One Common Faith | Page 2

traditions. We feel hopeful that our
initiative may serve as a catalyst opening the way to new understanding
of religion's purpose.
However rapidly or slowly this change occurs, the concern of Bahá'ís
must be with their own responsibility in the matter. The task of
ensuring that His message is engaged by people everywhere is one that
Bahá'u'lláh has laid primarily on the shoulders of those who have
recognized Him. This, of course, has been the work that the Bahá'í
community has been pursuing throughout the history of the Faith, but
the accelerating breakdown in social order calls out desperately for the
religious spirit to be freed from the shackles that have so far prevented
it from bringing to bear the healing influence of which it is capable.
If they are to respond to the need, Bahá'ís must draw on a deep
understanding of the process by which humanity's spiritual life evolves.
Bahá'u'lláh's writings provide insights that can help to elevate
discussion of religious issues above sectarian and transient

considerations. The responsibility to avail oneself of this spiritual
resource is inseparable from the gift of faith itself. "Religious
fanaticism and hatred", Bahá'u'lláh warns, "are a world-devouring fire,
whose violence none can quench. The Hand of Divine power can, alone,
deliver mankind from this desolating affliction...." Far from feeling
unsupported in their efforts to respond, Bahá'ís will come increasingly
to appreciate that the Cause they serve represents the arrowhead of an
awakening taking place among people everywhere, regardless of
religious background and indeed among many with no religious
leaning.
Reflection on the challenge has prompted us to commission the
commentary that follows. One Common Faith, prepared under our
supervision, reviews relevant passages from both the writings of
Bahá'u'lláh and the scriptures of other faiths against the background of
the contemporary crisis. We commend it to the thoughtful study of the
friends.
The Universal House of Justice
Naw-Rúz, 2005

ONE COMMON FAITH

"There is every reason for confidence that the period of history now..."
There is every reason for confidence that the period of history now
opening will be far more receptive to efforts to spread Bahá'u'lláh's
message than was the case in the century just ended. All the signs
indicate that a sea change in human consciousness is under way.
Early in the twentieth century, a materialistic interpretation of reality
had consolidated itself so completely as to become the dominant world
faith insofar as the direction of society was concerned. In the process,
the civilizing of human nature had been violently wrenched out of the

orbit it had followed for millennia. For many in the West, the Divine
authority that had functioned as the focal centre of guidance--however
diverse the interpretations of its nature--seemed simply to have
dissolved and vanished. In large measure, the individual was left free to
maintain whatever relationship he believed connected his life to a
world transcending material existence, but society as a whole
proceeded with growing confidence to sever dependence on a
conception of the universe that was judged to be at best a fiction and at
worst an opiate, in either case inhibiting progress. Humanity had taken
its destiny into its own hands. It had solved through rational
experimentation and discourse--so people were given to believe--all of
the fundamental issues related to human governance and development.
This posture was reinforced by the assumption that the values, ideals
and disciplines cultivated over the centuries were now reliably fixed
and enduring features of human nature. They needed merely to be
refined by education and reinforced by legislative action. The moral
legacy of the past was just that: humanity's indefeasible inheritance,
requiring no further religious interventions. Admittedly, undisciplined
individuals, groups or even nations would continue to threaten the
stability of the social order and call for correction. The universal
civilization towards the realization of which all the forces of history
had been bearing the human race, however, was irresistibly emerging,
inspired by secular conceptions of reality. People's happiness would be
the natural result of better health, better food, better education, better
living conditions--and the attainment of these unquestionably desirable
goals now seemed to be within the reach of a society single-mindedly
focused on their pursuit.
Throughout that part of the world where the vast majority of the earth's
population live, facile announcements that "God is Dead" had passed
largely unnoticed. The experience of the peoples of Africa, Asia, Latin
America and the Pacific had long confirmed them in the view not only
that human nature is deeply influenced by spiritual forces, but that its
very identity is spiritual. Consequently, religion continued, as had
always been the case, to function as the ultimate authority in life. These
convictions, while not directly confronted by the ideological revolution

taking place in the West, were effectively marginalized by it, insofar as
interaction among peoples