Bahá’í World/Volume 32/Inner Enlightenment, Moral Refinement, and Justice

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[Page 143]

Inner Enlightenment, Moral Refinement, and Justice

ANTIDOTES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Dr. Michael Penn offers a Bahá’í perspective on the global problem of interpersonal violence within the home.

In his foreword to the World Health Organization’s World Report on Violence and Health, Nelson Mandela made the following observation:

The twentieth century will be remembered as a century marked by violence. It burdens us with a legacy of mass destruction, of violence inflicted on a scale never seen and never possible before in human history. But this legacy—the result of new technology in the service of ideologies of hate—is not the only one we carry, nor that we must face up to. Less visible, but even more widespread is the legacy of day-to-day individual suffering. It is the pain of children who are abused by people who should protect them, women injured or humiliated by violent partners, elderly persons maltreated by their caregivers, youths who are bullied by other youths, and people of all ages who inflict violence on themselves. This suffering—and there are many more examples that I could give—is a legacy that reproduces itself, as new generations learn from the violence of generations past, as victims learn from victimizers, and as the social conditions that nurture violence are allowed to continue. No country, no city, no community is immune.¹ [Page 144]Notwithstanding the unprecedented levels of violence recorded in the twentieth century, it was during the latter half of this same century that people around the world, using principally the instrumentality of the United Nations, began to consult across traditional lines of culture, race, religion, and political alliances in the hope that solutions to the problem of violence, and particularly the widespread problems of state-sponsored, cultural, and domestic violence, might be found. And although the Bahá’í community has been a part of this global dialogue since the founding of the United Nations in 1945, it was in 1985, when the Universal House of Justice addressed to the peoples of the world its statement, The Promise of World Peace, that the Bahá’í community offered itself as a model for study in the global search for viable solutions to the problem of violence and other threats to the peace and prosperity of humankind. This essay explores Bahá’í-inspired contributions to the global campaign to eradicate interpersonal violence within the context of the home.²

What empowers the Bahá’í community to contribute to this global undertaking is its network of world-embracing institutions that enjoy the respect and support of millions of men, women, youth, and children of every ethnic, religious, racial, and cultural background who have committed themselves to actualizing the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. These teachings denounce all forms of exploitation and abuse, have affirmed in unequivocal language the oneness and interdependence of all humankind, have promoted a consciousness of the equality of women and men for more than 150 years, and call the entire human race to strive to attain levels of psychological, social, and spiritual maturity never before achieved by large numbers of people on earth. And although Bahá’ís do not regard themselves as experts in this endeavor, Bahá’u’lláh’s visionary teachings have begun to inspire new modes of thought and behavior that are in contradistinction to ways of life that tolerate and nurture violence. Chief among these contributions is the emphasis placed on the importance of learning, inner enlightenment, self-mastery, and justice.

Knowledge and learning are highly praised among Bahá’ís—not only because they render the individual a more effective servant to the needs of the world, but because they contribute to the refinement of character and inoculate against the propensity for cruelty and [Page 145]inhumanity. The Bahá’í writings encourage the acquisition of the various branches of knowledge, both spiritual and secular, and urge that we “take into consideration not only the physical and intellectual side” of human life, but also the “spiritual and ethical aspects.”³ Thus, from a Bahá’í point of view, whether learning takes place in a remote village, in the suburbs of a city, or in an urban metropolis, it should be as comprehensive as circumstances will allow; it should address the pressing needs of the times, be transformative in its influence, and not be such as “begin[s] with words and end[s] with words.”⁴

The goals of education are realized not only in the creation and advancement of the arts, sciences, and branches of philosophy upon which civilization depends, but are manifested in a people’s acquisition of noble qualities. However magnificent it may be in arts and industries, no civilization can long endure if it neglects this aspect of human learning. For this reason, the Bahá’í teachings stress an approach to education that encompasses knowledge and refinement of the self as much as it stresses knowledge and refinement of the world. Bahá’í-inspired approaches often reflect an appreciation of these two dimensions of learning by seeking to combine the academic/scholastic tradition of the West with the wisdom/enlightenment tradition of the East. While the former has emphasized knowledge and mastery of the environment, the latter has emphasized knowledge and mastery of the self. The complementary nature of these two traditions has been captured succinctly in the Chinese classical work, The Great Learning:

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the empire, first ordered well their own States. Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.⁵

With respect to the acquisition of qualities of perfection, the Bahá’í writings support a developmental and evolutionary point of view. Thus, while all creation is said to possess the capacity to [Page 146]manifest the "names and attributes of God" (or what the Greek philosophers referred to as that which is "true, beautiful, and good"), these capacities are latent and become revealed only as a result of a long and gradual process of biological, psychological, social, and spiritual evolution and development. And while the evolution of the biosphere, like the early development of a child, may be fueled largely by unconscious, natural processes, later stages of psychosocial and spiritual development require the conscious use of powers and capacities that are unique to human beings. These powers are encompassed in the notion of the "human spirit" and include inexhaustible moral and intellectual powers, volitional powers, and aesthetic sensibilities. The role of education is the cultivation of these capacities to the extent made possible by an individual's innate endowments.

