Society builders pave the way to
a better world, to a better day

A united approach to building a new society.

Join the conversation for

social Transformation Society Builders.

Society Builders with
your host, Duane Varan.

Welcome to another exciting episode
of Society Builders and thanks

for joining the conversation
for social transformation.

Today's episode is truly
a blockbuster episode.

You're gonna learn things today
that will truly blow your mind.

I mean, I promise you, you will
forever remember today's episode and

it will set the stage for the next
sequence of episodes in our series.

Today, you're going to discover how
most modern social discourse, whether

we're talking about race unity,

world peace, the environment,
women's rights, I mean most of

the main discourses of our age.

You are going to discover how all
of these were heavily influenced by

their interaction with Abdul-Baha,
and the generation He inspired.

You're gonna discover how key features of
these discourses, even today, find their

origin in the early history of our Faith.

Now I know that sounds like a big claim.

It's a massive claim! And that's why
I say that you're going to be blown

away by what you discover today.

And today's episode is also blockbuster
for another reason: because you're

going to hear from many of the Baha'i
world's most prominent scholars.

Now, just a quick warning, today's
episode will run longer than our normal

episodes, running just shy of an hour.

There's just so much ground to
cover. But I promise you that

journey is worth the squeeze.

So today we're gonna explore a
history of Baha'i approaches to society

building by focusing on Abdul-Baha as
our example, and the generation

inspired by His direct influence.

Now for those of you less familiar with
the Baha'i faith, we should start today's

adventure with a little bit of background.

Baha'u'llah, of course, was the
founder of the Baha'i Faith.

Baha'is view him as a Manifestation
of God, Someone who received and

shared direct revelations from
God with humanity... Revelations,

which form the basis of our Faith.

And Baha'u'llah shared His
teachings as a prisoner.

He spent over 40 years of His life as an
exile and prisoner moving from prison to

prison until he ended up in the prison
city of Acca in the Holy Land, which at

the time was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Now Abdul-Baha, who I referred to earlier,
was the oldest son of Baha'u'llah, and He

plays a central role in the Baha'i Faith.

He was appointed by Baha'u'llah as the
Center of his Covenant, the person

that Baha'is could turn to following
His ascension for guidance and for

the interpretation of His Writings.

This is an entirely unique
role in religious history.

And Abdul-Baha's Ministry guiding
the community following the passing

of His father was indispensable in
shaping the evolution of the Baha'i

Faith as we understand it today.

Now, Baha'u'llah used many titles
in referring to Abdul-Baha.

He shared Abdul-Baha, as a Gift
to Humanity, and one of these

titles was the Perfect Exemplar.

In other words, we have in Abdul-Baha, the
perfect example for how to live our lives.

So naturally it's only fitting that
we should strive today to look at

Abdul-Baha's example in society building.

What can we learn from how Abdul-Baha approached society building?

Now there are a few additional things
you should know about Abdul-Baha

before we dive into today's stories.

First, it's important to remember that
for most of His life, really, almost

all of His life, Abdul-Baha, like His
Father, was an exile and a prisoner.

He began this exile at the age of
nine and wouldn't be released from His

imprisonment until He was 64 years old.

So it's important to situate today's
narrative within this context.

For most of his life, He's making His
contributions to society as an exile

and as a prisoner, I mean, clearly that
imposes some very unique constraints

on his opportunities to contribute.

Right?

And second, we're gonna talk a lot
about Abdul-Baha's famous trip to

the West, His trip to Europe and
the United States around 1912.

As we explore these travels, keep
in mind that He was 67 years old

at the time and that He spoke
in Persian, using translators.

So you can imagine that this
introduces other challenges in

terms of His public speeches.

So these are some further constraints.

And finally, with the outbreak of the
First World War in 1914, Abdul-Baha's ability

to travel and correspond was entirely
curtailed. Yet even more constraints.

So we're talking about the contributions

of a Prisoner, who couldn't travel until
He was 67 and even then could only travel

for a very short window of a year or two.

I think keeping these constraints
in mind makes the story of His

contributions even more remarkable.

Now we're gonna explore Abdul-Baha's
contribution to society building to

both public discourse and social action
across a number of different arenas that

are still, even today, reflective of the
real needs for society building across

racial unity, economics, education,
the empowerment of women, world peace,

the environment, governance, and more.

You'll see just how extensive
His influence was, both in

being substantive and enduring.

So we're gonna start this journey
by exploring Abba's influence on

the race unity discourse in America.

But first, some context.

Let's first understand the world Abdul-Baha encountered, particularly during

His travels throughout the United States.

The America that Abdul-Baha arrived in
back in 1912 was a truly racist society.

Yes, slavery had been abolished, but
so many of the gains that followed were

almost immediately whittled away, leaving
most of black America, particularly

in the American South, with no vote,

few rights and terrorized by horrific
acts, committed by people who knew they

would face no criminal prosecution.

And there was an intellectual dimension
to the racism. Where in previous

intellectual circles, people may
have once been denouncing slavery,

these same circles were cultivating
a truly racist discourse in the

post-civil war era, one that often
saw black rights as having already

gone too far. This legitimized racism.

