Peace

The Universal House of Justice, the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Bahá’í Faith, published a peace letter on 2019-01-18. This post contains a short summary of what the letter is about. The complete text can be found in the Download link, below.

• The letter is addressed to the Bahá’ís of the World
• The letter is written on the 100th anniversary of the Paris Peace Conference which was held after World War 1 ended.
• Bahá’u’lláh asked people to establish peace on earth.
• The letter is five pages in length, divided into five sections, and 14 paragraphs.
• Section /A/ is the introduction (paragraph 1)
• Section /B/ is a reflection on the progress made towards peace (paragraphs 2 – 4), so what has happened so far
• Section /C/ is a comment on some of the contemporary challenges to establishing peace (paragraphs 5 – 9), mainly the need for people to see unity and peace as the goal
• Section /D/ is a statement of the contributions that Bahá’ís are asked to make (paragraphs 10 – 12), that they need to act on to make things happen
• Section /E/ is the conclusion (paragraphs 13 – 14) and tell us what we must do – “build communities founded on spiritual principles and apply those principles for the betterment of your societies”

Here are the specific contributions to world peace that Baha’is are asked to make:

1. Accept the oneness of humankind. /6/
2. Recognize that there is diversity, yet maintaining a love for all people, and subordinating lesser loyalties to the best interests of humankind. /7/
3. Guard themselves from becoming enmeshed in conflicts or falling into adversarial methods. /9/
4. Promote the well-being and tranquility of everyone [children of men]. /10/
5. Educate people. /10/
6. Create genuine love, spiritual communion and durable bonds among individuals. /10/
7. Build up and broaden a system of social organization based on Baha’u’llah’s teachings. /11/
8. Nurture communities. /11/.
9. Cultivate environments in which children can be raised without racial, national or religious prejudice. /11/
10. Champion the full equality of women with men. /11/
11. Welcome everyone. /11/
12. Empower everyone to build of a new world. /11/
13. Invite followers of all faiths and none to devotional meetings. /11/
14. Engage youth to build communities. /11/
15. Govern in servitude. (This applies to members of local/ national Spiritual Assemblies) /11/
16. Resolve conflicts and build unity. /11/
17. Develop an electoral process. /11/
18. Engage with those around them. /12/
19. Make meaningful contributions to various important discourses. /12/
20. Practice consultation. /12/
21. Cultivate conditions that are conducive to unity. /12/
22. Implement peace! /13/
23. Build communities founded on spiritual principles. /14/