, ,
'

Studies in the Babi and Baha'i Religions

V<)l.111\11,14

Edited by Peter Smith, l'h.l>.
Copyright© 2004 by Kalimat Press
All Rights Reserved

First Edition

Manufactured in the United States of Am.erica

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baha'is in the West/ edited by Peter Smith.--lst ed.
p. cm. - (Studies in the Babi and Baha'i religions ; v. 14)

ISBN 1-890688-1 l-8 (pbk.)
l. Bahai Faith--History. I. Smith, Peter, 1947 Nov. 27- II. Series.
BP320.S78 vol. 14
[BP330]
297 .9 s-dc22
297.9/3/0918 2003023195

Kalimat Press
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Copyr g'1tedma 1al
Contents
Foreword
Peter Smith
’
IX

Surveys
The Baha.~iFaith in the West A Survey
Peter Smith
Esslemont's Survey of the Baha'i World. 1919-1920
Moojan Mon1en

Episodes
’Abdu'I-Bahain Budapest
GyorgyLederer
10.2
'"'ABit of ExtraneousMatter'':
The 1910Bahai Temple Unity Convention
and the Downfall of Henry ClaytonThompson
Jackson Armstrong-[11grartl
1.22
The Plans of Unified Action
Lani Bramson
ill

Beginnings
Outpost of a WorldReligion:
The Baha'i Faith in Australia, 192()..1947
Graham Hassall
The Circle, the Brotherhood,and the EcclesiasticalBody:
The Baha'i Faith in Denmark, 1925-1987
Margit Warburg
The Baha'i Communityin E<finburgh,1946-1950
Jsn1aelValesco

Copyrighted material
Surveys

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
BAHA’is IN NEW YORK, 1900
'Abdu'l-Karlm-i Tihrani (seated, in turban) was the first Persian teacher
sent to the United States by ’Abdu'I-Baba. Front row: Unknown,
Thornton Chase, Tihrani, Lua Getsinger. Back row (1. to r.): Anton
Haddad, Unknown, Mirza Sinore Raffie (Tihrani's interpreter), Arthur
Pillsbury Dodge, and Edward Getsinger.
The Baha'i Faith in the West

by Peter Smith

THEDEVELOPMENT oftbe Baha'i Faith in the West forms an im,portant
part of the history of Baha'i expansion.l Tbjs essay attempts to pro-
vide a general account of this development, as well as to locate it
within the overall context of Baha'i bjstory. Some account of the
distribution and social composition of the present Western Baha'i
communities is also offered.
Western Baha'i history forms part of the overall history of the
Baha'i Faith, but also has its own separate patterns and themes. For
convenience, we may divide it into four general phases: the early
establishment of the Baba’i Faith in the West; its transformation into
more exclusive and organizationally structured forms; its systematic
expansion; and its entry into a period of more rapid numerical increase
and greater public visibility. Despite the considerable diversity of the
Baha'i communities involved (North America, Europe,Australia, New
Zealand, and Hawaii), this pattern has general validity for the West as
a whole.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
4 Peter Smith

The First Phase: Early Establishment, c.1894-1921
The Kheiralla Period, 1894-1900. The initial establishment of the
Baha'i Faith in the West was primarily the work of one man, Ibrahim
George Kheiralla (Khayru'llab) (1849-1929).2 Kheiralla was a Syrian
Christian who bad only recently become a Baha'i when be migrated to
the United States in 1892. Establishing himself in Chicago, he began
to organize classes on the Baba'i religion in 1894. These classes pre-
sented Kheiralla's own highly syncretic version of the Baha'i teach-

IBRAHIM GEORGE KHEIRALLA, 1899

ings. The classes were pervaded by an aura of mystery, and the name
of the new religion was not made public. Only after attending a series
of graduated lectures were students told the secret "pith'' of Kheiralla's
teachings: that God had appeared in the person ofBaha'u'llab and that
his son 'Abdu'l-Baha, was the return of Jesus Christ, and was now liv-
ing in 'A.kkain the Holy Land. Converts were required to write a con-
fession of faith to 'Abdu '1-Bahaand were told God's "greatest name"
The Baha'iFalth in the West:ASurvey 5

