The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social

Science Perspectives
Bah Faith

Contributors: Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira

Edited by: Paul Joseph
Book Title: The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives
Chapter Title: "Bah Faith"
Pub. Date: 2017
Access Date: October 13, 2016
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.
City: Thousand Oaks,
Print ISBN: 9781483359892
Online ISBN: 9781483359878
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483359878.n57
Print pages: 131-133
2017 SAGE Publications, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Knowledge. Please note that the pagination of
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The Bah Faith is the youngest of the worlds independent religions, and its teachings
address, among other things, the contemporary causes and effects of war, as well as the
means of achieving peace. The founder of the Bah Faith, Bahullh (18171892),
addressed major heads of state in the latter half of the 19th century, exhorting them to relieve
their populations of the suffering of war, along with the oppressive burden of military
expenditures, by embracing the cause of peace and instituting a universal framework for
collective security. Though his exhortations were ignored by heads of state, the Bah
community has since emerged as one of the most rapidly expanding, diverse, geographically
distributed religious communities on the planet. As such, it represents a growing microcosm
of humanity that is systematically working to lay the foundations for universal peace.

Historical Perspective

Bahs view war as an expression of immature stages in humanitys collective social

evolution. This process, they believe, is leading toward a state of collective maturity
characterized by consciousness of the oneness of humanity and the construction of a globally
integrated social order founded on the principle of justice. According to this view, the
turbulence and conflict of the past century is analogous to the tempestuous stage of
adolescence in the life of the individual as he or she approaches the threshold of maturity.

In our collective lives, Bahs believe, this evolutionary process advances through the
interplay of disintegrative and integrative social forces, both of which are accelerating at this
critical juncture in history. This can be seen in the collapse of anachronistic social norms and
institutions that constitute barriers to human progress, along with the emergence of global
systems of communication, cooperation, coordination, and solidarity. These interacting forces
are driving humanity, by necessity and aspiration, toward its collective maturity. In this context,
Bahs assert the need to consciously recognize these processes and hasten the
construction of a more peaceful, just, and sustainable global order.

Bahs also understand science and religion as complementary systems of knowledge and
practice that, as they mature throughout history, propel the advancement of civilization. In this
context, all of the worlds great religious systems are understood as expressions of a universal
process of spiritual development in response to the same underlying divine truths. The
diversity of inherited religious traditions reflects the varying exigencies of the age and culture
in which each initially emerged. Claims of religious exclusivity or finality, along with
expressions of religious violence and conflict, are thus understood as perversions of religion.

Conception of Human Nature

Another major source of conflict and war, according to Bahs, is the materialistic conception
of human nature that informs many contemporary social norms and institutions. The current
social order is, in large part, premised on the view that humans are motivated primarily by
egoistic, self-interested, and competitive instincts. Society is thus widely understood as a
competitive arena in which self-maximizing individuals or groups pursue divergent interests in
a world characterized by scarce resources and opportunities. These conceptions are so
entrenched in contemporary thought and social structures that war is often viewed as an
inevitable expression of human natureor even as a legitimate means for advancing the
interests of a group or nation.

In contrast, Bahs assert that human nature is characterized by the dual capacities for

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egoism and altruism, competition and cooperationand the extent to which either develops is
a function of ones education, cultural environment, and will. This conception of human
nature, which is supported by a growing body of empirical evidence in the social and
behavioral sciences, leads Bahs to focus much of their energy, in collaboration with all who
are willing, on the spiritual education and empowerment of children and adolescents, along
with the development of capacity among youth and adults to contribute to the betterment of
society through lives of altruistic service. Bahs also focus on the development of new
institutional structures, as well as new patterns of community life, which they believe will allow
for the mature collective expression of these cooperative capacities in human affairs. In all of
these endeavors, Bahs strive to adopt a mode of continuous learning characterized by
ongoing processes of action, reflection, and consultation.

