How Unity and Justice Can Shape National Narratives

“A symposium by the Bahá’ís of the US explores how stories grounded in unity and justice can hold the country’s painful realities and shared aspirations in the same frame.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Over a century ago, the early American Bahá’í community held the first Race Amity conference—an unprecedented gathering to examine how consciousness of humanity’s fundamental oneness might heal seemingly intractable divisions. Today, as the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the “Advancing Together” symposium in Washington, D.C. recalled that legacy to explore the narratives through which Americans understand one another.

The symposium, convened by Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs of the United States, is envisioned to be an ongoing activity and had as its theme this year the Narratives of America. Many of the more than 40 participants—scholars, representatives of civil-society organizations, faith communities, and government officials—have been engaged in this conversation for some time, making the gathering a space for reflection on a shared learning process and the next step in a continuing endeavor.

Together, they examined how narratives grounded in unity and justice might hold the country’s painful realities and shared aspirations in the same frame—expanding the sense of collective belonging while calling each person to a constructive role in the nation’s unfolding story.”

Read the whole article on Bahá’í World News Service.

View of the attendees at the symposium.

Image source: Bahá’í World News Service