"In order to find truth we must give up our prejudices, our own small trivial notions; an open receptive mind is essential. If our chalice is full of self, there is no room in it for the water of life. The fact that we imagine ourselves to be right and everybody else wrong is the greatest of all obstacles in the path towards unity, and unity is necessary if we would reach truth, for truth is one." 1
"God maketh no distinction between the white and the black. If the hearts are pure both are acceptable unto Him. God is no respecter of persons on account of either color or race. All colors are acceptable unto Him, be they white, black, or yellow. Inasmuch as all were created on the image of God, we must bring ourselves to realize that all embody divine possibilities" 2
"I shall ask you a question. Did God create us for love or for enmity? Did He create us for peace or discord? Surely He has created us for love; therefore, we should live in accordance with His will. Do not listen to anything that is prejudiced for self-interest prompts men to be prejudiced. They are thoughtful only of their own will and purposes. They live and move in darkness. 3
"Both sides [whites and blacks] have prejudices to overcome; one, the prejudice which is built up in the minds of a people who have conquered and imposed their will, and the other the reactionary prejudice of those who have been conquered and sorely put upon." 4
"The earth is one earth, and the same atmosphere surrounds it. No difference or preference has been made by God for its human inhabitants; but man has laid the foundation of prejudice, hatred and discord with his fellowman by considering nationalities separate in importance and races different in rights and privileges." 5
"Prejudice of all kinds -- whether religious, racial, patriotic or political -- are destructive of divine foundations in man. All the warfare and bloodshed in human history have been the outcome of prejudice. This earth is one home and native land. God has created mankind with equal endowment and right to live upon the earth. As a city is the home of all its inhabitants, although each may have his individual place or residence therein, so the earth's surface is one wide native land or home for all races of humankind." 6
"To bring the white and black together is considered impossible and unfeasible, but the breaths of the Holy Spirit will bring about this union. ... the enmity and hatred which exist between the white and the black races is very dangerous and there is no doubt that it will end in bloodshed unless the influence of the Word of God, the breaths of the Holy Spirit and the teachings of Baha'u'llah are diffused amongst them and harmony is established between the two races.
They must destroy the foundation of enmity and rancor and lay the basis of love and affinity. The power of the Teachings of Baha'u'llah will remove this danger from America." 7
"Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier to peace. Its practice perpetuates 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." 8
1. 'Abdu'l Baha, Paris Talks, p 136
2. 'Abdu'l Baha, qtd by Shoghi Effendi in The Advent of Divine Justice, Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, IL, p. 37
3. 'Abdu'l Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, IL, 1982, p. 42.
4. On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, letter date 5/27/57 to Baha'i Inter-racial Teaching Committee, in To Move the World, , p. 294
5. 'Abdu'l Baha, Promulgation, p. 232.
6. 'Abdu'l Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, IL, 1982, p. 287.
7. 'Abdu'l Baha, newly authorized translation attached to letter dated 2/4/85 on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i's of the United States.
8. The Universal House of Justice, letter dated 10/85 to the peoples of the world, in The Promise of World Peace, p 25.
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