Unity in Diversity

Around the Globe, Baha'is Work for Change, Sharing a Common Purpose and a Unified Vision

  

Stanlake Kukama, who as a young man was a regional official for the African National Congress in South Africa, gave up politics in the 1950s to pursue a different path towards ending apartheid in his native land. Although he is now retired, his goal or the last 30 years has been to assist in the building of an integrated community of people that could serve to demonstrate the possibility of harmonious relations between blacks and whites in Southern Africa.   Stanlake Kukama has worked since the 1950s as a Bahá'í to promote racial harmony in South Africa. A retired school teacher, he now resides in Bophuthatswana.

"All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization."  -Bahá'u'lláh

Primo Pacsi, center, stands with his pre-school class in the village of Laku Lakuni, high in the Bolivian Andes.

Primo Pacsi lives high in the Andes mountains of Bolivia, where he grows potatoes on steep hillside land that has been in his family for generations. A member of the Aymara people, Mr. Pacsi has only a fourth grade education. Nevertheless, he has helped to start a pre-school for the children in his village, which provides an important educational boost during their most important developmental years. He has also led the way in bringing a new kind of inexpensive solar-heated greenhouse to his village, a project which has permitted him and his neighbours to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables--items which do not otherwise grow at such altitudes.

Although different in their cultural heritages, educational backgrounds, and national origins, Ms. Schwerin, Mr. Kukama, and Mr. Pacsi are united by a common belief in the Bahá'í Faith--and a commitment to its ideals.

Bahá'ís the world over come from all religious backgrounds: Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian, animist, and non-religious. Yet they study a common set of sacred writings, observe a unifying code of religious laws, and look to a single international administrative system for continuing guidance.
  

Their sense of unity goes beyond a shared theology. It is expressed in an abiding commitment to a global program for moral, spiritual and social progress that represents many of the finest ideals of civilization.

Promoting equality of women and men is a primary goal, as is ending racial and ethnic strife. Encouraging the concept of economic justice for all peoples is another major objective. So is ensuring access to good education for all. The community eschews all forms of superstition and sets for its followers the goal of meeting the highest moral standard. World peace and the establishment of a united global commonwealth has been and remains a distinguishing concern.

Indeed, no other world organization of similar diversity, whether affiliated along religious, political, or social lines, can claim a membership as committed to a vision that is at once so singular, coherent and universal.

The source of this vision is Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith. A Persian nobleman who spent the last 40 years of His life as a prisoner and an exile, He authored the equivalent of more than 100 volumes--writings which today form the foundation on which the worldwide Bahá'í community stands.

Excerpted from The Bahá'ís, a publication of the Bahá'í International Community.