Reflections on the Challenge of our Age

The disintegration of the old world order is increasingly evident in the inability of human beings to resolve their differences, as manifested in intractable disputes about knowledge, politics, morals, and economics. In the face of such challenges, the Bahá’í Faith seeks to unite humanity in the search for truth and the building of a just and peaceful world. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Bahá’ís expect to achieve these aims through the conscious and active transformation of the moral order—not by force or coercion but by example, persuasion, consensus, and cooperation.

Spiritual Cosmopolitanism, Transnational Migration, and the Bahá’í Faith

Scholars have wrestled with the question of how people can be persuaded to extend feelings of kinship beyond their own ethnic or national groups. This article identifies spiritual cosmopolitanism, whose principles of universal love and harmony can be found in the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, as key to such borderless solidarity. Drawing on data gathered from interviews with Iranian refugees who have settled in the United States, the article demonstrates how cosmopolitan principles shape the worldviews of Bahá’ís. Through this case study, spiritual cosmopolitanism’s potential to enrich public arguments for the inclusion of Others such as immigrants becomes apparent.

Nowe ruchy religijne a koncepcje zrównoważonego rozwoju: ekoteologia Wiary Bahá’í

The chief aim of this paper is to outline the concept of sustainable development which is integrated into the doctrine of a relatively novel world religion known as the Bahá’í Faith. The study focuses on the description of causes behind the crisis and potential solutions as they are seen by the Baha’is, by means of analysis of their Sacred Writings and more profound insights into the doctrine, in particular where it concerns ecology and social-economic development.

Peace is Everything: An Examination of the Bahá’í Faith’s Concept of Peace

This paper describes the central role of peace in the Bahá’í Faith. For Bahá’ís, peace begins at the level of the individual and migrates outward to the community, nation, and the world. The article explains how the Bahá’í Faith outlines a covenant – an agreement between Bahá’ís and between Bahá’ís and the world – made manifest in an Administrative Order in which the ascertainment of peaceful principles and the establishment of peaceful practices are developed. The paper explains how concepts like the oneness of humanity, the symbiosis between science and religion, and the unity of religion and God combine with ideals like justice, equality, and consultation to form a Bahá’í approach to the creation and maintenance of peace. Integration and disintegration – broad-structured, dynamic effects that shift societies and the world – will help to usher in two main aspects of a present and future Bahá’í order: the Lesser Peace and the Most Great Peace. The Lesser Peace is defined by the efforts of nations and international actors to form a broad-based, global peace. The Most Great Peace describes the arrival and ascendance of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, which will result in an unprecedented level of global peace and security.