And there was a religious
dimension to this as well.

Churches which may have once advocated
for the abolition of slavery were now

entirely silent on questions of race.

This resulted in a despiritualization
of how white America saw black America.

It meant that the oppression
of black America was no longer

seen as a moral dilemma.

So the discourse of the day across
both public and intellectual

circles, often justified racism.
And the religious discourse of

the day simply turned a blind eye.

I share this background with you so
that you can understand the America

that Abdul-Baha encountered during
His travels in America in 1912.

Auburn University Professor, Dr.

Guy Emerson Mount, helps us
contextualize the audience that

Abdul-Baha spoke to at the time.

Here's Dr.

Mount.

Mount: Let's remember when Abdul-Baha arrives,

they're formerly enslaved people who

He's talking to. He's talking to
people who were property in the

beginning portions of their lives.

That's the the level of divergence
between Abdul Baha's message.

There were people still
trying to bring slavery back.

There are people still that
thought it was a mistake, right?

To end slavery.

That slavery ending was a bad thing.

Of course, Abdul-Baha spoke extensively
on the subject of race unity.

He spoke at Black colleges, at
churches, at public halls, and He

always insisted that these venues could
not segregate during His talks, even

though in some places that was illegal.

Just speaking at such venues
was often hugely controversial.

It made waves and perhaps the biggest
wave of all - His most impactful speech -

was to the 4th annual convention of
the NAACP, the primary arena, bringing

together those seeking racial equality.

Abdul-Baha's talks, particularly
those addressing race unity, were

extensively covered by the Black press.

In fact, a number of the leading
Black journalists of the day

actually embraced the faith.

So Abdul-Baha's talks got extensive
coverage in the Black press and Baha's

like Louis Gregory spoke to tens
of thousands of African-Americans.

Here's Dr.

Robert Stockman, who's written a number
of books on the early American believers

describing Louis Gregory's speaking tours.

Stockman: Then of course we have Louis Gregory's
frequent trips to the South where

he spoke, especially to historically
Black colleges and universities.

HBCUs. I should add that he also spoke
to Black business associations and other

organizations of African-Americans.
And so Louis Gregory was frequently

being invited by groups like that
to speak. And so certainly they

would've heard of the Faith through
Louis Gregory and his, his efforts.

That may even have been a bigger influence
than the Chicago Defender and the

Crisis because he would've reached tens
of thousands of people, not just by a

quick skim of an article, but listening
to him speak for half an hour or so.

And so I think that likely is, is
a, a major source of, of Baha'i

influence on the development of the
African-American community in the country.

And let's not forget the contributions
of the White American Baha'i community.

The White Baha'i believers of
this time interacted and engaged

extensively with Black America.

In fact, soon Baha'is were
regularly hosting Race Amity

conferences all across America.

And Black activist groups participated
extensively in these conferences.

So you see a picture of the highest
level of interaction in the race

discourse between the nascent American
Baha'i community and Black America.

And all of this had its effects
at this time in history among

the Black intelligentsia.

The Baha'i Faith was extremely well known.

Most Black leaders of the day would've
known and understood the Baha'i views on

race unity, and would've been engaging
with these ideas in their own discourses.

It's truly hard to imagine a higher level
of interaction with the Baha'i ideas.

It's something Black America
was truly talking about.

Now, let me give you a sense of
just how influential this all was.

Princeton Scholar, Dr.

Cornell West, claims that Baha'is
played a key role in the history

of America's civil rights movement.

West: When you talk about race and legacy of
white supremacy, there's no doubt that

when, when the history is written, the
true history is written in the history

of this country, that the Baha'i Faith
will be one of the leavin in the American

loaf that allowed the Democratic loaf
to expand because of the anti-racist

witness of those of Baha'i Faith.

So that, there is a real sense
in which, a Christian like

myself, is profoundly humbled
before the Baha'i brothers and

sisters and the Dizzy Gilespies
and the Alaine Lockes and so forth.

Now, many decades later, Dr.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

That famous icon of civil
rights, gave a speech in which

he highlighted the contributions
of two key Black philosophers.

He said This.

"We're gonna let our children know that
the only philosophers that lived were

not Plato and Aristotle, but Web Du
Bois and Alain Locke came through the

universe." Now who are DuBois and Locke.

Well, WEB DuBois was one of the
co-founders of the NAACP and he

played a key role in debunking the
scientific racist post-reconstruction

histories I talked about earlier.

He's the most important
Black thinker of his time.

Similarly, Alain Locke.

His first name by the
way, is spelled A L A I N.

Well, Locke was the father of what
became the Harlem Renaissance.

This was an explosion of artistic
expression, celebrating Black culture.

It marks a significant turning point,
the beginnings of what we would now

think of as a Black Pride movement.

Both Locke and DuBois were
heavily influenced by

Abdul-Baha and His talks in America.

In fact, Locke actually became a Baha'i,
something he was sometimes criticized

for among Black intellectuals.

