No doubt the present riots and disorder in France have a complex set of causes, but one of the factors is surely Islamism. It would be inconceivable that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is at work in the former French colonies in North Africa, will not either have precipitated the riots and burnings or be exploiting the discontents of the immigrant communities in the banlieus of Paris and other parts of France. This point was made by a Lebanese commentator (living in France) on this morning’s Today programme on BBC Radio 4. Another commentator, a French philosopher, saw secularism as the solution, but considered secularism to be now a distant goal. Of course, this philosopher missed the point - secularism is no answer to the spiritual ills of humankind - but he warned that this unrest is not just a French problem; he predicted that many other countries in Europe, including Britain, would see riots and burnings of the kind that are happening in France right now.

This brings to mind a paragraph from the Universal House of Justice’s Message to the World’s Religious Leaders, issued in April 2002:

With every day that passes, danger grows that the rising fires of religious prejudice will ignite a worldwide conflagration the consequences of which are unthinkable. Such a danger civil government, unaided, cannot overcome. Nor should we delude ourselves that appeals for mutual tolerance can alone hope to extinguish animosities that claim to possess Divine sanction. The crisis calls on religious leadership for a break with the past as decisive as those that opened the way for society to address equally corrosive prejudices of race, gender and nation. Whatever justification exists for exercising influence in matters of conscience lies in serving the well-being of humankind. At this greatest turning point in the history of civilization, the demands of such service could not be more clear. “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable”, Baha’u'llah urges, “unless and until its unity is firmly established.”

We may be seeing an almost literal playing out of Baha’u'llah’s description of religious fanaticism as a ‘world devouring fire’.

In the UK the government is working hard to put in place legislative measures that it believes will control the spread of extremism that claims religious justification, specifically the radically ideological expression of Islam that has been labelled ‘Islamism’. The Terrorism Bill, with its controversial proposal to allow the police to detain those suspected of terrorism or of acts preparatory to terrorism for 90 days without charge, and the proposals to take powers to require places of worship to control those who are suspected of promoting extremism or face closure, are just two examples. I think we can safely predict that, as necessary as these measures may be, they will not be sufficient in themselves to reduce the spread of religious extremism in the UK. The throes in which Islam finds itself will contribute to the continuing disintegration of the old world order - all part, no doubt, of the Greater Plan of God.

Needless to say, this will have an impact on the Baha’i community (and indeed on other faith communities) in the UK and around the world.

In its preface to a recently published document, the Baha’i world governing council, the Universal House of Justice, refers to the accelerating breakdown in social order. This breakdown…

calls out desperately for the religious spirit to be freed from the shackles that have so far prevented it from bringing to bear the healing influence of which it is capable.

Baha’is are urged by the Universal House of Justice to play their part in this healing by:

• drawing on a deep understanding of the process by which humanity’s spiritual life evolves;

• elevating discussion of religious issues above sectarian and transient considerations;
• ensuring that Baha’u'llah’s healing message is engaged by people everywhere.

It is time for humanity to enter on its collective spiritual inheritance. As Baha’u'llah says:

That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in a one universal Cause, one common Faith.

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