World peace is possible
WE MARKED International Day of Peace on Tuesday last week, September 21, as a reminder of the need to reflect on whether world peace is achievable and if so, what its prerequisites are.
There is a great yearning for peace and now, more than before, there exists conditions for the establishment on the Earth of a lasting peace.
As members of one human family, we have become more and more interdependent. Technology has enabled people to move across the world with ease, while international communication has become almost instantaneous.
Despite this, there are barriers to peace. The most common are prejudices, suspicions and self-interest.
According to the Universal House of Justice, the governing council of the Bahá'í international community, the great peace is within our reach, and “is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planet”.
Peace cannot be achieved without embracing human diversity and the realisation that the physical differences, such as skin colour or hair texture, are superficial and have nothing to do with any supposed superiority of one ethnic group or another. It cannot be achieved without the belief and practice of equal rights, opportunities and privileges for men and women.
“World order”, the governing council of the Bahá'í international community states, “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… of every kind… everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others”.
The unity of humanity and lasting global peace can be achieved when individual and social well-being are expressed in a civilisation reflecting the spiritual values of love, compassion and justice. Without justice, there will be no lasting unity and without unity there will be no peace, and no collective security.
We may be wondering how today’s world, with its patterns of conflict, can be changed to a world in which harmony and co-operation will prevail and the valuable resources used for war can instead be used to eliminate poverty and suffering.
While the recognition of the oneness of humanity, the abandonment of all types of prejudice and acquisition of the spiritual values of love and justice are first requirements for peace, the Bahá'í Faith envisions a system of collective security within a framework of a global federation.
It foresees the creation of a world federation of nations in which all races, creeds and classes are united and the autonomy of its member states, and the personal freedom and initiative of individuals, safeguarded.
The federation will consist of a world legislature, which would enact the laws necessary to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and regulate the relationships of all peoples.
It would have a world executive, backed by an international force, which would carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, the world legislature.A world tribunal would adjudicate and deliver its final verdict in disputes.
Among the other principles vital for the establishment of peace are: individual responsibility to search for truth; confirmation of justice as the ruling principle in human affairs, the harmony which must exist between religion and science; universal education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; and the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty.