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[Page 215]

October, 1 947

The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh

I I I Shoghi Effendi B A H A I Nlearagua

' MAGAZ I N E Robert Montgomery Hooker -» A Charter Day Message

From the United Nations Trygvc Lie

A Bahá’í Statement on the Rights of Women In the High Sierras Marzieh Gail

The Gates of Paradise, Poem L. Khai

The Nature of Divinity

Duarl Brown The Disciple, Poem N. D. B. If You Are Not a Bahá’í, Editorial

Garrela Busey

Struggle for Bill of Rights

Book Review Helen lnlerlied

The Mature Man Bahá’í Words for Meditation With Our Readers

[Page 216]W orld Order was founded March 21, 1910, as Bahá’í News, the first organ of the American Bahá’ís. In March, 1911, its title was changed to Star of the West. Beginning November, 1922 the magazine appeared under the name of The Bahá’í Magazine. The issue of April, 1935 carried the present title of World Order, combining The Bahá’í Magazine and W orId Unity, which had been founded October, 1927. The present number represents Volume XXXVIII of the continuous Bahá’í publication.

WORLD ORDER is published monthly in Wilmette, 111., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Garreta Busey, Editor; Eleanor S. Hutchens, Mabel H. Paine, Flora Hottes, Associate Editors.

Publication Office 110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILL.

C. R. Wood, Business Manager Printed in USA.

Editorial Office Miss Garreta Busey, Editor 503 WEST ELM STREET, URBANA, ILL

OCTOBER, 1947, VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 7

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $2.00 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions; for Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America. Single copies, 20c. Foreign subscriptions, $2.25. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, 111., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Content copyrighted 1947 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE

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HOUSANDS of city workers attended their own Armistice Day service outside the Royal Exchange in the City of London, November 11th, 1938. Will the peace now being made he merely an armistice? Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed that universal and lasting peace will soon be accomplished. Some of the prerequisites for that peace appear on page 230.

Photo by Acme

W

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TO MANY, at the opening of the second

Bahá’í century, mankind seems to be drifting in a heimless barque upon a stormy and uncharted sea. But to the Bahá’ís another vision is revealed. The barriers by Which men blocked their path to progress are torn down7 human pride is abased, human wisdom stultified. The anarchy of nationalism and the insufficiency of secularism are thoroughly exposed.

The immense, complex, baffling task of unifying all peoples is set forth in its complete and utmost simplicity by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in seven pregnant phrases: 1) unity in the political realm; 2) unity of thought in world undertakings; 3) unity of freedom; 4) unity in religion;

5) unity of nations; 6) unity of races; 7) unity of language.

Already the Bahá’ís have begun in deed and in fact to build the instrument destined to be the model and the nucleus of the Most Great Peace . . . and it can only be conducted by those whose lives are animated by love and fear of God. It is a system in which such opposites as unity and universality, the practical and the spiritual, the rights of the individual and the rights of society, are perfectly balanced not through arranging a compromise but through the revelation of an inner harmony.

By GEORGE TOWNSHEND F rom the Introduction to God Passes By

[Page 219]WGBLD 0BDEB

The Bahá’í Magazine

VOLUME XIII

OCTOBER, 1947

NUMBER 7

The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh A World Religion SHOGHI EFFENDI

HE Faith established by

Bahá’u’lláh was born in Persia about the middle of the nineteenth century and has, as a result of the successive banishments of its Founder, culminating in His exile to the Turkish penal colony of Acre, and His subsequent death and burial in its vicinity, fixed its permanent spiritual center in the Holy Land, and is now in the process of laying the foundations of its world administrative center in the city of Haifa.

Alike in the claims unequivocally asserted by its Author and the general character of the growth of the Bahá’í community in every continent of the globe, it can be regarded in no other light

This summary of the origin, teachings and institutions of the Bahá’í Faith was prepared for United Nations Special Committee on Palestine by Shoghi Effendi in his capacity of Guardian appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament.

than a world religion, destined to evolve in the course of time into a world-embracing commonwealth, whose advent must signalize the Golden Age of mankind, the age in which the unity of the human race will have been unassailably established, its maturity attained, and its glorious destiny unfolded through the birth and efflorescence of a world-encompassing civilization.

RESTATEMENT 0F ETERNAL VERITIES

Though sprung from shi’ah Islém, and regarded, in the early stages of its development, by the followers of both the Muslim and Christian Faiths, as an obscure sect, an Asiatic cult or an ofishoot of the Muhammadan religion, this Faith is now increasingly demonstrating its right to be recognized, not as one more religious system superimposed on the conflicting creeds which for so many generations have

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divided mankind and darkened its fortunes, but rather as a restatement of the eternal verities underlying all the religions of the past, as a unifying force instillng into the adherents of these religions a new spiritual vigor, infusing them with a new hope and love for mankind, firing them with a new vision of the fundamental unity of their religious doctrines, and unfolding to their eyes the glorious destiny that awaits the human race.

The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh, the followers of His Faith firmly believe, is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the non-essential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society.

To RECONCILE CONFLICTING CREEDS

The aim of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet of this new and great

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age which humanity has entered upon—He whose advent fulfils the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments as well as those of the Qur’án regarding the coming of the Promised One in the end of time, on the Day of Judgment—is not to destroy but to fulfil the Revelations of the past, to reconcile rather than accentuate the divergencies of the conflicting creeds which disrupt present-day society.

His purpose, far from belittling the station of the Prophets gone before Him or of whittling down their teachings, is to restate the basic truths which these teachings enshrine in a manner that would conform to the needs, and be in consonance with the capacity, and be applicable to the problems, the ills and perplexities, Of the age in which we live. His mission is to proclaim that the ages of the infancy and of the childhood of the human race are past, that the convulsions associated with the present stage of its adolescence are slowly and painfully preparing it to attain the stage of manhood, and are heralding the approach of that Age of Ages when swords will be beaten into plowshares, when the Kingdom promised by Jesus Christ will have been established, and the peace of the planet definitely and permanent [Page 221]THE FAITH 0F Bahá’u’lláh 221

1y ensured. Nor- does Bahá’u’lláh claim finality for His own

Revelation, but rather stipulates that a fuller measure of the truth He has been commissioned by the Almighty to vouchsafe t0 humanity, at so critical 3 juncture in its fortunes, must needs be disclosed at future stages in the

constant and limitless evolution of mankind.

ONENEss OF THE HUMAN RACE

The Bahá’í Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race. It proclaims the necessity and the inevitability of the unification of mankind, asserts that it is gradually approaching, and claims that nothing short of the transmuting spirit of God, working through His chosen Mouthpiece in this day, can ultimately succeed in bringing it about. It, moreover, enjoins upon its followers the primary duty of an unfettered search after truth, condemns all manner of prejudice and superstition, declares the purpose of religion to be the promotion of amity and concord, proclaims its essential harmony With science7 and recognizes it as the foremost agency for the pacification and the orderly progress of human

society. It unequivocally maintains the principle of equal rights, opportunities and privileges for men and women, insists on compulsory education, eliminates extremes of poverty and wealth, abolishes the institution of priesthood, prohibits slavery, asceticism, mendicancy and monasticism, prescribes monogamy, discourages divorce, emphasizes the necessity of strict obedience to one’s government, exalts any work performed in the spirit of service to the level of worship, urges either the creation or the selection of an auxiliary international language, and delineates the outlines of those institutions that must establish and perpetuate the general peace of man kind.

