"The bedrock of a strategy that can engage the world's population in assuming responsibility for its collective destiny must be the consciousness of the oneness of humankind. Deceptively simple in popular discourse, the concept that humanity constitutes a single people presents fundamental challenges to the way that most of the institutions of contemporary society carry out their functions. Whether in the form of the adversarial structure of civil government, the advocacy principle informing most of civil law, a glorification of the struggle between classes and other social groups, or the competitive spirit dominating so much of modern life, conflict is accepted as the mainspring of human interaction. It represents yet another expression in social organization of the materialistic interpretation of life that has progressively consolidated itself over the past two centuries.
Bahá'u'lláh compared the world to the human body. ... it is precisely the wholeness and complexity of the order constituting the human body -- and the perfect integration into it of the body's cells -- that permit the full realization of the distinctive capacities inherent in each of these component elements. No cell lives apart from the body, whether in contributing to its functioning or in deriving its share from the well-being of the whole. The physical well-being thus achieved finds its purpose in making possible the expression of human consciousness; that is to say, the purpose of biological development transcends the mere existence of the body and its parts.
What is true of the life of the individual has its parallels in human society. The human species is an organic whole, the leading edge of the evolutionary process. That human consciousness necessarily operates through an infinite diversity of individual minds and motivations detracts in no way from its essential unity. Indeed, it is precisely an inhering diversity that distinguishes unity from homogeneity or uniformity.
From its earliest beginnings in the consolidation of family life, the process of social organization has successively moved from the simple structures of clan and tribe, through multitudinous forms of urban society, to the eventual emergence of the nation-state, each stage opening up a wealth of new opportunities for the exercise of human capacity. Clearly, the advancement of the race has not occurred at the expense of human individuality. As social organization has increased, the scope for the expression of the capacities latent in each human being has correspondingly expanded. Because the relationship between the individual and society is a reciprocal one, the transformation now required must occur simultaneously within human consciousness and the structure of social institutions. It is in the opportunities afforded by this twofold process of change that a strategy of global development will find its purpose. At this crucial stage of history, that purpose must be to establish enduring foundations on which planetary civilization can gradually take shape.
No single principle of effective authority is so important as giving priority to building and maintaining unity among the members of a society and the members of its administrative institutions. Reference has already been made to the intimately associated issue of commitment to the search for justice in all matters. ...Not only at the national, but also at the local level, the elected governors of human affairs should, in Bahá'u'lláh's view, consider themselves responsible for the welfare of all of humankind."
2. "An Introduction to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's 'The Secret of Divine Civilization'" by Nader Saiedi: http://goo.gl/4Yoe5M
3. "Some Reflections on Bahá’í Approaches to Social Change" by Roshan Danesh and Lex Musta: https://goo.gl/BX1kM0
4. "The Birth of the Human Being: Beyond Religious Traditionalism and Materialist Modernity" by Nader Saiedi: https://goo.gl/BwcoeK
5. Webinar "No Jim Crow Church - The Origins of South Carolina Bahá’i Community," by Louis Venters, 4 December 2016: goo.gl/V1Oh3l
- one of the most important discussions of the Bahá’i approach to 'social equality' and social change in the US and of the current reality in the United States. Simply a must-see.
6. Webinar "Ethical Democracy: A Democratic Alternative to Liberal Democracy?" (2016), by Arash Abizadeh: goo.gl/fFBGqT
- it is not often that Bahá’i scholars have attempted to put forward a critique of the notion of liberal democracy. This is a wonderful tour of force into the limitations of the model of liberal democracy and of the institutional remedies commonly proposed to alleviate such limitations. The author proposes that liberal democracies should be concerned not only with the key notions of freedom and equality but also with the notion of nobility (or dignity) of the individual. This is a different approach from other incipient Baha'i attempts to critique liberalism primarily through the prism of the notion/ideology of individualism (see FUNDAEC, for example). In putting forward his argument, the author is using the model of Baha'i elections as a source of inspiration and critique for reconceptualizing current electoral procedures in liberal democracies. The comparison is extremely valuable although how the notion of nobility (and so questions of ethics, morality and value) could truly be inserted procedurally and institutionally into the political process remains a real question.
7. "Towards a Model of Racial Unity. A case-study of Bahá’i Teachings and Community Practices," book-chapter from "Racial Unity. An Imperative for Social Progress", by Richard W. Thomas. (author permission. waiting for copyright permission)
8. "Reflections on Human Rights, Moral Development and the Global Campaign to Eradicate Gender-Based Violence" by Michael L. Penn: http://goo.gl/zYwiz1
9. "Social Activism Among Some Early Twentieth-Century Bahá'is" by Will C. van den Hoonaard: http://goo.gl/snUV4g
10. Webinar "Discourse Matters: The Potential of Qualitative Sociology to Shed Light on Bahá’i Studies," by Deborah K van den Hoonaard: goo.gl/p0z0ug
a) The role of inductive reasoning in how we do sociological research as Bahá’is: start from facts, understanding of social context and consultation processes and only later formulate or bring in theory (similar to grounded theory). What is sociological imagination? What is the role of participation and diversity in the production of knowledge and the functioning of communities?
b) What is discourse? Subjects, citizens,
taxpayers or consumers?(different discourses for Canadian identity). Different types of discourse and their influence.
c) Discussion of two qualitative studies of the Bahá’i
community in Canada and their findings:
1995 - “The equality of women and men: The experience of the Baha’i community in Canada” - a survey of the community (through focus groups) about the application of the principle of the equality of women and men.
1995 - “The equality of women and men: The experience of the Baha’i community in Canada” - a survey of the community (through focus groups) about the application of the principle of the equality of women and men.
2011 - "Life Histories of Baha’i Women in Canada: Constructing Religious Identity in the Twentieth Century" by Lynn Echevarria - an example of how Baha’i studies can work in an existent
academic framework to explain social
processes in the Baha’i community. Chapter 3 explores how theology may impact on the emancipation of women.
11. Message from the Universal House of Justice to the National Assembly of the Bahá'is of Italy, 19 November 1974: http://goo.gl/zHMOjM
