Word: baha
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Above all, he urged them to investigate his claims and writings for themselves. A fundamental principle of the Baha'i Faith is the independent search for truth, unfettered by tradition or superstition. There are no clergy in the Faith; implicit is the principle that all of humanity must be given the power of literacy and the gift of further education...
Many of the cardinal social principles of Baha'u'llah's teachings are astonishingly familiar to 20th century man. To facilitate the establishment of unity, prejudices of any kind must be abolished, beginning with a change in the thoughts and actions of the individual. True science and true religion are identified as being in essential harmony. The equality of men and women is enjoined. Other social teachings include the adoption of a universal auxiliary language, the solution to economic problems through a fundamental change in individual attitudes regarding material life, the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty...
...these solutions to the problems of division in political, social, economic, and religious realms rest on a fundamental re-ordering of individual human life. All the writings of Baha'u'llah are directed toward raising the sights and standards of men to new levels of wisdom and understanding...
...order to channel the new energies and apply his social teachings, an administrative order has been created by Baha'u'llah. It is unique in human history, providing for governing institutions on a local, national, and international level. In essence he wrote the constitution for a new political system which is being raised by the Baha'is in each of the 317 nations and territories where they now reside. The legitimacy and authority of this new system rest upon his words...
...world center of this new order is on Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel, as designated by Baha'u'llah himself. It is the seat of the supreme administrative body, the Universal House of Justice, whose nine members are elected without nominations and by secret ballot by delegates from the entire Baha'i world. Similar institutions exist on a national level in some 101 countries and territories and on a local level in thousands of communities, including Cambridge. Baha'is believe that as present-day institutions prove to be outgrown by man's evolving needs and crumble of their own unbalanced...