THE HERALD

The Bahá’í Faith revolves

around three central Figures, the first of whom was a youth, a

native of Shíráz, named Mirzá

‘Ali-Muhammad, known as the Báb (Gate), who in May, 1844, at the age of twenty-five, advanced the claim of being the Herald Who, according to the sacred Scriptures of previous Dispensations, must needs an. nounce and prepare the way for the advent of One greater than Himself, Whose mission would be accroding to those same Scrip [Page 222]222

tures, to inaugurate an era of righteousness and peace, an era that would be hailed as the consummation of all previous Dispensations, and initiate a new cycle in the religious history of mankind. Swift and severe persetion, launched by the organized forces of Church and State in His native land, precipitated successively His arrest, His exile t0 the mountains of Adharbayjan, His imprisonment in the fortresses of Máh-Kú and Qliihriq, and His execution, in July 1850, by a firing squad in the public square of Tabríz. No less than twenty thousand of his followers were put to death with such barbarous cruelty as to evoke the warm sympathy and the unqualified admiration of a number of Western writers, diplomats, travelers and scholars, some of whom were witnesses of these abominable outrages, and were moved to record them in their books and diaries.

Bahá’u’lláh

Mirza Husayn-‘Ali, surnamed Bahá’u’lláh (the Glory of God), a native of Mazindarén, Whose advent the B5113 had foretold, was assailed by those same forces of ignorance and fanaticism, was imprisoned in Ṭihrán, was banished, in 1852, from His native land to Bagldad, and

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thence to Constantinople and Adrianople, and finally to the prison city of Acre, where He remained incarcerated for no less than twenty- -four years, and in Whose neighborhood He passed away in 1892. In the course of His banishment, and particularly in Adrianople and Acre, He formulated the laws and ordinances of His Dispensation, expounded, in over a hundred volumes, the principles of His Faith, proclaimed His Message to the kings and rulers of both the East and the West, both Christian and Muslim, addressed the Pope, the Caliph of Islém, the Chief Magistrates Of the Republics of the American continent, the entire Christian sacerdotal order, the leaders of Shi’ah and Sunni Islam, and the high priests of the Zoroastrian religion. In these writings He proclaimed His Revelation, summoned those whom He addressed to heed His call and espouse His Faith, warned them of the consequences of their refusal, and denounced, in some cases, their arrogance and tyranny.

‘ABDU’L-BAHA

His eldest son, ‘Abbas Effendi, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (the Servant of Baha), appointed by Him as His lawful successor and the authorized interpreter

[Page 223]THE FAITH OF Bahá’u’lláh

of His teachings, Who since early childhood had been closely associated with His Father, and shared His exile and tribulations, remained a prisoner until 1908, when, as a result of the Young Turk Revolution, He was released from His confinement. Establishing His residence in Haifa, He embarked soon after on His three-year journey to Egypt, Europe and North America, in the course of which He expounded before vast audiences, the teachings of His Father and predicted the approach of that catastrophe that was soon to befall mankind. He returned to His home on the eve of the first World War, in the course of which He was exposed to constant danger, until the liberation of Palestine by the forces under the command of General Allenby, who extended the utmost consideration to Him and to the small band of His fellowexiles in Acre and Haifa. In 1921 He passed away, and was buried in a vault in the mausoleum erected on Mount Carmel, at the express instruction of Bahá’u’lláh, for the remains of the Báb, which had previously been transferred from Tabríz to the Holy Land after having been preserved and concealed for no less than sixty years.

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ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER

The passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá marked the termination of the first and Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Faith and signalized the opening of the Formative Age destined to witness the gradual emergence of its Administrative Order, whose establishment had been foretold by the Báb, whose laws were revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, whose outlines were delineated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will and Testament, and whose foundations are now being laid by the national and local councils which are elected by the professed adherents of the Faith, and which are paving the way for the constitution of the World Council, to be designated as the Universal House of Justice, which, in conjunction with me, as its appointed Head and the authorized interpreter of the Bahá’í teachings, must coordinate and direct the affairs of the Bahá’í community, and whose seat will be permanently established in the Holy Land, in close proximity to its world spiritual center, the resting-places of its Founders.

The Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, which is destined to evolve into the Bahá’í World Commonwealth, and has already survived the assaults launched against its in

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stitutions by such formidable foes as the kings of the Qéjér dynasty, the Caliphs of Islém, the ecclesiastical leaders of Egypt, and the Nazi regime in Germany, has already extended its ramifications to every continent of the globe, stretching from Iceland to the extremity of Chile, has been established in no less than eighty-eight countries of the world, has gathered within its pale representatives of no less than thirty-one races, numbers among its supporters Christians of various denominations, Muslims of Both Sunni and Shi‘ah sects, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and Buddhists. It has published and disseminated, through its appointed agencies, Bahá’í literature in forty-eight languages; has already consolidated its structure through the incorporation _of five National Assemblies and seventy-seven 10cal Assemblies, in lands as far apart as South America, India and the Antipodes—incorporations that legally empower its elected representatives to hold property as trustees of the Bahá’í community. It disposes of international, national and local endowments, estimated at several million pounds, and spread over every continent of the globe, enjoys in several countries the privilege of official recognition

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by the civil authorities, enabling it to secure exemption from taxation for its endowments and to solemnize Bahá’í marriage, and numbers among its stately edifices, two temples, the one erect‘ ed in Russian Turkistan and the other on the shore of Lake Michigan at Wilmette, on the outskirts of Chicago.

This; Administrative Order, unlike the systems evolved after the death of the Founders of the various religions, is divine in origin, rests securely on the laws, the precepts, the ordinances and institutions which the Founder of the Faith has Himself specifically laid down and unequivocally established, and functions in strict accordance with the interpretations of the authorized Interpreters of its holy scriptures. Though fiercely assailed, ever since its inception, it has, by virtue of its character, unique in the annals of the world’s religious history, succeeded in maintaining the unity of the diversified and far-flung body of its supporters, and enabled them to launch, unitedly and systematically, enterprises in both Hemispheres, designed to extend its limits and consolidate its administrative institutions.

The Faith which this order

serves, safeguards and promotes. is, it should be noted in this con [Page 225]THE FAITH OF Bahá’u’lláh'

nection, essentially supernatural, supranational, entirely non-political, non-partisan, and diametrically opposed to any policy or school of thought that seeks to exalt any particular race, class or nation. It is free from any form of ecclesiasticism, has neither priesthood nor rituals, and is supported exclusively by voluntary contributions made by its avowed adherents. Though loyal to their respective governments, though imbued with the love of their own country, and anxious to promote, at all times, its best interests, the followers of the Bahá’í Faith, nevertheless, viewing mankind as one entity, and profoundly attached to its vital interests, will not hesitate to subordinate every particular interest, be it personal, regional or national, to the over-riding interests of the generality of mankind, knowing full well that in a world of interdependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the whole, and that no lasting result can be achieved by\any of the component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are neglected.

Nor should the fact be overlooked that the Faith has already asserted and demonstrated its independent religious character, has been emancipated from the

225

fetters of orthodoxy in certain Islamic countries, has obtained in one of them an unsolicited testimony to its independent religious status, and succeeded in winning the allegiance of royalty to its cause.

TRIBUTES BY LEADERS

“It is like a wide embrace,” is Queen Marie of Rumania’s own tribute, “gathering together all those who have searched for words of hope. It accepts all great Prophets gone before, it destroys no other creeds and leaves all doors open. . . . The Bahá’í teaching brings peace to the soul and hope to the heart. To those in search of assurance the words of the Father are as a fountain in the desert after long wandering. . . . It is a wondrous message that Bahá’u’lláh and His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá have given us. They have not set it up aggressively, knowing that the germ of eternal truth which lies at its core cannot but take root and spread. . . . It is Christ’s Message taken up anew, in the same words almost, but adapted to the thousand years and more difference that lies between the year one and today. . . If ever the name of Bahá’u’lláh or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you. Search out their

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books, and let their glorious, peace - bringing, love - creating words and lessons sink into your hearts as they have into mine.”

“The teachings of the Babis,” wrote Leo Tolstoy, “. . . have a great future before them . . . I therefore sympathize with Babism with all my heart, inasmuch as it teaches people brotherhood and equality and sacrifice of material life for service to God . . . The teachings of the Babis which come to us out of Islam have through Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings been gradually developed, and now present us with the highest and purest form of religious teaching.”

