from the thickets with which theology has hedged religious..."
"Confusion about the role of religion in cultivating moral..."
"The exigencies of the new age of human experience to which..."
"The power through which these goals will be progressively realized
is..."
"A corollary of the abandonment of faith in God has been a paralysis
of..."
"Everything in its history has equipped the Baha'i..."
"One of the distinguishing features of modernity has been the
universal..."

FOREWORD

At Ridvan 2002, we addressed an open letter to the world's religious
leaders. Our action arose out of awareness that the disease of sectarian
hatreds, if not decisively checked, threatens harrowing consequences that
will leave few areas of the world unaffected. The letter acknowledged with
appreciation the achievements of the interfaith movement, to which Baha'is
have sought to contribute since an early point in the movement's
emergence. Nevertheless, we felt we must be forthright in saying that, if
the religious crisis is to be addressed as seriously as is occurring with
respect to other prejudices afflicting humankind, organized religion must
find within itself a comparable courage to rise above fixed conceptions
inherited from a distant past.

Above all, we expressed our conviction that the time has come when
religious leadership must face honestly and without further evasion the
implications of the truth that God is one and that, beyond all diversity
of cultural expression and human interpretation, religion is likewise one.
It was intimations of this truth that originally inspired the interfaith
movement and that have sustained it through the vicissitudes of the past
one hundred years. Far from challenging the validity of any of the great
revealed faiths, the principle has the capacity to ensure their continuing
relevance. In order to exert its influence, however, recognition of this
reality must operate at the heart of religious discourse, and it was with
this in mind that we felt that our letter should be explicit in
articulating it.

Response has been encouraging. Baha'i institutions throughout the world
ensured that thousands of copies of the document were delivered to
influential figures in the major faith communities. While it was perhaps
not surprising that the message it contained was dismissed out of hand in
a few circles, Baha'is report that, in general, they were warmly welcomed.
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