Cultivation of the human spirit begins in the family. The early training of children is so vital to the humanizing process that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, eldest son of the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith and one of the earliest champions of women's rights, affirmed that failure to educate the son and the daughter, to the extent made possible by a family's resources, "is a sin unpardonable." Note that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá describes such failure as though it were among the most pernicious forms of family violence:

[T]he beloved of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful must train their children with life and heart and teach them in the school of virtue and perfection. They must not be lax in the matter; they must not be inefficient. Truly, if a babe did not live at all it were better than to let it grow ignorant, for that innocent babe, in later life, would become afflicted with innumerable defects, responsible to and questioned by God, reproached and rejected by the people. What a sin this would be and what an omission!

The first duty of the beloved of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful is this: They must strive by all possible means to educate both sexes, male and female; girls like boys; there is no difference whatsoever between them. The ignorance of both is blameworthy, and negligence in both cases is reprovable.... The command is decisive concerning both. If it be considered through the eye of reality, the training and culture of daughters [Page 147]is more necessary than that of sons, for these girls will come to the station of motherhood and will mould the lives of the children. The first trainer of the child is the mother. The babe, like unto a green and tender branch, will grow according to the way it is trained. If the training be right, it will grow right, and if crooked, the growth likewise, and unto the end of life it will conduct itself accordingly.

Hence, it is firmly established that an untrained and uneducated daughter, on becoming a mother, will be the prime factor in the deprivation, ignorance, negligence, and the lack of training of many children.⁷

A sound, early education benefits the individual, enriches the community, and prepares the next generation to assume responsible stewardship of an ever-advancing civilization. In the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Thus shall these tender infants be nurtured at the breast of the knowledge of God and His love. Thus shall they grow and flourish, and be taught righteousness and the dignity of humankind, resolution and the will to strive and to endure. Thus shall they learn perseverance in all things, the will to advance, high-mindedness and high resolve, chastity and purity of life. Thus shall they be enabled to carry to a successful conclusion whatsoever they undertake.”⁸ Inasmuch as success in the pursuit of these noble goals is seriously threatened by exposure to family violence, a special responsibility to work towards its eradication rests upon individual Bahá’ís, as well as Bahá’í-inspired institutions, at all levels of society.

As individuals, Bahá’ís are encouraged to strive on two levels: first, to labor conscientiously, consistently, and earnestly to liberate themselves from any propensity they may have towards aggression and violence; and second, to promote social justice and the implementation of laws and standards that will protect others from tyranny, exploitation, and abuse. In addition, for more than a century and a half the Bahá’í writings have placed a special responsibility upon men to work towards the eradication of those socially constructed attitudes and practices that sustain the abusive treatment of women and girls within and outside the home.

Since most people who enter the Faith do so as first generation Bahá’ís, many are likely to bring to their new faith community [Page 148]interpersonal habits that are incongruent with the standards and values that animate the Bahá’í teachings. In light of this very real possibility, the Universal House of Justice, which serves as the elected body of trustees of the worldwide Bahá’í community, provides the following counsel:

Among the signs of moral downfall in the declining social order are the high incidence of violence within the family, the increase in degrading and cruel treatment of spouses and children, and the spread of sexual abuse. It is essential that the members of the [Bahá’í] community . . . take the utmost care not to be drawn into acceptance of such practices because of their prevalence. They must ever be mindful of their obligation to exemplify a new way of life distinguished by its respect for the dignity and rights of all people, by its exalted moral tone, and by its freedom from oppression and from all forms of abuse.⁹

The Bahá’í writings contain volumes of sacred texts that urge and inspire individuals forward in their effort to respond to the high moral standards that are called for in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. In the Tablet of Wisdom, for example, Bahá’u’lláh writes:

O ye beloved of the Lord! Commit not that which defileth the limpid stream of love or destroyeth the sweet fragrance of friendship. . . . Take pride not in love for yourselves but in love for your fellow-creatures. . . . Let your eye be chaste, your hand faithful, your tongue truthful, and your heart enlightened. . . . Set your reliance on the army of justice, put on the armor of wisdom, let your adorning be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth the hearts of the well-favored of God.¹⁰

At the grassroots level, democratically elected governing bodies known as Local Spiritual Assemblies have primary responsibility in their work with communities and institutions of civil society to create the conditions necessary for the elimination of domestic violence. In several countries efforts are underway to develop the capacity of Local Spiritual Assemblies to carry out this function more effectively. For example, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States has recently released a policy statement on domestic violence. It seeks to provide education on the nature and prevalence [Page 149]of the problem, as well as the responsibilities that rest upon Local Spiritual Assemblies to ensure that such violence is not allowed to continue once it has been uncovered. A program developed to train local community leaders to be more effective in using spiritual principles, law enforcement, and social service intervention in domestic violence situations supplements the National Spiritual Assembly’s policy statement.

Through its Office of External Affairs, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States has also played an active role in pursuing continued support for the Violence against Women Act (passed by the ‎us US‎ House and Senate in 1994) and ratification by the ‎us US‎ Senate of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Women’s Convention).¹¹ The Office of External Affairs, and/or the Bahá’í Office for the Advancement of Women in several countries, including, but not limited to, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, India, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Uganda, and the United Kingdom, have also played important roles in promoting passage of the Women’s Convention.

