Achieving Reconciliation in a Conflicting World

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics of conflict—philosophical, personal, communal, and sociopolitical— against the backdrop of globalization, with a focus on religion’s role to both foster and overcome it. It argues that behind the Bahá’í principle of unity lies a “logic of reconciliation” by which we continuously seek, and continuously find, new capacity to contain paradox, transcend contradiction, and find harmony among ideas, individuals, communities, and nations. Far from denying or ignoring conflict, the Bahá’í writings push us to face it and find reconciliation. This process is an important contribution to the emergence, from the fractious present, of a sustainable and prosperous world order.