“Take these principles to the diplomats,” is the late President Masaryk’s advice, “to the universities and colleges and other schools, and also write about them. It is the people who will bring the universal peace.” “The Bahá’í teaching,” is President Eduard Benes’ testimony, “is one of the great instruments for the final victory of the spirit and of humanity . . . The Bahá’í Cause is one of the great moral and social forces in all the world today. I am more convinced than ever, with the increasing moral and political crises in the world, we must have greater international coordination. Such a

movement as the Bahá’í Cause

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which paves the way for universal organization of peace is necessary.”

“If there has been any Prophet in recent times,” asserts the Rev. T. K. Cheyne in his ‘The Reconciliation of Races and Religions’, “it is to Bahá’u’lláh that we must go. Character is the final judge. Bahá’u’lláh was a man of the highest class—-—that ol Prophets.” “It is possible indeed,” declares Viscount Samuel of Carmel, “to pick out points of fundamental agreement among all creeds. That is the essential purpose of the Bahá’í religion, the foundation and growth of which is one of the most striking movements that have proceeded from the East in recent generations.”

“Palestine,” is Professor Norman Bentwich’s written testimony, “may indeed be now regarded as the land not of three but of four faiths, because the Bahá’í creed, which has its center of faith and pilgrimage in Acre and Haifa, is attaining to the character of a world religion. So far as its influence goes in the land, it is a factor making for international and inter-religious understanding.”

And, finally, is the judgment passed by no less outstanding a figure than the late Master of Balliol, Professor Benjamin Jow [Page 227]’3,

THE FAITH 0F BAHA U LLAH 227

ett: “The Babi movement may that has come into the world not ImPOSSIbIY turn out to have since the time of Jesus Christ.

the promise Of the future.” Pro- You must watch it and never let fessor Lew15 Campbell, an emi- . . . 1t out of your Slght. It ls too

nent pupil of Dr. Jowett, has , confirmed this statement by quot- great and too near for thls gening him as saying: “This Bahá’í eration to comprehend. The fu Movement is the greatest light ture alone can reveal its import.”

True Religion

True religion is the source of love and agreement amongst men, the cause of the development of praiseworthy qualities; but the people are holding to the counterfeit and imitation, negligent of the reality which unifies; so they are bereft and deprived of the radiance of religion. They follow superstitions inherited from their fathers and ancestors. T0 such an extent has this prevailed that they have taken away the heavenly light of divine truth and sit in the darkness of imitations and imaginations. That which was meant to be conducive to life has become the cause of death; . that which should have been an evidence of knowledge is now a proof of ignorance; that which was a factor in the sublimity of human nature has proved to be its degradation. Therefore the realm of the religionist has gradually narrowed and darkened and the sphere of the materialist has widened and advanced; for the religionist has held to imitation and counterfeit, neglecting and discarding holine$ and the sacred reality of religion. When the sun sets it is time for the bats to fly.

Religion 15 the outer expression of the divine reality. Therefore it must be living, vitalized moving and progressive. If it be without motion and nonprogressive it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore the revelation of them must be progressive and continuous. All things are subject to re-formation. This is a century of life and renewal. Sciences and arts, industry and invention have been reformed. Law and ethics have been reconstituted, reorganized.

The world of thought has been regenerated. ‘ABDUL-BAHA

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Nicaragua ROBERT MONTGOMERY HOOKER

NICARAGUA is part of the present world civilization, and it is a vital part geographically. It will one day in the future have a canal across its territory and will therefore become a world thoroughfare much the same as Panama and Suez. Here thousands of men will pass each other; opinions will clash, East and West will meet, and we shall realize that after all we are citizens of “one world,” as a late American public man recently tried to tell his countrymen. The Bahá’í Faith, then, has a brilliant future in this land. Nicaragua is a land of contrasts. Here one finds the aristocrat and the peon mingling, the educated and the less fortunate man talk together, races mingle without the slightest trace of difierence, and this motley crowd go on from day to day seeking something to satisfy their spiritual wants. On the material side one also sees the contrasts and and the various cultures through which man has evolved. On the streets are seen the old and crude ox-carts and beside them the modern American automobile; trains run over railroad tracks some of which were brought from North America; modern motor launches run over the lakes and rivers and along with them is seen the Indian in his canoe in which he plied the placid waters of our rivers thousands of years before the conquistadors came to these shores. Surely the Bahá’í Faith has a future if I. a humble layman, grasp the potent idea in Bahá’ísm. My countrymen with whom I have spoken are attracted to this faith because of its universality, its basic theme of oneness of mankind, its central theme of peace and harmony among the nations of the world, its offer of concord in place of discord, love in place of hate, education in place of ignorance.

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[Page 229]A Charter Day Message

From the United Nations TRYGVE LIE

THE second anniversary of the United Nations Charter

is an occasion on which the world may well consider how successfully the Member countries of the United Nations have been able to reconcile their own sovereignty with the requirements of international co-operation.

On the basis of our short experience, during a most difficult period in international relations, I think we can say that the nations are able to work efiectively on the principle of individual sovereignty for the common good. '

It was the decision at San Francisco, two years ago when the Charter was signed, and it is still the guiding idea, that the United Nations must be a democratic organization of sovereign nations in which decisions are taken freely, in accordance with the will of the majority.

Although the United Nations recognizes that coercion may be necessary in the case of aggression, it attempts at all times to

Reprinted from the United Nations Weekly Bulletin, Special Issue for the

Second Anniversary of the Signing of the Charter, June 24, 1947.

reach decisions which are fair and acceptable to all of the individual nations which compose the organization.

Experience has taught the world that such democratic decisions are the only decisions which can be lasting and effective.

During the working life of the United Nations many decisions on different problems have been reached. Some of them have been achieved only after lengthy discussion and spirited argument. There have been many differences of opinion.

To those who have been discouraged by such differences of opinion I would like to say that our United Nations consists of 55 diflerent nations, representing all corners of the earth, and with many different problems and many different interests. It is both healthy and helpful for these many nations to be able to explain their positions in open forum.

The last thing that we could wish would be for the Members of the United Nations to conceal their positions from one another.

Now, two years from the signing of the Charter, the full ma 229

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chinery of the United Nations exists. Parts of this machinery do not yet run quite smoothly, and the peoples of the world must be prepared to convert it to new needs as time goes on and new problems arise. But every one can take encouragement from the fact that our organization is now completed.

In future months and years, we must make every effort to use this machinery to the utmost

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and to use it skillfully. If we do so, many of our problems will be solved. Much of the energy which is now devoted to discussing differences will be absorbed by true teamwork betWeen the nations, in settling these problems.

I ask all people» to believe in this future and to maintain confidence in the ability of the United Nations to do its duty toward humanity.

THE PREREQUISITES OF PEACE

The Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the peace and tranquility of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath written: The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquility of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will not longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their territories. This will insure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation. We fain would hope that the kings and,rulers of the earth, the mirrors of the gracious and almighty name of God, may attain unto this station and shield mankind from the onslaught of tyranny.

That one is indeed a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the whole human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.

-Bahá’u’lláh

[Page 231]A Bahá’í Statement on. the Rights Of Women

MONG the members of the

Bahá’í religion who reside in eighty-eight countries and constitute a world community composed of all types of human beings there is agreement concerning the status of women in this new era. Bahá’ís adhere to the following beliefs:

Sex equality is a basic Bahá’í principle. All previous religious systems place men above women.

The present imbalance in society, which results from the dominance of man over woman, is a dangerous phenomenon and may be considered as one cause of war. This condition accustoms man from his earliest years to the spectacle of aggression, resentment, and retaliation; it leads him to disparage woman’s opinions, including her antipathy to war. Bahá’ís believe that neither male nor female dominance is desirable; a status based on equality of value and worth and expressed in harmony of interest is the ideal.

Wars are made by men. International war is repugnant to women. The mass of women regard warfare as of men’s doing,

Submitted to United Nations Commission On the Status of Women, August, 1947, by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. A.

and they derive from it no comparable psychological satisfactions. Sex equality is the safeguard of peace. Made socially effective, women’s repugnance to warfare can create a world block against aggression.

