Contents and Overleaf

As the new millennium approaches, the crucial need facing the human race is to find a unifying vision of the nature of man and society. Such a vision unfolds in the writings of Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892).

The driving force behind the civilizing of human nature, Bahá'u'lláh asserts, has been successive interventions of the Divine in history. It has been through this influence that the innate moral and spiritual faculties of humanity have been gradually developed and the advancement of civilization made possible. Associated with the missions of such transcendent figures as Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad, the phenomenon is an ever-recurring one; it is without beginning or end because it is fundamental to the evolutionary order itself.

Although nurtured by the process, humanity has never understood it. Instead, people have constructed around each episode in their spiritual experience a separate religious system. Throughout history the religious impulse has been hobbled by the resulting contradictions and bitter conflicts.

Bahá'u'lláh compares the maturation of the human race as a whole to the experience of its individual members who struggle, successively, through the stages of infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Today, humanity has entered on its collective coming-of-age, endowed with the capacity to see the entire panorama of its development as a single process. The challenge of maturity is to accept that we are one people, to free ourselves from the limited identities and creeds of the past, and to build together the foundations of global civilization.

The power that is awakening this consciousness throughout the world is the universal Revelation of God promised in all the scriptures of mankind's past. Its spokesman is Bahá'u'lláh whose teachings provide a blueprint for the social organization of the planet and whose growing influence is the great untold story of our time.

C ˇ O ˇ N ˇ T ˇ E ˇ N ˇ T ˇ S

The Bahá'ís Magazine Cover Overleaf & Contents About this Publication	Original Page Number 1 & 3 3
The Bahá'ís: The second-most "global" religion A statistical snapshot	5 6 7
Unity in Diversity: Not a sect, an independent religion How Bahá'ís spread their Faith The Nineteen Day Feast How many Bahá'ís are there?	9 10 11 12 14
Bahá'u'lláh: The Bábí movement, precursor to the Bahá'í Faith An English scholar's encounter with Bahá'u'lláh The process of revelation The Writings of Bahá'u'lláh	17 18 20 24 25
Social and Moral Teachings: Women: unambiguous equality Principles emphasized by Bahá'u'lláh Marriage and family life Bahá'í teachings on personal morality	26 27 28 30 31
Spiritual and Moral Beliefs of the Bahá'í Faith Divine Messengers He, She, or It? Heaven and hell: a Bahá'í view of life after death Prayer and Meditation How Bahá'ís view other religions Bahá'í Houses of Worship	33 34 34 35 36 37 38
A System of Global Governance Consultation A matter of faith "Hands of the Cause" and "Counsellors" Non-involvement in partisan politics Questions about money -- or, how Bahá'ís raise funds The Bahá'í World Center	41 43 44 45 46 46 47
A Century of Growth and Expansion The Covenant A description of 'Abdu'l-Bahá 'Abdu'l-Bahá on racism The nine-pointed star Shoghi Effendi's letters to the Bahá'í world The persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran The Bahá'í International Community and the United Nations The Fast	49 49 50 51 52 54 59 60 60
New Approaches to Old Problems A global campaign for peace	63 70
Toward the New World Order "National rivalries, hatreds, and intrigues will cease..." Elements for a world commonwealth	73 75 77

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Excerpted from The Bahá'ís, a publication of the Bahá'í International Community.
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