MAIN TEACHINGS

The purpose of human life for Baha'is is to know and to worship God,
and to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.  Baha'is have,
for over one hundred years, striven to bring about the unity of
mankind, world peace, and world order.   To achieve these goals the
Baha'i teachings encourage:
 
1. The fostering of good character and the development of 
   spiritual qualities, such as honesty, trustworthiness, 
   compassion, and justice.  Prayer, meditation, and work 
   done in the spirit of service to humanity are 
   expressions of the worship of God. 
 
2. The eradication of prejudices of race, creed, class,  
   nationality, and sex.  Racism retards the unfoldment of 
   the boundless potentialities of its victims, corrupts its 
   perpetrators, and blights human progress.  Recognition of 
   the oneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal 
   measures, must be universally upheld if this problem is 
   to be overcome.  
 
3. The achievement of a dynamic coherence between the 
   spiritual and practical requirements of life on earth. 
   There are spiritual principles or values by which 
   solutions can be found for every social problem.  The 
   essential merit of a spiritual principle is that it not 
   only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that 
   which is immanent in human nature, it also induces an 
   attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which 
   facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical 
   measures. 
 
4. The development of the unique talents and abilities of 
   each individual.  Through the pursuit of knowledge, the 
   acquisition of skills for the practice of a trade 
   or profession and participation in community life both 
   the individual and society as a whole are enriched.       
                          
5. The equality of women and men.  The denial of such 
   equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the 
   world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes 
   and habits that are carried from the family to the 
   workplace, to political life, and ultimately to 
   international relations. 
 
6. The cause of universal education.  Ignorance is 
   indisputably the principal reason for the decline and 
   fall of peoples and the perpetuation of prejudice.  No 
   nation can achieve success unless education is accorded 
   all its citizens.