ature". That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much
of the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals
can hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount
the preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions
of civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has
repeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.

Writing of religion as a social force, Baha'u'llah said: "Religion is the
greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for
the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein." Referring to the
eclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: "Should the lamp of religion
be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness,
of justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine." In an enumeration
of such consequences the Baha'i writings point out that the "perversion of
human nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and
dissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such
circumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character
is debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed,
the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame
is obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and
loyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of
hope is gradually extinguished."

If, therefore, humanity has come to a point of paralyzing conflict it must
look to itself, to its own negligence, to the siren voices to which it has
listened, for the source of the misunderstandings and confusion
perpetrated in the name of religion. Those who have held blindly and
selfishly to their particular orthodoxies, who have imposed on their
votaries erroneous and conflicting interpretations of the pronouncements
of the Prophets of God, bear heavy responsibility for this confusion--a
confusion compounded by the artificial barriers erected between faith and
reason, science and religion. For from a fair-minded examination of the
actual utterances of the Founders of the great religions, and of the
social milieus in which they were obliged to carry out their missions,
there is nothing to support the contentions and prejudices deranging the
religious communities of mankind and therefore all human affairs.

The teaching that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish