At Ridván 2002, we addressed an open letter to the world’s
religious leaders. Our action arose out of awareness that the disease of
sectarian hatreds, if not decisively checked, threatens harrowing consequences
that will leave few areas of the world unaffected. The letter acknowledged with
appreciation the achievements of the interfaith movement, to which Bahá’ís have
sought to contribute since an early point in the movement’s emergence.
Nevertheless, we felt we must be forthright in saying that, if the religious
crisis is to be addressed as seriously as is occurring with respect to other
prejudices afflicting humankind, organized religion must find within itself a
comparable courage to rise above fixed conceptions inherited from a distant
past.
(The Universal House of Justice, Naw-Ruz 2005, from forward to ‘One
Common Faith’, a document commissioned by and prepared under the supervision of
the Universal House of Justice)