The spirit and objectives of the Women’s Convention, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 1979 and entered into force as an international treaty on 3 September 1981, are animated by the same vision and goals that gave birth to the United Nations: “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women.” As an international treaty, the Women’s Convention accomplishes two major objectives. First, it establishes an international bill of rights for women and specifies a set of actions to be taken by the nations of the world to ensure that these rights are enjoyed. Second, it mandates the establishment of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is charged with ensuring that the provisions of the Convention, which include provisions that proscribe violence against women and girls, are observed. Since its adoption, 175 nations have agreed to be bound by its provisions. The effort of the National Spiritual Assembly to win ‎us US‎ ratification of the Women’s Convention is rooted in the conviction that a woman’s right to be protected against all forms of violence and discrimination must be secured by universally [Page 150]agreed upon principles and enforceable laws. Many of the National Spiritual Assemblies around the world, and there are at present 183 of them, are similarly engaged in efforts to bring an end to gender-based violence.

An affirmation that runs throughout Bahá’í-inspired discourse on domestic violence is that no serious attempt to eradicate it can be effective if the sociocultural roots of the problem do not receive sustained attention. For many forms of domestic violence derive implicit, and sometimes explicit, legitimacy from the cultures and societies in which families are embedded. Rigid adherence to parental rights and the insistence in many societies that what happens within the family is and ought to be private often preclude effective intervention when vulnerable family members are exposed to abuses that they are unable to escape or prevent; the multibillion dollar pornography industry—which jeopardizes efforts to secure greater protection from sexual violence and is especially pernicious in its degradation of the poor—enjoys the legitimacy conferred by corporate sponsorship and popular consumption; and cultural practices such as female circumcision, honor killings, dowry murders, virginity tests, and female infanticide are sustained by age-old traditions with roots that reach deep into the past.

In justifying failure to ratify a document so essential to the protection of children as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, some have argued that ratification would threaten the preservation of family privacy. Arguing in defense of pornography, civil libertarians point to the value of freedom of speech, and in seeking to protect rites and practices that are known to do physical and psychological harm to women and girls, the sanctity of culture is commonly invoked. And while respect for privacy, freedom of speech, and due regard to the preservation of cultural diversity are all important values, from a Bahá’í perspective, these claims must be balanced against the realization that "the body of humankind is one and indivisible," that "each member of the human race is born into the world as a trust of the whole,"12 and that the community of nations thus has an inescapable moral responsibility to define and implement a common set of human rights that (1) recognize the immutable link between the private and social dimensions of life, (2) uphold and defend the dignity of the human person against assaults that are both ancient [Page 151]and modern, and (3) demonstrate intolerance of violence on account of nationality, religion, culture, ethnicity, gender, or degree of material civilization or economic standing.

As has been noted by a growing number of scholars and human rights activists, cultural processes are implicated in family violence in a variety of ways. Cultures provide rationales and justifications for violence; they prepare young people to become participants in its perpetuation; they determine what forms of violence will be sanctioned and punished, and which forms will be tacitly approved; and cultures embody the social and economic pressures that give rise to maltreatment and neglect of particular groups within the home.13

In this regard, it is promising to note that efforts to protect individuals against human rights abuses within the family are gaining momentum. Notwithstanding some resistance, and despite the difficulties that attend the translation of human rights laws into practice, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights convention in history." Furthermore, a little more than a decade ago, the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly at its 48th session on 20 December 1993, became the first international human rights instrument designed exclusively to deal with gender-based violence.

Among the most significant contributions embodied in the Declaration are the obligations imposed upon the state both to "condemn" gender-based violence and to pursue all "appropriate means" and "without delay" to ensure the elimination of violence directed against women within their national borders. Commenting on state responsibility in this regard, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women observed,

The problem of violence against women brings into sharp focus an issue that has been troubling the international community—State responsibility for the actions of private citizens. In the past, a strict judicial interpretation had made the State responsible only for actions for which it or its agents are directly accountable. In this case it would relate to issues such as women in custody and women in detention and perhaps the problem of women during armed conflict. The question of domestic [Page 152]violence, rape and sexual harassment, etc., were seen as the actions of individuals and thus beyond the "human rights" responsibility of the State.15

By specifying a proactive role for the state in all situations in which women are more likely than men to be victims of violence, the Declaration makes it possible to conceptualize even private acts of violence against women as violations of women's human rights. The Bahá’í community supports movement in this direction. In November 2000, Bani Dugal, currently the Principal Bahá’í Representative to the United Nations and the Director of the Bahá’í International Community's Office for the Advancement of Women at the UN, made the following observation at a United Nations Panel Discussion on the Eradication of Violence against Women:

As long as violations of human rights are condoned in people's close personal relationships, between spouses and parents and children, these will play out and carry over to human rights violations outside the family. It is within the family that a child learns principles of justice and equity and learns to apply them to relationships later on in life, so it is imperative that the family and its members are protected from human rights violations. If the structure of the family is that of dominance and subordination, the attitudes learned within the home will ultimately be amplified and projected on the world scene. 16

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the Fifth World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, affirms the indivisibility of all human rights and advances recommendations intended to further secure protections from violence. Among these is the right to protection from private and public forms of gender-based violence, protection from domestic violence, and protection from harmful cultural and religious practices. These rights were further advanced at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, which culminated in the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Beijing Declaration calls for international, national, and regional efforts to address physical, psychological, and sexual violence against women and girls and has accorded the prevention of family violence the highest priority among women's [Page 153]rights movements. As has been noted by Professor Roger Levesque, author of Culture and Family Violence: Fostering Change through Human Rights Law, these formal treaties "express a global standard of the manner in which individuals must be treated" and "mark the universal transition to a human rights agenda that includes family violence."17

