Oneness of Humanity
The real means of eliminating race prejudice, is to spread and establish the Faith; for in it, there is no prejudice whatsoever, as the Faith itself holds as its cardinal principle, the Oneness of Humanity.
~ Written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in The Power of Unity: Beyond Prejudice and Racism, pp. 105
I was reminded of this quote when I ran across an article yesterday in the University of Wisconsin-Madison student newspaper (coincidentally enough) The Daily Cardinal, that there is no biological basis for racial distinctions. There is only one race, the human one, but unfortunately we seem to allow petty distinctions to classify us.
In 1998, Alan R. Templeton, a biology professor at Washington University, published a paper demonstrating that “race is a real cultural, political and economic concept in society, but it is not a biological concept, and that, unfortunately, is what many people wrongfully consider to be the essence of race in humans—genetic differences.”
Race is an invented concept that is used to define, to limit and to separate the “others.” The Baha’is believe in the elimination of racial discriminations and prejudices of all kinds. If the faith were to spread and more people to adopt this particular viewpoint, than humanity would have the opportunity to come together, to unite, and put it’s attention towards solving larger problems.