The Bahá'í Faith… unequivocally maintains the principle of
equal rights, opportunities and privileges for men and women, insists on
compulsory education, eliminates extremes of poverty and wealth, abolishes the
institution of priesthood, prohibits slavery, asceticism, mendicancy and
monasticism, prescribes monogamy, discourages divorce, emphasizes the necessity
of strict obedience to one's government, exalts any work performed in the
spirit of service to the level of worship, urges either the creation or the
selection of an auxiliary international language, and delineates the outlines of
those institutions that must establish and perpetuate the general peace of
mankind.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a statement to the United Nations Special Commission on Palestine,
14 July 1947; included in compilation: ‘Science and Technology’, compiled by
Research Department of the Universal House of Justice and attached to a
Memorandum from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice,
dated 13-August 1997)
