The term “politics” can have a broad meaning, and therefore
it is important to distinguish between partisan political activity and the
discourse and action intended to bring about constructive social change. While
the former is proscribed, the latter is enjoined; indeed, a central purpose of
the Bahá’í community is social transformation. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s treatise The
Secret of Divine Civilization amply demonstrates the Faith’s commitment to
promoting social change without entering into the arena of partisan politics.
So too, innumerable passages in the Bahá’í Writings encourage the believers to
contribute to the betterment of the world. “Be anxiously concerned with the
needs of the age ye live in,” Bahá’u’lláh states, “and center your
deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá urges the
friends to “become distinguished in all the virtues of the human world—for
faithfulness and sincerity, for justice and fidelity, for firmness and
steadfastness, for philanthropic deeds and service to the human world, for love
toward every human being, for unity and accord with all people, for removing
prejudices and promoting international peace.” Further, in a letter written on
his behalf, Shoghi Effendi explains that “much as the friends must guard against
in any way seeming to identify themselves or the Cause with any political
party, they must also guard against the other extreme of never taking part,
with other progressive groups, in conferences or committees designed to promote
some activity in entire accord with our teachings”. In another letter written
on his behalf in 1948, when racial inequality was enshrined in the laws of many
states in the United States, he indicates that there is “no objection at all to
the students taking part in something so obviously akin to the spirit of our
teachings as a campus demonstration against race prejudice.” Bahá’ís must,
therefore, be tireless in addressing, through word and deed, a range of social
issues.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 23 December 2008 written on behalf of the
Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; compilation: ‘Social
Action’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice,
August 2020; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