In contrast to these developments, the spread and growing acceptance of pornography as a legitimate form of entertainment is of considerable concern to the Bahá’í community. Substantial bodies of research point to the fact that pornography plays an important role in contributing to sexual violence against women and girls and to sex discrimination and inequality. In a comprehensive treatment of the subject, Professor Catharine Itzin and her colleagues show that as a major global enterprise, there can be no doubt that the pornographic industry plays a significant role in socializing men and boys in their attitudes and behaviors towards women and girls.18 Pornography represents women as sex,19 contributes to sexual addictions that are played out in the home and elsewhere, commodifies intimate relationships, and, as many sex offenders have themselves reported, plays an important part in legitimizing and initiating sexual abuse. 20

Nearly two decades ago the Surgeon General of the United States organized a panel of clinicians and researchers to examine what we know about the way that pornography affects people's physical and mental health. They were especially concerned about its impact on children and youth. After a review of available research, these experts gathered for a weekend workshop to discuss their findings. They were able to reach general consensus on five points, as summarized by the Surgeon General:

I Children and adolescents who participate in the production of pornography experience adverse, enduring effects. The participants were thinking of the sexual victimization of young people and the pathway that takes them from involvement in the production of pornography to their subsequent involvement in child prostitution.

2 Prolonged use of pornography increases beliefs that less common sexual practices are more common. This is similar to the [Page 154]conclusions reached elsewhere concerning violence and other antisocial activities. Repeated exposure to depictions of such ac- tivities tends to build up the impression in the exposed person's mind that people are doing such things more often than is actually the case.

3 Pornography that portrays sexual aggression as pleasurable for the victim increases the acceptance of the use of coercion in sexual relations.... this kind of pornography is at the root of much of the rape that occurs today. Impressionable men―many of them still in adolescence-see this material and get the impression that women like to be hurt, to be humiliated, to be forced to do things they do not want to do, or to appear to be forced to do things they really do want to do. It is a false and vicious stereotype that leads to much pain and even death for victimized women.

4 Acceptance of coercive sexuality appears to be related to sexual aggression.... In other words, if a man sees a steady stream of sexually violent material in which the victim seems to enjoy the treatment, he begins to believe that coercion and violence are acceptable in sexual relations. And then he may well take the next step: He may convert this attitude into behavior and himself become the perpetrator he has been watching or reading about in pornography.

S In laboratory studies measuring short-term effects, exposure to violent pornography increases punitive behavior toward women. This statement is obviously impossible to prove by controlled ethical experiments. However, the workshop participants felt that this fifth and final consensus statement could be safely drawn from the experimental and survey data already available.21

In addition to these untoward psychosocial consequences, exposure to pornography, disrespecting as it does the role of the human body in advancing the development and refinement of the human soul, represents a significant breach of sacred trust. Concerning the exalted character of the soul, Bahá’u’lláh has written that the soul is "a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however [Page 155]acute, can ever hope to unravel." He goes further to note, "It is the first among all created things to declare the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth, and to bow down in adoration before Him. If it be faithful to God, it will reflect His light, and will, eventually, return unto Him. If it fail, however, in its allegiance to its Creator, it will become a victim to self and passion, and will, in the end, sink in their depths."22 Commenting on the honor and respect that should be accorded the human body because of its relationship to the soul, the Bahá’í writings affirm:

As this physical frame is the throne of the inner temple, whatever occurs to the former is felt by the latter. In reality that which takes delight in joy or is saddened by pain is the inner temple of the body, not the body itself. Since this physical body is the throne whereon the inner temple is established, God hath ordained that the body be preserved to the extent possible, so that nothing that causeth repugnance may be experienced. The inner temple beholdeth its physical frame, which is its throne. Thus, if the latter is accorded respect, it is as if the former is the recipient. The converse is likewise true.23

And while the Bahá’í teachings are neither prudish nor disdainful of the proper and full expression of the sexual impulse, the Bahá’í writings do express continual concern for the preservation of human dignity and respect for the body as the mirror upon which the powers of the human spirit are made manifest.

For the millions of women and girls who are vulnerable to men's sexual demands but lack the negotiating power necessary to secure protected sex, the AIDS virus may well embody one of the deadliest forms of domestic violence. A report released at the UN-sponsored AIDS conference held in Bangkok in July 2004 revealed that 48 percent of all adults now living with HIV are women. This figure is up from 35 percent two decades ago. The report went further to note that in sub-Saharan Africa, women make up 57 percent of those living with HIV, and young African women aged 15-24 are three times more likely to be infected than their male counterparts. "Without AIDS strategies that specifically focus on women," the report noted, "there can be no global progress in fighting the disease. Women know less than men about how to prevent the infection and what [Page 156]they know is rendered useless by the discrimination and violence they face."24

The impact of the AIDS epidemic on families poses what the United Nations called "a looming threat to future generations." Dur- ing the last decade, the proportion of children who are orphaned as a result of AIDS rose from 3.5 percent to 32 percent. This percentage, the UN estimates, will continue to increase exponentially as the dis- ease spreads unchecked. The disease is "making orphans of a whole generation of children," wrote the UN, "jeopardizing their health, their rights, their well-being and sometimes their very survival, not to mention the overall development prospects of their countries."25

Although medicine and technology provide indispensable resources in our effort to respond to the AIDS crisis, it would be naïve and irresponsible for us to suppose that the AIDS epidemic can be adequately addressed without frank examination of the ethical dimensions of the problem. And while it is undoubtedly clear that millions of people contract HIV and AIDS through legitimate medical procedures and natural birth-related processes, it is equally clear that many millions are also vulnerable to the disease because of high rates of marital and relationship infidelity. Notwithstanding the fact that many consider sexual fidelity an old-fashioned concern, it is recognized among Bahá’ís as one of the most important safeguards in the development of healthy families and communities.