(a form of the Arabic word Bah a,meaning glory) as a means by which
they could enter into a special relationship with the divine.
This mixture of adventist and esoteric ideas, combined with
Kheiralla's own forceful personality, was sufficient to attract a grow-
ing number of followers, and by 1900, there were perhaps 1,500 or
more American Baba 'is. Given the extreme geographic mobility of
Americans at this time, these early Ba.ha' is were scattered across sixty
localities in twenty-five States.3 There were also a few converts in
Canada, Britain~ and France. The three largest groups were in Chicago,
New York City, and Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Baba 'i "community"
was socially and religiously diverse, but the majority were native Eng-
lish-speaking, middle-class, \vhite Protestants. Women outnumbered
men.
Kheiralla occupied a pivotal role in the network of early American
Baba'is. He was the movement's ''beloved teacher," and despite the
emergence of secondary leaders and a limited organization,
Kheiralla's overall leadership remained unchallenged. This situation
changed radically following K.heiralla's protracted pilgrimage to
'Akka in 1898-99. Accounts vary, but it seems likely that Kheiralla
was reluctant to accept 'Abdu'l-Baha's absolute authority. There were
important doctrinal differences between the two men, and Kheiralla
appears to have wished to maintain bis dominant position among the
American Baba' is.
Whatever the exact motivation involved, Kheiralla found his lead-
ership challenged by some of his fellow pilgrims after his return to the
United States in May 1899. A dispute gradually developed, and in
March 1900, Kheiralla publicly declared his doubts about 'Abdu' 1-
Baha 's authority as Baha'u'llah's successor. A distinguished Iranian
Baha'i teacher, 'Abdu'l-Karim Tih.rani, was sent by 'Abdu'l-Baha to
ensure the loyalty of the American Baha'is. An open breach ensued,
Kheiralla denouncing 'Abdu 'I-Baba in favor of his dissident, disaf-
fected half-brother, Mirza Mu_b.ammad-'Ali. Disma.yed or confused by
the bitter dispute, many adherents abandoned the movement. The re-
mainder split into two separate and mutually hostile organizations: a
Baha'i majority, loyal to' Abdu'l-Baha; and a ''Bahaist'' minority, who
followed Kheiralla and Muhammad-'Ali. Some individuals fluctuated
between the two groups.

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("')

THE KENOSHA BAHA 'i COMMUNITY
Kenosha, Wiscons~ Easter Sunday 1898
Tl1e Ba11a·1
Faith iii tJ,e West: A Survey 7

The Bahaists. After this schism, the Bahaist group fared poorly, rap-
idly declining in numbers, so that by 1906, they were reduced to a con-
gregation of forty persons in Kenosha, a small group in Chicago, and
a scattering of individuals elsewhere. 4 There were subsequent attempts
to expand the movement, but these were unsuccessful. The Kenosha
group continued activities until the early 1950s, but the Bahaists evi-
dently lacked the dynamism of the mainstream Baha'is. Despite
Kheiralla 's undoubted charm and personal attraction, it seems likely
that his denial of 'Abdu'l-Baha removed a key element from the ap-
peal of his teachings. Kheiralla had taught that 'Abdu'l-Baha "vas tl1e
return of Christ-a status which 'Abdu '1-Baha emphatically denied,-.
and it was to 'Abdu'I-Baha, "the Master," that the majority of the
American Baha'is had given their allegiance. Subsequent changes in
their theological understanding of bis "station'' did not alter that basic
allegiance.

'Abdu '/-Baha 's Leadership. The stabilization of the American Baha'i
movem.ent after the shock of Kbeiralla's defection was an impressive
achievement on the part of 'Abdu'l-Baha and those loyal to him. 5 The
American Baba'is bad been thrown into confusion by the dispute.
Their former mentor and his teachings had been discredited. Their
"Lord" lived thousands of miles away in a remote part of the Turkish
Empire. They had only a few typewritten copies of extracts from the
Baha'i writings. They had newly become members of a religion that
was rooted in the alien culture and languages of the Middle East, b·ut
they now had little to guide them as to the doctrines and practices that
they should follow. Stabilization ,vas accomplished by a variety of
means: 'Abdu'l-Baha's dispatch of a succession of four Iranian Baha'i
teachers to provide the American Baha'is with a focus and source of
orthodox Baha'i belief (1900-1905); a vast interchange of correspon-
dence between 'Abdu'l-Baha and his American followers~ the piJ-
grimage journeys to 'Akka o·f a small but influential minority of
Baha'is; the publication of a substantial body of Baha'i literature in
English (such that by 1912, at least seventy books and pamphlets had
been produced, including translations of scripture, pilgrimage a.c-
counts, and expositions of the Baha'i teachings); and the emergence of
a body of native American Baba' i teachers and leaders.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
8 Peter S1nith

As the Baha'i movement recovered from the shock of 1900, it ex-
perienced a revival in numbers as disaffected members returned and
new converts were made. Growth was much slower than it had been
during the period of Kheiralla's lea.dership,however, and by l 906, the
Baha'is were still only able to report a membershipof l,280 to the na-
tional census.6 It is not yet clear why growth was so slow after 1900.
Perhaps the more "orthodox'' version of the Baha'i teachings was less
appealing than Kheiralla's synthesis. Or perhaps the American
Baha'is' efforts at propagating their beliefs were hindered by their lack
of effective organization,or by the factionalismand petty disputes that
often dogged the movement. Certainly,the American Baha'is injtialJy
lacked a common focus apart from the distant figure of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
the Baha'i writings being subject to a variety of individualistic inter-
pretations.
The question of organizationwas in itself a source of disagreement
among the early American Baha'is. Nevertheless, limited forms of or-
ganization gradually emerged~both in the various local groups and na-
tionally. Many of the local groups began to hold regular business
meetings and to elect executive boards to manage their activities.Na-
tionally, the most significant developments were the formation in
1909, of an annual delegate assembly-the Bahai Temple Unity-
which took responsibility for the construction of a Baha'i House of
Worship (Mashriqu'I-Adhkar) near Chicago,7 and the initiation of a
regular national Baha'i periodical, the Bahai News or Star of the West
(1910). The leading role in both of these developmentswas played by
the Baha'is of Chicago, for many years the largest local group. Baha'i
publishing activity also came to be centered in Chicago.
These organizational developments may be assumed to have fos-
tered a growing sense of cohesion as a religious group both locally and
nationally.The conception of a distinctive ''Baha'i community'' grad-
ually emerged.8 Organizationalso provided a new basis for campaigns
of activity, such as that of propagating the Baha'i teachings, hitherto
largely regarded as a matter of individual initiative. Under 'A.bdu'l-
Baha's guidance, and in contrast to the secrecy of the Kheiralla period,
the propagation of the Baha'i Faith-''teachlng''-came to be a major
focus of activity.This included regular discussion groups in believers'
homes and more formal public meetings. Initially, there were also

