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The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception. The religion is estimated to have 5–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís, spread throughout most of the world's countries and territories.
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The Baháʼí Faith is an independent world religion that originated in 19th century Iran, with an emphasis on the spiritual unity of mankind. Although it came from Islamic roots, its teachings on the unity of religion and its acknowledgement of Krishna as a divine Manifestation of God have created a bridge between religious traditions that is accepting of Hinduism.
The Baháʼí Faith formed in the late 19th century Middle East and soon gained converts in India, the Western world, and beyond. Traveling promoters of the religion played a significant role in spreading the religion into most countries and territories during the second half of the 20th century, mostly seeded out of North America by means of the planned migration of individuals. The Baháʼí Faith was recognized as having a widespread international membership by the 1980s, and is now recognized as the second-most geographically widespread religion after Christianity.
The Baháʼí Faith is a relatively new religion teaching the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people.
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The Baháʼí Faith in Tonga started after being set as a goal to introduce the religion in 1953, and Baháʼís arrived in 1954. With conversions and pioneers the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1958. From 1959 the Baháʼís of Tonga and their local institutions were members of a Regional Spiritual Assembly of the South Pacific. By 1963 there were five local assemblies. Less than forty years later, in 1996, the Baháʼís of Tonga established their paramount Baháʼí school in the form of the Ocean of Light International School. Around 2004 there were 29 local spiritual assemblies. The 2015 estimate of the World Religion Database ranked the Baháʼís at 3.5% of the national population, though as recently as 2006 the Tonga Broadcasting Commission maintained a policy that does not allow discussions by members of the Baháʼí Faith of its founder, Baháʼu'lláh on its radio broadcasts.
The Baháʼí Faith in Guyana was first mentioned in Baháʼí sources as early as 1916, the first Baháʼís visited as early as 1927 but the community was founded in Guyana in 1953 with the beginning of the arrival of coordinated pioneers and from Guyanese converts. The community elected the first Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assembly in 1955 and an independent National Spiritual Assembly in 1977. The Baháʼí community, while relatively small, is well known for its emphasis on unity, non-involvement in politics and its work in issues such as literacy and youth issues.
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The Baptist Association of Belize is a Baptist Christian denomination in Belize. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. The headquarters is in Belize City.
David B. Barrett was a British visiting professor at Columbia University, an Anglican priest, and research secretary for the Anglican Consultative Council.
Gina Zurlo is an American historian, sociologist and a scholar of history of mission and world Christianity. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at Boston University Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs. She co-founded the Center for the Study of Global Christianity based in Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Zurlo was named in the BBC 100 most inspiring and influential women from around the world in 2019 for her work in religious statistics and female future of religion.
References
- ↑ Barrett, David B. (1982). "A Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, AD 1900-2000". World Christian Encyclopedia (First ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-572435-6 . Retrieved 21 October 2020– via Google Books.
- ↑ Gina A. Zurlo, "'A Miracle from Nairobi'": David B. Barrett and the Quantification of World Christianity, 1957–1982," Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 2017. Link: https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/27183
- ↑ Barrett, David B.; Kurian, George T.; Johnson, Todd M. (2001). "A Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World" . World Christian Encyclopedia (Second ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507963-9 – via Internet Archive.
- 1 2 Johnson, Todd M.; Zurlo, Gina A. (2019). "World Christianity, 1900–2050". World Christian Encyclopedia (Third ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-14744-032-38 . Retrieved 1 October 2019.
- ↑ "World Christian Encyclopedia". Center for the Study of Global Christianity. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- 1 2 Hsu, Becky; Reynolds, Amy; Hackett, Conrad; Gibbon, James (2008). "Estimating the Religious Composition of All Nations: An Empirical Assessment of the World Christian Database" (PDF). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion . 47 (4): 691–692. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2008.00435.x . Retrieved 27 January 2012.
- ↑ Warburg, Margit. (2006). Citizens of the world : a history and sociology of the Bahaʹis from a globalisation perspective. Leiden: Brill. p. 218. ISBN 978-90-474-0746-1. OCLC 234309958.