Global Prosperity

 

The suffering and bloodshed that are the outcome of conflicts are deeply distressing. Surely, every conscientious soul is pained by such events. As Bahá’í youth will be aware, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá repeatedly stressed humanity’s need for universal peace, and on an occasion referred to war as “the greatest catastrophe in the world of humanity”. In its Riḍván 2022 message, the House of Justice described its sorrow “at seeing the persistence of conditions and conflicts in the world that create misery and desperate suffering—in particular, at observing the recrudescence of destructive forces that have disordered international affairs while visiting horrors upon populations.” The House of Justice referred again in its most recent Riḍván message to the “desperate” condition of the world, before stating that “this demands from every conscientious soul a response.”
The question, then, is what kind of response is appropriate. This question merits deep reflection. Reports indicate that, just in the last few years, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed as a direct result of armed struggle across the world—not only in the wars that fill news bulletins and dominate social media, but also in conflicts that unfold in relative obscurity, yet are similarly horrific for human society. What kind of response can be considered adequate in the face of such destruction of human life?

26 May 2024
 To the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity www.bahai.org/r/613467387