{"id":12833,"date":"2013-10-15T14:33:50","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T21:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=12833"},"modified":"2020-12-28T14:31:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T22:31:16","slug":"bahai-principles-the-parliament-of-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/bahai-principles-the-parliament-of-man\/","title":{"rendered":"The Parliament of Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,<\/p>\n

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be;<\/p>\n

Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,<\/p>\n

Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;<\/p>\n

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain\u2019d a ghastly dew<\/p>\n

From the nation\u2019s airy navies grappling in the central blue;<\/p>\n

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,<\/p>\n

With the standards of the peoples plunging thro\u2019 the thunder-storm;<\/p>\n

Till the war-drum throbb\u2019d no longer, and the battle-flags were furl\u2019d<\/p>\n

In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.<\/p>\n

There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,<\/p>\n

And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.<\/p>\n

-Locksley Hall, 1835, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Winston Churchill<\/a> considered this prescient Tennyson poem \u201cthe most wonderful of modern prophecies.\u201d President Truman carried it in his wallet, pulled it out and read it to those who questioned the need for an international organization. The story of a war-weary soldier who happens upon his childhood home, the poem represents the soldier\u2019s dream of a federated world where peace and a global system of law and justice have finally come about on earth.<\/p>\n

Baha\u2019is<\/a> believe that the time for the realization of this beautiful poetic hope for a unified world, long the dream of visionaries and prophets, has now arrived.<\/p>\n

The progressive teachings of the Baha\u2019i Faith focus around this central idea of oneness, world unity and global governance. In a speech he gave in Cincinnati, Ohio a hundred years ago, Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a> summarized Baha\u2019u\u2019llah\u2019s<\/a> call to every nation:<\/p>\n

In His Epistles He asked the parliaments of the world to send their wisest and best men to an international world conference which should decide all questions between the peoples and establish universal peace. This would be the highest court of appeal, and the parliament of man so long dreamed of by poets and idealists would be realized. \u2026when we have the interparliamentary body composed of delegates from all the nations of the world and devoted to the maintenance of agreement and goodwill, the utopian dream of sages and poets, the parliament of man, will be realized. – The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 388<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This primary Baha\u2019i principle<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2026declares that there must needs be established the parliament of man or court of last appeals for international questions. The members of this arbitral court of justice will be representatives of all the nations. In each nation the members must be ratified by the government and the king or ruler, and this international parliament will be under the protection of the world of humanity. In it all international difficulties will be settled. – Baha\u2019i Scriptures, p. 278.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"UN<\/a>However — the phrases \u201cParliament of Man\u201d and the \u201cwisest and best men\u201d do not<\/i> mean only males will participate in this great world organization. In fact, Baha\u2019is see women as absolutely essential to this civilizing and peacemaking process:<\/p>\n

We agree that women must be fully involved at all levels of decision-making, not only because it is just, but because, in the Baha\u2019i view, the full participation of women will hasten social and political progress and lead to the establishment of world peace. \u2026Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavor will the moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can emerge. \u2013 Statement on Equality in Political Participation and Decision-Making, Baha\u2019i International Community, Feb 27, 1990.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This central, crucial Baha\u2019i principle<\/a> of a World Parliament does not strip sovereignty from any nation. In fact, it guarantees the independence and integrity of every country. It takes away only one prerogative of unbridled nationalism \u2013 the ability to declare war on another nation. It prohibits warfare, promotes disarmament and solves discord between nations with a single world body responsible for resolving humanity\u2019s conflicts:<\/p>\n

In short, every means that produces war must be checked and the causes that prevent the occurrence of war be advanced — so that physical conflict may become an impossibility. On the other hand, every country must be properly delimited, its exact frontiers marked, its national integrity secured, its permanent independence protected, and its vital interests honored by the family of nations. These services ought to be rendered by an impartial, international Commission. In this manner all causes of friction and differences will be removed. And in case there should arise some disputes between them, they could arbitrate before the Parliament of Man, the representatives of which should be chosen from among the wisest and most judicious men of all the nations of the world. \u2013 Abdu\u2019l-Baha, Star of the West, Vol. V, pp. 115-116.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be; Saw the heavens fill with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":12899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2982],"series":[268],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12833"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=12833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}