Sex equality connotes an organic change in the social structure. The Bahá’í teachings advocate for women an education equal to that received by men, since woman is the first educator of the child; and opportunity to pursue any career for which they are qualified, with special emphasis on their role as keepers of the peace.

Woman, according to the Bahá’í teachings, is not inherently the weaker sex, any more than is the female in animal and plant life. Lack of education and opportunity has prevented woman from manifesting her innate equality of value and this repression is responsible for her lessfavored status as human being and citizen.

Bahá’ís uphold as essential to the practice of sex equality: monogamous marriage; abolition of concubinage and prostitution; employment on the basis of skill alone; freedom to own and to dispose of property; freedom of the ballot; eligibility to public

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office; right to be honored by husband and children; recognition of the economic value of child-raising and home-making; removal from world opinion of any sexual stigma attached to womankind.

Of man and woman, the Bahá’í teachings state that “both belong to humankind” and “in the estimation of God they are equal, for each is the complement of the other in the divine creative plan. The only distinction between them in the sight of God is the purity and righteousness of their deeds and actions,” for that person “is preferred by God who is most nearly in the spiritual image and likeness of the Creator.”

The Bahá’ís of Iran, birthplace of the faith, form the larg‘ est non-Muslim religious community in that country. The high degree of social development

achieved by them results in large measure from their observance of the principle of sex equality, together with the inculcation of the new moral standards revealed by Bahá’u’lláh as essential for the needs of this time.

This question of the status of women is to the Bahá’ís, for all its political and economic ramifications, primarily a spiritual matter pertaining to the order of truth and therefore interconnected with other universal matters such as world order, peace or spiritual unity of religions claiming the attention of mankind today. The first woman in history to die for the emancipation of women, it is pointed out, was the Persian poet, Táhirih, executed in Teheran during 1852 because of her feminist activities undertaken in service to the religion of the new world faith she had ardently espoused.

SUF F ERING

The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow; the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most.

-‘ABDU’L-BAHK

[Page 233]In the High Sierras

And they shall see the Son of Man Coming MARZIEH GAIL

AYTIMES the trout stream

was like a big trout, slippery, dappled, now and then flashing white, easing under the watery aspens. At night it was pale in the blackness. Sitting by the campfire one could only hear it and see a vagueness down there under the bank where it ran. One could not distinguish between the moths brought into the flame, and the sparks flying out, and higher insects catching the light as they passed, and shooting stars, and stars. One could not keep track of these things.

Except that the stars were campfires again. This used to be Indian country, here under the incongruously Swiss - looking snow crags, along the trout stream; here you can still pick up Indian arrowheads of dark bottle-green obsidian, with the hairy chisel marks. When the white man drove the Indians away, they went up there in the sky, over our heads, and lit those campfires. So we have peace between the two again, with the red man up there the winner. His spirit is always seeping back into America, like the blood of the heart seeping back, and it never

wipes away. (That time we saw Boulder Dam, the least Indian of all things, we found that Indian patterns had been worked into the massive floors; soft, moccasined, his spirit had come back.)

You would look into the redness of the campfire, and there, standing on its tail and watching you with white, piteously smoking eyes, was the ghost of the trout ybu had caught in the morning and fried at noon; fried it so fresh that it leapt in the pan.

That particular night something was going to happen, up there in the mountains. Everything was waiting for it. The wind had lowered, the hot ashes fell softly, the stream quieted and the aspens stilled. Now it was happening. We looked up out of our well of blackness to the ridge: the trees along the ridge were catching fire, they were burning, like hair in a nimbus on some old saint’s picture. Flaming hair of trees along the ridge. We waited not moving, and we saw the white fire growing, and then we saw it was the white moon burning and rising up there over the fall of the ridge. Then the night went on as before. It resumed.

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[Page 234]. “.74;

234 WORLD ORDER

Later in the night we went over to the little store on the lake for a couple of bottles of milk. This place is listed on the map as “primitive area,” and it is safely far away from any towns, but even so we were only around the corner to milk “from non-reactive tuberculin tested cows.” That is America.

No moon during the mile’s walk, only the black wind to lean against. The lake was rimmed with a beach piled with tree limbs twisted satiny-white wood that made good burning. We could have sworn the lake was an ocean with China just beyond it, its further shores were so lost and unattainable.

On our way back we punched the dark now and then with our flashlight. Everything was black and quiet. Something was going to happen. We looked up to the hilltop, above the road, and there suddenly was the moon, dawning again, with all the freshness and drama, the ceremony and pause, of its dawning an hour ago, over our campfire.

I had never known before that the moon has many dawnings in a single night. It comes up as many times as there are hills and valleys and eyes watching.

An idea in the world is the same—it has many risings, each authentic and new and especially

for the people it shines on. When you describe it, the people do not only hear what you tell them, they get the idea at first hand. It rises for them as it did for you.

The great world ideas are like that. For instance, about the time Jesus rose over England—597Buddha rose over Japan, 552. A new world idea comes, this time from shiraz and Baghdad, and it is only begining to rise, say over the western seas.

“I do not see the new world idea coming out of the East as you describe it,” people comment. It is perfectly all right for them to say this; they are telling;r you the truth. But then other people, apparently no more brilliant or stupid than the first, do see it. It rises for them, a special dawning for them, and their faces begin to glow with it. It is not only your moon any more, it is theirs too. You don’t have to repeat any more, “See the moon coming up——” or “Wait a minute and you’ll see the moon coming—” They would only look at you and say, “Are you crazy? Of course I see it.”

Back at the campfire, the tamaracks had turned to cypresses in the moonlight. You had to force yourself not to imagine an Eastern palace there, piling lightly into the sky, poised above seven cloudy pools, tiled and terraced,

[Page 235]II

IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 205

one below the other, one spilling ably, through a twisting of time, into the other. You had to hang it is a homesickness for what will on to yourself not to feel a nos- come later on, perhaps in the talgia for something long ago that world beyond this. Anyhow it you never knew about; this is takes hold of you if you sit by a much worse than missing some- trout stream in the summer moonthing that was once yours. Prob- light.

The Gates of Paradise

L. KHAI

If Paradise has gates

(though I truly wonder why

God would need them His Own Word is the only gate,

So for those who close themselves to His Word There is no entrance.

This should suit most of them,

Those who have long claimed

There is nothing to enter into after death—) But, as I said

If Paradise does have gates,

I think they must be unlike

Anything We know So light, unlocked, they open at a touch,

So heavy, the strength of ten thousand worlds Cannot even rattle them

When their key is turned securely So high, no ambitious climber could scale them Though he climbed for all eternity,

So low, the smallest babe

Could reach their handles I think they would be made

Of mirrors and transparent glass,

That one might see his ugly faults

Compared with the more perfect beauty beyond. So I believe would be heaven’s gates . . . .

If it has any.

[Page 236]

The N ature of Divinity

DUART BROWN

SO MANY have questioned the Bahá’í concept of divinity that it seems necessary to try to clarify the matter. The question has come from two sides: first, from the very religious people who wrap the idea of divinity in such a sacred cloak of mystery that it is difficult to get them to talk clearly about it; second, from the non-religious, atheistic or agnostic people, who are skeptical of the very word “divinity” and tend to shy away from it as if it were a rattlesnake.

Webster’s Dictionary defines divinity as “a celestial being, inferior to God, but superior to man;” also as “divine attribute; supernatural power or virtue.” The Bahá’ís say that each of the great Manifestations of God; Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, J esus, Mohammed and Bahá’u’lláh, was divine. It is this divinity that allowed them to speak in such a way as no other man could speak without being at once evidently the worst kind of egotist. And it is this apparent egotism with its terrific apparent claims to power and glory that has driven many thinking agnostics and atheists out of religion. Modern man, as a result of education and science, is inclined to

be much more skeptical of divine claims than his simpler predecessors. This is a healthy sign and becomes dangerous only if skep' ticism and doubt come to be worshipped for their own sakes without any relation to provable facts.

