Highlights:
  • All Faiths Public Gathering for Prayer and Devotions ~ January 7th, 8th, 15th.
  • Informational Talks ~ January 27th
  •  
 
Oxnard-Ventura   Bahá'í Newsletter of the Oxnard and Ventura Bahá’í Communities

January 2006
 
“The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct.”

~ Bahá’u’llah

The purpose of the Oxnard-Ventura Bahá'í News is to provide information about the Bahá'í Faith and activities of the Bahá'í’s to those who wish to learn more or attend Bahá'í devotional gatherings. If you have comments or do not want to receive the Bahá'í News, write PO Box 7344, Oxnard, CA 93031, call 648-1222. No donations requested or accepted.

Informational Talks

A brief talk on a general topic about the Bahá'í Faith is followed by discussion. A time to bring up any question in your heart about spiritual topics.

Friday, January 27th, 7:30 PM

Tuman Residence, 984-1222

 The Bahá'í Statement on Nature

Bahá'í International Community

Office of Public Information

October 1987

INTRODUCTION

In September of 1986 the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) launched their Network on Conservation and Religion, bringing religious leaders representing Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims together with environmental leaders in Assisi, Italy.

Each of the five religions represented there issued a declaration on nature. As of October 1987, the Bahá’í’s are the sixth major religion to join this new alliance, and put forward this statement in support of the Network's objectives.

"Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity there are signs for men of discernment.

Nature is God's Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world. It is a dispensation of Providence ordained by the Ordainer, the All-Wise." Bahá'í Writings.

With those words, Bahá’u’llah, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, outlines the essential relationship between man and the environment:

that the grandeur and diversity of the natural world are purposeful reflections of the majesty and bounty of God. For Bahá’í’s, there follows an implicit understanding that nature is to be respected and protected, as a divine trust for which we are answerable.

Such a theme, of course, is not unique to the Bahá'í Faith. All the world's major religions make this fundamental connection between the Creator and His creation. How could it be otherwise?

All the major independent religions are based on revelations from one God - a God who has successively sent His Messengers to earth so that humankind might become educated about His ways and will. Such is the essence of Bahá'í belief.

As the most recent of God's revelations, however, the Bahá'í teachings have a special relevance to present-day circumstances when the whole of nature is threatened by man-made perils ranging from the wholesale destruction of the world's rain forests to the final nightmare of nuclear annihilation.

A century ago, Bahá’u’llah proclaimed that humanity has entered a new age. Promised by all the religious messengers of the past, this new epoch will ultimately bring peace and enlightenment to humanity.

To reach that point, however, humankind must first recognize its fundamental unity - as well as the unity of God and of religion. Until there is a general recognition of this wholeness and interdependence, humanity's problems will only worsen.

"The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established," Bahá’u’llah wrote. "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."

The major issues facing the environmental movement today hinge on this point. The problems of ocean pollution, the extinction of species, acid rain and deforestation - not to mention the ultimate scourge of nuclear war - respect no boundaries. All require a transnational approach.

While all religious traditions point to the kind of cooperation and harmony that will indeed be necessary to curb these threats, the religious writings of the Bahá'í Faith also contain an explicit prescription for the kind of new world political order that offers the only long-term solution to such problems.

"That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightest instrument for the healing of the world is the union of all its people into one universal cause...." Bahá’u’llah wrote.

Built around the idea of a world commonwealth of nations, with an international parliament and executive to carry out its will, such a new political order must also, according to the Bahá'í teachings, be based on principles of economic justice, equality between the races, equal rights for women and men and universal education.

All these points bear squarely on any attempt to protect the world's environment. The issue of economic justice is an example. In many regions of the world, the assault on rain forests and endangered species comes as the poor, legitimately seeking a fair share of the world's wealth, fell trees to create fields.

Go to Page 2

Home     Bahá'í Writings     Bahá'í Links     Bahá'í Events     Bahá'í Newsletter     Archives