April 2005 CE

Social Justice: The first Link

A desire for justice is instinctive in the human character and is a driving force in social progress. Concepts of justice and their application touch on every aspect of human life: perceived injustices lie at the root of much social unrest.. While a system of law is a hallmark and measure of civilized society, a truly just society is defined by more than its judicial system, however well considered, conceived and applied it may be. That laws are needed to safeguard society from recidivist and disruptive elements is, in today’s society, all too evident. But however effective they are in protecting society, they are of but limited success in eradicating the causes of anti-social behaviour, and, if inaptly applied, may lead to a perception of justice not being done. Clearly, law alone cannot achieve a just and cohesive society. It also requires, if the daily life of the community is to reflect the noblest qualities of human character, a transformation in the hearts and minds of its members. Such a transformation will not easily be achieved. It will require dedicated and prolonged attention to all aspects of social life, including strengthening the family.

A PILLAR OF GOVERNMENT

Justice, described four hundred years ago as one of the four pillars of government [1], has long concerned philosophers, theologians and jurists. More than one ancient insight finds echoes in modern theory, although Plato’s [2] remarkable perception that justice was a condition of the human heart or soul to be cultivated through education has not received the attention it deserved. While rejecting earlier ideas of justice as an imposition to benefit those in authority, the administration of justice in Plato’s ‘ideal society’ nevertheless still divided its citizenry into classes, together ruled by ‘philosopher-kings’ who would regulate all social activity and determine each person’s place within that society - a society within which ‘the better class controls the inferior’. Approaches such as this can still be found today: the distinguishing between citizen and non-citizen, between male and female; between the faithful and unbelievers; between the property-owning and the indigent; or between races and cultures. In modern thinking, Michael Walzer [3] assumes that separate communities will each arrive at their own understanding of justice and the ‘good society’; while John Rawls [4] emphasised the rights of the individual over the greater good of a society that was assumed to be essentially Western and democratic in nature.

Much discussion of the subject of justice is influenced by models of law, in all its retributive, distributive, restraining and adversarial aspects – each embellished by administrative rules, precedents and procedures intended as safeguards against hasty, ill-conceived, or eccentric decisions. Despite or because of this, in today’s increasingly multi-cultural society where different communities may still retain their own ideas of what is equitable and just, the law can excite suspicions of partisanship and favouritism, even where neither exists, and thwart the very purpose for which it was invoked. Clearly, law and justice, though closely linked, are not inextricably bound.

While law may prescribe behaviour, its application is essentially reactive. It is one thing to have laws forbidding the harming of one’s neighbours and specifying penalties if one does, it is another to frame a law instilling the desire to do some positive good to them. If justice is to be the ruling principle of social organisation in an interdependent, globally-aware world - as we believe it must - then a broader concept of justice is required.

THE APPEARANCE OF UNITY

From the Bahá’í perspective, justice and human unity are inseparable. Neither is achievable without the other. True justice, as the ruling principle of successful social organisation, is unobtainable until a conscious recognition of the oneness of the human race takes an instinctive precedence over cultural and sectional interests. Conversely, a growing consciousness of humanity's oneness requires an over-riding concern for justice if it is to be translated into tangible reality. The principles and administration of justice must reflect this understanding: ‘the purpose of justice’, Bahá'u'lláh [5] wrote, ‘is the appearance of unity among men…’ [6] While fully upholding and recognizing the rôle and responsibility of government to formulate and administer law, Bahá’ís see their concept of justice as more than a search for and adherence to a formulation of laws, however perfect and by whomsoever decreed. Nor will it be found simply through economic redistribution, although Bahá’í teachings predicate the abolition of extremes of poverty and wealth as a prerequisite of social justice.

The Bahá’í approach is based upon a conviction that its teachings are the most recent in a continuing progression of divine revelations, made manifest in the world’s great religious systems. It teaches that as well as being a member of society every human person is in essence a spiritual being whose attributes are a reflection of the religious truth that we are all made in our Creator’s image. The implications for recognition of the oneness of humankind are inescapable. This spiritual essence is fulfilled by the development of individual virtue and of moral human relationships that reflect the reciprocity between this essential nature and a full and constructive participation in community life. Its conception of social life neither suppresses individual freedom nor elevates it to a point where the individual becomes an anti-social creature and a potential menace to society. In the Bahá'í view excessive emphasis on individual ‘rights’ without an equal and redeeming emphasis on corresponding responsibilities weakens the bonds of community and can foment feelings of injustice, both real and imaginary, in both the individual and in those around him or her.

CHOOSE FOR THY NEIGHBOUR

While concerned to safeguard the personal rights, freedom and initiative of individuals, and to develop to the fullest their latent talents, the Bahá’í approach is concerned with the promotion of human honour and dignity in the life of both the individual and society. This means that the individual has to acknowledge a responsibility to promote the well-being of others in the community, to recognize that the concept of ‘community’ encompasses every level of our global society, and to recognize the reciprocity between rights and responsibilities in order for a just society to become a reality. Bahá'ís call for concern for others to take priority over self-interest and elevate service to others to a high station, counting work done in a spirit of service as worship. This is seen as a mature use of human will; at the societal level, its noblest expression is to create conditions of justice, a reflection of the command of Bahá’u’lláh: ‘and if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself’’. Service and justice, therefore, may be seen as two pillars which support and realize the oneness of humanity.

