“The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens ... · INSIDE “The earth is but one...

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“The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” – Bahá’u’lláh

Newsletter of the Bahá’íInternational Community

April-June 2005Volume 17, Issue 1 Historic “Informal Interactive” hearings with civil society focus

on core issues of UN reform, poverty, human rights, andsecurity; the advancement of women emerges as a critical theme.

At the UN, governments and civilsociety try a new mode of interaction

Civil Society, continued on page 10

Review: The Last War— Mark Perry exploresthe history of racismand the lingering scarsof slavery.

Veteran actor EarlCameron brings asense of world citizen-ship to his work.

Design for plannedChile House of Wor-ship wins acclaim inarchitecture world.

Perspective: Culturalliberty and freedom ofbelief as necessaryfactors in development.

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2

16

4

UNITED NATIONS – Policy-makers at the United Nations are increasingly talking about thelinks between three core issues: poverty reduction, human rights, and peace and security.

But at an historic series of hearings with civil society in June, representatives of non-governmental organizations also reminded UN diplomats of another critical theme: theadvancement of women.

The three core areas were still seen by NGO representatives as important, to be sure, andvery much linked. But over two days of “Informal Interactive Hearings with Civil Society”on 23-24 June 2005, the issue of women was brought up repeatedly.

“Poverty is a function of human rights violations and a source of conflict,” said BettyMurungi of the Kenya-based Urgent Action Fund for Africa. “Unequal gender and powerrelations exacerbate poverty and violence against women.”

The hearings were designed to solicit input from global civil society in advance of theMillennium Plus Five World Summit meeting scheduled for September’s General Assemblyopening. The Summit will review progress made towards the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs).

Attended by about 200 active participants and 1,000 observers, the hearings were di-vided into four sessions, each covering one of the four broad issue areas outlined in UNSecretary-General Kofi Annan’s recent report on UN reform, “In Larger Freedom.”

Those four sessions were “Freedom to live in dignity” (human rights), “Freedom from

An overflow crowd in the main hearing room forced many civil society representatives to watch the historic“Informal Interactive Civil Society Hearings” on video monitors in other UN conference rooms.

ONE COUNTRY / April-June 20052

P E R S P E C T I V E

is published quarterly by theOffice of Public Information ofthe Bahá’í InternationalCommunity, an internationalnon-governmental organiza-tion which encompasses andrepresents the worldwidemembership of the Bahá’íFaith.

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© 2005 by The Bahá’íInternational Community

ISSN 1018-9300

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Cultural liberty and freedom of belief[Editor’s note: The following Perspective isadapted from a statement titled “Freedom toBelieve,” which was recently issued by theBahá’í International Community.]

The freedom to hold beliefs of one’s choos-ing and to change them is central to

human development. It is the individual’ssearch for meaning and the desire to knowwho we are as human beings that distinguishthe human conscience.

We applaud the United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) for its 2004 HumanDevelopment Report, “Cultural Liberty inToday’s Diverse World.” For the first time inthe Report’s fifteen-year history, it acknowl-edges cultural liberty as a “vital part of humandevelopment” and affirms the “profound im-portance of religion to people’s identities.”

Human Development Reports haveevolved dramatically from a purely materialistapproach centered on wealth and income toembrace the concept of development as the ex-pansion of human freedoms. By includingcultural freedom in its analysis — includingthe freedom of religion or belief — the UNDPhas once again broadened the conceptual frame-work underpinning the evaluation of progressin human development.

The UNDP’s focus could not be moretimely. Human development and security —two issues at the heart of today’s global agenda— have refocused the attention of the inter-national community on the question of hu-man freedom. And the 2004 Report has setthe stage for an earnest re-examination of therole of freedom of thought, conscience, andreligion in human development.

As a worldwide religious community thatregards the human conscience as sacred andbelieves in the independent search for truth,the Bahá’í International Community urgesthe UNDP to give serious consideration tofour critical issues intimately related to itsReport: (1) the right to change one’s reli-gion or beliefs; (2) the right to share one’sbeliefs with others; (3) the responsibilitiesof the international community and nationalgovernments vis à vis marginalized andpeacefully organized religious communities;and (4) the responsibilities of religious lead-

ers vis à vis the promotion and protection ofthe right to freedom of religion or belief.

1) The right to change one’s religion or be-liefs. The Human Development Report definescultural liberty as the “capability of people tolive and be what they choose, with adequateopportunity to consider other options.” TheReport, however, focuses primarily on culturalexclusion based on “external’” manifestationsof one’s religion or belief while omitting fromits discussion the core dimension of culturalexclusion — namely a denial of the “internal”right to change one’s religion or belief. TheUniversal Declaration of Human Rights explic-itly affirms:

“Everyone has the right to freedom ofthought, conscience, and religion; this rightincludes freedom to change his religion orbelief, and freedom, either alone or in com-munity with others and in public or private,to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,practice, worship, and observance.”

The individual’s search for truth andmeaning is an activity most intimately linkedwith the human conscience and with thedesire to see the world through one’s owneyes and to understand it through one’s ownfaculties of perception and intelligence. Assuch, it is inextricably linked with all facetsof human development.

Due to pressure from dissenting States,however, subsequent United Nations treatieshave used weaker language to define thisright, failing to uphold the unambiguousstandard set by the Declaration.

The Human Rights Committee has identi-fied the freedom to change religion or belief,freedom to manifest beliefs, non-coercion inmatters of religion, and non-discrimination onthe basis of religion as core components of thisright. As signatories to the Universal Declara-tion and subsequent treaties and global com-mitments, governments bear the primary re-sponsibility to create, safeguard, and promotethe necessary conditions for the enjoyment ofthe freedom of conscience, religion, or belieffor all of their citizens.

2) The right to teach one’s religion or be-liefs. Intimately connected with the freedomto hold and to change one’s religion or be-lief is the freedom to share those beliefs with

ONE COUNTRY / April-June 2005 3

others. Within the broad range of activitiespotentially encompassed by the freedom tomanifest one’s religion or beliefs, the rightto teach one’s religion or beliefs has beenparticularly contentious.

While the Declaration calls for the un-conditional protection of the “internal” rightto freedom of religion, the “external” rightto manifest one’s beliefs is subject to limita-tions: Governments are permitted to placerestrictions on this right for purposes of“meeting the just requirements of morality,public order, and the general welfare in ademocratic society.” This has too often beenabused in efforts to quell minority popula-tions and has raised questions about whatconstitutes legitimate governmental interfer-ence in manifestations of religion or belief.

States argue that limiting the teaching ofreligions and the sharing of beliefs is neces-sary to preserve particular traditions and toprotect the rights of the targeted populations;yet the right to freedom of religion or beliefis necessarily contingent on the exposure tonew ideas and the ability to share and re-ceive information. Limitations on the basisof “maintaining public order” and “moral-ity” have also been applied with consider-able latitude and in a manner inconsistentwith the principle of non-discrimination.

