things that are really holding us back from flourishing. And those things are the elimination of prejudices and discriminations of all kinds, the equality of men and women and others. And in particular, the biggest and most vital and challenging issue in the United States from the Baha’i perspective is racism, anti-Black racism. Until that is challenged and dealt with society — not just in the U.S., but also in the world — we will never realize our full potential in any respect. You can’t have a just society when a significant — even a small — portion of that society is treated differently. So this is really, really critical.”

While much of American society got “woke” with the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, the Baha’i have been “woke” from the beginning as they understood the impact of race on American society. In 1938, a missive was written about race, long before Emmitt Till and Brown vs. Board of Education.

“Let the white make a supreme effort in their resolve to contribute their share to the solution of this problem, to abandon once for all their usually inherent and at times subconscious sense of superiority to correct their tendency towards revealing a patronizing attitude towards the members of the other race, to persuade them through their intimate, spontaneous and informal association with them of the genuineness of their friendship and the sincerity of their intentions, and to master their impatience of any lack of responsiveness on the part of a people who have received, for so long a period, such grievous and slow-healing wounds,” the missive said. “Let the Negroes, through a corresponding effort on their part, show by every means in their power the warmth of their response, their readiness to forget the past, and their ability to wipe out every trace of suspicion that may still linger in their hearts and minds. Let neither think that the solution of so vast a problem is a matter that exclusively concerns the other. Let neither think that such a problem can either easily or immediately be resolved. Let neither think that they can wait confidently for the solution of this problem until the initiative has been taken, and the favorable circumstances created, by agencies that stand outside the orbit of their Faith. Let neither think that anything short of genuine love, extreme patience, true humility, consummate tact, sound initiative, mature wisdom, and deliberate, persistent, and prayerful effort, can succeed in blotting out the stain which this patent evil has left on the fair name of their common country.”

The Baha’i don’t need a hierarchical structure to bring them together.

“We don’t have a clergy,” Stevens emphasized. “Most people can read. And if you can’t read, you have radio. You can hear it. Let’s just go with reading. Everyone is endowed with the capacity to read the words of God for themselves. This is where that independent investigation of truth comes. Don’t rely on someone else to tell you what is right and wrong. God gave you a heart, a mind, a soul and a spirit. Use it. And decide for yourself. And of course, we have great discussions and conversations.”

And so no matter where they are, the Baha’i come together to practice their faith.

“At the local level, our jurisdictions tend to go along with municipal lines,” Stevens said. “So here in Middleton, Fitchburg or Madison, whenever there are at least nine or more adult Baha’is, they form what’s called a local spiritual assembly. We have elections locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. In all of these elections, this is our process. No one can campaign. You can’t say, ‘Hey, I want to be on the assembly or the National Spiritual Assembly.’ Or ‘I don’t want to be on it.’ When we approach our elections, we have a list of names. Out of the names we can select from, who has the best spiritual capacity to serve the community?’ We do this by secret ballot. And the top nine are those who are elected.  So you have this body of nine people. Of course we have people who serves a function such as treasurer or secretary. They don’t hold any special position. They are just serving a function and providing a service. They aren’t held any higher than anyone else. That translates all the way up to what we refer to as the Universal House of Justice, which is seated in Haifa, Israel. That is our international governing body. And again, we elect a body locally. Then we have the regional election where we elect delegates to vote for our National Assembly members. And then they, every five years, I believe, all of the spiritual assemblies from around the world come together in Israel and they elect the members of the Universal House of Justice.”

tevens was able to visit the Universal House of Justice on a pilgrimage to Israel.

“I went on pilgrimage to the Baha’i world of sites, which happen to be in Israel because that is where, Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri, the founder of the Baha’i faith died and his shrine is there,” Stevens said. “That’s where he was imprisoned. And his son, Abdul Baha was in prison for over 40 years. He was able to leave due to the Ottoman Rebellion, the Young Turks revolt.  At that time, Acre was in Palestine. He was finally able to come to the United States in 1912. I’ve been there. And when I was on pilgrimage, I had the opportunity to meet all nine members of the Universal House of Justice. I never met more humble, more brilliant people. When I say brilliant, I’m talking about their countenance. Of course, they are knowledgeable and all of that. But the humility and the love just radiates from them. It was just unimaginable.”