THE BEST BELOVED OF ALL THINGS

At the individual level justice is that faculty of the human soul that enables each person to distinguish truth from falsehood. In the sight of God, Bahá'u'lláh avers, justice is "the best beloved of all things” since it permits each individual to see with his own eyes rather than the eyes of others, to know through his own knowledge rather than the knowledge of his neighbour or his group. It calls for fair‑mindedness in one's judgements and equity in one's treatment of others, and is thus a constant if demanding companion in the daily occasions of life. At the level of society a concern for justice is indispensable in collective decision-making, because it is the only means by which unity of thought and action can be achieved. Its application calls for a leap of faith – from a concern only with one’s own advantage and well-being to a willingness to contribute to and place first the welfare of others. Far from encouraging the punitive spirit that has often masqueraded under its name in past ages, justice is the practical expression of awareness that, in the achievement of human progress, the interests of the individual and those of society are inextricably linked.

If justice thus becomes a guiding concern of human interaction, a climate of consultation is encouraged that permits options to be examined dispassionately and the appropriate courses of action selected. In such a climate the usual tendencies toward manipulation and partisanship are far less likely to deflect the decision‑making process. Consultation, in which it is recognized the ‘clash of differing opinions’ may at times occur, ensures the views and concerns of all are voiced and weighed equally, for ‘not until matters are fully discussed can the right way be revealed’. This spirit of consultation, in which all can feel they have the opportunity to participate and contribute their views, becomes the operating expression of justice in human affairs. ‘No man can attain his true station,’ is Bahá'u'lláh's counsel, ‘except through his justice. No power can exist except through unity. No welfare and no well‑being can be attained except through consultation.’ Accompanying the consultative process is an obligation to accept and support wholeheartedly the opinion of the majority; even should it differ from one’s own views. It is a further call for that maturity, that respect for one’s neighbour, and that reshaping of human character, to which we have already referred and is now essential for the administration of human affairs.

THE WORKSHOP OF CIVILIZATION

It is within the family that all these qualities can be first and most readily learned and applied, for the family is the workshop of civilization. Within the fundamental unity of the family adults may develop further that sense of responsibility and care for others that they themselves first learned as its youthful members, and children may grow and form their views about themselves, the world, and the purpose and meaning of life. Within the well-adjusted family concepts of justice and fairness, trustworthiness, co-operation, regard for the rights of others, a sense of belonging and respect for others, may all be cultivated and become apparent. The security and sense of belonging which stable family life engenders acts to restrain unbridled ego and encourages acts of service to others. It becomes instinctive for members to help and serve one another and, free from feelings of threat or insecurity, to progressively extend such behaviour to wider and wider social groups.

Should the family be dysfunctional, however, such qualities may well be quashed so that anti-social tendencies and attitudes instead take root and a cycle of amorality, aggression and recidivism becomes established to afflict the community. All this is seen in today’s society. Thus the success of family life in moulding well-adapted citizens who can integrate into and contribute to an evolving globally-aware society is of great importance. If the family unit fails or is undermined, the structure and integrity of society is weakened, and it is difficult to see what other institutions or social initiatives might adequately replace it.

‘Because the members of the world of humanity are unable to exist without being banded together, cooperation and mutual helpfulness is the basis of human society,’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá [7] advised a gathering in London over ninety years ago [8]. Where else, where better, we may ask, can those virtues of co-operation and mutual helpfulness, so essential for cohesive social life, be first learned than within the framework of family life? Yet too often the very concept of the family - a mother and father living together in mutual support and affection, raising, guiding and supporting their children within an extended familial network - has become enfeebled, unable to meet all society’s demands and expectations: at best provided by society with economic support, but with attention to its moral underpinning seemingly ignored or avoided as social policy adapts to and follows its decline. If, however, the re-strengthening of the family were to become a principle focus of social programmes and initiatives, using every means to reach parents and their children including television, radio and other media, it would provide that foundation on which other programmes might build a cohesive society in which justice was the natural expression and characteristic of community life.

A MINE RICH IN GEMS

Four hundred years ago the philosopher Francis Bacon wrote that innovation and change are potential causes of sedition. While some political authorities try to hold to that view today, innovation and change actually define and characterize our world. However merely envisioning a just and cohesive society, essential though it is to have a vision, cannot by itself bring it into being. The rule of law, long-accepted, familiar and necessary, while defining needed social and behavioural parameters, is an uncertain reformer of underlying social attitudes and at best a rough shaper of individuals whose wish and instinct will be to promote society’s well-being. Equal and balancing attention needs to be given to nurturing those virtuous qualities that reflect the true nature of human beings: to the cultivation of virtue rather than the restraint of vice. Reflection on the very concepts of vice and virtue add emphasis to this argument: while vice is equated to selfish gratification, virtue reflects a caring and concern for others. Law deals with the prevention and consequences of vice, justice is a reflection of the cultivation of virtue.

Human nature, as conceived in the Bahá’í Faith, is rich in latent capacity and virtue: ‘a mine rich in gems of inestimable value’ requiring only volition and education to ‘reveal its treasures’. It is within the family environment that the earliest of these gems are either uncovered and polished or, sadly, are crushed and buried, perfected or broken. It is within the family that the foundations of social justice are laid. It is here that efforts to build a just society might focus their attention.

The commitment of the Bahá’í community to the promotion of equity, social cohesion and the strengthening family life is multifaceted and long-standing. It shows itself through the development of family and community life through the making available of resources the sharing of views and statements, and the sponsorship both of conferences and of social development projects working at the grass roots of our society.

The Bahá’í community is committed whole-heartedly in all its efforts to the building of a community life whose harmony and justice will reflect that same cohesion and integrity with which the Creator instilled and fashioned the planet we all now share. We feel the family is a most important institution within the structure of society, and its preservation and strengthening a key instrument in creating that harmony and instinctive sense of justice. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá advised another gathering over ninety years ago [9]: ‘The first link which creates love and justice is the family bond.’

April 2005 CE

For further information please phone 020-7590 8792, email nsa@bahai.org.uk, or visit www.bahai.org.uk.

National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom

April 2005 CE