Non-democratic and theocratic States inparticular have repeatedly issued such res-ervations without the burden of proof, call-ing into question not only their interpreta-tion of this right but also their protection ofrelated rights and freedoms such as the rightto employment and education, and the free-dom of speech and peaceful assembly.

Ultimately, a long-term preventive strat-egy must be rooted in efforts to educate chil-dren and adults alike, equipping them withliteracy skills and opportunities to learnabout other systems of belief. Within a cul-ture of education, people who can read thewritings of their own religion as well as thoseof others, who are free to question and dis-cuss, and who are able to participate in thegeneration and application of knowledge willbe better prepared to counter the forces ofignorance and fanaticism.

3) Marginalized religious minorities. Thechallenge before States, and one of their cen-tral concerns as addressed in the HumanDevelopment Report, is the maintenance ofsocial cohesion and national unity in the faceof increasing cultural pluralism. The reportcites the threats of social instability and vio-lent protest as a primary imperative for States’

need to accommodate minority claims.States must discard outmoded notions of

cultural homogeneity and ideological uni-formity as a guarantor of peace and securityand come to embrace a plurality of identi-ties and beliefs.

4) The responsibilities of religious leaders.The responsibility to uphold universal prin-ciples of freedom of religion or belief also restswith religious leaders. In a world harassed byviolence and conflict in the name of religion,leaders of religious communities bear tremen-dous responsibility for guiding their followerstowards a peaceful coexistence.

Too often, those acting in the name ofreligion have fanned the flames of hatred andfanaticism, themselves serving as the great-est obstacles in the path of peace. Yet thereligions and faiths of the world with whichthe majority of the earth’s inhabitants standidentified have imparted a vast spiritual,moral, and civilizing legacy, which contin-ues to succor and guide in these troubledtimes.

Indeed, religions have reached to theroots of human motivation to lift our visionbeyond purely material conceptions of real-ity to embrace higher notions of justice, rec-onciliation, love, and selflessness in the ser-vice of the common good.

Given the weight of culture and religionin shaping motivation and behavior, it isclear that legal mechanisms alone will notengender the commitment and mutual un-derstanding required to sustain an ethos ofpeaceful co-existence. The role of religiousleaders as partners — in word and deed —in the promotion of respect for human dig-nity and freedom of conscience, religion, orbelief cannot be understated.

Urgent action is now needed to reaffirmthe vision of equal rights for all without dis-crimination on the basis of religion or be-lief. As a first step, the United Nations mustunequivocally affirm an individual’s right tochange his or her religion or belief underinternational law.

Concrete actions — investigative, legal,and operational — must follow. Research andanalysis are needed to clarify minimum stan-dards for compliance with international lawand to develop indicators marking the pres-ence or absence of freedom of religion or be-lief. An annual world report prepared by theUnited Nations assessing the state of this free-dom throughout the world would providefurther substance and facilitate comparisonsover time and across geographic regions.

States must

discard outmoded

notions of cultural

homogeneity and

ideological

uniformity as a

guarantor of peace

and security and

come to embrace

a plurality of

identities and

beliefs.


P R O F I L E

LONDON – When veteran actor EarlCameron stood at the lectern in the United

Nations General Assembly hall, portraying anAfrican despot for the film The Interpreter, hehad one of those strange moments where thelarger reality of things snaps into focus.

On the one hand, the 87-year-old Brit-ish actor was playing the corrupt and unsa-vory president of a fictional African country— a role he had no hesitation in accepting.

“I feel that an actor must portray life, anddespotic characters need to be portrayed andshown up,” he said.

On the other hand, as a Bahá’í, the scenereminded him very much of the Bahá’í be-lief in the need for world unity.

“There I was,” said Mr. Cameron, “stand-ing at the lectern in front of 2,000 extras play-ing all the ambassadors. Seeing the names ofall the countries on the desks in front of me, Igot a real sense of the importance of the UN.”

“The world is desperate for peace andthere’s no other way it can go but towardsgreater cooperation at a global level,” hesaid. “Solutions have to be found at a levelabove national interests — and so far thereisn’t any other organization which can es-tablish these first steps towards lasting peace.”

Veteran actor Earl Cameron brings asense of world citizenship to UN role

Before becoming a Bahá’í, Mr. Cameronrose to considerable fame in the United King-dom as one of the first black actors to breakthe “color bar,” winning acclaim for earlyroles about race relations in England.

After becoming a Bahá’í, he continuedhis career — but coupled it with service tohumanity at large, as exemplified by a 15-year stint in the Solomon Islands in the1980s, where he sought to teach principlesof human oneness.

“He had the choice of going on with hiscareer and becoming a stronger actor, but hedecided to work for the Faith, because thatwas more important to him,” said his daugh-ter, Serena Cameron. “Because he was at astage where he could easily have gone thesame route as Sidney Poitier.”

Mr. Cameron is quite satisfied with hiscareer choices, but he was nevertheless veryhappy when he was called out of retirementto play the role of Edmund Zuwanie in TheInterpreter.

It was in early 2004, while he was takingpart in a Bahá’í community activity in theUnited Kingdom, that he received a surpris-ing phone call from his agent.

His agent told him that Sydney Pollack,

Earl Cameron acting in themovie The Interpreter aspresident of an Africancountry who is addressingthe United Nations. At left inthis scene is Oscar-winningactor Nicole Kidman. [Photocourtesy of UniversalStudios]

Long before his

role in The

Interpreter, Earl

Cameron rose to

considerable fame

in the United

Kingdom as one

of the first black

actors to break

the “color bar,”

winning acclaim

for early roles

about race

relations.


director of Tootsie and the Oscar-winning Outof Africa, was considering him for a part ina new political thriller.

“I had to rush to test for the role,” Mr.Cameron said. “I turned up late...but theyliked what I did.”

The film tells the story of a translator,played by Nicole Kidman, who overhears aplot to assassinate Mr. Zuwanie as he ad-dresses the UN General Assembly. The filmalso stars Sean Penn, who plays a secret ser-vice agent assigned to protect Ms. Kidman’scharacter.

The Interpreter is the first film ever to beshot inside the United Nations building inNew York. When Alfred Hitchcock madeNorth by Northwest in 1959, he built a rep-lica of the UN’s interiors. For The Interpreter,UN Secretary General Kofi Annan allowedthe movie to be filmed in the UN buildingafter office hours.

The critics have unanimously praised Mr.Cameron’s performance in The Interpreter.

