{"id":1174,"date":"2008-02-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/news\/australian-bahai-community-commends-apology\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:47:52","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:47:52","slug":"australian-bahai-community-commends-apology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/index.php\/australian-bahai-community-commends-apology\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Baha&apos;i Community Commends Apology"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bahai.org.au\/Portals\/0\/Wightman_and_Light.jpg\" alt=\"Australian Bahai Community Commends Apology\" \/><figcaption>Priscilla Wightman, right, with her friend Judith Light from the Lismore Baha&#8217;i community. Ms Wightman travelled from Goonellabah, northern NSW to Canberrra to watch the speech by Prime Minister the Hon Kevin Rudd. Money for her flights was donated by the Lismore Baha&#8217;i community and Lismore People for Reconciliation. Ms Wightman was taken from her parents at the age of two in 1960. Photograph courtesy of the Lismore Northern Star<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Australian Baha\u2019i Community commends the national commitment to deliver justice to indigenous people as signalled by today\u2019s apology by the Federal Parliament to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.<\/p>\n<p>The acceptance and application of the fundamental spiritual principle of justice will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to join in full partnership in the construction of a united, progressive society, said Baha\u2019i spokesperson, Natalie Mobini-Kesheh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJustice demands the recognition of human rights, and it is an unavoidable reality of Australia\u2019s past that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been denied the opportunity to fully enjoy those rights,\u201d Dr Mobini-Kesheh said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the root of all forms of injustice, discrimination and intolerance is the mistaken idea that human kind is somehow composed of subgroups that possess varying intellectual, moral and physical capacities which justify different forms of treatment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is that there is only the one human race,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are a single people, one human family, a single entity created from the same substance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Spiritual<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dr Mobini-Kesheh said it was the Baha\u2019i view that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have much to offer humanity through their spiritual perspective, understanding and view of life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur hopes for the future will be realised when the people of Australia come together in a harmonious and creative relationship based on such underlying spiritual principles as justice and the oneness of humanity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reconciliation <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Australian Baha\u2019i Community has had a long-standing commitment to reconciliation in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Since the 1950s, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have been part of the Baha\u2019i Community, participating in its development and national leadership, and as representatives at national and international events.<\/p>\n<p>Today, more than three percent of the Baha\u2019is in Australia are indigenous people. The Australian Baha\u2019i Community was one of the first faith groups represented on the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation&#8217;s Advisory Group of Faith Communities.<\/p>\n<p>To read related statements by the Australian Baha&#8217;i Community, please visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bahai.org.au\/scripts\/WebObjects.exe\/BNO.woa\/wa\/pages?page=social_action\/human_rights\/StatementsandSubmissions1.html\">Human Rights<\/a> section of this website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Australian Baha\u2019i Community commends the national commitment to deliver justice to indigenous people as signalled by today\u2019s apology by the Federal Parliament to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-releases","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - 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