As Baha'is we are attached to our tribes and clans, just as
we are to our families and, on a larger scale, to our nations, but we do not
allow this attachment to conflict with our wider loyalty to humanity. The
followers of the Faith, the Guardian has clearly stated, “will not hesitate to
subordinate every particular interest, be it personal, regional or national, to
the overriding interests of the generality of mankind, knowing full well that
in a world of interdependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is
best to be reached by the advantage of the whole, and that no lasting result
can be achieved by any of the component parts if the general interests of the
entity itself are neglected."
- The Universal House of Justice (From a
letter dated 8 February 1970 to National Spiritual Assemblies in Africa;
‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)