The Baltimore Sun wrote: “Earl Cameronis magnificent as the slimy old fraud of adictator...” The Rolling Stone described Mr.Cameron’s appearance as “subtle and men-acing.” Philip French in The Observer re-ferred to “that fine Caribbean actor EarlCameron.”

The film’s UK premiere at the EmpireTheatre in London’s Leicester Square was aglamorous occasion. Mr. Cameron was calledto the stage by Sydney Pollack to be pre-sented to the audience along with NicoleKidman. “It’s the first time I had been to apremiere for many years,” Mr. Cameron said.“I’ve never experienced anything like that.There were thousands of cameras.”

Mr. Cameron moved from Bermuda toEngland during World War II and there be-came a pioneering black British actor. InLondon in 1963 he became a Bahá’í.

“I never felt there was any conflict be-tween being a Bahá’í and being an actor,” hesaid. “From time to time I managed to getcertain lines in the script changed by the di-rector if I felt uncomfortable saying them.”

“Very occasionally I turned a part down.There was a period when black actors tendedto get the villain parts. But I often got sym-pathetic character roles. Perhaps I have asympathetic look about me.”

His breakthrough role was in The Pool ofLondon, a 1951 film set in postwar Londoninvolving racial prejudice, romance, and adiamond robbery. He won much critical ac-claim for his role in the film.

“From then on, I became the best knownblack actor in England, for quite a numberof years,” said Mr. Cameron, adding that thepart in Pool led to a number of other roles.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, he appearedin many films including Sapphire, The Mes-sage — the story of the Prophet Muhammad— and the James Bond movie Thunderball.

Mr. Cameron also became a familiar faceon television in such popular shows as Dan-ger Man, Doctor Who, and The Prisoner. A15-year career break followed when Mr.Cameron went to the Solomon Islands withhis family to assist the Bahá’í communitythere.

He recounted his decision to go to theSolomons with considerable humility, say-ing he almost came back immediately afterbeing shown sleeping quarters that were alsohome to several families of rats.

“I can’t stand being near rats,” said Mr.Cameron. “And I thought, ‘No way am Igoing to sleep there!’.” Fortunately, anAmerican Bahá’í couple also living in theSolomons offered him a room in their home.

He went on to buy a local ice cream shop,which he renovated with new equipment and

Actor Earl Cameron and hiswife, Barbara, with aphotograph taken on the setof The Interpreter. [Photocourtesy of KenilworthWeekly News]

“The world is

desperate for

peace and there’s

no other way it

can go but

towards greater

cooperation at a

global level.”

– Earl Cameron


décor into the “BCool Dairy,” which quicklybecame a focus of social life in Honiara, thecapital city of the Solomon Islands.

Mr. Cameron left the Solomons in 1994,shortly before his first wife, Audrey, passedaway from breast cancer. He had met Audreyin the early 1950s when both were workingin the theater in Halifax, Yorkshire, UK.They married in 1954 — another step whichwas unusual at the time, inasmuch as shewas white and Jewish.

“In England, they don’t make a big dealabout mixed marriages,” said Mr. Cameron.“But, in any event, I met with a lot of preju-dice before I was married. When I first arrivedin England in 1939, for example, it was justimpossible for a black person to get a job.”

He ultimately found employment as a ho-tel dishwasher, and later began working inthe theater, after getting a walk-on part in amusical show, Chu Chin Chow.

Both he and his wife became Bahá’ís in1963, after a Bermudian friend invited him

to a major Bahá’í conference. “I went veryreluctantly, to tell the truth, but my wife said,‘He is from Bermuda and so why don’t youjust be polite and go.’”

He found himself immediately attractedby the great diversity of people — and theirsense of commitment to humanity at large.

“I saw that many of the Bahá’ís were Af-rican, and that made me feel very good,”said Mr. Cameron. “I came to think that thisis what humanity needed. Because I felt thatpeople in Africa needed an up-to-date reli-gion. In fact, the whole world needs an up-to-date religion.”

“I had seen and experienced all the messthat the world is in, the prejudice and sick-ness of humanity,” he said. “I just felt therehad to be some solution to it all. So when Ieventually read the Bahá’í writings, withtheir teachings of oneness, it didn’t take melong to say: ‘This is it, this is what I havebeen searching for all my life.’”

— Reported by Robert Weinberg

H U M A N R I G H T S

NEW YORK – In a striking upsurge inpersecution, some 37 Bahá’ís were arrested

and taken into custody in Iran during themonths of March, April, and May 2005.

Most were arbitrarily detained withoutany charge being filed against them. Someof the prisoners were held incommunicado,in unknown locations, while their familiesdesperately searched for them. Most werereleased only after having posted significantamounts of money, property deeds, or busi-ness licenses as bail.

Moreover, government agents conductedprolonged searches of many of the homes ofthose who were arrested, confiscating docu-ments, books, computers, copiers, and otherbelongings.

Those arrested included not only promi-nent members of the community in Tehran,but also six Bahá’ís in Shiraz, nine in thecity of Semnan, and nine Bahá’í farmerswhose homes and land had previously beenconfiscated in the village of Kata.

“While most of those arrested were heldless than a week, others were jailed for upto three months in a kind of ‘revolving door’detention apparently aimed principally atcreating terror and repression,” said BaniDugal, the principal representative of theBahá’í International Community to the

Upsurge in arrests in Iran raises concernUnited Nations.

“Short-term imprisonments of this kindhave long been used as a means of oppres-sion against Bahá’ís, but there have been farmore this year, increasing greatly the senseof insecurity,” said Ms. Dugal.

All of those arrested were picked upsolely because of their religious beliefs, addedMs. Dugal.

“The Bahá’í community in Iran poses nothreat to the Iranian authorities,” said Ms.Dugal. “The principles of the Bahá’í Faithrequire its followers to avoid partisan politi-cal involvement, subversive activity, and allforms of violence.

“While defending their right to worshipand practice their religion freely, as prom-ised by international law, Bahá’ís seek onlyto be peaceful, law abiding, and productivecontributors to the advancement of Iraniansociety,” she said.

The wave of arrests in spring 2005 fol-lows a number of other incidents earlier thisyear. In the city of Yazd, starting in late De-cember and continuing through January, anumber of Bahá’ís were arrested, detained,and interrogated. Several were beaten intheir homes, at least one Bahá’í-owned busi-ness was set afire, and the Bahá’í graveyardthere was desecrated.

“While most of

those arrested

were held less

than a week,

others were jailed

for up to three

months in a kind

of ‘revolving door’

detention

apparently aimed

principally at

creating terror and

repression.”

– Bani Dugal, Bahá’í

International

Community


A R C H I T E C T U R E

SANTIAGO, Chile — Though ground hasnot been broken and its projected comple-

tion is still three years away, the Bahá’í Houseof Worship planned for this city has alreadydrawn accolades from more than 40 interna-tional architectural and design journals fromas far as Italy, Germany, Australia, and Russia.