And DuBois's wife became a Baha'i, and
he interacted extensively with the

Baha'i community throughout his life,

often speaking at Baha'i summer schools
and events. And there are particular

strands of DuBois's work, his commitment
to nonviolence, his framing of what

we now think of as affirmative action.

These are strands that may well
have been influenced by this

interaction with the Faith.

We'll explore that theme
further in an upcoming episode.

And the work of Locke and
DuBois continues to shape the

race discourse even today.

Black pride, affirmative
action, nonviolence.

I mean, these are the cornerstones of
the Civil Rights movement even today.

And the Faith is clearly interacting
with the evolution of these ideas.

It's hard to precisely define just
how much, but it's clear that Baha'is

are intimately interacting in the very
shaping of these themes and ideas.

So we see among the generation at the
time of Abdul-Baha's visit to America,

this profound engagement in society
building around the race unity discourse.

And we see it having an incredibly
profound impact at the very dawn of the

Civil Rights movement in America at a
level that I think most Baha'is, really,

aren't aware of. And it's an
influence that continues to shape race

discourse even a hundred years later.

Okay.

Next we're gonna explore Abdul-Baha's
engagement with the economic issues of His

day, particularly in the context of His
immediate surroundings in the Holy Land.

For Abdul-Baha, particularly in a situation
in context, this means farming - as there

was no real industry in the Holy Land
outside of agriculture at the time.

Now in Abdul-Baha's time, the
territory around Acca and the

Holy Land was largely desolate.

Many villages had been abandoned.

There was little security.

The terrain was mostly rocky,
swampy, or desert, not particularly

well suited to farming.

But in 1876, the new Ottoman
Sultan, Abdul-Hamid II, was eager

to turn things around, and so he
sought to find opportunities to

bring these villages back to life.

In this context, Abdul-Baha arranged
for the purchase of four villages

at incredibly low prices.

These were the villages of
Nuqeib, Umm-Juna, Es Samra, and at Adasiyyeh.

Now these abandoned villages then needed
to be settled, so Abdul-Baha encouraged

farmers from Iran to move in, settle
there, and help bring new farms to life.

He did this on incredibly generous
terms, providing the farmers with

80% of the proceeds from these farms.

Soon the farms became the envy
of the region with orchards of

fruit and grains of all kinds.

Where there was swampy land,
eucalyptus trees were planted.

Not only helping to absorb the
moisture, but also helping prevent

the outbreak of diseases like malaria.

Many fruits were first introduced
to the Holy Land in this way, and

Abdul-Baha also cultivated community.

The villagers, men and women alike, would
consult together about all their affairs,

creating a new pattern of community life.

And so Abdul-Baha didn't
just provide the land.

He also provided the guidance, guidance
for both crop and community building.

Guidance which made these farms the
gold standard of farming in the region.

Let's listen to

dr. Roy Steiner, who heads the
Rockefeller Foundation's Food

and Agriculture initiatives. Here

he's talking about the most
famous of these villages Adasiyyeh.

Steiner: As you know, Abdul-Baha helped create the
community of Adasayyeh, brought Baha'i

farmers from Iran to help establish that.

And what was extraordinary about
Abdul-Baha's approach was that He combined

both the community transformation and
the ecological transformation together.

You know, when you look at the type
of agricultural techniques that He helped

implement, they are really the cutting
edge of what we are calling, right now,

regenerative agriculture, which
is bringing in diverse crops,

specifically bringing in trees that
are then combined with, with cereal,

crops and, and, and vegetables.

And this idea of creating ecological
harmony that that's reinforced each other

is, is really something that that actually
creates the greatest productivity and the

greatest resilience in a farming system.

So not only did He, you know, bring
that, which is a real contrast to a lot

of the industrial systems we have today,
but then He also combined that with this

community building efforts of really
implementing consultation in the village,

really bringing gender and, and women's
voices into the decision making process.

And it's really that combination
of an incredibly empowered

community that's building its
capacity using really advanced

scientific approaches to create
the most productive system.

In fact, Israel's first kibbutz,
Deganya, evolved from land purchased

in Umm-Juna, a Baha'i village.

So it's highly likely that many of
their ideas of community, including

participation by men and women, may
well have been influenced by the

Baha'is in their midst, particularly
in light of the success that

these Baha'is had achieved. Clearly

the Baha'i influence on the culture
of the kibbutz is a subject requiring

more research, but again, there's
a likely interaction here that had

some impact that is still felt today.

But Abdul-Baha's clearest contribution
throughout the region was in His guidance

prior to the outbreak of the First World
War for farmers to focus on corn and

wheat cultivation and to store a portion
of that wheat for the upcoming conflict.

What we see in his engagement with
farmers is that He not only warned people,

but He prepared people for it as well.

So throughout the region, across the
regions of the Sea of Galilee, in Tiberius

and at Adassiyeh, in all these regions,
Abdul-Baha actively encouraged the farmers

to grow corn and wheat and to store
some of that corn and wheat for what

He knew would be the coming tempest.

And Abdul-Baha's reputation among
the farming community was such

that by this stage, many farmers
actually followed His advice.

Now, when the war broke out, the
Palestinian territory, as it was then

known, was placed under a military
embargo completely cutting off their

access to food, and the populace was
consequently faced with starvation.

