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Our Vision: Unity of God The sacred writings of the Bahá’í Faith explain that, while there are many names for God, there is and always has been only one God. God wants us to be united: unity is our purpose. This world was created for humanity to live peacefully together as one family. The Bahá’í ideal of world unity is based on the belief that it is God’s purpose for us to achieve unity. Oneness is a Reality The concept of the oneness of humanity is not merely sentimentalism or an expression of pious hope. It has profound implications for society. The teachings of the Bahá’í Faith describe how this spiritual principle should be translated into action in our lives. Unity of Religions Humanity has begun to regard itself as one. Prejudices that once seemed to define the human condition are fading. Gender equality, for instance, has become an internationally accepted concept. Likewise, the "fetish of absolute national sovereignty" is giving way. The delusion of racial superiority, moreover, has become so stigmatized that no society can afford to be associated with it. While conflicts continue to cast their shadow on the world and whereas not all of humanity participates equally in reshaping and redefining the international order, this growing awareness of the world as one homeland has, in the course of the 20th century, reached a point "from which there is no credible possibility of return." It is tragic, therefore, that organized religion, rather than contributing to this unifying trend, stands largely "paralyzed at the threshold of the future." In particular by lending "credibility to fanaticism", religion all too often acts as "one of the most formidable obstacles" to the very cause of peace and harmony that form the basis of its existence. Established religions appear caught in doctrines of "privileged access to truth" that have led to the world's most intractable conflicts. As a result, disastrous eruptions of fanaticism continue to occur and religions continue to forfeit a key leadership role in world affairs. Large segments of the world population continue to look for religious guidance. Religion remains an essential and imperishable element of human consciousness, a power that reaches to humanity's very "roots of motivation". It constitutes the essential civilizing force in history, and as such the oneness of humankind cannot be effectively advanced without an infusion of spirituality. For religion, however, to play its crucial role and avert a worldwide religious confrontation, the risks of which grow daily, its leadership must unambiguously renounce assertions of exclusive access to truth, which are the single most important source of disunity. The validity of all the world's principal religions must be wholeheartedly accepted. The understanding, already intuitive to many people, must be embraced that truth and spirituality are equally accessible to all of mankind, and that "God is one and that, beyond all diversity of cultural statement and human interpretation, religion is likewise one." Click here to view a message To the World's Religious Leaders on the unity of religion by The Universal House of Justice. |
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