Reviews in journals ranging from TheArchitectural Review to Civil Engineering toMetropolis to Canada’s Architecture and Ideascite the temple’s innovative design and spiri-tual purpose.

The Architectural Review, for example,recently noted that the House of Worship“should become a gentle and welcomingbeacon to the whole of South America.”

In April 2005, it was announced that thesite for the new temple had been acquired.The first Bahá’í House of Worship in SouthAmerica will be built on a 100-hectare sitein the Andean foothills in Chacabuco Prov-ince, about 35 minutes by car north fromthe center of Santiago.

The building will be located on the topof a hill there, with a panoramic view of themountains in three directions.

The groundbreaking ceremony for theUS$27 million temple will be held on a dateto be announced, and the building should be

completed in about three years, said DouglasMoore, director of the Office of Public Infor-mation of the Bahá’í International Community.

Mr. Moore also noted that the Bicenten-nial Commission of the Chilean governmenthas designated the Bahá’í House of Worshipas one of a limited number of official projectsin the private sector to commemorate Chile’s200 years of independent nationhood.

“We are glad to see the civil authorities’recognition of the significance of this edi-fice and their confidence in the benefit theundertaking will bring to Santiago and toChile as a whole,” he said.

Mr. Moore added that the project wouldbe financed entirely by voluntary contribu-tions from Bahá’ís around the world.

Representatives from all national Bahá’ícommunities in the Western Hemisphere willbe invited to attend the groundbreaking cer-emony, with a special emphasis on the coun-tries and indigenous peoples of SouthAmerica.

The temple, designed by Canadian ar-chitect Siamak Hariri, will be clad inforged glass and Spanish alabaster. Thetranslucent stone will allow sunlight to fil-ter through during the day and the templeto emit a warm glow from the interior

Chile temple design wins architecturalacclaim even before ground is broken

A model of the Bahá’í Houseof Worship for SouthAmerica superimposed on aphotograph of its plannedsite north of Santiago, Chile.

The Chilean

government has

designated the

Bahá’í House of

Worship as one of

a limited number

of official projects

in the private

sector to

commemorate

Chile’s 200 years

of independent

nationhood.


lighting at night.The design also features nine distinctive

“wings” or “blades” that torque gently up-wards, forming the temple’s dome.

The highest praise so far has come fromCanadian Architect, which honored the de-sign with one of its 2004 Awards of Excel-lence. One judge noted that “while the spiri-tual aims of the building are not clearly ar-ticulated, this project represents a rare con-vergence of forces that seem destined to pro-duce a monument so unique as to become aglobal landmark, or one of the ‘wonders ofthe world.’

“One can only marvel at the architects’commitment to originate this form, the en-ergy with which it has been developed, andthe power of religious belief in motivatingartistic achievement,” said the judge.

Widespread coverage of the design wassparked by a story that ran in the influentialWallpaper magazine in November 2003. Sincethen, Hariri Pontarini Architects has beenfielding enquiries from journals around theworld, some fascinated by what Toronto-based artist Gary Michael Dault has describedas “a soap-bubble that has alighted, momen-tarily, on the ground — an evanescent archi-tectural grace-note come to rest in a rugged,sublime setting.”

Mr. Hariri, co-founder of Hariri PontariniArchitects and project leader for the temple,said the widespread interest in the design canpartly be attributed to its break from the tradi-tional function of places of worship associatedwith the world’s other major religions.

“It’s hard for people to get the fact thatit’s not a church,” said Mr. Hariri, “and it’s

not a mosque and it doesn’t have a pulpitand it doesn’t have a clergy. And so they say,‘What do you do in there?’ It’s quite alien tothem. A synagogue is a synagogue. Archi-tecturally, the fact that it isn’t embedded inritual somehow makes it challenging — andinteresting. So really, it’s about the form andthe fact that it’s something a little new in thearchitectural world.”

Houses of Worship were prescribed by theFounder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, tobe places of worship in which people of allbackgrounds and beliefs could gather, with-out ritual, to meditate and to read and singthe sacred scriptures of the world’s religions.

Designated as the “dawning-place of thepraise of God,” the House of Worship is aspiritual center around which in the futurewill be established institutions of social ser-vice, including a hospital, a pharmacy, aschool for orphans, a home for the aged, anda university for the study of the sciences.There are currently seven Houses of Worshipin the world. The Chile temple will be theeighth, putting one on each inhabited con-tinent.

Like the Chile temple, all of the otherHouses of Worship have nine sides. Thenumber nine has symbolic value in the Bahá’íFaith, being the highest digit and represent-ing completion and unity.

Nestled in the space between the wingson the ground floor of the temple in Chilewill be nine alcoves for individual, privatemeditation. Plans also call for a lily poolenclosed by a large garden outside of thebuilding.

The architectural team made a consciouseffort not to rely on any existing architec-tural styles or traditions in its design of thetemple. Instead it looked to objects and phe-nomena of nature: the experience of lookingup at slivers of light through a canopy oftrees; the play of light diffracted throughicicles; woven baskets; swirling skirts.

“People find it compelling on so manydifferent levels,” said Naomi Kriss, commu-nications liaison for Hariri Pontarini Archi-tects, “whether it’s the architecture or theengineering or the technology that we’re us-ing, or the spiritual side of it. Whether thebuilding is Bahá’í or not, people are asking,‘How do you design a House of Worship inthis secular age?’”

Drawing this much media attention in thearchitectural world so early on is unusual,“but then again,” added Ms. Kriss, “so is thedesign.”

“One can only

marvel at the

architects’

commitment to

originate this

form, the energy

with which it has

been developed,

and the power of

religious belief in

motivating artistic

achievement.”

– Canadian

Architect magazine


C E L E B R A T I O N

HAVANA, Cuba — Government officialsand representatives of diverse religious

groups in Cuba gathered with Bahá’ís in Mayto celebrate the opening of a newly recon-structed Bahá’í Center here.

First acquired in 1956, the central HavanaCenter had recently been completely rebuilt,and the 23 May 2005 celebration was held toopen it to other religious communities.

In attendance were not only representa-tives from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, andAfrican Yoruba religious communities butalso Caridad Diego Bello, the chief of reli-gious affairs in the Cuban government, andtwo other officials from her office.

Ms. Diego expressed her gratitude to theBahá’í community for bringing together thediverse group and then spoke on the themeof interreligious harmony and about the ma-jor social principles of the Bahá’í Faith.

“These are principles that even I as anon-follower of any religion would agreewith,” said Ms. Diego, who is a member ofthe Central Committee of the CommunistParty of Cuba.

Among the Bahá’í social principles thatMs. Diego enumerated were the equality ofwomen and men, racial equality, and theabolition of extremes of wealth and poverty.