The Bahá’í concept of divinity is supported by observable facts rather than by dogmatic declarations. In order to grasp this concept it is first necessary to take the “super” out of supernatural. Superstition has no place in modern religion, and it must be realized that spiritual power produces observable phenomena in nature as clear to the eyes of the discerning as the phenomena of electricity and the atom. Just as by watching the power of electricity manifesting itself in the lightning, we judge the presence and nature of electricity in the atmosphere, so by observing the impact of spirit on the hearts of men do we judge the presence of spiritual power on earth and ascertain something of its nature.

Man by nature is a creature of habit and instinct. His tendency, constantly encouraged by the actions of most of those around him, is to satisfy his own selfish instincts. Loyalty first to the fams

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[Page 237]THE NATURE OF DIVINITY 237

ily, then to the tribe and then the nation, lifts him above this low level of selfishness, but only in that he comes to identify himself with the larger body. In doing this he has still reached no higher than the wolf who submerges himself in the pack, or the buffalo who becomes one with the herd. Individual selfishness now becomes mass selfishness. The spiritual power of God manifests itself on earth when it reaches into the hearts of men and lifts large numbers of them out of the power of self, and into a new and greater power, that of the spirit. When this happens to a man, he becomes transformed; he is, as Jesus said, “born again.” He is no longer governed by the world outside of himself, but has reached that point where his spiritual inner being, becomes the captain of both instinct and habit. He has become of “the Kingdom,” which means essentially that he is now, for the first time in his life a “free” man.

We have only to recall the delicately reared partrician Roman women who faced a horrible death in the amphitheater in Rome because they had become Christian and yet were possessed of such spiritual power that they met their end with the calm courage of the most stout-hearted man, to realize how spirit gave

them freedom. What Socrates reached after a life-time of self-discipline and thought, ignorant people reached through the emotional impact of a revealed religion. Twenty thousand Bahá’í martyrs died in Persia in the nineteenth century, singing the praises of Bahá’u’lláh and the Bab, without apparent pain even when tortured by fire. English consular observers actually witnessed this mass martyrdom in modern times.

Christianity swept the corrupt Roman world with a cleansing fire that prepared Europe for its modern surge of civilization. Muhammadanism lifted hundreds of obscure tribes into a part of the most advanced civilization of the middle ages. Buddha’s wisdom and love mellowed China and India, and made at the time of Asoka the most cultural and gentle of all ancient civilizations. Moses made a slave people, the Jews, into one of the most dynamic forces in all human history. These are facts of history which no one can deny. They show the terrific impact of God’s will upon the earth, lifting man, inch by inch, out of his animallike nature and into the new world of self—control, understanding, and unity.

But the skeptic still denies the divinity of the great Manifesta

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tions, of J esus and Zoroaster and Bahá’u’lláh. He says they are only great men. Hundreds of people, he says, have made claim of speaking direct from God. The Christian, on the other hand, says only Jesus spoke for God. The Buddhist says Buddha. The Muhammadan says Muhammad. How pull the truth out of this mixture of claims and counter claims, of doubt and skepticism? One way is to judge the impact of these men on history. There have been a thousand leaders who laid claim to divinity while still partaking liberally of the luxuries of this earth. Their influence, like that of a will-o-thewisp, is only fleeting, a generation perhaps, at most two or three, dying slowly away, incapable of renewal. But Buddhism, Muhammadanism, Christianity, Judaism have extended for century on century, have been subject again and again to great upsurges of renewed spirit and reform. They have entered deep into the hearts of men and influ enced and transformed their lives by the millions. But the astonishing thing

about the great Manifestations of God that separates them from all other men is their possession of a godlike wisdom without any apparent effort to attain it. Socrates, Plato, Marcus Aurelius,

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Descartes, Kant, all these giant thinkers of human history reached their wisdom through years of struggle, of study, of trial and error. Muhammad, without even learning to write, never studying a hook (for books were practically non-existent in the Arabia of his time), produced on blades of camels’ bones the Qur’án a veritable pearl of human wisdom, flawless as a perfect gem. Eight hundred years before Copernicus, Muhammad proclaimed that the earth circled the sun, a statement obscured and ignored by a people not yet ready for such an astounding change in the concept of the universe. Jesus, as we know, at the age of twelve confounded the wise men in the temple at Jerusalem, and confounded them again years later after an uneducated life as a simple carpenter. We have only to read the New Testament with unprejudiced eyes to see how He handled and answered the shrewdest of the priests and pharisees with the consummate skill of a master teacher dealing with unruly children.

Bahá’u’lláh, the latest Manifestation, spoke of a United Nations of the World as early as 1860, a time when such a thought was regarded as sheer fantasy. He told of the need for

[Page 239]THE NATURE OF DIVINITY

religion to cooperate with science at a time when all organized religions were furiously battling with dogmatic statements the inroads of science into faith. In Haifa, when the famous English orientalist, Dr. Edward G. Browne, came to see Him, it was the college professor, the holder of many degrees, who, in his own words, felt as a little Child in the presence of his master.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, said:

“The Reality of Divinity may be compared to the sun, which from the heights of its magnificence shines upon all the horizons, and each horizon and each soul receives a share of its radiance. If this light and these rays did not exist, beings would not exist; all beings express something, and partake of some ray and portion of this light. The splendors Of the perfections, bounties, and attributes of God shine forth and radiate from the reality of the perfect Man, that is to say, the Unique One, the Universal Manifestation of God. Other beings receive only one ray, but the Universal Manifestation is the Mirror for this Sun, which appears and becomes manifest in it, with all its perfections, attributes, signs, and wonders.”

The agnostic and the atheist

239

rebel against this idea because their egos will not admit perfection in human form. It is the same unreasoning rebellion of the child against the authority of the father, often appearing to supposedly “logical argument”, not as a means of seeking truth, but as pure defense against the deflation Of the ego. In the same way we would probably deny the existence of gravity if it hurt our little egos.

A dispassionate and scientific appraisal of any of the writings or sayings of the great Manifestations shows a sublime wisdom, penetration and understanding of human nature. They attack with direct though beautiful language the heart of all human problems of good and evil. The science of psychology is proving today how incredibly aware of human failings and their cure were these Great Ones. Consider this saying of Buddha, written in the seventh Century, B.C.:

“Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart: ‘It will not come nigh unto me.’ Even by the falling of water drops the water pot is filled, so the fool becomes filled with evil even though he gather it little by little.”

Only recently have psychologists begun to understand the law of habit outlined in this

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240 WORLD ORDER

profound statement. Could a mere man have foreseen this advance in understanding in the dark ages that prevailed twentyfive hundred years ago?

These Manifestations one and all proclaimed themselves the Ordained Ones of God. They stated in no uncertain terms that they Were God’s direct word on earth to man. Could such wise men, men whose entire lives were the perfect examples of living beyond human desire, have manufactured such statements for the purpose of self—aggrandizement? This is inconceivable! Either They were the word of

God on earth, or They were the shallowest imposters. History and Their writings deny in every line the latter supposition.

If man would cast out the clouds of egotism and selfish desire, he would see these facts in their proper perspective. Divinity would appear no longer as the mysterious hug-a-boo of the superstitiously religious nor the nonsense that the atheist tries to call it. As one of the great, though mysterious, phenomena of the natural world, we could see it as God’s guiding light to us through the dark currents of human history.

THE PROPHETS ARE UNITED

The divine Prophets are conjoined in the perfect state of love. Each one has given the glad-tidings of His successor’s coming and each successor has sanctioned the One who proceeded Him. They were in the utmost unity but Their followers are in strife. For instance, Moses gave the message of the glad-tidings of Christ and Christ confirmed the prophethood of Moses. Therefore between Moses and Jesus there is no variation or conflict. They are in perfect unity but between the Jew and the Christian there is conflict. Now therefore if the Christian and Jewish peoples investigate the reality underlying their Prophets’ teachings they will become kind in their attitude toward each other and associate in the utmost love, for reality is one and not dual or multiple. If this invesigation of the reality becomes universal the divergent nations will ratify all the divine Prophets and confirm all the Holy Books. No strife or rancor will then remain and the world will become united.