Prerequisites of Peace

Bahs believe that lasting peace cannot be attained merely through the signing of
international treaties and protocols, important as those are. Rather, peace will only be
established as a range of deeply rooted social problems are addressed. Foremost among
these are the glorification of materialistic pursuits, the perpetuation of ideologies that
prescribe and rationalize these in the modern world, and the ascendancy of systems that
cultivate and reinforce such beliefs across entire populations. Such patterns of thought and
behavior have fostered the cynical and one-dimensional views of human nature alluded to
above, have tended to deify either the state or the market have led to the subordination of
entire nations, races, and classes and have inhibited the generation of knowledge about the
holistic advancement of civilization.

Other major prerequisites to peace, according to Bahs, include eliminating racism at the
levels of human consciousness and social structure reducing inordinate disparities of wealth
and poverty and reconstructing a market system that has aggravated the plight of vast
segments of humanity abandoning the fetish of national sovereignty and the unbridled
nationalism it gives rise to overcoming the oppression of women and ensuring their full
partnership in every field of human endeavor transcending the causes of religious strife by
recognizing the underlying unity of all religious traditions and addressing the lack of access
to adequate education among large segments of the earths population, which is a primary
cause of prejudice, superstition, and blind imitation of inherited cultural norms. According to
Bahs, these oppressive social ills are among the root causes of instability, conflict, and war
in the world today.

Bahs do not believe, however, that these forms of oppression can be overcome through
further conflict and strategies that reinforce social divisions. Bahs therefore focus their
energies on unifying approaches to deep social transformation. These approaches are
pursued through constructive processes of community building, nonadversarial forms of social
action, and participation in social discourses focused on the exigencies of the age and the
means of addressing them.

Collective Security

One of the significant discourses that Bahs have long been engaged in is the discourse on
peace and collective security. The Bah teachings call for the convocation of a universal
gathering of heads of state for the purpose of forging a binding framework for collective
security. Within such a framework, all nations would permanently relinquish their right to wage

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offensive war reduce their armaments to that which is required to maintain internal security
and collective security obligations and pledge unified, swift, and decisive action against any
nation that violates this agreement.

In accordance with these commitments, Bahs supported the establishment of the League of
Nations after World War I and the United Nations after World War II as steps, however
imperfect, toward the elimination of war among nations. With regard to the UN, the Bah
International Community was among the first nongovernmental organizations to begin working
within the UN system, where it has since been granted consultative status, and its substantial
contributions are now widely recognized. At the same time, the Bah community has
repeatedly called for deep structural reform of the UN system so that it can advance the
cause of global peace and prosperity in a more just and functional manner.

Age of Transition

Bahs recognize that the period of transition to a more peaceful and prosperous global order
will be characterized by mounting crises and challenges. As long as humanity clings to
immature and maladaptive patterns of behavior, and refuses to recognize its increasing global
interdependence, the conflict and suffering witnessed around the planet today will continue to
worsen. The question, according to Bahs, is how quickly or slowly humanity recognizes the
exigencies of this age and the means for addressing them. But in the long term, Bahs have
faith in humanitys ultimate capacity to recognize its essential oneness. As Bahullh
declared, These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the Most Great
Peace shall come. . . . Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread
out in its stead.

See alsoPeace Education Peaceful Societies Religion and War United Nations

Marcos Alan S. V. FerreiraMichael Karlberg

http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483359878.n57
10.4135/9781483359878.n57
Further Readings
Bah International Community. Turning Point for All Nations: A Statement of the Bah
International Community on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations. New
York: Bah International Community United Nations Office, 1995.
Bah Reference Library. http://www.bahai.org/library.
Ewing, Sovaida Maani. Collective Security Within Reach. Oxford, UK: George Ronald, 2007.
Lerche, Charles, ed. Healing the Body Politic. Oxford, UK: George Ronald, 2004.
Universal House of Justice. The Promise of World Peace. London: Bah Publishing Trust,
1985.

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