🚀 go-pugleaf

TO: The USENET Community

On October  24,1985,  the  Universal  House  of  Justice,  the  supreme
governing  body  of  the  Baha'i  Faith,  addressed  a statement to the
peoples of the world on the theme of world peace.

This statement was presented to the  Secretary-General  of  the  United
Nations  on  November  2, 1985, President Ronald Reagan on December 10,
1985, to more than 70 heads of  state,  to  a  great  many  leaders  of
academic, religious, national and international organizations.

The Baha'i Faith is an independent world religion.  "It  proclaims  the
necessity  and  the inevitability of the unification of mankind...  It,
moreover, enjoins upon its followers the primary duty of an  unfettered
search  after truth, condemns all manner of prejudice and superstition,
declares the purpose of religion to  be  the  promotion  of  amity  and
concord,  proclaims  its essential harmony with science, and recognizes
it as the foremost agency for the pacification and the orderly progress
of  human  society.   It unequivocally maintains the principle of equal
rights, opportunities and privileges for  men  and  women,  insists  on
compulsory  education,  eliminates  extremes  of  poverty  and  wealth,
abolishes the institution of priesthood, prohibits slavery, asceticism,
mendicancy  and  monasticism, prescribes monogamy, discourages divorce,
emphasizes the necessity  of  strict  obedience  to  one's  government,
exalts  any  work  performed  in  the spirit of service to the level of
worship, urges  either  the  creation  or  selection  of  an  auxiliary
international   language,   and   delineates   the  outlines  of  those
institutions that must establish and perpetuate the  general  peace  of
mankind."

Therefore, as a service to the USENET Community of the  world,  in  the
sincere  hope  that peace shall soon prevail among nations, governments
and peoples, among religions, races and all conditions of  mankind,  we
transmit to you "THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE"!

The statement will be posted in five parts.  This  is  the  first  part
with four more to follow.  Please restrict discussions to net.religion.

Thank You,
Mike Register
decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-ilm!register
register%ilm.DEC@decwrl

Bruce Limber
seismo!dolqci!bruce

Verbus M. Counts
ihnp4!mhuxj!vmc
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                      THE PROMISE OF WORLD PEACE




The Great  Peace  towards  which  people  of  goodwill  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
behavior, 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 favorable 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 cooperation 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 advance 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  Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, of
which we are the Trustees.

"The winds of despair," Baha'u'llah 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  exorcise  the  specter  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
behavior 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  cooperation  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 cooperation instead of war and conflict.

To choose such  a  course  is  not  to  deny  humanity's  past  but  to
understand  it.   The  Baha'i 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 acknowledgment 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 Baha'i 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."