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| © BWAA. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Carson City, Nev., USA. |
by Glenn Franco Simmons
Prejudices of
all kinds seem to be metastasizing, from violent protests to wars and even
threaten thermonuclear war at the present.
“They are polarizing societies at a time when
unity is most vital to resolving local, national, and global challenges that
seem intractable,” wrote the Universal house of Justice in
a 2022 letter. “The statements in the writings of the Faith about the harm
that prejudice inflicts on individuals and on society are most emphatic.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has stated that human beings are degraded when they become
captives of their own illusions and suppositions. Prejudice stains the human
spirit, debases both its perpetrator and its victim, obscures perception and
understanding, and prevents the achievement of that lofty standard of justice. …”
In “The
Promulgation of Universal Peace,” `Abdu’l-Bahá
wrote, “… Bahá’u’lláh declares that all forms of prejudice among mankind
must be abandoned and that until existing prejudices are entirely removed, the
world of humanity will not and cannot attain peace, prosperity and composure.
This principle cannot be found in any other sacred volume than the teachings of
Bahá’u’lláh.”
“… Among the
teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that religious, racial, political, economic and
patriotic prejudices destroy the edifice of humanity,” writes ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá in “Tablets to The Hague.” “As long as these prejudices prevail, the
world of humanity will not have rest. …
“As long as these prejudices persist, the struggle for existence must remain dominant, and bloodthirstiness and rapacity continue. Therefore, even as was the case in the past, the world of humanity cannot be saved from the darkness of nature and cannot attain illumination except through the abandonment of prejudices and the acquisition of the morals of the Kingdom.”
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| © BWAA. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Carson City, Nev., USA. |
The House of
Justice quoted `Abdu’l-Bahá,
who wrote in “Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá”: “Let them see no
one as their enemy, or as wishing them ill, but think of all humankind as their
friends; regarding the alien as an intimate, the stranger as a companion,
staying free of prejudice, drawing no lines.”
One could
say that world peace begins at home in each human heart.
“An
individual’s efforts in this respect must begin with earnest striving to
develop attributes of the soul such as love, truthfulness, kindness, justice,
and generosity; to purify the heart of selfishness, envy, and hate; and to
align the mind with Bahá’u’lláh’s principles of unity,” the House of Justice
writes.
“A believer’s duty at all times is to demonstrate the unifying power of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings by associating with diverse peoples with a spacious heart, an all-embracing love, and a spirit of true friendship. As was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s injunction, ‘Let those who meet you know, without your proclaiming the fact, that you are indeed a Bahá’í.’”