Many people have observed that the Bahá’í marriage ceremony is often quite simple. It consists, fundamentally, of the recitation of a single verse, by each of the marriage partners, in the presence of two witnesses: "We will all, verily, abide by the will of God.”26

The sincere commitment of each marriage partner to "abide by the will of God" creates, in the Bahá’í view, the spiritual and social conditions that are most conducive to a family's material and spiritual development. In this way a family becomes "a fortress for well- being," and an ideal context for inculcating qualities of character into the next generation. Viewed, therefore, from a Bahá’í perspective, marital infidelity represents a grave breach in the marital covenant and poses a potentially lethal threat to a family's ability to fulfill its primary function.

Looking beyond the impact of infidelity on the immediate fam- ily, it is also apparent that inasmuch as the family is the bedrock [Page 157]of the social order, when infidelity or sexual promiscuity becomes commonplace, it may well jeopardize the progress and prosperity of an entire community or nation. The urban anthropologist Professor Elijah Anderson has done a remarkable job of documenting the social causes and consequences of sexual promiscuity among poor African American youth. His paper "Sex Codes and Family Life Among Northton’s Youth" is an illuminating exploration of the subject. In the introduction Anderson writes:

The sexual conduct of poor Northton adolescents is creating growing numbers of unwed parents. Yet many young fathers remain strongly committed to their peer groups. They congregate on street corners, boasting about their sexual exploits and deriding traditional family life. These interconnected realities are born of the difficult socioeconomic situation in the local community. The lack of family-sustaining jobs denies many young men the possibility of forming an economically self-reliant family, the traditional American mark of manhood. Partially in response, the young men’s peer group emphasizes sexual prowess as proof of manhood, with babies as evidence. A sexual game emerges as girls are lured by the (usually older) boys’ vague but convincing promises of love and marriage. When the girls submit, they often end up pregnant and abandoned, yet they are then eligible for a limited but steady welfare income that may allow them to establish their own households and at times attract other men who need money. This situation must be viewed in its social and political context. It is nothing but the cultural manifestation of a persistent urban poverty. It is the mean adaptation to blocked opportunities and profound lack, a grotesque form of coping by young people constantly undermined by a social system that historically has limited their social options and, until recently, rejected their claims to full citizenship.27

Anderson’s analysis places the whole issue of human sexual conduct within a larger social context, and situates the individual’s sexual behavior within an integrated cultural framework. Indeed, one can readily imagine how the sexual conduct of individuals is likely to be shaped by socioeconomic circumstances and by the cultural attitudes and practices that characterize the social space. Anderson’s [Page 158]research, and other scholarly investigations like it, 28 are important because it is only when we appreciate the influence of social processes on shaping current patterns of sexual relations that we can hope to adequately assess their consequences, or be effective in establishing new patterns that are consistent with our individual and collective goals. It is a consciously chosen, spiritually and ethically informed new pattern of relating that the Bahá’í teachings seek to inspire in the generality of humankind. At the core of this new pattern is a commitment to the spiritualization of human relationships.

In the simplest terms, spirituality requires the cultivation of what some have called virtues; a virtue may be understood as the manifestation of one of the attributes of God in human behavior. Since, in the Bahá’í view, God is the source of all life, whenever the attributes of God are manifested in human relationships, the vital spirit of life is also present. To the degree that these attributes are missing, we experience relationships that do not promote life and growth but, rather, thwart it.

Of the many virtues that are prescribed in the scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith, few are as highly regarded as trustworthiness. The Bahá’í writings describe trustworthiness as "the goodliest vesture in the sight of God," as "the chief means of attracting confirmation and prosperity," as the "greatest portal leading unto the tranquillity and security of the people," and as "the door of security for all that dwell on earth."29 Inasmuch as trustworthiness requires fidelity to the promises and covenants that have been entered into, marital infidelity embodies a violation of a sacred trust. But trustworthiness is not an easy virtue to develop. To acquire this capacity in a social context characterized by moral laxity may be particularly difficult. To be successful, one will have to overcome many challenges. When trustworthiness is challenged in a sexual way, other virtues, which may be closely allied with trustworthiness, come into play. Referring to these virtues in a letter addressed to the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada in December of 1938, Shoghi Effendi wrote:

Such a chaste and holy life, with its implications of modesty, purity, temperance, decency, and clean-mindedness, involves no less than the exercise of moderation in all that pertains to dress, language, amusements, and all artistic and literary avocations. [Page 159]It demands daily vigilance in the control of one's carnal desires and corrupt inclinations. It calls for the abandonment of a frivolous conduct, with its excessive attachment to trivial and often misdirected pleasures.... It condemns the prostitution of art and of literature, the practices of nudism and of companionate marriage, infidelity in marital relationships, and all manner of promiscuity, of easy familiarity, and of sexual vices. It can tolerate no compromise with the theories, the standards, the habits, and the excesses of a decadent age. Nay rather it seeks to demonstrate, through the dynamic force of its example, the pernicious character of such theories, the falsity of such standards, the hollowness of such claims, the perversity of such habits, and the sacrilegious character of such excesses.30

The capacity to regulate and give noble expression to human sexuality requires self-mastery, concern for the good of others, and the exercise of wisdom. In the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, "a power above and beyond the powers of nature must needs be brought to bear."31 Only humans can bring their behavior into conformity with a consciously chosen value structure. It is in using and thereby developing this capacity that inner freedom-which is the hallmark of true liberty-is acquired, and all forms of fidelity, including marital fidelity, can be achieved.

