Bahá'í Faith in North America

The Bahá'í Faith is a diverse and widespread religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in the 19th century in Iran. Bahá'í sources usually estimate the worldwide Bahá'í population to be above 5 million.[1] Most encyclopedias and similar sources estimate between 5 and 6 million Bahá'ís in the world in the early 21st century.[2][3] The religion is almost entirely contained in a single, organized, hierarchical community, but the Bahá'í population is spread out into almost every country and ethnicity in the world, being recognized as the second-most geographically widespread religion after Christianity.[2] See Bahá'í statistics.

United States

Modern community

In December 1999, the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States stated that out of approximately 140,000 adult (15 and over) members on the rolls, only 70,000 had known addresses.[4] The American Religious Identity Survey (ARIS) conducted in 2001, with a sample size of 50,000, estimated that there were 84,000 self-identifying adult (21 and over) Bahá'ís in the United States.[5] The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated there were some 525,000 Bahá'ís in 2005[6] however statistics in Feb 2011 show 175,000[7] excluding Alaska and Hawai'i.

Although a majority of Americans are Christians, Bahá'ís make up the second-largest religious group in South Carolina as of May 2014.[8] And based on data from 2010, Bahá'ís were the largest minority religion in 80 counties out of the 3143 counties in the country.[9] While early fictional works relating the religion occurred in Europe a number of them have appeared in the United States since the 1980s, sometimes in mass media - see Bahá'í Faith in fiction.

Canada

The Bahá'í Shrine in Montreal, being the house of May Maxwell and William Sutherland Maxwell, the only private home in Canada where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stayed.[10]

The Canada 2011 Census National Household Survey recorded 18,945 Bahá'ís.[11] The Canadian Bahá'í Community, according to its official website[12] consists of some 30,000 members across approximately 1200 communities throughout the 13 Canadian Provinces and Territories. According to the same source, the Canadian community is quite diverse: "There are French-speaking and English-speaking Bahá'ís, and more than 18% of Canadian Bahá'ís come from First Nations and Inuit backgrounds; another 30% are recent immigrants or refugees."

The Canadian community is one of the earliest western communities, at one point sharing a joint National Spiritual Assembly with the United States, and is a co-recipient of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan. The first North American woman to declare herself a Bahá'í was Mrs. Kate C. Ives, of Canadian ancestry, though not living in Canada at the time. Moojan Momen, in reviewing "The Origins of the Bahá'í Community of Canada, 1898–1948" notes that "the Magee family... are credited with bringing the Bahá'í Faith to Canada. Edith Magee became a Bahá'í in 1898 in Chicago and returned to her home in London, Ontario, where four other female members of her family became Bahá'ís. This predominance of women converts became a feature of the Canadian Bahá'í community..."[13]

Statistics Canada reports 14,730 Bahá'ís from 1991 census data and 18,020 in those of 2001.[14] However the Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated almost 46,600 Bahá'ís in 2005.[6] Some editions of the Canadian Bahá'í News are available.[15]

Mexico

The Bahá'í Faith in Mexico begins with visits of Bahá'ís before 1916.[16] In 1919 letters from the head of the religion, `Abdu'l-Bahá, were published mentioning Mexico as one of the places Bahá'ís should take the religion to.[17] Following further pioneers moving there and making contacts the first Mexican to join the religion was in 1937, followed quickly by the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of all Latin America being elected in 1938.[16][18] With continued growth the National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1961.[18][19] The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated almost 38,000 Bahá'ís in 2005.[6]

Central America

Belize

The Association of Religion Data Archives estimates there were 7,776 Bahá'ís in Belize in 2005, or 2.5% of the national population. If correct, the Association of Religion Data Archives' estimates suggest this is the highest proportion of Bahá'ís in any country.[20] Their data also states that the Bahá'í Faith is the second most common religion in Belize, followed by Hinduism (2.0%) and Judaism (1.1%).[21] However the 2010 Belize Population Census recorded 202 Bahá'ís out of a total population of 304,106,[22][23] yielding a proportion of 0.066%, not 2.5%.

