Articles and Resources

This statement on the concept of global prosperity in the context of the Bahá’í teachings was commissioned by the Universal House of Justice.

Published to mark the end of the 20th century, this statement reflects upon human progress thus far, in the context of an ever-advancing civilization. What we are witnessing, it says, is the beginning of the history of humankind, the history of a human race conscious of its own oneness.

In this statement, the Bahá’í International Community writes that a culture of consumerism has tended to reduce human beings to competitive, insatiable consumers of goods and to objects of manipulation by the market. A more profound look at human nature, the statement suggests, would reveal the ability of human beings to respond to a higher calling.

In this submission to the 2006 Commission on Social Development on the review of the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, the Bahá’í International Community reflects on the purpose of development—contributing to the foundation for a new social and international order, capable of creating and sustaining conditions in which human beings can advance morally, culturally, and intellectually.

The Bahá’í International Community’s statement on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations.

In this essay, first published in The Bahá’í World 2005-2006, Dr. Michael Karlberg argues that Western liberal democracy, or competitive democracy, has become anachronistic, unjust, and unsustainable in an age of increasing global interdependence.

In this article first published in The Bahá’í World 2005-2006, Matthew Weinberg explores the source of our identity. Where should our attachments and loyalties lie? And if our identity or identities so impel us, how—and with whom—should we come together? And what is the nature of the bonds that bring us together?

Ann Boyles offers a perspective on the meaning of “community,” its condition today, and what it will look like in the next millennium. This article appeared in the 1996-97 edition of The Bahá’í World.

A list of further reading on this subject is available here.