The secretary of the Local Spiritual As-sembly of the Bahá’ís of Havana, ErnestoSantirso, welcomed all the guests and readextracts from a 2002 letter to the world’s re-ligious leaders from the Universal House ofJustice, the international governing councilof the Bahá’í Faith.

That letter strongly endorses interfaithdialogue but also calls on religious leadersto recognize the “over-arching truth thatcalled the [interfaith] movement into being:that God is one and that, beyond all diver-sity of cultural expression and human inter-pretation, religion is likewise one.”

After Bahá’í speakers read quotationsfrom Bahá’u’lláh on religious harmony, therepresentative of the Jewish community, JoseMiller, addressed the gathering.

“Salvation comes from deeds and notfrom beliefs alone,” Dr. Miller said. “We

should have deeds that will improve the con-dition of the world today and bring peace toour society.”

A representative of the Institute for Bibleand Theological Studies said the three Bahá’íscurrently studying Christian theology with theInstitute were an important asset to the school.

Among the other guests were the chair-man of the Islamic Association, PedroLinares, and a high priest (babalao) of theAfrican Yoruba religion, Stanislav Berboa.

Members of the National Spiritual Assem-bly of the Bahá’ís of Cuba also hosted Ms.Diego and her staff on a tour of the center.

The Bahá’í community of Cuba has fiveLocal Spiritual Assemblies and has anothercenter in Camaguey. The community has regu-lar children’s classes, devotional meetings, andstudy circles where guests are welcome.

The first Local Spiritual Assembly inCuba was established in Havana in 1941. TheNational Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ísof Cuba was formed in 1961.

— From the Bahá’í World News Service

In Cuba, Bahá’ís celebrate a renovation

Caridad Diego Bello, thechief of religious affairs in theCuban government, speaksat the Havana Bahá’í Centeron 23 May 2005.

The newly reconstructed Bahá’í center in the heartof Havana.


C I V I L S O C I E T Y

want (poverty reduction), “Freedom fromfear” (peace and security), and “Strength-ening the United Nations” (UN reform).

The focus of civil society representatives,however, was largely on the draft “outcome”document for the Summit, which world lead-ers will discuss and finalize in September.

Moreover, it quickly became clear thatthe division of the hearings into four topi-cal sessions was almost superfluous, inas-much as the remarks of civil society repre-sentatives quite frequently ranged widelyover all of the issue areas, demonstrating thatall of these issues are interconnected.

In the “Freedom from fear” session, forexample, Catherine Barnes of the GlobalPartnership for the Prevention of ArmedConflict said that human rights “must be atthe center of all efforts to promote peace andsecurity.”

“We believe that the sustainable securityof the state can only be based on the secu-rity of people,” said Ms. Barnes. “We there-fore welcome the recognition given by theSecretary-General and the General Assem-

bly in its draft outcome document to theinterconnectedness of threats and the needto simultaneously advance development,security, and human rights.”

Diverse range of viewsUnlike many previous encounters be-

tween non-governmental organizations(NGOs) and the UN, which were often lim-ited to the creation of a consensus statementor declaration, the June hearings were de-signed to allow civil society groups to ex-press a diverse range of views.

Each three-hour session opened withfive-minute statements by about seven oreight representatives chosen to reflect geo-graphic and issue-area diversity. That wasfollowed by a free-ranging “discussion” inwhich a select group of 40 to 50 “active par-ticipants” were allowed to raise their handsand make two-minute statements or points.UN diplomats, too, were encouraged to make“interactive” statements — and over thecourse of the two days ambassadors fromsome 22 countries did so.

As might be expected from such a for-mat, the points and counterpoints that were

At the UN, governments and civilsociety try a new mode of interaction

Civil Society, continued from page one

“A key theme that

emerged in all the

interactive

sessions was the

emphasis on a

human rights-

based approach to

development,

peace, and

security and the

need to elevate

human rights

within the United

Nations.”

– UN Summary

Roberto Eghrari of Brazilrepresented the Bahá’íInternational Community atthe Informal InteractiveHearings, speaking on 24June 2005 about UnitedNations reform.


made covered a wide range of topics, fromthe role the global business community cantake in post-conflict reconstruction to theconcerns of indigenous groups.

Overall, however, it was clear that manyparticipants felt strongly about the impor-tance of human rights, not only for their ownsake, but also as the key to development andthe promotion of peace and security.

The UN’s own report of the hearings, is-sued about a month after they took place,said: “A key theme that emerged in all theinteractive sessions was the emphasis on ahuman rights-based approach to develop-ment, peace, and security and the need toelevate human rights within the United Na-tions. Human rights are binding obligationson Governments and encompass political,economic, social and cultural rights.”

Numerous organizations backed the cre-ation of a UN Human Rights Council as ameans to strengthen the UN’s emphasis onhuman rights. As well, the importance of theadvancement of women was a recurrenttheme in all of the sessions.

“Another major message was that genderequality, empowering women and protect-ing the human rights of women, includingensuring access to sexual and reproductivehealth and rights and ending violenceagainst women, were prerequisites for achiev-ing the Millennium Development Goals,”said the UN in its 21 July summary reporton the hearings.

Indeed, the importance of consideringthe needs and rights of women was empha-sized repeatedly by civil society groups. Thistheme also gave the hearings perhaps theirmost emotional moment, when a womanfrom the Philippines representing the Coa-lition Against Trafficking in Women brokedown and wept as she talked about the prob-lems faced by women who have been forcedinto prostitution.

“Prostitution is one form of violence againstwomen that threatens the security of womenand all human beings,” said Alma Bulawan ofUNANIMA International and the CoalitionAgainst Trafficking in Women, her voice wa-vering as she gave a two-minute intervention.

“Our collective hope is for freedom fromfear, freedom from violence, and freedom fromprostitution,” said Ms. Bulawan, who thenstopped, in tears and unable to continue.

Ms. Bulawan’s statement prompted com-ments from several UN ambassadors aboutthe need for a greater understanding of hu-man needs in the work of the UN.

“These organizations have reminded usthroughout the morning of something whichis critical,” said a member of the UN delega-tion from Cameroon. “They have remindedus that all of our actions must deal with hu-man beings — that human beings must beat the center of all of our concerns.”

Historic opening for NGOsUN officials said the hearings were his-

toric in that they represented the first timethat the UN General Assembly as a body hasheld a meeting solely for the purpose of hear-ing directly from such a large number of civilsociety and non-governmental organizationson such a wide range of issues.

“It is not the first time the General As-sembly has heard the civil society perspec-tive,” said Zehra Aydin, chief of the NewYork office of the UN Non-GovernmentalLiaison Service (NGLS), which helped toorganize the event. “But it is the first timethat the term ‘General Assembly hearing’ wasapplied to this scale of a meeting, and thiskind of a process.”

