Seeing one another in the light of our shared humanity

WASHINGTON D.C. — As the national conversation about racial injustice in the United States grows more polarized, religion may offer a distinctive perspective for such a moment. Religion has across history both divided people and drawn them together. What it offers here is a way of seeing human beings not by the lines that separate them, but by the spiritual reality they share.

This conviction guided a series of discussions spanning five years, organized by the Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs in the United States. The discussions form part of the broader efforts of the Bahá’ís of that country to foster societal harmony, which also includes gatherings recently hosted by the Office to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States. These efforts explore how people can work together toward the flourishing of their society.

Insights from the discussions held over the past five years have now been gathered in a new publication, Illumined by Oneness: Resources and Reflections from a Multifaith Dialogue on Overcoming Racism, with a companion website.

The book draws together a distillation of ideas from the conversations among the group of social actors and earlier discussion papers and essays dating to January 2017, a time of heightened division over racial injustice in the United States. The materials are being offered as a resource for those wishing to initiate similar conversations in their own settings.

Convened in collaboration with the Peace and Justice Studies Program and the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., the long-standing forum brought together leaders and representatives from national religious organizations across a range of faith communities.

From the outset, the gatherings were off-the-record spaces for open and searching conversation. Each quarterly meeting was anchored by a discussion paper prepared by the Office of Public Affairs, read aloud together, and explored in small groups and plenary sessions. The papers addressed such themes as identity, justice and unity, materialism, historical narratives, the media and its potential to reinforce or challenge racial prejudice, and the distinctive role religion can play in overcoming divisions.

“The American Bahá’í community has, from its earliest years, understood itself as having a mission to foster oneness and address racial divides,” said Selvi Adaikkalam Zabihi, a member of the Office, in a conversation with the News Service. “The Bahá’í teachings state that racism must be overcome and left behind.”

Ms. Zabihi explained that the publication forms part of the Office’s wider efforts to contribute to a conversation on spiritual renewal in American society. “For some time,” she said, “there has been an assumption that science and rational thought alone can create healthy societies. But we are seeing that materialism cannot take us where we need to go. This raises again the question of the role of religion in creating the basis for a just society, for stability, peace, and prosperity.”

A wound to the whole of society

In one of the forum’s discussion papers on the theme of identity, the oneness of humanity is described as not merely an aspiration but as “an expression of our underlying reality.” From this vantage point, racial inequality is not only an injury to those directly oppressed; it is a wound to the whole body of society, whose well-being derives from the well-being of every part. The work of overcoming it, therefore, requires more than reforming laws and institutions. It calls for conditions in which people can come to see, think, and act in light of their common humanity.

In one of the forum’s discussion papers on the theme of identity, the oneness of humanity is described as not merely an aspiration but as “an expression of our underlying reality.” From this vantage point, racial inequality is not only an injury to those who suffer it directly. It is a wound to the whole body of society, whose well-being derives from the well-being of every part. The work of overcoming it, therefore, requires more than correcting external arrangements. It calls for conditions in which people can come to see, think, and act in light of their common humanity.

This conviction shaped the forum’s methodology. The Office explains in the book’s introduction that while structures and behaviors must change, racism cannot be fully addressed unless underlying patterns of thought also change. The conversations therefore sought to examine the spiritual assumptions, narratives, and conceptions of human identity that either sustain division or make unity possible.

Mat Cotton, a member of the Office, described this as one of the forum’s distinctive contributions. “Our society is grappling with many questions of racial injustice,” he said, “but this space allowed for rigorous reflection on their spiritual dimensions. Without that spiritual component, there is a gap in our ability to talk about these issues and to address the concerns they raise.”

He drew on the image of a lamp and its light. “We can strive to make a perfect lamp,” he said, “but it will be of little use if we do not learn how to fill it with light.

“In the same way,” continued Mr. Cotton, “the structures of a society, however well designed, remain dark until they are illumined by love, fellowship, and spiritual purpose.”

Where relationships were tested and deepened

The book’s foreword, written by William A. Barbieri Jr. of Catholic University, who co-hosted the dialogue in its early years, described the gatherings as “a site of learning, introspection, exchange, and commiseration” among colleagues from different faith traditions. Over time, he writes, the forum became a “valued source of fellowship.”

The forum fostered collective growth as it temporarily moved online during the coronavirus pandemic and, after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, served as a “critical venue for information-sharing, consultation, and emotional connection.”

Participants developed practices that helped build trust over time: sharing meals; beginning sessions with an open forum in which participants could express what was on their hearts; and, following a difficult exchange between two participants, the group began visiting museums together to develop a shared understanding of the histories of the different backgrounds they represent.

These practices helped the dialogue to avoid becoming merely an exchange of viewpoints. The forum became instead a setting in which relationships were strengthened while ideas were tested, refined, and deepened.

Justice, unity, and a new understanding of power

After five years, participants gathered to distill the most resonant insights from the conversations into a summary document, now included in the book. Ms. Zabihi recalled the process as “a beautiful experience of articulating ideas that felt substantive and profound that people of different faiths and backgrounds could identify with.”

“It was not the lowest common denominator,” she said. “It was something more than that. And at the same time, it felt common to the participants.”

Among the themes that emerged with particular force was the inseparability of justice and unity. The materials reject the notion that unity can be achieved by overlooking injustice, while also questioning approaches that rely on contest and conflict as the primary means of change. Justice, in this view, is the means by which unity becomes real; unity gives justice its ultimate horizon. The materials hold both truths together: the identities of those who suffer prejudice must be recognized and affirmed as humanity learns to see the deeper identity it shares.

Another theme that arose to the fore was the need to reconceive notions of power. Ms. Zabihi said this idea generated a sense of excitement when it was presented to participants. “How empowering it is,” she said, “to think about power not as domination, hoarded by a few and exercised over others, but as something open to everyone. There are forms of power available to all of us that can help build a new, just social order: the power of love, the power of working together in unity, and the power of sacrifice.”

This conception of power also shaped the forum’s approach to social change. Ms. Zabihi noted that efforts to address racism are often described in terms of dismantling unjust structures. “Of course, that is work society has to do,” she said. “But from a Bahá’í perspective, the larger part of the work is constructing a new reality by building something that embodies unity.”

This constructive orientation, she continued, extends “from the individual level all the way to the largest structures of society”: new ways of being for individuals and children, new patterns of relationships, new ways of practicing virtues with others, and new forms of institutions capable of addressing the needs of society.

“This is an exercise of power,” she said. “It is not the power to tear something apart. It is the power to build something new that can ultimately transcend old forms that are not conducive to justice.”

P.J. Andrews, a member of the Office, observed that the forum’s concern with racial injustice lead to a broader question: “What are the spiritual and moral foundations a society needs in order to hold together and move forward?”

“That is among the things religion has to offer the life of a nation, and it is part of what this conversation was reaching toward. From the beginning, we hoped these materials might help others pursue that question in their own communities.”

Reflecting on the publication, Ms. Zabihi returned to a central challenge in American life. “In American history,” she said, “there have been advances and setbacks in the journey to overcome racial injustice. We are searching for the spirit that will bring everyone together around this work.”

Illumined by Oneness offers one contribution to that search: a set of resources born of sustained conversation, tested in relationships of trust, and animated by the conviction that overcoming racial divides requires not only new policies and new language, but a deeper renewal of thought, relationships, and collective purpose.