But it was the corn and wheat which
had gone into storage by farmers

who followed Abdul-Baha's advice that
ultimately saved people, including over

200 camel loads of grain delivered by
the Baha'i farmers for the poor in Acca.

In fact, in future years, bandits in
the region would always allow Baha'i

pilgrims to pass through without incident
in gratitude for this good deed.

Here Abdul-Baha's story has parallels
with the story of Joseph in the

Bible where Joseph predicted a famine,
stored grain and saved the populace.

So Abdul-Baha's guidance
literally saved lives.

It saved the populace in this part of
the Holy Land and Abdul-Baha was ultimately

knighted by the British crown for the role
He played in saving the population in this

way, a title by the way, which He never
used, and which He heavily downplayed.

So again, we see an Abdul-Baha's
example, the highest level here of

contributing to society in economic
terms, literally saving people's lives.

Abdul-Baha

also encouraged
Baha'is to build schools.

Particularly in Iran where the size
of the Baha'i community was much

larger than other parts of the world.

What evolved is truly remarkable,

a network of over 60 schools
operating throughout Iran that

continued educating both Baha'is and

others until they were shut down
by the government in 1934. And 50

of these schools were operating in
rural areas where other forms of

education were entirely not available.

I mean, this is a remarkable
achievement. Now again, to appreciate

just how incredibly profound this is.

We need to understand
the background context.

Iran at the time of Abdul-Baha was an
almost entirely illiterate society.

Just to give you a sense of how
illiterate Iran was, in 1950, when

we have official measures, the adult
literacy rate in Iran was just 13%.

13%! And you can assume that
this was almost entirely men.

Now by way of contrast, the adult
literacy rate among the Baha'i community

at that time was near universal and
universal among both men and women.

I mean, that contrast is remarkable.

In fact, within a generation, this
huge contrast emerges a contrast,

not only because Baha'is were
educated, but also because they

had a reputation for integrity.

So Baha'is are introducing new industries
into Iran, getting good government jobs.

The, the material transformation of
the community is almost immediate.

And there are less obvious influences.

After all, the schools were open to all
children, Baha'i and otherwise. So many of

the nation's educated class had actually
attended Baha'i schools. And the status

of women within Baha'i households changed.

I mean, the impact for the Baha'i
community and for others was

just so incredibly profound.

But imagine yourself in a Baha'i
community at the time, perhaps

even in a small village, making
the decision to launch a school.

The logistics of doing so, were
just so incredibly overwhelming.

And most of all, you need teachers, but
where do you find teachers, particularly

in a largely illiterate society?

Well, as the Baha'i schools got underway,
The graduates of these schools then

became the teachers for other schools,
and this was a great opportunity for

graduating women since the society of the
time didn't really facilitate the hiring

of women in conventional jobs. So they
could apply their education as teachers.

And this was how the
school system propagated.

It became a self generative
system of learning.

What's truly remarkable about
the schools is just how extensive

they were across the country.

Let's listen to

dr. Muja Moen, a scholar who is author to
a number of books and journal articles

about the early Iranian Baha'i community.

Momen: These schools went right down to
the level of fairly small villages.

Now, there were schools started by
sort of modernist non-Baha'i Iranians in

several of the larger cities like Tehran.

There was a school Tabriz and so on in
the large cities, and the missionaries

were running a few small schools
in some of the Christian villages

around Tabriz in, in the
northwest of the country.

But when Baha'i started to feed out these
schools into the small villages, that was

very much a new thing that that Iranians
would be establishing modern schools

in small towns and villages well before
any other Iranians were doing that.

And well before the government
ever thought of doing that.

So much so that, uh, for example,
in, in one of the towns when, uh, the

Baha'is set up a school in a town near
near Shiraz, the governor there said to

them, look, we can't even get a modern
school established in Shiraz itself.

How do you, how do you expect to get
a modern school established in, in

this small town where, you know, where
in the middle of nowhere, you

know. How are you gonna manage that?

We can't even do it in Shiraz itself.

Of course due to religious
persecution, the Baha'i schools were

shut down in 1934, denying education
to both Baha'is and wider society.

And it would be decades
before any schooling was again

provided to children in many.

Of these smaller towns and villages
throughout Iran, but by that stage,

universal literacy had already been
achieved within the Baha'i community, and

so families could play a role in ensuring
for the education of their children.

It catapulted the community.

The transformation of the Baha'i community
and its contributions to the society

around it truly provide a remarkable
chapter in Iranian history and provide

a great example of society building.

Of course the theme of the
equality of women and men features

prominently in Abdul-Baha's writings,
guidance and in His speeches.

And here too, we see great impact
on the larger society around us.

In Iran,

of course, Abdul-Baha's greatest
contribution was in His insistence

that the Baha'i schools there needed to
teach girls as well as boys. Again, in

the context of the society of His day,

this was a dramatic contrast at
a time when education was simply

entirely unavailable for girls.

Let's listen here again to

Dr. Moojan Momen.

Momen: Right from the start, girls schools were
considered as important as boys schools.

