nd superstition, declares the purpose of religion to be the promotion of
amity and concord, proclaims its essential harmony with science, and
recognizes it as the foremost agency for the pacification and the orderly
progress of human society....

Mirza Husayn-'Ali, surnamed Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God), a native of
Mazindaran, Whose advent the Bab [Herald and Forerunner of Baha'u'llah]
had foretold, ... was imprisoned in Tihran, was banished, in 1852, from
His native land to Ba_gh_dad, and thence to Constantinople and Adrianople,
and finally to the prison city of Akka, where He remained incarcerated for
no less than twenty-four years, and in whose neighborhood He passed away
in 1892. In the course of His banishment, and particularly in Adrianople
and Akka, He formulated the laws and ordinances of His Dispensation,
expounded, in over a hundred volumes, the principles of His Faith,
proclaimed His Message to the kings and rulers of both the East and the
West, both Christian and Muslim, addressed the Pope, the Caliph of Islam,
the Chief Magistrates of the Republics of the American continent, the
entire Christian sacerdotal order, the leaders of _Sh_i'ih and Sunni
Islam, and the high priests of the Zoroastrian religion. In these writings
He proclaimed His Revelation, summoned those whom He addressed to heed His
call and espouse His Faith, warned them of the consequences of their
refusal, and denounced, in some cases, their arrogance and tyranny....

The Faith which this order serves, safeguards and promotes is ...
essentially supernatural, supranational, entirely non-political,
non-partisan, and diametrically opposed to any policy or school of thought
that seeks to exalt any particular race, class or nation. It is free from
any form of ecclesiasticism, has neither priesthood nor rituals, and is
supported exclusively by voluntary contributions made by its avowed
adherents. Though loyal to their respective governments, though imbued
with the love of their own country, and anxious to promote at all times,
its best interests, the followers of the Baha'i Faith, nevertheless,
viewing mankind as one entity, and profoundly attached to its vital
interests, will not hesitate to subordinate every particular interest, be
it personal, regional or national, to the over-riding interests of the
generality of mankind, knowing full well that in a world of interdependent
peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by t