In the past, Ms. Aydin said, the GeneralAssembly held various types of hearings ormeetings that were open to and/or solicitedthe opinion of civil society.

“But the opinions that were heard weremore or less like a panel discussion, and itdidn’t have a massive selection process be-hind it,” she said, explaining that NGLSworked for months with a committee ofNGO representatives to solicit applicationsfrom around the world, striving then tochoose participants who would reflect glo-bal diversity of opinion and activity.

Moreover, noted Ms. Aydin and others,the hearings were set up in an “interactive”format that, in theory at least, allowed UNdiplomats to reply and respond to pointsraised by civil society representatives.

“Again, at various UN Summits, such asJohannesburg, multi-stakeholder dialogueshave been held,” said Ms. Aydin. “But offi-cially, at a proper meeting of the GeneralAssembly, there has never been an interac-tive dialogue of this length, with so manyparticipants. That is a first.”

Many of those who participated said theyalso felt the hearings were historic. “Thereis an overwhelming sense that it has been anhistoric breakthrough and that these typesof meeting should continue,” said Pera Wells,acting Secretary-General of the World Fed-eration of United Nations Associations, whoserved on the joint NGO-UN committee that

“At various UN

Summits, such as

Johannesburg,

multi-stakeholder

dialogues have

been held. But

officially, at a

proper meeting of

the General

Assembly, there

has never been an

interactive

dialogue of this

length, with so

many participants.

That is a first.”

– Zehra Aydin, UN

Non-Governmental

Liaison Service


organized the hearings.Ms. Wells and others said one key fea-

ture of the hearings was that they allowedparticipants to express a diversity of opin-ions.

Often in the past, NGO and civil societyinteractions with the UN have taken the formof some kind of joint declaration by NGOs.In May 2000, for example, representativesof more than 1,000 NGOs from more than100 countries spent five days here at theMillennium Forum to draft and approve anNGO Declaration for presentation to worldleaders at the 2000 Millennium Summit.

“I think that while we felt the MillenniumForum was an interesting meeting to be at, it isnot the way we want to regularly interact withthe UN system,” said Rik Panganiban, com-munications coordinator for the Conferenceof NGOs in Consultative Status with ECOSOC(CONGO), which played an active role inhelping to organize both the Millennium Fo-rum and the June 2005 hearings.

“But this hearing allowed NGOs to comeand really reflect their diversity,” said Mr.Panganiban. “A group on indigenous issuescan bring up their legitimate concerns basedon their own experience, and there was noneed to fit that into another group’s concerns,say, about climate change or youth issues.”

Not everyone who participated in thehearings, however, felt that they necessarilyrepresented an advance in NGO-UN rela-tions.

In his statement before the General As-sembly, William Pace of the World Federal-ist Movement-Institute for Global Policy saidhe disagreed with those who called the hear-ing unprecedented.

“[I]n all due respect, the Millennium Sum-mit and now the Millennium Plus 5 processesfor NGO participation in the summits havebeen mostly symbolic, superficial, and are aretreat from the major advances we achievedin UN treaty and world conference processesover the last 17 years,” said Mr. Pace.

In a subsequent interview Mr. Pace elabo-rated, saying his concern was that the Mil-lennium Summit and the upcoming Millen-nium Plus Five Summit lacked the kind ofpreparatory committee meetings that markedthe global conferences of the 1990s. Thosepreparatory meetings were characterized byextensive civil society involvement, oftenleading to dramatic changes in governmentoutcome documents, he said.

“To say, in a summit process where therehave been no preparatory meetings and no

arrangements for NGOs, that this hearing is‘unprecedented,’ that is a pretty weak com-pliment,” said Mr. Pace. “This is a retreatfrom the progress we’ve made since the endof the Cold War where we had a much moreeffective preparatory process, which wasmuch more inclusive of hearing the voicesof NGOs, international organizations, andothers, and integrating them into the deci-sion-making process.”

Bahá’í ParticipationFor its part, the Bahá’í International Com-

munity had two representatives who werechosen to participate in the hearings.

On Friday, 24 June, Roberto Eghrari,from Brazil, gave a five-minute statement atthe session on “Strengthening the UnitedNations,” saying Bahá’ís believe that theguiding principle that should animate UNreform “is the oneness of humanity, a spiri-tual principle that underpins the very na-ture of human reality.”

“We are one human family, and eachmember of the human race is born into theworld as a trust of the whole,” said Mr.Eghrari. “It is on the basis of this recogni-tion of our essential oneness that a processof reform can be successful.”

Mr. Eghrari also said that advancementof the role of women is an essential elementin strengthening the effectiveness of the UN;that the Human Rights Commission shouldbe greatly strengthened by creating a stand-ing “Human Rights Council”; and that thecapacities and diverse experiences of civilsociety must be included in all aspects ofUN work — from decision making to on-the-ground implementation.

Diane Ala’i, the Bahá’í InternationalCommunity’s representative to the UnitedNations in Geneva, was also chosen as an“active participant” in the hearing on hu-man rights, which was held 23 June.

In her two-minute statement, Ms. Ala’ialso said the Bahá’í International Commu-nity supports the creation of a Human RightsCouncil. She added that such a councilshould continue to utilize so-called “specialprocedures” by which the current HumanRights Commission can create specialrapporteurs who can monitor human rightsin specific countries.

Ms. Ala’i also stressed the importance ofmaintaining the understanding that humanrights are universal, as outlined in the UNCharter and the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights.

“We are one

human family, and

each member of

the human race is

born into the

world as a trust of

the whole. It is on

the basis of this

recognition of our

essential oneness

that a process of

reform can be

successful.”

– Roberto Eghrari,

Bahá’í International

Community


I N T E R F A I T H

UNITED NATIONS – At its heart, theUnited Nations is a secular institution.

The UN Charter, for example, does not men-tion religion, other than to encourage na-tions not to discriminate on religious groundswhen it comes to human rights.

And for many years, in both official andunofficial activities, the UN kept its distancefrom religion, preferring to deal with otherideologies and challenges that seemed moredirectly related to the UN’s basic mission ofpromoting world peace.

More recently, however, and especiallysince the 9/11 attacks, many at the UN havecome to recognize that religion is a force inworld events that must be addressed.

Perhaps the most significant recent evi-dence of this trend can be seen in the com-ing together of an unusual group here on 22June 2005 to discuss the increasing need toaddress interfaith harmony in world affairs.

Held in Conference Room Four at UNheadquarters, the day-long “Conference onInterfaith Cooperation for Peace” broughttogether three distinct groups — govern-ments, UN agencies, and non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs). Sponsors said it wasthe first time ever that representatives of thosethree groups have convened a substantiveinterfaith event at the United Nations.