So more or less, as soon as a boys
school was founded, either simultaneously

or very shortly afterwards, a
girls school also be founded.

And if that didn't happen, Abdul Baha
would write to the Iranian Baha'is in

that locality and say, 'well done for
establishing a school Now establish a,

a girls's school to go along with it.'

So after a while, the the Baha'is
got the message and would always

start a girls' school, more or less,
the same time as the boys' school.

Now, think about just how dramatic
this was in a society where girls

had no access to education at all.

Baha'i girls soon achieved
universal literacy.

And remember, this was a contribution
to wider society as well because

these schools were open to all people.

So this is a massive contribution to
equality across the entire Persian nation.

In His travels in the West, this theme
of the equality of women and men was also

a central theme in Abdul-Baha's speeches.

In fact, He repeatedly advocated
for women's suffrage - that women

should have the right to vote.

But Abdul-Baha also contributed indirectly
in influencing key individuals, some

of whom actually embraced the faith.

And my favorite example here is
Phoebe Hearst, who at the time was

the wealthiest woman in America and
one of its greatest philanthropists.

Now Phoebe embraced the Faith and
actually organized and funded the

first pilgrimage to the Holy Land
by Western Believers In 1898.

There, she met with Abdul-Baha and she
went on to play an incredibly pivotal

role in nurturing the early evolution
of the Baha'i community in America.

When we think of great American women
who advocated for women's rights, we're

usually thinking about women like Susan B.

Anthony, and her contributions to
winning women the right to vote.

But Phoebe represented a different
strand of the women's movement.

While Phoebe also advocated for
women's right to vote, she saw the

greater need as being in empowering
women in their daily lives.

Here's Katherine Jewett Hogenson,
author of a number of books about

the early American believers.

Katherine speaks here about Phoebe's
approach to empowering women.

Hogenson: She didn't like some of the more extreme
methods that the suffragettes were using,

particularly when she saw them start to
resort to more violent means and hunger

strikes and and other kinds of things.

She also felt that some of what was
coming out of the women's movement

was licentiousness, not just a
push for suffrage, whereas Susan B.

Anthony thought political
change was the way to go.

Phoebe, because her husband was
a politician and her son was a

politician, had no use for politics.

She hated politics, and she felt
that politics was not going to have

the effect that starting a whole
series of kindergartens, including

kindergartens for African-American
kids, which was unheard of at that time,

or getting women into university, all
of these kinds of things would have

more lasting effect than getting a
particular political candidate elected.

She certainly believed women should
have a vote, but she wasn't willing

to go through unscrupulous or
violent means to attain that goal.

Now, Phoebe probably did more to
empower American women than any other

individual in an American history.

Now, I know that's a big claim, but
we'll explore that theme further in a

future episode so you can get a more
comprehensive picture of just how

significant her contributions were.

Now, Phoebe truly empowered women.

For example, responding to the
oppressive circumstances under

which seamstresses were employed,

she organized women so that they could
provide their own seamstress services,

completely bypassing the factories.

She was responsible for the
admission of women in med schools and

as practicing doctors and hospitals.

She was the co-founder.

Of the Parents' Teachers Association, the
PTA, so that mothers could have a stronger

voice in the education of their children.

I mean, the PTA is probably the single
greatest influence on education in

America, even today, over a century later.

She started the first women's
studies program at the University

of California in Berkeley.

I mean, the list goes on and on.

She is, without a doubt, one of the
most influential heroines of the

Women's Rights Movement in America.

And of course, she was a Baha'i.

Now it's hard to know just
how someone like Phoebe was

ultimately influenced by the faith.

There's an interaction with the Faith.

The Faith attracts people who share
in its beliefs and it interacts with

them to further shape their beliefs.

But the point here really is that Baha'is
are interacting with their societies and

the social discourses of their day in
truly deep and meaningful ways, ways that

positively contribute to their societies.

So in both East and West,
we see this remarkable

interaction in empowering women.

Another area where Abdul-Baha contributed
to society building is in the peace arena.

Of course, Abdul-Baha was speaking
to the West just two years before

the outbreak of the First World War,
and He clearly warns His audiences

repeatedly about the impending war.

Much of the coverage of the mainstream
press throughout Abdul-Baha's

journeys in both Europe and the US
focused on this message of peace.

We know these speeches
affected a great many people.

For example, we know of a professor
at Stanford Albert Leon Guerard, who was

in the audience during Abdul-Baha's
speech there, and went on to contribute

to peace studies later working, for
example, on a world constitution.

Arthur Dahl interviewed Dr.

Gueurard in 1958.

Here, Dr.

Gueurard recalls Abdul-Baha's
speech at Stanford.

Gueurard: In 1912, I still remember the,
the assembly hall and the two

figures that seemed to come from
a remote country and remote ages.

Abdul-Baha, in the colorful garments,
and with the white flowing beard

and His interpreter all compact,
dark, and with very keen expression.

Naturally, I couldn't understand a word

of Persian or Arabic, Arabic, whatever
it was, but at the same time,

Well, those two managed to create
an impression of community.

