Bahá’í Peace Program

The Bahá’í Peace Program was a concept utilized in Bahá’í teaching in the 1940's which involved outlining the Bahá’í Faith's proposal for achieving world peace. It was outlined in a booklet published in 1945 which compiled excerpts from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi pertaining to the topic of peace.

History

The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada devoted 1945 to the promotion of a Bahá’í peace program coordinating several national committees to collaborate on the project.

In 1945 several Local Spiritual Assemblies in the San Francisco area proposed a teaching plan in relation to a major United Nations conference to be held in San Francisco. In response the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada promoted a National Committee on Bahá’í Peace Plan which was tasked with promoting the Bahá’í teachings at the conference.

The specific responsibilities of the committee were to:

• Prepare a special pamphlet presenting the basic elements of the Bahá’í Peace Program.
• Arrange a radio broadcast.
• Arrange a large public meeting.
• Arrange local window displays
• Prepare suitable publicity and advertisements.
• Attend the conference as official observers.
• Cooperate with activities of Bay Area Assemblies.

A thirty minute radio broadcast on the Faith took place on the radio station KQW on April 21, 1945, the two largest newspapers in San Francisco carried large display advertisements on the peace program, a symposium on the peace program was held on May 9, and 9000 copies of the Peace Program pamphlet were produced and circulated.

The pamphlet consisted of quotes on peace from Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi organized into three sections; the Federation of Mankind, the Guiding Principles of World Order, and the Renewal of Faith. Each section had a short introduction organizing the quotes setting them out as a proposal for Bahá’í Faith's stance on world organization.