Tributes from Political Leaders, Royalty and Leaders of Thought (including encouragements to read and study the Bahá'í Peace Statement)
". . . "It is like a wide embrace," is Queen Marie of Rumania's own tribute, "gathering together all those who have searched for words of hope. It accepts all great Prophets gone before, it destroys no other creeds and leaves all doors open....The Bahá'í teaching brings peace to the soul and hope to the heart. To those in search of assurance, the words of the Father are as a fountain in the desert after long wandering....It is a wondrous message that Bahá'u'lláh and His son 'Abdu'l-Bahá have given us. They have not set it up aggressively, knowing that the germ of eternal truth which lies at its core cannot but take root and spread... It is Christ's Message taken up anew, in the same words almost, but adapted to the thousand years and more difference that lies between the year one and today.... If ever the name of Bahá'u'lláh or 'Abdu'l-Bahá comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you. Search out their books, and let their glorious, peace-bringing, love-creating words and lessons sink into your hearts as they have into mine." — QUEEN MARIE of Romania (Rumania) (renowned granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Quoted by Shoghi Effendi (1947) in the Summary Statement on the Bahá'í Faith to the Special UN Committee on Palestine)
[* see note]"The statement from the Bahá'í Universal House of Justice addressed 'to the peoples of the world' is an inspiring document. It is eloquent, coherent, provides hope about the future, and rests upon an ethical stance that seems congenial with all major belief systems associated with the great world religions and cultural systems. . . .
I think the Bahá'í Faith can address issues of peace and security for the world with particular authority. Its vision is centered around the aspiration for and attainability of a peaceful world order, and Bahá'í thought inevitably gravitates toward these overarching concerns, so vital to our overall historical situation.
More than this normative and intellectual perspective, is the experience that Bahá'ís have had of the concrete consequences of suffering from the violence and war-making of others. . . . My conclusion, then, is to urge careful, critical study of the Bahá'í perspective on these great challenges of our time. . . ."
— DR. RICHARD FALK, Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice, Dept. of Politics, Princeton University."Deeply impressed by the message contained in The Promise of World Peace, . . . creating images of a peaceful world. This is also a key characteristic of the Bahá'í Faith: you have to have an image of the desirable state of affairs, so clear, so commanding that the image itself becomes a live force."
— DR. JOHAN GALTUNG, Professor, World Politics of Peace and War, Princeton University.". . . of all the Bahá'í statements which I have read over the years (and I have read many), this is by far the most eloquent, comprehensive and moving. It is a magnificent piece of work."
— STEPHEN LEWIS, former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. (Presently United Nations AIDS Envoy to Africa http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/ )"The Bahá'í call for peace comes at a crucial moment in the history of humanity. Peace in the contemporary world is no longer an option but a necessity. All leaders and peoples of the world must come to realize this fact, and achieve the maturity which the Bahá'í Faith foresees for the coming of age of humanity.
". . . Bahá'ís proclaim that the most important condition that can bring about peace is unity — the unity of families, of nations, and of great currents of thought and inquiry that we denote science and religion. Maturity, in turn, is a prerequisite for such unity. This is evolutionary thinking, and its validity is shown by the new theories which emerge from nonequilibrium thermodynamics, dynamical systems theory, cybernetics and the related sciences of complexity. They are supported by paleobiological macroevolutionary theory, and new trends in historiography.
". . . If a group of people in possession of the ideas and the faith of the Bahá'í act in concert and with conscious knowledge of the dynamics of the historical juncture in which humanity now finds itself, they can decisively influence and change the present course of history. In the language of the new sciences of evolution, they can be the small, initially peripheral fluctuation which can be suddenly amplified in a complex dynamical system when that system becomes critically unstable, and which, amplified and spreading, can determine the course of the coming bifurcation..."
— DR. ERVIN LASZLO, Member of the Club of Rome, former director of UNITAR (United Nations Institutes for Training and Research), Editor in Chief, World Encyclopedia of Peace."The Bahá'í view [referring to the "Peace Statement"] provides a healthy perspective. . . and upholds the promise of the Age of Ages' when humanity's painful experience will 'evolve into the wisdom and calmness of an imperturbable, universal and lasting peace. . . .'"
— DR. RODRIGO CARAZO, former President of Costa Rica. Presently the President of the United Nations University for Peace. (Keynote speaker at an international Bahá'í conference in Ottawa, Canada, Nov. 1984)"There is a lot to be said in favour of the approach presented in the statement on peace. . . . Unity and equality are in fact essential to a peaceful world."
