A new vision of world peace

ONCE more the world will be marking the International Day of Peace on September 21 and it is timely to contemplate how global peace may be achieved.

Peace, according to the governing council of the Baháí international community, is more than just an end to war. “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”.

There’s need for change in attitudes and the creation of a universal framework to uphold peace.

There are many helpful and well-motivated proposals for solving our global problems. However, the solution to complex and interrelated problems cannot be found in a piecemeal approach conceived in response to the needs of nationstates.

It’s not possible for nation-states on their own to solve international problems and to provide well-being and social justice.

In the Baháí view, our global challenges – such as, poverty, pollution, inequality of opportunities and access to resources – can be addressed when, at an individual level, we accept ourselves as members of one human family and endeavour to serve humanity.

At a social level, creating a world federation, with necessary organs to rule with justice on behalf of all governments and peoples, is the way to solve the global problems and to uphold international peace.

The governing council of the Bahá’í International Community states that: “World order can be founded only on an unshakeable consciousness of the oneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm...

“Recognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudice – prejudice of every kind, race, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilisation, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others.

“Adherence to the principle of the oneness of humanity will not be in conflict with legitimate loyalties and will not undermine the diversity of ethnic origins that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It is a call for a wider loyalty to the human race and its watchword is ‘unity in diversity’.”

The principle of the oneness of humanity, according to the Baháí Writings, “is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family”.

“It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence.”

Among the other principles vital for the establishment of peace, according to the Baháí Writings, are: individual responsibility to search for truth; the harmony which must exist between religion and science; the equality of men and women; universal education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; and the confirmation of justice as the ruling principle in human affairs.

In recognition of the challenges presently facing humanity, we need to go beyond our current systems.

For feedback please contact: tshwane@bahai.org.za; or call 083 794 0819. Website: www.bahai. org, www.bahai.org.za