We felt that they were strangers and yet
Abdul-Baha personally was in touch with us.

What I remember most particularly was
the, the dignity of His expression.

He was not one of God's angry men,

who desired due to consign
all others to eternal fire.

He was really a father wanting to
unite the whole human family, so people

were truly moved by Abdul-Baha's talks.

Abbu Baha also spoke at the annual
conference of the International Peace

Society in Lake Mahon, and really many
key peace thinkers of the day were there.

So here too, we see great influence
in the peace discourse of the day.

Now, there were a number of people who
may have been heavily influenced by

these talks and by the Baha'i writings.

We know that these had some
influence, for example, on President

Woodrow Wilson and his efforts in
advocating for the League of Nations.

We know that Wilson, for example, had
a number of Baha'i books in his library.

There are even secondhand accounts
of him having a small Baha'i

book in his coat pocket that he
would occasionally reference.

His wife and his eldest daughter
actually met with Abdul-Baha.

And his youngest daughter, Eleanor
Wilson McAdoo, claimed on more than one

occasion that her father's 14 points,
the basis for the League of Nations were

directly influenced by the Baha'i Faith.

So it seems likely that Wilson's 14
points, one of the most influential

instruments for peace in the last
century were influenced by the Faith.

But the full extent of this influence
remains something for future

historians to really properly research.

And there are other initiatives of the
day that may have also been influenced

in this way, including potentially a
number of initiatives by Andrew Carnegie.

But perhaps the most enduring
contribution in terms of something

we still experience today was made by
a British major who was also a Baha'i.

I'm talking here of
course about Wellesley.

Tudor Poll

who is the individual most responsible
for popularizing the moment of

silence that is observed in so many
nations still today to commemorate

the fallen in the first World War?

In many nations, this is the most
important peace event of the year.

Reminding people of the horrors of war.

So the moment of silence also has its
Baha'i influences and the Baha'is of this

time in the United States also began
hosting World Unity conferences all

across the country, advocating for global
disarmament and engaging with society

and discussions about world peace and a
direct outgrowth of these conferences.

Was the emergence of a peace journal
called the World Unity Magazine, which

emerged as one of the primary vehicles for
the peace discourse in the interwar years.

Again, let's listen to Katherine Hogenson
talking about Horace Holly and his

efforts with the World Unity Magazine.

Hogenson: He got ahold of Abdul-Baha's tablet
to the Hague and saw that after World War I was over

Abdul-Baha said another big one's coming.

And so he and two women who were
well to do, Baha'i, business women,

decided that they ought to start a
movement, an anti-war movement, to

take the Baha'i ideals and get them
into the hands of the general public.

But even more so, the leaders of thought,
their scheme was to have local chapters

set up and to have a magazine.

And so they set up the World Unity
Foundation and Magazine, and it

was based in part on a series of
World Unity conferences, which

had been carried out by the NSA.

They're getting Nobel laureates
and all kinds of important people

submitting articles for it, and they
have some really big mucky mucks.

Supreme Court Justice
Charles Evans Hughes.

They had John Dewey, the
famous philosopher educator.

They had Sigmund Reeve, who was the
first president of the Republic of

South Korea, as well as a number
of prominent thinkers of the time.

It was getting a readership of
people who were internationally

minded and free thinkers.

There was a feeling that
it was having an impact.

But just at the point where it was
starting to take off the Great Depression

hit and suddenly the capital to keep it
going until it could be self-sustaining

was no longer available then.

So we see this incredibly strong
interaction with the peace discourse of

the day, particularly in that interwar
period leading up to the Great Depression.

Yet another example of the
generation of Abdul-Baha's time.

Contributing to the discourse on peace.

Now let's explore another modern
day discourse, and that's on

the theme of the environment.

Now, it's important to remember that in
Abdul-Baha's Day, there was no real societal

discourse around the environment. Yes
there are strands of it, for example, in

Teddy Roosevelt creating national parks.

But this is not yet a societal
discourse like race unity,

peace, or women's suffrage.

So there was no real global discourse
on the environment at that time.

But in fact, the emergence
of that discourse

largely came about through
the contributions of a single

Baha'i of that generation.

And so we find this Baha'i influence in
the emergence of the global discourse

on the environment, finding its origins
and the work of a remarkable believer.

Richard St. Barb Baker.

Paul Hanley has
written two books about St.

Barb Baker and tells us the story of
how Baker started this discourse.

Hanley: In 1922, St.

Barb was working as assistant
conservator of forests in Kenya,

but he basically had no budget to
do reforestation, and he found out

really his real role was kind of
facilitating exploitation of the forest.

So he, he decided, 'okay, if I'm
gonna get anything done in terms

of conservation, I'm somehow.

Gonna have to get the local
people involved in this.'

So he went to the elders of the Kaku tribe
and said, 'you know, we've got to replenish

the forest cause they're being depleted.'

And they said, 'no, that's God's work.

God plants the trees.'

And he said, 'but we have to help God.'

And they said, 'well, what you
need to do is maybe have a dance.'

Cause everything in their culture was,
you know, when we plant, we dance.

When we harvest, we dance.