“Religions lie at the heart of each cultureand civilization,” said Alberto G. Romulo,Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philip-pines, who opened the event. “We look for-ward to a more proactive approach of reli-gious NGOs, in partnership with govern-ments, in promoting sustainable peace andsecurity, not only at the global but also atthe national and community level.”

At the end of the day, participants pro-duced an “outcome document” that urgedthe UN to take steps to encourage greaterinterreligious dialogue and cooperation, sug-gesting in particular that world leaders gath-ered for the September Millennium Plus FiveSummit “should recognize that dialoguesamong civilizations, cultures, and religionsconstitute vital contributions towards the

promotion of a just and sustainable peace.”“The 2005 September Summit should call

for an expansion and deepening of the rela-tionship between the United Nations andcivil society, including religious NGOs,” saidthe outcome document, which also calledfor the formation of an “open-ended tripar-tite consultative group” to continue the workof the Conference.

“Part of the solution”“There is a clear recognition at the UN

that if religion is part of the problem, it mustnow be a part of the solution,” said JefferyHuffines, a member of the Committee of Re-ligious Non-Governmental Organizations(NGOs) at the UN who served on the plan-ning committee for the Conference.

“Part of what makes this event uniqueand unprecedented is that, rather than com-ing from the religious community or evenfrom the UN itself, this conference was drivenby the concerns of member states, who aresuggesting now that the most effective solu-tion to religious extremism and terror is toencourage interreligious dialogue,” said Mr.Huffines, who is a representative of the Bahá’ícommunity of the United States to the UN.

At the UN, governments and religiousNGOs convene a peace conference

An historic

“Conference on

Interfaith

Cooperation for

Peace” brings

together three

distinct groups —

governments, UN

agencies, and

non-governmental

organizations.

Among the high-levelparticipants in theConference on InterfaithCooperation for Peace were,left to right, AmbassadorMunir Akram of Pakistan,president of ECOSOC; JeanPing, President of the UNGeneral Assembly; andAlberto G. Romulo,Secretary of Foreign Affairsof the Philippines.


The event brought together participantsfrom a wide range of backgrounds and dis-ciplines, from high-level United Nationsambassadors to academic experts on religionand conflict resolution to representativesfrom religious organizations themselves.

By and large, speakers focused on theoverall need to recognize the importance ofreligious cooperation and understanding inany overall global effort to promote peace— especially in the context of religious con-flict in many parts of the world.

“If religions have contributed to the peaceof the world, we have also to recognize thatthey have been used to create division andfuel hostilities,” said Jean Ping, President ofthe UN General Assembly. “It is importantthat in building our civilizations, we enhanceinterfaith cooperation among governments,civil society, and the United Nations system.”

Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan,president of the UN Economic and SocialCouncil (ECOSOC), said that while therehad been clashes between various faiths andcultures throughout history, such conflictsarose mainly because of competing politicaland/or economic motivations, not from thefundamental precepts of any religions.

“The basic tenets of all faiths and cul-tures are fundamentally similar, prescribingindivisible peace, dignity, honesty, equality,harmony, tolerance, cooperation, patience,and fortitude,” said Ambassador Akram.

Katherine Marshall of the World Bankshared the Bank’s experience with the WorldFaiths Development Dialogue, saying thatthe mere discussion of religion at interna-tional institutions like the World Bank andthe UN can be controversial. She said therewas a common perception among many inthe development field, particularly, that re-ligions are problematic because they are “di-visive, dangerous, and defunct.”

“There is a sense of ‘Why would we want

to engage in dialogue with people whoseviews are so fundamentally different?’” saidMs. Marshall, adding that she believes dia-logue between secular groups and religionsis essential. Among other things, she said,religions and religious groups have a hugerole to play in ending poverty.

Ambassador Gunter Mulack, Germany’sCommissioner for Dialogue with the IslamicWorld, called for all countries to uphold theright to freedom of religion, as expressed theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights.

“Despite national legislation and inter-nationally binding covenants, many statescontinue to actively deny their citizens theright to freedom of religion, including theright to observe, practice, or change religionor belief. Many states fail to protect their citi-zens’ right to freedom of religion or belief orto promote tolerance for others’ religion orbelief,” said Ambassador Mulack.

“Germany believes that interfaith andintercommunity dialogue, along with edu-cation and consciousness-raising initiatives,holds the key to unlocking many of theseproblems,” said Ambassador Mulack.

The Bahá’í viewBani Dugal, principal representative of

the Bahá’í International Community to theUnited Nations, said that persistent religiousintolerance requires “a fundamental changein the way that believers of different reli-gions relate to one another.”

“The remedy for the repeated crisesplaguing our communities today is to cen-ter our efforts and frank deliberations on thatwhich we hold in common rather than thatwhich sets us apart,” she said.

The key to interfaith harmony and co-operation is to focus on the essential one-ness of all religions.

“It is this essential unity of religion,across the tremendous diversity of history,culture, tradition, philosophy, and practice,that should now become the operating prin-ciple of religious discourse,” said Ms. Dugal.

Ms. Dugal said that growing numbers ofpeople are already coming to realize that thetruth underlying all religions is, in its es-sence, one. “This recognition arises notthrough a resolution of theological disputesbut through an awareness of the reality thatthere is only one human family and that theDivine Essence, from which all life hassprung, has also been the impulse behindthe principles and laws of the great religionsof the world,” she said.

Co-sponsors of the

Conference on Interfaith

Cooperation for Peace

were:

• Argentina

• Bangladesh

• Ecuador

• The Gambia

• Germany

• Indonesia

• Iran

• Kazakhstan

• Malaysia

• Morocco

• Pakistan

• Philippines

• Senegal

• Spain

• Thailand

• Tunisia

• The UN Department of

Economic and Social

Affairs

• UNESCO

• The World Bank

• The Committee of

Religious NGOs at the

UN

• The Bahá’í

International

Community

• The International

Public Policy Institute

• Soka Gakkai

International

• The Temple of

Understanding

• The United Methodist

Church

• The United Religions

Initiative

• The World Peace

Prayer Society

Bani Dugal of the Bahá’íInternational Communitysaid that persistent religiousintolerance requires “afundamental change in theway that believers ofdifferent religions relate toone another.”


“My family was illegal in 16 states of theUnited States until 1967,” he writes, notingthat laws forbidding marriage between blacksand whites were common throughout UShistory. “These laws characterized people ofmixed racial background as social and legalabominations. Yet we, as children of AfricanAmerican and European American parents,were very fortunate, for we knew the unityof the human race as a reality, not as an ab-stract concept or ideal.”

Dr. Perry focuses mainly on the UnitedStates — because “as the leader of democraticnations...there is no better place to begin.”But he delves far back into world history inan effort to understand racism’s roots.

