History
The Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity was founded in 1999. It emerged out of two broad areas of activity. The first of these pertains to the Bahá’í community’s world wide efforts to put into practice spiritual principles brought to light by religion and knowledge and methodologies generated by science for the advancement of society. The second area, which draws upon the first, consists of the Bahá’í international community’s experience of participating in the discourses of society, especially those initiated and sustained by the United Nations and its agencies.
One of the first discourses that the Institute chose to examine was the discourse on development that has evolved over the past six decades. The Institute initiated its activities in this area with the launching of a year-long consultative effort with prominent organizations and thinkers in India. These deliberations, which focused on the present state of development thought and practice, affirmed the need for the promotion of an alternative discourse on science, religion and development. Some of the outcomes of these deliberations were incorporated in a concept paper entitled, “Science, Religion and Development: Some Initial Considerations,” which was presented at a colloquium in New Delhi in 2000. Participants in the colloquium explored the need to address both the spiritual and material dimensions of human existence in promoting social transformation and identified some areas for further research and action. A Secretariat for the promotion of a discourse on science, religion, and development in India was established, which has coordinated the expanding activities of the participating organizations over the years.
Based on the experience gained in India, the Institute decided to extend the discourse on science, religion, and development to other parts of the world. In Uganda, with the collaboration of a Task force, it organized a series of seminars in different regions of the country in which groups of academicians, government officials, and representatives from nongovernmental organizations came together and discussed the issues raised in the Institute’s seminal document within the context of Ugandan society. Participants later formed working groups to explore how the discourse can affect concrete areas of human activity such as education, economic activity and environmental resources, technology, and governance, and prepared a series of documents to be presented to the government. In the year 2006 the Institute produced a video entitled “Opening a Space: The Discourse on Science, Religion, and Development”, which documents the Ugandan experience.
In Brazil, eleven leaders of thought were invited to study and comment on the initial concept paper developed by the Institute. These comments were gathered in a book which was published and disseminated around the country and used to stimulate discussions in seminars with small groups of participants. In Malaysia, Social & Economic Development Services (SEDS) together with the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue organized two nation-wide colloquia on Science, Religion and Development in 2005 and 2006 and published the results in a book. Activities of this nature are continuing in the two countries, as well as in several others in Latin America and Asia.
The above collaborative efforts in various countries have over the past several years helped the Institute define more clearly the areas of research and action it needs to pursue in order to build capacity in individuals, groups, and institutions to contribute to the discourses of society.