So he created the dance of the
trees and he invited all the youth

to come to the Dance of the Trees.

He had a, an animal, like a bull,
that he gave to the winner and, and

bracelets for the girls and, and,
you know, whoever won this thing.

It, it was just a way
of bringing people out.

And so they had this dance in
1922, so a hundred years ago,

and thousands of people came out.

Thousands of young men and women came
out and danced together, and then

he gave them inspiring talks about
the importance of tree planting.

And they all pledged to plant,
you know, five trees and,

and do a good deed every day.

So it was kind of a practical and moral
movement he was creating, and he called

it the Men of the Trees - still exists now -
called the International Tree Foundation.

And so he started this group amongst
these young people in Kenya, and then he

decided that, well, maybe this Men of the
Trees could become an international group.

So he went back to England, started
a Men of Trees there, started a

Men of the Trees in Palestine.

Started building this
movement all over the world.

Eventually, over a hundred countries
had members. I think it was

probably the first environmental and
non-governmental organization in the

world on a larger international scale.

Now, as you heard,

st. Barb Baker founded the Men of the Trees,
which more recently changed its name

to the International Tree Foundation,
which has gone on to plant literally

billions of trees worldwide over the
course of the past a hundred years.

Some estimates assume that they may
have saved or planted as many as

30 billion trees in that period.

And many of the key conservationists that
followed were influenced directly by

st. Barb Baker, and the billions of trees that
they then planted also find their roots

back to this remarkable man. It's hard
to think of a person that has achieved

more for the environment than

st. Barb Baker.

Truly the first to cultivate a global
discourse around the environment.

So here again, another massive
contribution to society, a contribution

that, again, had this enduring impact.

Another way that Abdul-Baha
contributed to society was in advice

he regularly gave shaping approaches
to governance, particularly

governance with integrity.

Now, some of this relates to
his immediate circumstances.

In the localities in which he
lived, Abdull-Baha quickly emerged

as someone that leaders could
turn to for advice and assistance.

Sometimes

this was in the role of mediator, helping
resolve differences between individuals.

Sometimes it was in giving advice. In
fact, leaders throughout the reach and

would often turn to Him for guidance.

But Abdul-Baha's greatest example of
contributing to society building in

this way is seen in his interaction
with political reform in Iran.

Now, when we talk about Abdul-Baha's
Writings, we're usually talking about

compilations of tablets and letters
or perhaps of written records of talks

that He gave or, or perhaps of His
responses to questions during interviews.

But Abdul-Baha actually wrote three
books, two of which specifically

focus on political reform.

Now, the first of these
is well known to Baha'is.

It's of course the 'Secret
of Divine Civilization'.

Lesser known perhaps is His
'Treatise on Politics', a book which

hasn't yet been translated and
released, but which the Baha'i World

Center promises will be released
imminently, perhaps even this year.

Both of these books were written
anonymously so that they wouldn't curry

favor for Abdul-Baha with political
leaders, and both were circulated

widely in Iran by the Baha'i community.

We'll explore the full story of
the circumstances under which these

were written in our next episode.

Suffice it for now to say that there
was a real hunger and need for reform

in the Persian nation at the time where
corruption and mismanagement were rampant.

And so in these works, Abdul-Baha addresses
the remedies to these issues advocating

for a range of political reforms.

Now, there is no doubt that Abdul-Baha's
work and the work of the Baha'i communities

of the day were absolutely instrumental
in bringing about major reforms, including

in bringing about Iran's first parliament.

Although this ultimately failed as
Abdul-Baha predicted it would, because the

reformers ignored so much of His advice.

To be clear, there were reformers
driving many of these initiatives,

but as Baha'i historian,

Dr. Moojan Momen explains, the influence
of the Baha'is was far more

extensive, particularly outside
of the capital city of Tehran.

Momen: The reformers were probably sort of, well,
let's say a thousand people at most among

the intellectuals in the cities in Iran.

And the larger cities at that, not,
not in the smaller cities, whereas

the Baha'is were hundreds of thousands
of people spread right across Iran,

right down to the village level.

So these sort of principles
were being advocated much more

thoroughly and effectively.

Throughout Iran by the Baha'is than
they were by these intellectuals

who had very limited audience,
very limited readership, what they

were publishing and and printing.

So I would argue that the Baha'is
were much more effective at getting

these ideas infiltrated into the
general population and bringing the

ideas of reform to the population.

None these elitist, well-educated,
but very elite reformers were doing.

Now, there can be no doubt that
many of the reforms that ensued, the

beginnings really of some level of
democratic representation in Iran finds

its roots in these works of Abdul-Baha.

We can see that in this
substance of the reforms.

While the reformers, for example,
were predominantly based in Tehran,

it was the Baha'is throughout Iran that
brought the needs of other towns and

villages into this reform process.

Consider once again these comments by

dr. Momen.

Momen: You can see it, also, for example,
when the reformers started to sort of

put forward their list of demands to
the Shah. One of the things that they

demanded was that in each locality, a
House of Justice should be established.