In a letter addressed to a Bahá’í in the early part of the twentieth century, Shoghi Effendi observed, "We must reach a spiritual plane where God comes first and great human passions are unable to turn us away from Him. All the time we see people who either through the force of hate or the passionate attachment they have to another person, sacrifice principle or bar themselves from the Path of God."32 Thus, when a couple endeavors to "abide by the will of God," the two partners seek to create within themselves those spiritual qualities and moral capabilities that are necessary for success in both marriage and life. Their success, in turn, will redound to the development of their children, as well as the community and society of which they are a part. Thus, efforts to reduce vulnerability to AIDS among families would be enhanced by further reflection and application of those ethical principles that are bound up with human sexuality. 33

Proceeding in this way need not be in opposition to the use of other [Page 160]prevention and protective strategies-such as the use of condoms where indicated, the distribution of syringes where intravenous drug use might be involved, and so forth.

Concerns for the cultural roots of domestic violence will have to acknowledge the role that religions continue to play in legitimizing violence against children, promoting the subjugation of women, and fostering an oppressive and authoritarian atmosphere within homes and communities around the world. Thus, this brief discussion on domestic violence will close with a word about the role of religion.

According to the Bahá’í Faith, achieving the prosperity of humankind depends upon the harmonious interplay of science and religion. The Bahá’í writings state, "Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness and justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine."34 In an enumeration of the consequences of the eclipse of religion, the Bahá’í writings note that the "perversion of human nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and dissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves... in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character is debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed, the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame is obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and loyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of hope is gradually extinguished."35

On the other hand, the Bahá’í writings affirm that religion must be guided by reason and must be animated by respect for the power of science, and an unbiased search for truth, to lead the world forward. In a talk delivered in Paris on the misrepresentation of religion by religious leaders and the benefits to humanity that would accrue were science and religion to be in harmony, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:

Many religious leaders have grown to think that the importance of religion lies mainly in the adherence to a collection of certain dogmas and the practice of rites and ceremonies! Those whose souls they profess to cure are taught to believe likewise, and these cling tenaciously to the outward forms, confusing them with the inward truth.

Now, these forms and rituals differ in the various churches and amongst the different sects, and even contradict one another; [Page 161]giving rise to discord, hatred, and disunion. The outcome of all this dissension is the belief of many cultured men that religion and science are contradictory terms, that religion needs no powers of reflection, and should in no wise be regulated by science, but must of necessity be opposed, the one to the other. The unfortunate effect of this is that science has drifted apart from religion, and religion has become a mere blind and more or less apathetic following of the precepts of certain religious teachers, who insist on their own favorite dogmas being accepted even when they are contrary to science. This is foolishness, for it is quite evident that science is the light, and, being so, religion truly so-called does not oppose knowledge....

Much of the discord and disunion of the world is created by these man-made oppositions and contradictions. If religion were in harmony with science and they walked together, much of the hatred and bitterness now bringing misery to the human race would be at an end.36

The relevance of this discourse to domestic violence is that many practices that have been shown by science to be harmful to human health and development, but derive their legitimacy by reference to religious teachings, can be overcome as religious leaders invite followers to abandon the outer form of such practices while preserving the moral or spiritual principles that the practices are believed to embody. A few communities in Africa, for example, have begun to replace coming-of-age rituals that jeopardize health (such as female circumcision) with rituals that serve as symbolic equivalents of the ritual without actual cutting. The alternative rites of passage project, known in Swahili as "Ntanira na Mugambo" (circumcision by words), for example, has been undertaken with notable success in the community of Tharaka in Kenya. Having suffered the female genital mutilation (FGM) ritual themselves, the village mothers were all too familiar with the physical and psychological dangers that attend the practice. These include infections, blockage of menstrual flow, urethral or anal damage, infertility, HIV/AIDS, depression, anxiety, and, for some, death. Led by a young mother, Annicetta Kiriga, the women of Tharaka solicited financial and logistical support from local and national NGOs. The Programme for Appropriate Technology [Page 162]in Health (PATH), along with one of the nation's oldest grass roots organizations, the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization (MYWO), funded a research project that first sought to document the extent of the problem and then to understand why the practice has persisted for centuries. Armed with this knowledge a group of women from Tharaka, PATH, and MYWO designed a program that embraces the life-affirming festivities associated with the ritual, such as dancing, singing, feasting, and gift-giving, but replaces circumcision with education for girls in self-esteem, health, and women's empowerment. And while transformation of the ritual has engendered resistance among some village residents, overall the project has led to significant changes in the health, education, and well-being of women in Tharaka.37 Similar efforts throughout the world would take us far in the global campaign to eradicate domestic violence.