— Geoffry Pearson, Executive Director, Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security.". . . the message of the Bahá'í community is a welcome challenge, and their tangible witness is a considerable source of inspiration. I cling to the possibility that they may not be wrong."
— Prof. Lowell W. Livezey, Administrative Director of Undergraduate Programs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University.". . . they form an unanswerable argument and plea for the only way the world can be made over. If we could put into effect this program, we should indeed have a new world order."
— DR. HERBERT GIBBONS, American historian."The Bahá'ís have done more to bring inter-religious understanding to the world than any other religious group."
— DR. PAUL ANDERSON, President of Pennsylvania College for Women."The Bahá'í teaching is one of the great moral and social forces in all the world today. I am convinced more than ever, with the increasing moral and political crises in the world, we must have greater international coordination. Such a movement as the Bahá'í Cause which paves the way for universal organization of peace is necessary."
— PRESIDENT EDUARD BENES, second President of Czechoslovakia and one-time professor at the Univ. of Chicago."I regard the Bahá'í Faith as one of the noblest of the world's religions."
— DR. R.F. PIPER, Philosophy Dept., Syracuse Univ."This Bahá'í Movement is the Greatest Light that has come into the world since the time of Jesus Christ. You must watch it and never let it out of your sight. It is too near this generation to comprehend. The future alone will reveal its import."
— PROFESSOR BENJAMIN JOWETT of Oxford, University.". . . Bahá'u'lláh's teachings meet the challenge of our age head-on and offer sound, reasonable solutions. They have been an invaluable discovery to me as a scientist, and a treasure and comfort to me as an individual human being."
— DR. GLEN A. SHOOK, head of the physics Dept., Wheaton College."I am heartily in accord with the Bahá'í Movement in which I have been interested for several years. The religion of peace is the religion we need, always have needed, and this Bahá'í is more truly the religion of peace than any other."
— LUTHER BURBANK, American scientist in the field of botany."Of all the positive religions on the contemporary scene claiming divine authority, the only one unambiguously and almost single-mindedly consecrated to the job of unifying mankind is the Bahá'í Faith. The Bahá'í Faith is one of the noblest in history."
— DR. W. WARREN WAGNER, History Dept., Wellesley College."You hold in your organization the key that will settle all of our difficulties, real and imaginary."
— DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER, chemurgist and head of the agricultural experiment station at Tuskegee Institute where he did research, including his famous research on peanuts. 1st Negro for whom Congress designated a day (Jan. 5 each year) and raised a monument to his commemoration, most notably for his contribution to race relations."We spend our lives trying to unlock the mystery of the universe, but there was a Turkish prisoner, Bahá'u'lláh, in Akka, Palestine, who had the key. . . Bahá'u'lláh's teachings now present us with the highest and purest form of religious teaching. . . Very profound, I know of no other so profound."
— LEO TOLSTOY — 1908 (The Bahá'i World, vol. 13, p. 818 also Tolstoy and the Bahá'i Faith, p. 40)
Source of inspiration: The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh
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Return to top of UN talk (or use BACK button on browser to return to exact location in previous document)* Note: The quote from Queen Marie is taken from Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, Page 197.
The following three paragraphs were take from: http://www.iol.ie/~isp/centenary/pics.htm
Photographs of Her Majesty Queen Marie of Romania in later life (as Queen Mother) around the time she accepted the Bahá'í Faith, and younger, as Queen Consort of Romania. She was the first crowned head to become a Bahá'í. Originally the Princess Marie of Edinburgh, she was grand-daughter to Queen Victoria, the only ruler among those addressed by Bahá'u'lláh who did not give a wholly negative response to His message. Kent State University in Ohio has many of her letters, and other photographs.
To complement these, a picture of HH the Malietoa Tanumafili II of Western Samoa, the first reigning monarch to accept the Faith. There is a British connection - Western Samoa, an independent nation, is a member of the Commonwealth.
Picture of Edward Granville Browne in Persian dress. Professor Browne qualified as a physician but spent his life pursuing the studies he really loved - the Middle East, and particularly Persia. . . . http://www.homestead.com/watsongregory/files/Browne.htmlThe famed Cambridge orientalist was the only Westerner to meet Baha'u'llah and leave a detailed account.