Bibliography 2: #BIB39314

Key	BIB39314
Reference type	Electronic Article
Title	The Crisis of Identity
Periodical title	The Bahá'í World Publication
Author	Sabet, Shahrzad
Year	2023
Epub date	January 17, 2023
Publisher	Bahá'í World Centre
Place published	Haifa
Abstract	The “crisis of identity” described by the Universal House of Justice is one of the defining features of the present moment. Questions of identity and belonging have surged to prominence in recent years, finding expression in virtually every aspect of collective life. As the forces of our decidedly global age challenge the boundaries, both literal and figurative, that define group identities, the secure sense of belonging these identities have traditionally supplied is increasingly frustrated or lost, resulting in confusion, insecurity, conflict, and ever more forceful assertions of difference. Paradoxically, even as the need for a deeply felt sense of human oneness has grown more obvious, categories of “us” and “them” have multiplied and become more salient around the globe. Confronted with humanity’s crisis of identity, some thinkers have proposed the reimagination of national identity. A newly enlightened and capaciously inclusive form of nationalism, they suggest, can provide a shared context of belonging within which various narrower identities and attachments can be reconciled.2 But solutions rooted in national identity, or in other familiar concepts such as liberal democracy, are struggling to resolve the crisis. From the perspective of the Bahá’í teachings, the solution to our crisis of identity lies in the genuine and deeply felt recognition of human oneness. Specifically, the Bahá’í writings suggest that only a collective identity3 rooted in the oneness of humankind can resolve our present crisis and fundamentally relieve the various long-standing tensions that surround it.
Language	English
Keywords	IDENTITY; CRISIS
URL	https://bahaiworld.bahai.org/library/the-crisis-of-identity/
Date accessed	20230119

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