essential to his or her
identity enjoy the protection of national and international law. Much like
the role played by the gene pool in the biological life of humankind and
its environment, the immense wealth of cultural diversity achieved over
thousands of years is vital to the social and economic development of a
human race experiencing its collective coming-of-age. It represents a
heritage that must be permitted to bear its fruit in a global
civilization. On the one hand, cultural expressions need to be protected
from suffocation by the materialistic influences currently holding sway.
On the other, cultures must be enabled to interact with one another in
ever-changing patterns of civilization, free of manipulation for partisan
political ends.

"The light of men", Baha'u'llah says, "is Justice. Quench it not with the
contrary winds of oppression and tyranny. The purpose of justice is the
appearance of unity among men. The ocean of divine wisdom surgeth within
this exalted word, while the books of the world cannot contain its inner
significance."

III

In order for the standard of human rights now in the process of
formulation by the community of nations to be promoted and established as
prevailing international norms, a fundamental redefinition of human
relationships is called for. Present-day conceptions of what is natural
and appropriate in relationships--among human beings themselves, between
human beings and nature, between the individual and society, and between
the members of society and its institutions--reflect levels of
understanding arrived at by the human race during earlier and less mature
stages in its development. If humanity is indeed coming of age, if all the
inhabitants of the planet constitute a single people, if justice is to be
the ruling principle of social organization--then existing conceptions that
were born out of ignorance of these emerging realities have to be recast.

Movement in this direction has barely begun. It will lead, as it unfolds,
to a new understanding of the nature of the family and of the rights and
responsibilities of each of its members. It will entirely transform the
role of women at every level of society. Its effect in reordering people's
relation to the work they do and their understanding of the place of
economic activity in their lives will be sweeping. It will bring about
far-reaching changes in the governance of human affairs and in the
institutions crea