At the heart of Bahá’u’lláh’s message are two core ideas:

The Bahá’ís: An exploration of the
history, beliefs, and practices
 of the Bahá’í Faith
A publication of the 
Bahá’í International Community

At the heart of Bahá’u’lláh’s message are two core ideas:

First - the incontrovertible truth that humanity is one.

Second - humanity’s great faiths have come from one common Source and are expressions of one unfolding religion.

“All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.”

Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings
www.bahai.org/r/994085186

Excerpted from The Bahá’ís 
Religion in an ever-advancing civilization

Every person is essentially a spiritual being with unique talents and capacities, "a mine rich in gems of inestimable value."

Acceptance of the oneness of humanity demands that prejudice—whether racial, religious, or gender-related—must be totally eliminated.

Misconceptions and prejudices that consider one group of people as superior to another are a major contributor to humanity’s present afflictions. 

Prejudice is a false perception, or preconception, of others based on ignorance, blinding us to the fact that every person is essentially a spiritual being with unique talents and capacities, Bahá’u’lláh affirms a “mine rich in gems of inestimable value.”

Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets
What Bahá’ís Believe - Elimination of Prejudice

What's required to cast away the fallacious doctinre of racial superiorty?

Pathway to the Shrine of the Báb

 "A tremendous effort is required by both races if their outlook, their manners, and conduct are to reflect, in this darkened age, the spirit and teachings of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Casting away once and for all the fallacious doctrine of racial superiority, with all its attendant evils, confusion, and miseries, and welcoming and encouraging the intermixture of races, and tearing down the barriers that now divide them, they should each endeavor, day and night, to fulfill their particular responsibilities in the common task which so urgently faces them."

"... Let the white make a supreme effort in their resolve to contribute their share to the solution of this problem, to abandon once for all their usually inherent and at times subconscious sense of superiority, to correct their tendency towards revealing a patronizing attitude towards the members of the other race, to persuade them through their intimate, spontaneous and informal association with them of the genuineness of their friendship and the sincerity of their intentions, and to master their impatience of any lack of responsiveness on the part of a people who have received, for so long a period, such grievous and slow-healing wounds. Let the Negroes, through a corresponding effort on their part, show by every means in their power the warmth of their response, their readiness to forget the past, and their ability to wipe out every trace of suspicion that may still linger in their hearts and minds." 

"Let neither think that the solution of so vast a problem is a matter that exclusively concerns the other. Let neither think that such a problem can either easily or immediately be resolved. Let neither think that they can wait confidently for the solution of this problem until the initiative has been taken, and the favorable circumstances created, by agencies that stand outside the orbit of their Faith."

"Let neither think that anything short of genuine love, extreme patience, true humility, consummate tact, sound initiative, mature wisdom, and deliberate, persistent, and prayerful effort, can succeed in blotting out the stain which this patent evil has left on the fair name of their common country."

Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, 1938
www.bahai.org/r/351186116

Racial prejudice is the most vital and challenging issue confronting the [American] Bahá’í community at the present stage of its evolution.

Pathway descending from The Universal House of Justice

 "As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well-nigh a century, has bitten into the fiber, and attacked the whole social structure of American society, it should be regarded as constituting the most vital and challenging issue confronting the Bahá’í community at the present stage of its evolution. The ceaseless exertions which this issue of paramount importance calls for, the sacrifices it must impose, the care and vigilance it demands, the moral courage and fortitude it requires, the tact and sympathy it necessitates, invest this problem, which the American believers are still far from having satisfactorily resolved, with an urgency and importance that cannot be overestimated. White and Negro, high and low, young and old, whether newly converted to the Faith or not, all who stand identified with it must participate in, and lend their assistance, each according to his or her capacity, experience, and opportunities, to the common task of fulfilling the instructions, realizing the hopes, and following the example, of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Whether colored or noncolored, neither race has the right, or can conscientiously claim, to be regarded as absolved from such an obligation, as having realized such hopes, or having faithfully followed such an example. A long and thorny road, beset with pitfalls, still remains untraveled, both by the white and the Negro exponents of the redeeming Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. On the distance they cover, and the manner in which they travel that road, must depend, to an extent which few among them can imagine, the operation of those intangible influences which are indispensable to the spiritual triumph of the American believers and the material success of their newly launched enterprise."

Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice
Letter written to the Bahá’ís of North America,1938

www.bahai.org/r/720204804

"The teachings of Bahá’u’lláh proclaim equality between man and woman..."

Gardens at Bahjí

"The teachings of Bahá’u’lláh proclaim equality between man and woman, for He has declared that all are the servants of God and endowed with capacity for the attainment of virtues and bestowals."

"The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment." 

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace
www.bahai.org/r/365983525

“All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.”

Delegates to the 11th International Convention, Haifa, 2013

Humanity, the Bahá’í writings explain, has passed through the stage of childhood and now stands at the threshold of its collective maturity. The revolutionary and far-reaching changes occurring today are characteristic of this period of transition—a time which can be likened to adolescence. In this period, thoughts, attitudes, and habits from humanity’s earlier stages of development are being swept away and new patterns of thought and action which reflect its approaching maturity are gradually taking root. 

‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains: “That which was applicable to human needs during the early history of the race can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this period of newness and consummation.” He continues: “Man must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities…The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.”

The hallmark of this approaching age of maturity is the unification of the human race. 

Shoghi Effendi writes that, while unity “of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established” world-encompassing unity is “the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving.” In another passage, he refers to “the inauguration of a world civilization such as no mortal eye hath ever beheld or human mind conceived.” He asks: “Who is it that can imagine the lofty standard which such a civilization, as it unfolds itself, is destined to attain? Who can measure the heights to which human intelligence, liberated from its shackles, will soar? Who can visualize the realms which the human spirit, vitalized by the outpouring light of Bahá’u’lláh, shining in the plenitude of its glory, will discover?”

The emergence of a global civilization prosperous in both its material and spiritual dimensions implies that the spiritual and practical aspects of life are to advance together. Through faith and reason, it becomes possible to discover the powers and capacities latent in individuals and in humanity as a whole, and to work for the realization of these potentialities. Recognition of the fundamental harmony of science and religion also allows for the generation, application, and diffusion of spiritual and material knowledge among all the world’s inhabitants.

Bahá’u’lláh affirms: “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.”

www.Bahai.org

‘Abdu’l-Bahá The Promulgation of Universal Peace
Shoghi Effendi The Promised Day Is Come
Bahá’u’lláh Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

"This is the essential foundation of all the divine religions..."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá - Stuttgart, Germany, 1913

"The divine religions embody two kinds of ordinances."

"First, there are those which constitute essential, or spiritual, teachings of the Word of God. These are faith in God, the acquirement of the virtues which characterize perfect manhood, praiseworthy moralities, the acquisition of the bestowals and bounties emanating from the divine effulgences—in brief, the ordinances which concern the realm of morals and ethics. This is the fundamental aspect of the religion of God, and this is of the highest importance because knowledge of God is the fundamental requirement of man. ... This is the essential foundation of all the divine religions, the reality itself, common to all. ..."

"Second, there are laws and ordinances which are temporary and nonessential. These concern human transactions and relations. They are accidental and subject to change according to the exigencies of time and place."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá,The Promulgation of Universal Peace
www.bahai.org/r/830092706