Baha’i Faith

Unlike the other traditions highlighted here, the Baha'i Faith is relatively young but still has much to offer to the environmental discussion. As Peter Adriance and Arthur Dahl tell us in the overview essay, “the Bahá’í appreciation for nature goes far beyond its utilitarian value, to see it as a significant source of knowledge at the spiritual level.” But the spiritual is intimately and essentially interconnected with pressing, practical concerns, as “from a Bahá’í Faith perspective, the problems of ecology and the environment cannot be separated from all the other problems facing the world today, and require a holistic integrated approach, both scientific and spiritual.” Thus, any Baha'i Faith discussion of the environment is essentially cross-disciplinary and also addresses issues ofgovernance, economy and inequity, and material sustainability, all at both local and global levels.

 

 

Overview Essay

This article by Peter Adriance and  Arthur Dahl was originally published in the Routledge Handbook of Religion and Ecology. It provides a brief overview of the Baha'i Faith beliefs and then situates those beliefs in direct dialogue with the current environmental crisis.

Advisory Group Members
Go here to see a list of all of the Forum advisors working on the intersection of the Baha'i Faith and ecology, including brief biographies and contact information.  Go here to read more about the Forum Advisory Group. 
Bibliography

This list of books and articles, dating from the 1980s-2012, on the Baha'i Faith and Ecology was compiled by the International Environment Forum.

Statements

The statements in this section were released by the Bahá’í International Community, with the exception of “Unity and Consultation” by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the U.S.

Engaged Projects

Information on the International Environment Forum. We are actively seeking additional Baha'i engaged ptojects. If you have a project that you believe should belong in this section, Please message our webmaster using the Contact Form.

Sacred Texts
This page contains links to environmentally-related excerpts from the Bahá’í Sacred Scriptures, organized thematically.
Multimedia

Located here are multimedia offerings of interest, relating to the intersection of the Baha'i Faith and ecology.

Ecojustice

This page contains lists of resources related to Baha’i Faith and Ecojustice, organized by category (books, articles, etc). To see all of the Ecojustice resources on the Forum site, go to our new religiously-engaged Ecojustice hub.

Links

In addition to the links in the Engaged Projects section, we have provided a brief list of additional online resources here.


Header photo: the Shrine of the Báb and Bah'ai Gardens, Haifa, Israel