To be frank, however, there may be many other practices that so threaten human life, health, and development that they are not likely to be preserved in any form. Despite considerable evidence that corporal punishment is linked to numerous other forms of violence, for example, its use in the home continues to be justified by reference to sacred scripture. In addition, in India a significant percentage of child prostitutes are females who have been initiated as devadasi, or Hindu temple servants. And while this tradition had once served to elevate a low-caste girl into a devotional career of temple singing and dancing, today this practice, though officially outlawed, is one of the primary sources of child prostitution in the southern regions of the country. 38

In some regions of Africa, women and girls commonly serve as mediums of exchange. Since their reproductive labor is thought to belong to the family, families may give away young female virgins as gifts to oracles and shrines in order to pacify gods for offenses alleged to have been committed by other family members. In one case that received worldwide attention, a twelve-year-old girl was given to an Ewe priest in Ghana to serve as a slave in order to atone for the rape that led to her birth." It is becoming increasingly clear that practices of this sort, and other practices linked to religion that violate human rights and retard or preclude the full development of human capacities, will have to be abandoned. [Page 163]Addressing the urgent need for change in its 1985 letter directed to the peoples of the world, the Universal House of Justice asked, "Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a united search for appropriate solutions?" The Universal House of Justice went on to note that those who care for the future of the world would be wise to ponder this advice, citing Shoghi Effendi:

If long-cherished ideals and time-honored institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine.

Despite traditional and emerging threats, the Bahá’í community's commitment to the eradication of family violence has remained firm for well over a century. Its commitment is embodied in its design and implementation of community-based violence reduction and prevention programs; in its sponsorship of local, regional, and high-level conferences, panel discussions, and workshops; in its support in pursuit of the ratification, adoption, and implementation of covenants, conventions, and declarations that are designed to protect human rights; by its production of a range of books, statements, training manuals, and other documents that raise awareness of the suffering, costs, and loss of human potential that are the result of family violence; by its collaborations with other local, national, and international agencies that are animated by similar concerns; and by the sincere striving of individual Bahá’ís—living in more than 100,000 localities worldwide—to bring their lives into harmony with the noble vision for human life that is enshrined in the teachings of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. [Page 164]One highly praised initiative undertaken by the Bahá’í International Community to reduce family violence was the Traditional Media as Change Agent project, funded by UNIFEM and executed by the Bahá’í International Community in Bolivia, Cameroon, and Malaysia beginning in 1992. An important goal of the project was to contribute to the reduction of violence throughout all three communities by engaging the willing involvement of men in improving the status of women and girls. The specific goals of the project were to empower the people directly involved in analyzing and solving their own problems (first by training them in the use of modern analytic techniques, such as focus groups, community surveys, and a nonadversarial approach to group decision making known as consultation); by communicating the results of analyses using traditional media—such as locally produced skits, dances, and songs; and by providing moral direction to the implementation of change by stressing the moral value of the principle of the equality of women and men. The distinctive approach employed in this project has been praised for the way that it enlisted the participation of men, illustrated in a manner that all could appreciate how the lack of women's equality relates to local problems, and inspired in large numbers of participants at all three sites a motivation to change.

In addition to the legal support, human rights advocacy, social services, and health care provided to female victims of violence by the Tahirih Justice Center in Washington, DC (see this volume, pp. 203-09), other Bahá’í-inspired projects around the world that are designed to contribute to the reduction and prevention of family violence include the Bayan Association of Honduras, the Authenticity Project which offers programs in Russia and the United States, the Marriage Transformation Project based in the US, Bahá’í youth workshops that use the arts to promote peace and the eradication of violence in more than 40 countries, Parent University of Savannah, Georgia, USA, the Barli Development Institute for Rurual Women in India, the Varqa Foundation's Youth Can Move the World project working with Guyanese youth, and the Denver Metro Bahá’í Center in the US, which works with FindtheGood.org, among others.

These efforts, small as they are, are encouraged by the progress that has been made over the last several decades in particular in advancing the cause of human rights, in lifting the standard of the [Page 165]equality of women and men, and in promoting a consciousness of the oneness of humankind. Bahá’ís are fully confident in the belief that "a new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth"42 and that "the potentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be manifested in this promised Day of God."43 Bahá’ís invite the peoples of the world to examine whether the teachings of the Faith, or the experience of the Bahá’í community, can make additional contributions to the global campaign to eradicate violence within and outside the home.

NOTES

World Health Organization, World Report on Violence and Health: Summary (Geneva: WHO, 2002), p. v.

2 The World Health Organization defines violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has the high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation." Violence against intimate partners, which includes physical aggression, forced intercourse and other forms of sexual coercion, and psychological abuse (including intimidation, humiliation, social isolation, restricted access to information, and economic deprivation), occurs in every country and culture on earth. Other forms of violence, such as dowry deaths, acid attacks, infanticide, and honor killings, tend to occur in particular regions of the world. And while women are sometimes violent towards their male partners and the occurrence of violence between partners of the same sex has been well documented, the vast majority of partner violence consists of violence perpetrated by men against women. In addition to violence against and between intimate partners, physical, psychological, and sexual violence against children, perpetrated by parents and other caregivers, continues to be a global problem. Furthermore, a growing dimension of domestic violence around the world is related to the abuse and exploitation of domestic workers and the elderly. A myriad of qualitative and quantitative studies have established the ubiquity and pernicious effects of such violence; they will not be reviewed again here. See Michael Penn and Rahel Nardos, Overcoming Violence against Women and Girls: The International Campaign to Eradicate an International Problem (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003).