He undertakes his exploration using asomewhat unusual rhetorical device: he com-pares his exploration to archeology, diggingever more deeply through the layers of cul-ture, religion, politics, and history as he triesto understand what could possibly have al-lowed one group of human beings to treatanother with such inhumanity for such along period of time.

He ultimately lays blame for racism, inAmerica at least, to a mercantilist, Protestantculture that allowed early American coloniststo rationalize that Africans were somehowsubhuman and therefore exempt from aChristian application of the Golden Rule.

He describes a process of “despiritualiza-tion,” whereby “whiteness itself, like mate-rial success, became a sign of spiritual elec-tion and God’s favor. Possession of white skinabsolved the individual and the communityof the duty to practice Jesus’ teachings to lovethe other without regard for material quali-ties of body or social status.”

To succeed at maintaining this deception,he writes, slavery required the segregationof churches (so that slaves could not becomefree by converting to Christianity), lawsagainst intermarriage, and laws allowing theviolent restraint of slaves.

In peeling away such layers of rational-ization and history, Dr. Perry offers somekeen-sighted observations. He notes, for ex-ample, that although slavery was brought toAmerica by Europeans, in Europe itself it wasoutlawed — something he attributes to agreater sense of spiritual law in Europe atthe time. And, seeking to understand the re-lationship of slavery to racism, he observes

The Last WarReview, continued from page 16

that although Islam allowed trade in slaves,this was not so much connected to race as itwas to conquest.

“In Islam, as in the Greco-Roman world,slaves were of all skin colors, races andethnicities and were able to rise to the high-est levels of society,” writes Dr. Perry, add-ing that “a significant number of black Afri-can slaves rose to the highest ranks in theIslamic world.”

In the end, he concludes, racism is es-sentially a spiritual disease, fueled by a ma-terialistic view of the world that is largely aWestern, Protestant Christian construct.

“By focusing so obsessively onhumanity’s physical traits — by not onlyspeaking and writing of these traits but bycreating for them laws, philosophies, sci-ences, elaborate institutions and complexcultural traditions — we have created an-other heaven, another ‘spiritual’ world, con-trary to the heaven described by the reli-gions,” Dr. Perry writes.

Accordingly, he believes, the lingeringeffects of racism can only be eradicatedthrough a process of “respiritualization.”

“The problem of racism does not lie inthe intellect or the mind but rather in thissoul world wherein one’s true beliefs are cre-ated and maintained,” he writes.

The antidotes Dr. Perry offers to such in-grained beliefs include a process of wide-spread education in which “schools, orga-nizations, companies and communities mustdeclare themselves strictly in favor of the con-cept of the oneness of humankind and vig-orously uphold that principle.”

Ultimately, he writes, eliminating racismwill require action on a global level, necessi-tating a “new leap of consciousness” in whichour “traditional, materialistic concept of hu-manity disappears and in its stead we find our-selves to be a reality of transcendent power.”

To the Bahá’í reader, many of the pro-posals put forward by Dr. Perry will be fa-miliar. The Bahá’í Faith emphasizes racialequality and stresses especially the onenessof humanity. However, Dr. Perry’s argumentsdo not hinge on Bahá’í theology or scrip-ture. Rather, he carefully supports his pointswith extensive citations from various phi-losophers, theologians, and social scientists,not to mention his own analysis and obser-vations.

The Last War is an important book, onethat is dense with ideas and replete with in-sights into a subject about which humanitymust remain vigilant.

“By focusing so

obsessively on

humanity’s

physical traits —

by not only

speaking and

writing of these

traits but by

creating for them

laws,

philosophies,

sciences,

elaborate

institutions and

complex cultural

traditions — we

have created

another heaven,

another ‘spiritual’

world, contrary to

the heaven

described by the

religions.”

– Mark L. Perry


B O O K R E V I E W

Review, continued on page 15

In the minds of some, racism may seem abygone issue. Most countries now have ex-

tensive antisegregation laws. Apartheid insouthern Africa has collapsed. And humanrights groups around the world remain onguard, ready to call attention to any uglyappearance.

But then along comes a book like MarkL. Perry’s The Last War: Racism, Spiritualityand the Future of Civilization with a power-ful challenge to any such complacency.

In a work that is at once thoroughly re-searched, profoundly philosophical, and attimes almost painful in its piercing observa-tions, Dr. Perry asserts that although racismhas outwardly been legislated away, it has inmany cases simply gone underground,where it remains hidden (often uncon-sciously) in the minds of many people.

“Racism is not in our vocabulary,” Dr.Perry writes, laying out his case for a deeperexamination of the issue. “It is not broughtup in polite conversation because, likeUFOs, it causes embarrassment among ma-ture, well-educated realists and rationalthinkers. Racism is a myth.”

Yet, he observes, there are neverthelessnumerous signs that a “covert” form of rac-ism remains in many places around theworld. He sees such hidden prejudice incoded comments that connect race andcrime, in corporate decisions that marketcertain clothes, cars, and foods to certainracial groups, and in housing policies thatsubtly include or exclude certain groups.

The subconscious bias against peoplewith dark skin remains strong enough that,he writes, “[e]ven today skin bleaching hasbecome the rage in parts of Africa itself, caus-ing people to scrub themselves with specialsoap and shampoo and apply several pow-erful creams. The results lighten the colorof the skin quite dramatically but alsoweaken the skin to the point where it cutseasily and cannot hold stitches.”

The Last War, however, is much more thana polemic about lingering discrimination.Rather, it is an examination of how deeplyracism, and more specifically, the institutionof slavery, has cut across the face of Westerncivilization — leaving scars that must be fully

examined if they are to be completely erased.In the process of such an examination,

Dr. Perry thinks deeply and explores widely,covering ground from the importance ofCalvinism in “enabling” slavery in the colo-nial United States to the far more universal-ist thinking that existed in early Christian-ity; from the failure of secularism in the so-cial sciences to “cure” racism to the possi-bilities for a new kind of urban design thatwould help banish prejudice.

Above all else, Dr. Perry brings to the forea new tool for analysis in social science: spiri-tuality and religion as a means for understand-ing the historical and current realities of a phe-nomenon like racism.

Dr. Perry also brings a distinctive back-ground to his investigation. Although bornin America, he teaches social science andcultural studies at the Lebanese AmericanUniversity in Beirut. He is a member ofthe Bahá’í Faith. Further, as he notes inhis introduction, Dr. Perry comes from amulti-racial family, with one parent anAfrican American and the other a “Euro-pean American.”

The Last War:

Racism,

Spirituality, and

the Future of

Civilization

By M. L. Perry

George Ronald

Oxford

Some “impolite” conversation about racism

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