>>> "The enduring legacy of the twentieth century is that it compelled the peoples of the world to begin seeing themselves as the members of a single human race, and the earth as that race’s common homeland. ..."
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>(The Universal House of Justice, in Letter to the World's Religious Leaders, April 2002.) <<
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>In terms of expressing an ideal which is laudatory and at the same time completely detached from reality, this would be hard to improve upon. I have no idea what led the author of that passage to believe the peoples of the world now consider themselves to be one. Did he or she miss the two world wars? Race riots? Ethnic cleansing? The events of the past 50 years in the Middle East? Sept. 11? Etc. etc. etc. What a preposterous statement!
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>Mike

A century ago, people saw each other as separate nations. Now, the process of integration is well underway, although the process is far from finished. Please note the word "begin" in the quotation above.

Let me paste the entire first paragraph, to put the short quotation into context:

"The enduring legacy of the twentieth century is that it compelled the peoples of the world to begin seeing themselves as the members of a single human race, and the earth as that race’s common homeland. Despite the continuing conflict and violence that darken the horizon, prejudices that once seemed inherent in the nature of the human species are everywhere giving way. Down with them come barriers that long divided the family of man into a Babel of incoherent identities of cultural, ethnic or national origin. That so fundamental a change could occur in so brief a period—virtually overnight in the perspective of historical time—suggests the magnitude of the possibilities for the future."

Please note that the Universal House of Justice is in no way denying that there still are severe problems in the world - quite on the contrary.

The main purpose of the message (available at http://www.bahai.org/article-1-1-0-1.html; ca. 6 pages) is, it seems to me, to arise the conscience of people all over the world to one particular problem: religious prejudice. Part from the second paragraph states:

"Tragically, organized religion, whose very reason for being entails service to the cause of brotherhood and peace, behaves all too frequently as one of the most formidable obstacles in the path; to cite a particular painful fact, it has long lent its credibility to fanaticism. We feel a responsibility, as the governing council of one of the world religions, to urge earnest consideration of the challenge this poses for religious leadership."

In other words, while many of the World's problems still persist (let is suffice for now with the few examples you gave!), a great majority of the people of the world, for instance, now react very sceptically to any claim that one race is superior to any other race.

Hilmar.