Panama

Bahá'í House of Worship, Panama City, Panama

The history of the Bahá'í Faith in Panama begins with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan, published in 1919; the same year, Martha Root made a trip around South America and included Panama on the return leg of the trip up the west coast.[24] The first pioneers began to settle in Panama in 1940.[18] The first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Panama, in Panama City, was elected in 1946,[16] and the National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1961.[19] The Bahá'ís of Panama raised a Bahá'í House of Worship in 1972.[25] In 1983 and again in 1992, some commemorative stamps were produced in Panama[26][27] while the community turned its interests to the San Miguelito and Chiriquí regions of Panama with schools and a radio station.[28] The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated there were some 41,000 Bahá'ís in 2005[6] while another sources places it closer to 60,000.[29]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bahá'í International Community (2006). "Worldwide Community". Bahá'í International Community. Archived from the original on 13 June 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2006.
  2. 1 2 "Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-2002". Enyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002. Retrieved 31 May 2006.
  3. ↑ adherents.com (2002). "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents". adherents.com. Retrieved 28 August 2005.
  4. ↑ National Teaching Committee (December 12, 1999). "Issues Pertaining to Growth, Retention and Consolidation in the United State; A Report by the National Teaching Committee of the United States". National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States. Retrieved Feb 8, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Largest Religious Groups in the United States of America". Adherents.com. 2013. Retrieved Feb 8, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Most Baha'i Nations (2005)". QuickLists > Compare Nations > Religions >. The Association of Religion Data Archives. 2005. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "Quick Facts and Stats". Official website of the Baha'is of the United States. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. June 11, 2014. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  8. ↑ Wilson, Reid. "The Second-Largest Religion in Each State". The Washington Post.
  9. ↑ "Religion Census Newsletter" (PDF). RCMS2010.org. Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. March 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
  10. ↑ Montreal Bahá’í Community: Locations.
  11. ↑ "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Statistics Canada. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ Canadian Bahá’í News, Bahai.works, 2018
  16. 1 2 3 Lamb, Artemus (November 1995). The Beginnings of the Bahá'í Faith in Latin America:Some Remembrances, English Revised and Amplified Edition. West Linn, Oregon: M L VanOrman Enterprises.
  17. ↑ Abbas, `Abdu'l-Bahá (April 1919). Tablets, Instructions and Words of Explanation. Mirza Ahmad Sohrab (trans. and comments).
  18. 1 2 3 "Comunidad Bahá'í de México". National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Mexico. 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
  19. 1 2 Hassall, Graham; Universal House of Justice. "National Spiritual Assemblies statistics 1923–1999". Assorted Resource Tools. Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  20. ↑ "Most Baha'i Nations (2005)". The Association for Religion Data Archives. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "Belize: Religious Adherents (2010)". The Association for Religion Data Archives. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "2010 Census of Belize Overview". 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  23. ↑ "2010 Census of Belize Detailed Demographics of 2000 and 2010". 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  24. ↑ Yang, Jiling (January 2007). In Search of Martha Root: An American Bahá'í Feminist and Peace Advocate in the early Twentieth Century (pdf) (Thesis). Georgia State University. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  25. ↑ House of Justice, Universal; compiled by W. Marks, Geoffry (1996). Messaged from the Universal House of Justice: 1963-1986: The Third Epoch of the Formative Age. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. p. 212. ISBN 0-87743-239-2.
  26. ↑ maintained by Tooraj, Enayat. "Bahá'í Stamps". Bahá'í Philately. Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  27. ↑ maintained by Tooraj, Enayat. "Bahá'í Stamps". Bahá'í Philately. Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  28. ↑ International Community, Bahá'í (October–December 1994). "In Panama, some Guaymis blaze a new path". One Country. 1994 (October–December).
  29. ↑ "Panama". WCC > Member churches > Regions > Latin America > Panama. World Council of Churches. 2006-01-01. Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-01.

Further reading

  • Will C. Van Den Hoonaard (1996). The Origins of the Bahá'í Community of Canada: 1898 -1948. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 356. ISBN 978-0-88920-272-6.
  • Academic American Encyclopedia. Grolier Academic Reference. 1998. ISBN 0-7172-2068-0.
  • Bowker, John W., ed. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-213965-7.
  • Chernow, Barbara A.; Vallasi, George A. (1993). The Columbia Encyclopedia. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-62438-X.
  • Lynn Echevarria-Howe (published as Lynn Echevarria) (2011). Life Histories of Baha'I Women in Canada: Constructing Religious Identity in the Twentieth Century. Series 7, theology and religion, American University Studies. 316. Peter Lang Publishing Inc. ISBN 9781433114571.
  • The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition. Brill. 1960. Ref DS37.E523.
  • Hinnells, John R. (2000). The New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions (second ed.). Penguin. ISBN 0-14-051480-5.
  • Jones, Lindsay, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion (second ed.). MacMillan Reference Books. ISBN 0-02-865733-0.
  • O'Brien, Joanne; Palmer, Martin (2005). Religions of the World. Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-6258-7.
  • Oliver, Paul (2002). Teach Yourself World Faiths. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-138448-0.
  • Roof, Wade C. (1993). A Generation of Seekers: Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-066964-0.
  • Smith, Jonathan Z.; American Academy of Religion (1995). The Harpercollins Dictionary of Religion. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-067515-2.
  • Stockman, Robert (1985). Baha'i Faith in America: Origins 1892-1900. Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust of the United States. ISBN 978-0-87743-199-2.
  • Stockman, Robert. Baha'i Faith in America, The: Early Expansion, 1900-1912 Volume 2. Wilmette, Ill.: George Ronald. ISBN 978-0-87743-282-1.
  • Stockman, Robert (2012). Abdu'l-Baha in America. Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust of the United States. ISBN 978-1-931847-97-1.
  • The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book Inc. 2002. ISBN 0-7166-0103-6.
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