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For information on the Bahá'í Faith in the USA |
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A Profile of the Bahá'í Faith and its Worldwide Community |
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Contents :  |
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The Bahá'ís |
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Unity in Diversity |
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Bahá'u'lláh |
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Social and Moral |
| Teachings | |
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Spiritual Beliefs of |
| the Bahá'í Faith | |
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A System for |
| Global Governance | |
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A Century of |
| Growth and | |
| Expansion | |
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New Approaches |
| to Old Problems | |
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Towards the New |
| World Order | |
| The Promise of World Peace |
| The Great Peace towards which
people of goodwill throughout the centuries have inclined their hearts...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." The human race, as a distinct, organic unit, has passed through evolutionary 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.... 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 that particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world 's peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger 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?... 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?... ...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.... 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 the abandonment of prejudic~prejudice of every kind--race, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others.... THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
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"Excerpted from The Bahá'ís, a publication of the Bahá'í International Community." |
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