——‘ABDU’L-BAHA

[Page 241]Disciple

Yes, it’s a long ride from town to town after a busy week;

But I couldn’t resist it—I just rode down To look again at her blossom cheek,

To hear her soft voice and the word of cheer, And have her drive away an old man’s fear.

I am old and tired; the road was long,

But I always felt somewhere there was a spring Where I could sit and hear an evensong,

And be one among a mystic ring

To blend my voice with others as they sing.

I really think I’ve found the very thing!

All my life I have been in travail

But I don’t mind now how long and hard the way; She gives me answers from a wondrous taleAnd I feel stronger when we meditate and pray. I no longer fear what lies behind the day.

Vistas of New Worlds and beauty unfold, Endless and hon—full of Light!

She gives me the Prophet’s hand to hold, And I know now that morning follows night, And the great heavens of joy unfold

And waft me upwards in colors bright.

But I must take my way and say good-night. I don’t mind now if it is dark and cold, For now I have the prophet’s hand to hold.

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N. D. B.

[Page 242]

If You Are Not a Bahá’í

Eclitoria/

F YOU are not a Bahá’í, those

of your friends who are must seem to you a little irritating. They know all the answers. Problems that puzzle the most astute minds and the wisest hearts bother them not at all: they know how they must eventually be solved. Cataclysms that rock the world and threaten to topple civilization from its base leave them unperturbed: they knew all along that this was going to happen and they are already laying another foundation. Moreover, they can tell you the plan on which the new edifice will be built. There is nothing on which they do not have some pretty definite ideas, from the theory of evolution to the Day of Judgment. They do not claim to know these things by dint of their own gigantic mental operations, but through their religion, and, not unnaturally, you are a hit doubtful about that. Religion has solved many a personal difficulty, has changed many lives, but is it so specific on such a variety of subjects? '

As a matter of fact, religion has sometimes been very specific about practical affairs. You have only to read the Old Testament

to see how Moses laid down laws for society, which are still in force. If Christ’s Teachings were concerned primarily with the spiritual life of the individual, Muhammad, at a later time, was very specific in the ordinances which lifted Arabia out of barbarism and resulted in the lslamic state.

Since Muhammad’s time life has become steadily more complex, and knowledge has developed so rapidly that: men have come to believe themselves quite self—sufficient and to feel emancipated from God. But the rapid industrialization of the world and the flinging together of its many peoples, with their diverse cultures, has created problems so complicated and so numerous that they stagger the human mind. And suddenly we are aware that these problems must be solved immediately. Perhaps after all religion can come to our aid. Your Bahá’í friends find that aid in the nineteenth century Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.

There is nothing meager or fragmentary about the help provided by God in this age. During the better part of fifty years the Bahá’í Revelation poured

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[Page 243]IF YOU ARE NOT A Bahá’í

forth. During the twenty-nine years which followed, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, its authorized interpreter, explained it in terms of our specific needs. Thus the Bahá’í Teachings are in themselves a broad education, touching upon every subject important to modern man. They extend from individual generosity to economic justice, from the fundamentals of family relationships to those of a world state, from explanations of traditional theological doc trine to the advancement of science.

Not that Bahá’u’lláh gave us an engineering handbook on which to build our world, or revealed a mere code of laws. Rather He established a creative truth and so elaborated it that it can be applied to all aspects of human life: the unity of God and its correlary, the unity of men. This dynamic principle Bahá’u’lláh made available to us in terms which enable us to solve our problems. He set us on the proper road, turned us in the right direction, and provided us with the necessary equipment.

The human intellect is an important part of that equipment, and scientific knowledge is specified as a tool for our use. If, for example, we are engaged in

243

rearing a child, there is much that we can learn directly from the Bahá’í Writings to help us, but We also learn there to use our own native intelligence and imagination and to employ all the means that the sciences can provide.

One of the most important aids given us by Bahá’u’lláh is a method. Bahá’í consultation stems directly from the principle of human unity and is the new democracy for our day. Full and frank discussion of any question, based on all obtainable knowledge, followed by a decision made with prayer and then loyallyv supported by all concerned—such a method of attacking our difficulties enables us to make use of all possible help, human and divine, and represents the action of the whole rather than any part. When it can be applied on an international scale, real peace will be assured.

Your Bahá’í friends really do have a great many of the answers, but they would be the last to lay claim to them all. For they have only begun to draw on this great source of enlightenment. It makes them humble, rather than complacent, and eager to share it with you. ——-G. B.

[Page 244]

Struggle for Bill of Rights

BOOK REVIEW BY HELEN INDERLIED

ONSIDERINC the growing interest today in the world

for an international Bill of Rights, it seems timely to review with Samuel S. Wyer* the history of human rights from the beginning up to the present day. Investigation shows that man from earliest recorded days has always longed for his rights, and that occasionally through the ages he has voiced these longings. The first instance given by Mr. Wyer is the heartfelt plea of an Egyptian peasant to his pharoah in 2300 B. C. for the protection of his personal rights. Mr. Wyer comments, “The burning eloquence of the speaker in this ancient record moved the translators to label it, ‘Tale of

9”

the Eloquent Peasant .

From the plea of the Eloquent Peasant for his individual rights to the rising desire today for an international Bill of Rights, over four thousand years have elapsed. However Thomas Paine predicts that “man’s natural rights will win out and establish his civil rights.”

At this point Mr. Wyer stops

' Wyer, Samuel 5., Struggle for Bill of Rights, “Better World Fund", Columbus Ohio: 1945.

to consider what have been the greatest driving forces behind this evolution to bring about more individual liberty. He states that after looking over the whole field of progress in this line, he regards Moses, when viewed from the standpoint of his contribution to man’s thinking, as the “most significant” personality” of all time, second only to J esus Christ.

It would seem that David de Sola Poole, author of Social Ideals of Judaism must agree with this idea of Mr. Wyer, for he writes that the social code defined by Moses hundreds of years before Plato’s Republic, “the first blue-print of an ideal Commonwealth,” seeks throughout to achieve social justice and human rights. He adds that, although Israel sometimes fell away from that standard, the prophets summoned them back to the social religious law.

Mr. Wyer’s pamphlet furnishes good examples of the influence of the prophets: Once the prophet Elisha was asked by the King of Israel if he should slay some captives, and Elisha replied decidedly, “Thou shalt not smite them.” The prophet Oded

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[Page 245]STRUGGLE FOR BILL OF RIGHTS

ordered captives to be returned to their homes, to their own land. Jeremiah also urged “no wrong, no violence to the stranger.” The prophet Amos stressed social justice and laid the ethical foundation for the rights of man. Ezekial, Zechariah, and Malachi all warned of the punishments Of the Almighty that would come upon such as disregarded His Prophets.

Thus was Israel educated in social justice through the centuries until the appearance of Jesus, Who, with dynamic power, stimulated the consciousness and the conscience of mankind until a new civilization developed. Mr. Wyer says that Jesus motivated the greatest “living-together philosophy” up to that time, for he stressed the supreme worth of each individual; recognized man as the most meaningful thing in the universe; energized man with fortitude, faith in God, and faith in himself. He taught the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.”

Jesus was crucified, but His influence permeated the great Roman Empire under whose rule He was born and lived. Although Christianity was persecuted for the first two centuries, H. G. Wells in his Outline of History,

wrote of the great change that

245

came when, in the first quarter of the fourth century, Emperor Constantine made it the official religion of the Roman Empire. It is often asked why Emperor Constantine took this step which must have been radical at the time. Mr. Wells made an interesting analysis on this point: The Emperor Constantine saw in this new Faith “the hope of moral solidarity” amid the narrowness and the self-seeking of his empire. This new religion, with its emphasis on the worth of the individual, may have influenced the tone of the Roman Law, for Roman Law decidedly stresses the recognition of human rights.

