Bahai
Faith
"The earth is but one country and mankind its citizen." These words
of Bahaullah the Prophet-Founder of the Bahai Faith express the Faith's most
fundamental principle: The essential unity of all the world's peoples, races,
and regions. Nowhere is this principle more important than in United States
of America. Indeed, at the beginning of this century, Bahai leader were referring
to race relations as American's " most vital and challenging issue."
Now as the century draws to a close, the Bahai community calls upon all peoples
to come together and realize the vision set forth in the Bahai Writing: "All
mankind are fruits of one tree, flowers of the same garden, waves of one sea."
The
late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel;
The Jewish Theological Seminary
"A person cannot be religious and indifferent to other human beings'
plight and suffering. In fact, the tragedy of man is that so much of our history
of indifference, dominated by a famous statement, 'Am I my brother's keeper??
The essence of a Jew is his involvement in plight of other people, as God
is involved? the evil of prejudice is indivisible. It is a burning sin that
we remain indifferent? The voice of injustice is stronger that bigotry."
NAACP;
Wilmington Branch
Throughout our history, we have been struggling for equality for all races
and ethnic groups. Although racism exits in other nations, it is more significant
in the United States because racial and ethnic lines frequently parallel social-economic
lines. As the primary organization for social change, we continue to see progress
in the areas of education, for housing, equal justice, health care, and employment
opportunities for minorities and women; however, the reality is that we are
still faced with the vestiges of discrimination; today, discrimination is
more subtle and insidious.
Pacem
in Terris
Anthropologist abandoned the concept of 'race fifty years ago, so we all have
some catching up to do. Anthropologist Ashley Montague, in his book, The Most
Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race writes: "The idea of 'race represents
one of the most dangerous myth of our time, and one of the most tragic. Myths
are most effective and dangerous when they remain unrecognized for what they
are? Race is the witchcraft of our time, the means by which we exercise demons."
In order to internalize the oneness of humanity, we need to understand that
anything that separates us from our brothers and sisters in the human family
that God has created ultimately separate us from God and diminishes that of
God in ourselves. Being open to all of our brothers and sisters will not only
hasten the arrival of justice and peace, but will also bring greater freedom,
naturalness, creativity, and completeness into daily lives.
YMCA;
Wilmington, DE
We are living in a period when the weapons of fear, mistrust, alienation and
demonizing of persons different from us is at an all-time high. We need [an]
organization as a gathering place for people from all locations, ethnic groups
and religions. We all need a place with the possibility to share and recognize
our humanity.
YWCA;
Wilmington, DE
Unity is the essence of the universe; it is the path that all can take; it
is the trust I know you can have in me; it is the faith that light of the
path is already there; it is zero; it is one; it is infinity; it is the ultimate
chance; it is the ultimate step; it is the ultimate win; it is you; it is
me; it is humanity; it is the invitation to come together once; to be whoever
I am in peace; to carry the peace our separate ways on the path that all can
take; to be together apart; to come together again; humanity from the heart.