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2/28/11

We should “leave behind racial, religious, national and patriotic prejudices.”

The most important teaching of Bahá'u'lláh is to leave behind racial, religious, national and patriotic prejudices. Until these prejudices are entirely removed mankind will not find rest. Nay, rather, discord and bloodshed will increase day by day, and the foundation of the prosperity of the world of man will be destroyed. ('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Compilation of Compilations, Vol.III, Cultural Diversity in the Age of Maturity)

2/21/11

Each person who is able to should observe the Fast during a specific time each year

We have enjoined upon you fasting during a brief period, and at its close have designated for you Naw-Ruz as a feast…. The traveller, the ailing, those who are with child or giving suck, are not bound by the Fast; they have been exempted by God as a token of His grace. He, verily, is the Almighty, the Most Generous. (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas)

“Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. Bahá'u'lláh in one of His Tablets affirms that He has revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting so that through them the believers may draw nigh unto God.

2/17/11

We should view humanity as “one family”

…all mankind belong to one family, all are one progeny of Adam, all are servants of the one God, all have been created by one God, God is the provider for all, God nurtures all, all are submerged in the sea of the mercy and grace of God, and God is kind to all.

All humankind share in common the intellectual and spiritual faculties of a created endowment. All are equally subject to the various exigencies of human life, and are similarly employed in acquiring the means of earthly livelihood. In every respect from the viewpoint of creation all stand upon the same footing -- all have the same requirements, -- all are seeking the happiness and comfort of earthly conditions; that is to say, the things they share in common are numerous and manifest. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Baha'i Scriptures’)

2/13/11

We should view all of the “Manifestations of God” as the “Bearers of the Trust of God”, and the “Temples of the Cause of God”

The Bearers of the Trust of God are made manifest unto the peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new Cause and the Revealers of a new Message. Inasmuch as these Birds of the celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they, therefore, are regarded as one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness.

These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same attributes, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath revealed: "No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers." For they, one and all, summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace and bounty. They are all invested with the robe of prophethood, and are honored with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the Qur'án, revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am the first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been made by Imam Ali. Sayings such as these, which indicate the essential unity of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the Channels of God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of Divine knowledge, and have been recorded in the Scriptures. These Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Day Springs of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our Cause is but One." Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same….

2/7/11

An "equal standard of human rights must be recognized and adopted."

Bahá'u'lláh teaches that an equal standard of human rights must be recognized and adopted. In the estimation of God all men are equal; there is no distinction or preferment for any soul in the dominion of His justice and equity. ('Abdu'l-Baha, 'Baha'i World Faith')

2/1/11

There should be a “universal curriculum” on education

Education is essential and all standards of training and teaching throughout the world of mankind should be brought into conformity and agreement; a universal curriculum should be established and the basis of ethics be the same. ('Abdu'l-Baha, 'Baha'i World Faith')