Rome, as ruler of the world, Mr. Wyer indicates, had accumulated “the cream of man’s law thinking.” In 527 AD. Justinian by his codification of this law, preserved it and gave it a form fitted to descend to modern man. In the twelfth century came a marked revival of Roman Law, and by the year twelve hundred there were probably ten thousand law students, chiefly in Italy. Many of these students came from what is now England, thus showing that country’s early and deep interest in human rights, and perhaps explaining the later liberal “Charters of Liberties” it obtained. Also it is recorded that teachers of Law were

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brought back from Rome to England, and thus Roman laws were widely diffused throughout that country. In general the bishops and the clergy supported Roman law, and the nobility and the laity opposed with the English Common law. Thus two streams, the Roman and the Common law, met and influenced each other.

Mr. Wyer shows that for centuries in England the Pope held a sort of over-lordship Of the kings of the Holy Roman Empire. However at the opening of the thirteenth century, the barons rebelled against both Pope and king, demanding their rights and liberties. They marched into London and forced King John to sign the “Charters of Liberties” afterwards known as the Magna Carta. To show that “the life of law is struggle” and also to show how very much determined the English barons were to enforce their rights, it is recorded that this Charter had to be confirmed, established, and commanded to be put into execution by thirty-two acts of Parliament before the kings of England would observe it as law. It was not until 1265, however, that representatives of the common people were included in Parliament through the efforts and leadership of Simon de Montfort.

WORLD ORDER

From this time on England lived under and developed its constitutional form of government for three centuries and a half until a new struggle for individual liberties arose in connection With the English colonies in America. A deep desire for human rights came with these settlers from the mother country. Virginia, the first permanent settlement, from the beginning insisted on having in its charter With England a definition of its individual rights. Massachusetts Colony, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Carolina and Georgia followed suit.

Soon after Boston was founded in 1630, a clergyman and a poet raised their voices in defense of human liberties. Thomas Hooker of Connecticut delivered a great sermon inspiring his community to action. He said that the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the

people and closed with these well-known words, “As God has given us liberty, let us use it.” Three years later the blind English poet, Milton, challenged a recently made English law regulating printing in his “Areopagitica” which was an eloquent plea for freedom of the press.

Also William Penn showed

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STRUGGLE FOR BILL OF RIGHTS

his vision when he wrote in his Preface to a Plan of Government for Pennsylvania, “Any government is free to the people under it where laws rule and the people are a party to these laws.” John Locke, distinguished Eng:lish philosopher defended religious liberty and the ultimate sovereignty of the people.

Four years later in England there emerged one of the greatest documents in the historyr of human liberties. It was the Friglish Declaration of Rights, in the year 1689—3, date to remember! Our own “wisest American”, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once made the statement that it takes about one hundred years to get an idea over to a people. It took just that length of time for two great nations to bring forth in turn their declaration of rights” France just one hundred years later in 1789‘, and the United States of America in 1791.

Mr. Wyer in his article eXpressed the belief that a verv great influence leading to the adoption of our Bill of Rights was the publication of Blackstone’s Commentaries in England. Blackstone, an English jurist, was regarded as'the “outstanding legal scholar in the world.” He compiled the laws from the Anglo-Saxon heritage

247

(as Justinian had compiled the Roman laws) and made them available to all who were interested in their legal rights. In Vol. II. of his Commentaries. one hundred and seventy-seven consecutive pages are devoted to the “rights” of persons.

Published in England in 1765, these Commentaries reached the American Colonies in 1771 and were very widely read. In 1775 Edmund Burke told the House of Commons of the deep and widespread interest in the study of Blackstone in the Colonies and warned England to beware of curtailing their liberties in any way. On the very next day Patrick Henry delivered his immortal “Liberty or Deat ” speech, showing the growing determination of the colonists to secure their rights. Affairs were moving irresistibly to a climax, writes Mr. Wyer.

On July Fourth came the Declaration of Independence, 1775, followed by the ratification of the Constitution of the United States, 1789, the French Declaration of Rights, 1789, and the United States Bill of Rights, 1791. This Bill would have been incorporated in the Constitution in 1789 if Washington and Jefferson had had their way. Still, within one hundred years after the Mother country had set the

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pace by adopting the Declaration of Rights, her colonies overseas had obtained their independence and adopted a Bill of Rights of their own, and, as Emeric Sala in This Earth, One Country points out, “performed a political miracle by building a federal system which increased prodigiously the collective power of the new nation . . . Canada, Australia, the Union of South Africa, and Switzerland have since followed their example.”

The century and a quarter under the new Constitution witnessed the growth of the United States to become the most powerful country in the world. But in 1914 a great danger threatened; the beginning of a “rendezvous with destiny” awaited those countries who had bravely struggled to gain the free way of life. Reactionary adherents to government by absolutism lined up savagely against those who loved representative government. Two terrible wars followed. Again the freedom-loving people

WORLD ORDER

cried, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Millions met death. It was indeed Armageddon. Those who fought for human rights and the “ultimate sovereignty of the people” won, but they now face a darkened and chaotic world.

_But just as the rain comes when the parched earth needs it, so the “significant man,” to use Mr. Wyer’s nomenclature, never fails to come, Bahá’ís believe, at a crisis in the evolution of hug man emancipation—«just as Buddha came to the rescue of a priest-and caste-ridden India, as Moses came to lead His enslaved people out from Egypt, as Jesus came to save people from a demoralized Roman Empire, so now Bahá’u’lláh has come to revitalize and to organize the people of the entire world in the time of its greatest distress. He has given, with the power to establish it, a Plan for

a new World Order in which hu man rights are safeguarded.

In the estimation of God there is no distinction of color; all are one in the color and beauty‘ of servitude to Him. Color is not important; the

heart is all-important.

All will become as one family, one people, and the same susceptibility to the divine bounty and education will be witnessed among mankind.

We are all servants of one Threshold, attendants at one Court, waves of one sea, drops of one stream, the dust before one door and plants of one

garden.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHA

[Page 249]The Mature Man

Bahá’í Words for Meditation

Be not the cause of sorrow, how much less of sedition and strife! (p. 201 ) ‘

The development of the world,‘ the training of nations, the tranquility of the servants and the security of the people of all lands have been due to the Divine precepts and ordinances. (p. 201)

[Religion] bestOWs the cup of vitality, confers immortal life and imparts eternal benefit to the people. (p. 20])

“Say, all are created by God.” This lofty utterance is like unto water for quenching the fire of hate and hostility which is hidden and stored in men’s hearts and minds. (p. 210)

Until love takes possession of the heart no other divine bounty can be revealed in it. (p. 218)

All the Prophets have striven to make love manifest in the hearts of men. (p. 218)

Religion is the outer expression of the Divine reality. Therefore it must be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. (p. 224)

The fundamental reality of the Divine religiohs must be renewed, reformed, revoiced to mankind. (p. 226)

Material progress insures the happiness of the human world. Spiritual

progress insures the happiness and eternal continuance of the soul. (p. 227)

The Prophets of God have founded the laws of Divine civilization. (p. 227 )

The Prophets of God . . . have been the root and fundamental source bf all knowledge. (p. 227)

This is the century . . . of human solidarity and altruistic service; the century of Universal Peace and the reality of the Divine Kingdom. (p. 228)

The powers of earth cannot withstand the privileges and bestowals which God has ordained for this great and glorious century. (p. 234)

These selections are from Bahá’í World Faith.

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The child must not be oppressed or censured because it is undeveloped; it must be patiently trained. (p. 239)

The sick must not be neglected because they are ailing; . . . we must have compassion upon them and bring them healing. (p. 2.39)

We must not look for truth in the deeds and actions of nations; we must investigate truth at its Divine source. (p. 251)

The friends of God must . . . look upon mankind as the leaves, blossoms and fruits of the tree of creation, and must always be thinking of doing good to someone, of love, consideration, affection and assistance to some body. (p. 215)

Life in“. this mortal world will quickly come to an end, and this earthly glory, wealth, comfort and happiness Will soon vanish and be no more.

