… among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is that religious,
racial, political, economic and patriotic prejudices destroy the edifice of
humanity. As long as these prejudices prevail, the world of humanity will not
have rest. For a period of 6,000 years history informs us about the world of
humanity. During these 6,000 years the world of humanity has not been free from
war, strife, murder and bloodthirstiness. In every period war has been waged in
one country or another and that war was due to either religious prejudice,
racial prejudice, political prejudice or patriotic prejudice. It has therefore
been ascertained and proved that all prejudices are destructive of the human
edifice. As long as these prejudices persist, the struggle for existence must
remain dominant, and bloodthirstiness and rapacity continue. Therefore, even as
was the case in the past, the world of humanity cannot be saved from the
darkness of nature and cannot attain illumination except through the
abandonment of prejudices and the acquisition of the morals of the Kingdom.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From the First Tablet to the Hague, 17 December 1919; revised
translation under the direction of the Universal House of Justice, available at
the online ‘Baha’i Reference Library’ site of the Baha’i World Center)
