There is a strange irony to this moment in history, one that anyone attentive to the moral currents of our society can feel viscerally. The very social principles once seen as paths to liberation now so often become battlegrounds for power. “Equality,” “freedom,” “justice,” “inclusion”—all have become rallying cries. Yet, in the hands of rival ideologies, their original liberating energy is transmuted. Once meant to unite, they fracture us along new lines—tribal, political, cultural.
We live, as the Universal House of Justice has warned, in a world crowded with “false gods”—not golden calves or ancient idols, but secular dogmas and political “isms” that borrow the language, even the fervor, of faith. So much so, in fact, that to question the reigning orthodoxy of any given ideology is to risk excommunication—not from religion, but from whatever circle one happens to inhabit.
As Bahá’u’lláh foretold:
“Witness how the world is being afflicted with a fresh calamity every day. Its sickness is approaching the stage of utter hopelessness, inasmuch as the true Physician is debarred from administering the remedy, whilst unskilled practitioners are regarded with favour, and are accorded full freedom to act.”
—Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, XVI
Selective Ideals, Selective Blindness
It is not difficult to see how this happens.
Take the example of “equality.” In its spiritual context, the Baha’i writings frame equality—of men and women, among races, across nations—as a divine mandate, a facet of the oneness of humanity. But stripped of that spiritual foundation, equality turns sharply: it becomes something to be imposed, policed, enforced. In some political ideologies, “equality” is defined so narrowly that disagreement itself is seen as heresy. In others, it is weaponized to overturn one injustice only to entrench another.
As One Common Faith observes:
“Belief is thus a necessary and inextinguishable urge of the species… If, as the events of the twentieth century provide sad and compelling evidence, the natural expression of faith is artificially blocked, it will invent objects of worship however unworthy—or even debased—that may in some measure appease the yearning for certitude. It is an impulse that will not be denied.”
When the sacred impulse to seek wholeness is derailed, it will still find a home—often in secular causes, movements, or charismatic personalities. The energies of faith are not so easily denied; they flow, redirected, wherever an opening appears. Nationalism co-opts the longing for belonging. Marxism co-opts the desire for justice. Consumerism converts hunger for meaning into hunger for things.
Contemporary Battles: Good Ideas, Bad Tactics
Look at the current landscape—identity politics on the left, spectrum nationalism and religious revivalism on the right. Each, at root, borrows from a principle with spiritual precedent: dignity, solidarity, collective purpose. But the principle is no longer viewed as a path to union with the divine or authentic community with all. It is turned inward, made tribal.
Digital spaces, once hailed as platforms for global dialogue, now churn out memes and mantras that flatten complexity and encourage polarization. “Do better,” “check your privilege,” “take our country back”—these are the watchwords of a generation starved for meaning, eager for belonging, but, all too often, robbed of genuine invitation to oneness.
Baha’i writings are unflinching in warning how high the cost can be:
“False gods”—totalizing worldviews, channeling religious energies toward partial truths—“always fail to deliver holistic liberation or reconciliation.”
(One Common Faith)
Of course, the problem is not new. Every age finds its own golden calves. What is different now is the speed and scale with which partial truths become total demands—enforced not only by formal institutions, but by social media mobs and shifting cultural consensus.
False Unity vs. Genuine Unity
At the heart of it, the Universal House of Justice invites us to draw a clear distinction:
- False unity—uniformity enforced by power, fear, or expediency—leads to new resentments.
- Genuine unity—arising from recognition of our shared spiritual reality—embraces complexity, holds space for diversity, and is not threatened by disagreement.
Political movements, both left and right, too often settle for the former. They ask for allegiance but not transformation. They offer security at the price of growth. They take up the banner of justice but leave out humility and grace.
But unity, in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, is far more than mere conformity:
“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 one universal Cause, one common Faith.”
—Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, CXX
It is a unity not of sameness, but of purpose—a unity vast enough to honor the mosaic of the human family while binding it together in love.
A Memoirist’s Lens
My own journey has traced these patterns. I spent decades in and around a movement focused on preparing for the arrival of Jesus to establish the Kingdom of God - which, in the end, splintered and fragmented under the weight of its own inability to be inclusive. I traveled the world, lived in different countries and learned different languages, with the net outcome being a profound realization that every one of us - especially activists, teachers, technologists, and other types of leaders, are all convinced their “ism” holds the final answer—yet each, in the end, bumping up against the stubborn fact of human difference. I have felt the seductive warmth of belonging to a cause, and I have winced at the moment when even righteous indignation curdles into us-versus-them.
I know, intimately, the temptation to trade true unity for cheap solidarity, or hollow conformity.
The Invitation and the Warning
So, let us ask: What is being sacrificed on the altar of our partial truths? What actual depth, what wholeness, is possible when principles are uprooted from the spiritual soil that gave them birth? As Bahá’u’lláh instructs:
“Cleave unto that which draweth you together and uniteth you.”
Not because unity is convenient. Not because it will “win” in today’s political field. But because only unity born of spirit will outlast our slogans, endure our crises, and make real healing possible.
Series Hook: What we worship—however secular it seems—shapes what we become.
Invitation to Reflect
Where in your work, family, or community have you seen a “good” principle go awry? Have you watched a cause lose its soul to power, pragmatism, or pride? When does commitment harden into ideology?
Share your stories and observations below, or reach out privately if you prefer reflection over public comment. Next time, we’ll peer more closely into the rise of “false gods”—ideologies that hijack spiritual energy, promising paradise but delivering only further fragmentation.
Let’s keep searching—not just for ideals, but for their source.