They called it a Edalat Kheneh, but
that's a straightforward.

translation of Beyt-ol-Ahd,
which is the House of Justice.

So you know, where did
they get that idea from?

It wasn't this idea that in every locality
you had to have a House of Justice,

and this would be the sort of the place
that people would turn to for justice.

In each locality that, this was
in contrast to the, to the situation

then prevailing in Iran, which was
that the governors would just do

whatever they liked and whether
it was just or not was irrelevant.

It was what the will of the governor
that prevailed, and now the

reformers were demanding that there
should be a House for Justice

in each locality and that people
could turn to that house of justice

and get justice for themselves,
even if that was, you know, against

high officials in the locality.

So those sorts of ideas, I think you can
argue that with, with a lot of evidence

that these sorts of ideas were coming
to these reforms from the Baha'is with

whom they were having these discussions.

It's hard to imagine any more direct
evidence of the Baha'i influence than this,

that the first democratic institutions
were conceived as Houses of Justice.

I mean, that's clear Baha'i terminology.

However, for reasons we'll discuss
in our next episode, Abdul-Baha became

concerned with the direction of the
reforms that evolved, viewing them

as misguided and counterproductive.

Consequently, He encouraged the
Baha'is who were championing this

process to then disengage, and the
Baha'i community did exactly that.

Then channeling their energies instead
into other kinds of society building

like the schools we talked about earlier.

Again, it's a remarkable chapter
in this story, which will explore

further in our next episode.

Our point today though is that the
birth of democratic institutions in

Iran taking various forms of the years
that followed, finds its origins in

the writings of Abdul-Baha, and in the
Baha'i communities efforts that followed.

So again, we see in Abdul-Baha's example
the highest level of contribution to

society around discourses on governance,
integrity, and political reform.

Now, it's important to remember
that in this episode, we've

only scratched the surface.

There were Baha'i communities around the
world, each making their contributions to

society, building in their time and place.

Here's Dr.

Robert Stockman again.

Stockman: So Baha'is, were doing these kinds
of social and economic development

projects from a very early time, and
I think it's quite interesting that

now we're beginning to realize that
any efforts to spread the Faith

has to rely on social action, public
discourse, and community building.

So it's like the three-legged stool.

And even back in the first decade in
the 20th century, the Baha'is were kind

of trying to construct the three-legged
stool as well, you might say.

So there's a lot of sort of continuation
of what we're doing today in the efforts

of the friends in the early days.

So society building was clearly a
focus for the Baha'is of Abdul-Baha'S time.

It may have been a nascent community,
but it was a nascent community, highly

engaged in society building at a level we
really haven't seen matched ever since.

And with an enduring legacy that
we can all truly be inspired by.

So there you have it.

Aren't you blown away when you
realize just how amazing Abdul-Baha's

contributions were to society building
contributions, which still shaped these

discourses over a hundred years later?

Features which form part of our
everyday discourse today around

affirmative action, black pride,
nonviolent approaches to civil rights,

the Parents Teachers Association, the
culture of the kibbutz, commemorating

the fallen with a minute of silence,

women's empowerment, tree planting
the global discourse on the

environment, a continued hunger
for integrity and politics.

I mean, it's truly remarkable.

I gotta tell you in doing the
background research for this episode,

I mean, this just took my breath away.

It's just so incredibly inspiring.

So you can exhale now.

Whew.

What a ride!

Right, now you heard brief snippets
of interviews I conducted with a

number of eminent Baha'i scholars.

These scholars were all incredibly
generous with their time.

Most of these interviews ran for
one or two hours each, and they

were packed with amazing insights.

Insights

I simply didn't have

airtime for in this overview episode.
But you'll be pleased to know that the

next set of episodes will explore these
themes in much greater depth, so you'll

hear more from these eminent scholars.

You'll hear more about Abdul-Baha and
the race discourse and the remarkable

interaction that followed with Black
America, and you'll hear more about

the governance reforms that Abha
advocated for in Iran and Abdul-Baha's

warnings for the future. Warnings,
which have clearly played out in

today's Iran and some so much more.

So there's so much to look forward to.

A quick production note.

I want to extend a huge shout out
of gratitude to each of the Baha'i

scholars who shared so selflessly
with me in order of their appearance.

Dr. Guy

Emerson Mount,

Dr. Robert Stockman,

dr. Roy Steiner,

dr. Moojan Momen.

Catherine Jutt, Hogenson and Paul Hanley.

I'd also like to thank

dr. Christopher Buck for identifying the quote
I referenced from Martin Luther King Jr.

And Dr.

Shay Rozen Rosen for his research on
the Baha'i villages I referenced.

In this episode, I learned a great deal
from these eminent scholars and you are in

for a real treat as we get to hear them in
much more detail in our upcoming episodes.

And also I wanna express my deep
gratitude to the US Baha'i National

Archives Office for locating and sharing
that Arthur Dahl interview with Dr.

Guerard from 1958.

And of course, I want to thank
you for joining the conversation

for social transformation.

So don't miss our next incredible
episode, which features

extensive interviews with

Dr. Moojan Momen on Abdul-Baha and governance.

That's next time on Society Builders.

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