BASIC BAHÁ'Í PRINCIPLES

Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God whose successive revelations of His will to humanity have been the chief civilizing force in history. The agents of this process have been the Divine Messengers whom people have seen chiefly as the founders of separate religious systems but whose common purpose has been to bring the human race to spiritual and moral maturity.

Humanity is now coming of age. It is this that makes possible the unification of the human family and the building of a peaceful, global society. Among the principles which the Bahá'í Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are

	the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
	assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
	recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth
	the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth
	the realization of universal education
	the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth
	the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations
	recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge