Flora Teckie
The International Day for Tolerance, observed annually on November 16, is a reminder of the crucial need to promote greater understanding amongst people of different races.
Currently, the main reason for all forms of discrimination and intolerance is the erroneous idea that we are somehow made of separate and distinct races, peoples, or backgrounds and that these different groups have varying intellectual, moral, or physical capacities, which in turn justify different forms of treatment.
The Bahá’í International Community, in its statement to the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, which took place in Durban in 2001, states: “Racism originates not in the skin but in the human mind. Remedies to racial prejudice, xenophobia, and intolerance must accordingly address first and foremost those mental illusions that have for so many thousands of years given rise to false concepts of superiority and inferiority among human populations.”
It is the Bahá’í view that racism and xenophobia will be eliminated only when the peoples of the world are convinced of the oneness of humanity, and proceed to reconstruct their lives and their societies on that basis.
The principle of human oneness is not a vague hope or slogan. It reflects an eternal spiritual, moral, and physical reality. If we wish to eliminate racism entirely, we must wholeheartedly embrace the concept of oneness of the human race.
“The principle of the oneness of humankind,” in the Bahá’í view, “lies at the heart of the exhortation that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated. To establish justice, peace, and order in an interdependent world, this principle must guide all interactions…”
The Bahá’í concept of the oneness of humanity goes beyond mere tolerance, and advocates a change in our attitudes, requiring an active effort to be made towards establishing genuine unity among the races.
Implementing appropriate legal measures that safeguard human rights and opportunities for everyone is another requirement for eliminating racism.
Promoting racial tolerance and love for the whole human race are requirements for the establishment of global peace.
The Universal House of Justice, the governing council of the Bahá’í international community, in a statement entitled ‘The Promise of World Peace’, says: “Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier to peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the dignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext.
“Racism retards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims, corrupts its perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the oneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be universally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.”
There is a need for a conscious, deliberate, and sustained effort to eliminate racism and to build a united and peaceful world. The unity that must be at the basis of creating a peaceful and just social order is a unity that embraces and honours diversity.
Oneness and diversity are complementary and inseparable. It is not by suppression of differences that one will arrive at unity, but rather, by an increased awareness of, and respect for, the values of each culture, and indeed of each individual.
The Bahá’í Writings state: “Close your eyes to racial differences and welcome all with the light of oneness” and “that the various races of humankind lend a composite harmony and beauty of colour to the whole. Let all associate, therefore, in this great human garden even as flowers grow and blend together side by side without discord or disagreement between them”.
Teckie is a professional architect, a Bahá’í Faith follower, and spiritual columnist.