he European religionists
withdrew from the East, leaving ashes of desolation behind them
and finding their own nations in a condition of turbulence and
upheaval.... Yet this was only one of the "Holy wars."

Religious wars have been many. Nine hundred thousand martyrs of
the Protestant cause was the record of conflict and difference
between that sect of Christians and the Catholics.... How many
languished in prisons! How merciless the treatment of captives!
All in the name of religion!

The Christians and Muhammadans considered the Jews as satanic and
the enemies of God. Therefore they cursed and persecuted them.
Great numbers of Jews were killed, their houses burnt and
pillaged, their children carried into captivity. The Jews in turn
regarded the Christians as infidels, and the Muhammadans as
enemies and destroyers of the laws of Moses; therefore they called
down vengeance upon them and curse them even to this day.

When the light of Baha'u'llah dawned from the East, He proclaimed
the promise of the oneness of humanity. He addressed all mankind
saying: "Ye are all fruits of one tree. There are not two trees,
one a tree of divine mercy, the other a tree of Satan." ...
Therefore we must exercise the utmost love toward one another. We
must not consider any people the people of Satan, but know and
recognize all as servants of one God. At most it is this: some do
not know, they must be guided and trained.... Some are ignorant,
they must be informed. Some are as children, they must be helped
to reach maturity. Some are ailing, their moral condition is bad,
they must be treated until their morals are purified. But the sick
man is not to be hated because he is sick; the child must not be
shunned because he is a child, the ignorant one is not to be
despised because he lacks knowledge. They must be treated,
educated, trained and assisted in love. Everything must be done in
order that all humanity may live under the shadow of God in the
utmost security, in happiness of the highest type.

Racial and Patriotic Prejudices

The Baha'i doctrine of the unity of mankind strikes at the root of another
cause of war, namely, racial prejudice. Certain races have assumed
themselves to be superior to others and have taken for granted, on the
principle of "survival of the fittest," that this superio