(p. 216)

Be a helper of every oppressed one, the protector of every destitute one, be ye ever mindful to serve any soul of mankind. (p. 216)

Be kind in truth, not only in appearance and outwardly. (p. 277)

Love is light in whatsoever house it may shine and enmity is darkness in whatsoever abode it dwell. (p. 217)

Unity is the expression 'of the loving power of God. (p. 217)

It is our duty in this radiant century to investigate the essentials of Divine religion, seek the realities underlying the oneness of the world of humanity and discover the source of fellowship and agreement which will unite man kind in the heavenly bond of love. (p. 229)

There is no doubt that this wonderful democracy [the United States] will be able to realize the oneness of humanity and the' banner of international

agreement will be unfurled here to spread onward and outward among all the nations of the world. (p. 234)

True religion is the source of love and agreement amongst men.

(p. 238)

Prejudices of any kind are the destroyers of human happiness and welfare. (p. 240)

God has given us material gifts and spiritual graces, outer sight to view

the lights of the sun and inner vision by which we may perceive the glory of God. (p. 267)

[Page 251]

WITH OUR READERS

EVERAL of the World Order edi tors were gathered in the new headquarters at 503 West Elm in Urbana. Before them were some of your manuscripts that had been circulated among them beforehand and that the editors agreed should be published. In another pile were manuscripts for consultation, articles that Were too long» that discussed political figures contrary to Bahá’í policy, that duplicated material recently published, that weren’t written as well as they should be, or that left an erroneous impression of the Bahá’í Faith. Some of these, it was decided, should be sent back for revision. Others should be rejected.

“What have we for the next few issues?” asked one.

“We will continue the series on historical figures now that we have the articles about Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Káẓim,” began another.

“And, of course, we will be continuing the meditation series, ‘The Mature Man’. Then there are those sketches Robert Gulick has sent us about his experiences in the Near East. Other than that, though, we seem to be as low on good manuscripts as we have ever been. We should send out a plea to our writers to furnish us with more material.”

It might be well to introduce you to the new editors of World Order. Garreta Busey, editor-in-chief, has been an associate editor in former years and has contributed many editorials and book reviews. For the past two years she has been the edi tor of Bahá’í News. She has her doctorate in English and is assistant professor On the faculty of the University of Illinois. She has written a novel on midwest pioneer life, The Windbreak. Mabel Hyde Paine has been on the staffs of The Bahá’í World and Bahá’í News. She has written for the magazine and edited the volume. The Divine Art of Living. Flora Hottes is back after five years of pioneer teaching in Bolivia. She was formerly children’s librarian in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Eleanor Sweney Hutchens served on the editorial staff last year and has her Master’s Degree in English from the University of Illinois. She served for two years on the Bahá’í News. All four of these editors are living in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The pictorial editor is Clarence Ullrich, an engineer whose home is in Oak Park.

Since the National Spiritual Assembly has found it advisable to relieve its members of the additional burden of work on national committees and has advised that as far as possible Bahá’ís should serve on but one national committee, the composition of the World Order staff has changed radically. All of us wish to show our appreciation for the devotion that former editors gave toward building the magazine to its present high standard. Horace Holley, who has been the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly for many years will give his full time to that task, after having served the magazine 12 years, ever since it

appeared as World Order. Bertha

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Hyde Kirkpatrick has been a longtime editor. Seven years ago she established this department that has proved so popular, and we are still using items that she gathered. She is joining the Bahá’í News staff. Gertrude K. Henning, who for the past several years has acted as secretary for the magazine writing many of you friendly letters concerning your manuscripts, leaves us to become a member of the National Teaching Committee. William Kenneth Christian, who became an editor last year, contributing many fresh ideas, is devoting himself to his duties as a

member of the NSA.

• * f

The lead article for this issue is the statement by Shoghi Effendi, explaining the Bahá’í Faith to members of the United Nations Special Commission on Palestine. The chairman of the commission, Emil Sandstrom, had asked for a written statement of the religious interests of the Bahá’í community in Palestine. In response, the Guardian stressed its sacredness as the final resting place of the Founders of the Bahá’í Faith, assured the commission of the impartiality of Bahá’ís in the present conflict in Palestine, and wrote, “I am enclosing with this letter, for your information, a brief sketch of the history, aims, and significance of the Bahá’í Faith.” It is this sketch that we are printing this month.

We recognize the second anniversary of the United Nations by reprinting the “Charter Day Message from the United Nations” written by the Secretary-General, Trygvc Lie.

The United Nations Weekly Bulle WORLD ORDER

tin for July 24th has permitted its use.

Those of you who are interested in last month’s article concerning women’s place in the world of tomorrow will be glad to see the official statement presented by the National Spiritual Assembly to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

The quotation from Bahá’u’lláh on the prerequisites of peace is especially appropriate for this issue.

Marzieh Gail shares with us thoughts inspired “In the High Sierras.” Mrs. Gail is well known among Bahá’ís as an author and a public speaker and frequently contributes to these pages.

“Nature of Divinity’ by Duart Brown is a welcome contribution from an author who was introduced to our readers in this department in February, 1947.

The reviewer of the pamphlet, Struggle for Bill of Rights, Helen Interlied, is living in Binghamton, New York.

Robert Montgomery Hooker, whose one page article on Nicaragua is printed this month is not a Bahá’í but has acted as Malcolm King’s interpreter in Nicaragua and has rendered valuable assistance to the Faith there.

L. Khai is the pen name for a New York Bahá’í whose poetry has appeared before in World Order.

The work of N. D. B. is also familiar to our readers. O'ur poets are very modest this month.

Garreta Busey has written the editorial. Mabel Paine has selected the passages for “The Mature Man.”

9

[Page 253]Bahá’í Literature

Writings of Shoghi Effendi

Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith

Distributed by Bahá’í Publishing Committee 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois

BAHA’I ADMINISTRATION

This work deals with the development of Bahá’í local and national institutions in North America during the years following the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It is an exposition of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in terms of the experience of the American Bahá’ís and the source of guidance and inspiration to believers entering a new stage in the evolution of the Faith.

THE WORLD ORDER OF Bahá’u’lláh

Here the Bahá’ís learned, between 1929 and 1936, of the role to be played by the Bahá’í world community and its institutions during the collapse of the 01d order and the rise of a new Civilization. Here also they found for the first time the pattern of future society and an insight into the whole meaning of the Dispensation Of Bahá’u’lláh.

THE ADVENT 0F DIVINE JUSTICE

Shoghi Effendi in December, 1938, set in motion the first stages of the world mission conferred by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá upon the North American Bahá’í community—the Bahá’í answer to the destruction which had overtaken society.

THE PROMISED DAY IS COME

The history of the modern world set forth in terms of the Revelation proclaimed by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and its rejection by the civil, religious and educational leaders of the day. War and revolution understood as evidences of a process of Divine chastisement inflicted upon the entire human race to purify it for the blessings of the Kingdom.

GOD PASSES BY

A summary of the first hundred years of Bahá’í history, presenting the expectancy of the Promised One, the mission of the Báb, the mission of Bahá’u’lláh, their work and action, the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the spread of the Faith t0 sixty-eight countries and the rise of the administrative order. Spiritual history of the “forld Religion, made possible by unique capacity of its first Guardian, presenting a union of Person with revealed Truth, and of truth with Event.

[Page 254]Words of Bahá’u’lláh

Inscribed Over the Nine Entrances Of the

House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois

. The earth is but one country; and man kind its Citizens.

. The best beloved of all things in My sight

is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me.

. My love is My strongfold; he that entereih

therein is safe and secure.

Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner_

Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My desvent.

I have made death a messenger of joy to thee; wherefore dost thou grieve?

. Make mention of Me on My earth that in

My heaven I may remember thee.

0 rich (mes on earth! The poor in your midst are My trust: guard ye My trust.

. The source of all learning is the knowl edge of God. exalted be His glory.