Contributing to
the Life of Society
Contributing to the life of society
Bahá’ís are collaborating with an ever-increasing number of movements, organizations, and individuals who further the cause of unity, promote human welfare, and contribute to national solidarity. In choosing areas of collaboration, Bahá’ís bear in the principles enshrined in their teachings, that means should be consistent with ends; noble goals cannot be achieved through unworthy means.
Specifically, it is not possible to build enduring unity through endeavours that require contention or the assumption that inherent conflicts of interest underlie human interactions. Thus, Bahá’ís are not permitted to take part in partisan politics, civil disobedience, or violent or seditious activity. Bahá’ís have been particularly active in advocacy and education in the areas of human rights, advancement of women and sustainable development.
Social Action
Bahá’ís engage in social action to promote the social and material well-being of people of all walks of life, whatever their beliefs or background. Such efforts are motivated by the desire to serve humanity and contribute to constructive social change. Social action is pursued with the conviction that every population should be able to mark out the path of its own progress. Social change is not a project that one group of people carries out for the benefit of another.
Bahá’í endeavours for social and economic development fall along a spectrum. The majority of such initiatives are modest in scale and scope and are sustained by resources in the local communities that are carrying them out. Development efforts are usually carried out by small groups of individuals and emerge out of growing collective consciousness. They are related to education, agriculture, or environmental protection and savings.
Contributing to public discourse
One aspect of the Bahá’í community’s efforts to contribute to the betterment of the world is through participation in the discourses of society.
At any given moment, in social spaces at all levels of society, there are ongoing conversations concerned with various aspects of humanity’s wellbeing and progress. At the national level, the Bahá’ís engage with governmental and non-governmental bodies to contribute to discussions on subjects that include: peace and national cohesion; the equality of men and women; environment, climate change and sustainability; interfaith relations; period of the youth and public health.
At whatever level it occurs, the purpose of the Bahá’í participation in discourse is not to persuade others to accept a Bahá’í position on a particular subject. Rather, Bahá’ís strive to learn and engage in genuine conversation. Bahá’ís are eager to share what they are learning in their own efforts to apply Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings towards the advancement of civilization to learn with and from other like-minded individuals and groups.
Scholarly and professional contributions to the discourse
One of the ways in which the Bahá’ís community is building the capacity to contribute meaningfully to public discourse is through seminars for undergraduate and graduate university students. Conducted by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity (ISGP) at the national and international levels, these seminars explore subjects especially relevant to students and young professionals.