3 Shoghi Effendi, "The Importance of Deepening our Knowledge and Understanding of the Faith," in The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1 (Ingleside, NSW: Bahá’í Publications Australia, 1991), p. 214. [Page 166]Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Wilmette, 11: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1997), p. 52.

› Confucius, The Great Learning. The Four Books: The Chinese-English Bilingual Series of Chinese Classics, translated by publisher (Hunan, China: Hunan Publishing House, 1992), p. 3.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahd, vol. 3 (Chicago: Bahá’í Publishing Society, 1908), p. 578.

7 Ibid., pp. 579-80. Notwithstanding the fact that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá made these observations from the Middle East approximately one century ago, girls in nearly every country on earth continue to lag far behind boys in access to education. For example, two thirds of the more than 120 million children who have never attended school are girls; two thirds of the world's 880 million illiterate adults are women, and in Afghanistan, as one report recently notes, two generations of girls "have never seen the inside of a classroom." UNICEF, Rebuilding Hope in Afghanistan (New York: UNICEF, November 2003), p. 30.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1997), p. 125.

Universal House of Justice, 24 January 1993, letter to an individual.

Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets, pp. 138-39.

11 See Leila R. Milani, Sarah S. Albert, and Karina Purushotma, eds., CEDAW: The Treaty for the Rights of Women, Rights that Benefit the Entire Community (Washington, DC: Working Group on Ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 2004).

12 Bahá’í International Community, Turning Point for All Nations: A Statement of the Bahá’í International Community on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations (New York: Bahá’í International Community, 1995), p.1.

13 See Roger Levesque, Culture and Family Violence: Fostering Change through Human Rights Law (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press, 2001).

The Convention on the Rights of the Child affirms a child's right to protection from "all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation... while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s), or any other person who has the care of the child."

15 Radhika Coomaraswamy, Preliminary Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences. UN Doc. E/CN. 4/1995/42 (1994).

16 Notes from Bani Dugal's remarks delivered in November 2000 as communicated in an e-mail correspondence to the author dated 22 October 2004. [Page 167]17 Levesque, p. 8.

18 Catharine Itzin, ed., Pornography: Women, Violence and Civil Liberties, A Radical New View (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

19 See Susanne Kappeler, "Pornography: The Representation of Power" in Itzin, pp. 88-101.

20 See Ray Wyre, "Pornography and Sexual Violence: Working with Sex Offenders" in Itzin, pp. 236-47.

21 C. Everett Koop, "Report of the Surgeon General’s Workshop on Pornography and Public Health," American Psychologist 42 (1987), p. 945. For the full report see E.P. Mulvey and J.L. Haugaard, Report of the Surgeon General’s Workshop on Pornography and Public Health (Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, 1986).

22 Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh (Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1994), pp. 158-59.

23 The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1982), p. 95.

24 Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNIFEM & UNFPA, Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis. 14 July 2004 Press Release.

25 See: UNICEF, Children Orphaned by AIDS: Frontline Responses from Eastern and Southern Africa (New York: UNICEF, 1999); UNICEF, A UNICEF Fact Sheet: Orphans and Other Children Affected by AIDS (New York: UNICEF, September 2003).

26 Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1993), Questions and Answers, no. 3, p. 105.

27 Elijah Anderson, "Sex Codes and Family Life among Northton’s Youth," in Street Wise: Race, Class and Change in an Urban Community, Elijah Anderson, ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), pp. 112-37.

28 See, for instance, Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels, The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994).

29 Bahá’u’lláh, cited in "Trustworthiness," in The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 2 (Ingleside, NSW: Bahá’í Publications Australia, 1991), pp. 327, 335, and 329.

30 Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice (Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990), p. 30.

31 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections, p. 53.

32 From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 4 October 1950, in "Living the Life," Compilation of Compilations, vol. 2, p. 22.

33 A 2004 Fact Sheet of UNAIDS (11-16 July), titled Women and AIDS—A Growing Concern, reports: "Marriage and long-term monogamous relationships [Page 168]do not protect women from HIV. In Cambodia 13 percent of urban and 10 percent of rural men reported having sex with both a sex worker and their wife or steady girlfriend. In Thailand a 1999 study found that 75 percent of HIV-infected women were likely to be infected by their husbands. "In some settings," the report went further to note, "it appears marriage actually increases women's HIV risk. In some African countries adolescent, married 15-19 year-old young women have higher HIV infection levels than unmarried sexually active females of the same age." It is thus clear that monogamy serves as a safeguard only when both partners observe it. The Bahá’í teachings impose the moral obligation of sexual fidelity on both men and women before and during marriage.

"Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets, p. 125. 35 Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: Selected Letters, 2nd rev. ed. (Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1993), p. 187; cited in the Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1985), p. 5- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks: Addresses Given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1911 (London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1995), pp. 143-44- 37 See Cheywa Spindel, Elisa Levy, and Melissa Connor, eds., With an End in Sight: Strategies from the UNIFEM Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence against Women (New York: United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2000). 38 Penn and Nardos, p. 49. 39 Levesque, p. 78. 40 Howard French, "The Ritual Slaves of Ghana: Young and Female," New York Times, 20 January 1997, A5. 41 Shoghi Effendi, cited in the Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace, p. 8. 42 Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings, p. 196. 43 Ibid., p. 340.