haifa: Bahá'í
> World Centre, 1982), sec. 225, pp. 283-84.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by
> `Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912, rev.
> ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), p. 60.
> return
> Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 146.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks: Addresses Given by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris in
> 1911-1912 (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), pp. 80-81.
> return
> Muhammad-i-Zarandi (Nabil-i-Azam), The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's
> Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Revelation, translated from the
> Persian by Shoghi Effendi (1932; reprint, Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1974), p. 93.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 147.
> return
> Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 164.
> return
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 102.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 123.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d. rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), pp. 287-88.
> return
> Isaiah 11:9
> return
> The Dawn-Breakers, p. 65.
> return
> Ibid., p. 251.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Wilmette, Il: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1944),
> p. 75.
> return
> Quoted in John Ferraby, All Things Made New: A Comprehensive Outline of
> the Bahá'í Faith (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, revised edition 1975), p.
> 199.
> return
> The Dawn-Breakers, p. 463.
> return
> Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 74.
> return
> The Dawn-Breakers, p. 464
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Book of Certitude, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1982), p. 234.
> return
> A.L.M. Nicolas, see note 1.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, "The Faith of Bahá'u'lláh" in World Order, Vol. 7, No. 2
> (1972-73), p.7.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 126.
> return
> Ibid., p. 124.
> return
> Ibid., p. 127.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed.
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1976), p. 193.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations of Bahá'u'lláh (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1938), p. 128.
> return
> Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 46-49.
> return
> 46 Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985),
> pp. 3-4.
> return
> Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 249-50.
> return
> Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 286-87.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d rev. ed. (Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 106.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1922. 2nd edition 1982), p. 238.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 105.
> return
> The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 109.
> return
> Prayers and Meditations of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 104.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1979), p. 22.
> return
> Such as the Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys
> return
> Such as The Hidden Words
> return
> The Hidden Words, p. 9.
> return
> Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 260.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-qan, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1982), pp. 199-200.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, 2d ed. (Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), p. 28.
> return
> `Abdu'l-Bahá, Star of the West, Vol. 7, pp. 147-48.
> return
> Statement on Bahá'u'lláh: His Life and Work (Bahá'í International
> Community 1992)
> return
> 61 Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1983), p. 288.
> return
> 62 Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1988), p. 24.
> return
> 63 Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day Is Come (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1980), p. 117.
> return
> 64 Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh: Selected Letters
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1991), p. 136.
> return
> 65 Bahá'í World Faith, Selected Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá,
> 2nd ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1956), pp. 357-58.
> return
> 66 Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Ahd in Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the
> Kitab-i-Aqdas (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 219.
> return
> 67 Ibid.
> return
> 68 . Ibid., p. 222.
> return
> 69 Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book (Haifa: Bahá'í
> World Centre, 1992), para. 121.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985), p.
> 41.
> return
> 70 Kitáb-i-Ahd, p. 221.
> return
> 71 The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 135.
> return
> 72 Ibid., p. 134.
> return
> 73 Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1971), p. 25.
> return
> 74 Horace Holley, introduction to Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í Administration:
> Selected Messages 1922-1932 (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p.
> viii.
> return
> 75 Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 13.
> return
> 76 Ibid. p. 11.
> return
> 77 Ibid., p. 20.
> return
> 78 Bahá'í Administration, p. 67.
> return
> 79 From a letter of the Guardian to an individual, October 21, 1932.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985), p.
> 39.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh (London: George Ronald, 1971), p. 466.
> return
> Comment made by the then British High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel.
> return
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1968), p. 14.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, "The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh," in The World Order of
> Bahá'u'lláh, Selected Letters, 2nd rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
> 1974), p. 148.
> return
> Ibid.
> return
> The Constitution of the Universal House of Justice (Haifa: Bahá'í World
> Centre, 1972), p. 5.
> return
> "The Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh," p. 148.
> return
> The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, pp. 25-26
> return
> Ibid., p. 11.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í Administration rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1974), p. 195.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Divine Art of Living (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1944), p. 108.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957 (Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1970), p. 57.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í Administration, p. 41.
> return
> David Hofman, "Shoghi Effendi: Expounder of the Word of God," in The
> Vision of Shoghi Effendi: Proceedings of the Association for Bahá'í Studies
> Ninth Annual Conference, November 2-4, 1984, Ottawa, Canada
> (Association for Bahá'í Studies, 1993), p. 95.
> return
> Amatu'l-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khánum, The Priceless Pearl (London: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1969), p. 436.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1995), p. 157.
> return
> Ibid., p. 67.
> return
> Bahá'u'lláh, quoted in Consultation: A Compilation, Extracts from the
> Writings and Utterances of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and the
> Universal House of Justice (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980), p.3.
> return
> Ibid.
> return
> Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 2d. rev. ed. (Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 145.
> return
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 128.
> return
> http://info.bahai.org/
> return
>
> — *An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith (Used by permission of the curator)*