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The Baha'i faith In the West:A St.trvey 9

many contacts with sympathetic metaphysical groups (New Thought~
Theosophy, Divine Science) and later, as the Baha'is became better
known and the basis of their appeal broadened, increasing contacts
with liberal Christian churches and with movem.ents concerned with
social issues, such as peace and the advancement of women and of
African-Americans.
In 1912, 'Abdu'l-Baha came to North America. 9 He stayed for
eight months (April-December) and visited Baha'i communities in
various parts of the United States and Canada. This visit was of in-
comparable significance to the Baba'is. Here was their Master, the liv-
ing exemplar of their religion. He enthused his followers, reiterated
over and over again the fundamentals of the Baba 'i Faith, renewed the
sense of Baha'i commt1nity, and instilled a tremendous sense of ur-
gency to spread the Baba' i teachings. He also established new links
with ''progressive" religious and social groups and attracted wide-
spread and generally sympathetic public attention.
With 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit, the number ofBaha'is increased. After
his departure, the level of enthusiasm and activity remained high.
Some systematic plans for missionary expansion were made, and a
scheme for communal funding of itinerant missionary teachers was
initiated. By 1916, the Baha'is were able to report a membership of
2,884, this figure seemingly both including and excluding large num-
bers of sympathizers and peripheral members. lo
'Abdu'l-Baha had predicted war, and the commencement of the
European war in 1914 gave the American Baha'is new impetus to their
activities. The urgent need for the Baha'i teachings was clearly
demonstrated. For many of the Baha'is, the war also assumed apoca-
lyptic importance. 11 Kheiralla had predicted. that the promised Baha'i
millennium, the ''Most Great Peace," would be established in 1917,
and this remained an apocryphal Baha'i belief. American entry into the
war (in 1917) was therefore seen as being filled with escbatological
import. It also acted as a catalyst for two major dissensions within the
community: between Baha'i pacifists and those who felt it their patri-
otic duty to support the war effort 12; and between the supporters and
opponents of the "Chicago Baha'i Reading Room_,.,
These divisions were partly healed and largely overshadowed by
the renewal of correspondence with 'Abdu'l-Baha after the war. Call-

Copyr g te<l rna 1al
JO Peter Smith

ing the Baha'is to work for communal unity, 'Abdu'l-Baba also gave
them a new vision of worldwide missionary activity. A new campaign
of teaching began within North America, and several individuals mi-
grated overseas to further their religion. There was a sense of a new
beginning, which continued even after the communal trauma occa-
sioned by 'Abdu '1-Baha's death in November 1921.

Activities Outside the United States. The early growth of the Baha'i
Faith in the West was almost entirely confined to the United States.
Moreover, much of the impetus for activity outside the United States
came from Americans, and in most instances, the initial establishment
of Baba' i groups was the work of expatriate Americans who became
Baha'is (as in Paris and London), or of American Baha'is who mi-
grated as missionary teachers of their religion (''pioneers" in modem
Baha'i parlance). Baha'i groups were thus established in England and
France (both prior to 1900), Hawaii (from 1901), Canada (from 1902),
Germany (from 1905), Japan (from 1914), and Australia (from
1920). 13 Only the Baha'i groups in Germany displayed the dynamism
of the American Baha'i groups, however. There were individual con-
verts of great ability in both England and France, but overall these new
Baha'i groups remained very small and made no significant inroads
into their host societies. This was particularly the case with the Paris
group, most of whose early members were expatriate Americans. Even
'Abdu'l-Baha's two visits to Europe (August-December 1911; De-
cember 1912-June 1913) did not lead to any expansion comparable to
that in the United States. 14 There was little organizational develop-
ment.

The Second Phase:
Organizational Transforn1ation, c. 1922-c 1934
'ABou'L-BAHA's DEATH in November 1921, and Shoghi Effendi's suc-
cession (January 1922), marked a major turning point in the history of
the Baha'i Faith. ln sociological terms, there was a change in the basis
of authority of the supreme leadership of the religion: from the per-
sonal charismatic authority of 'Abdu'l-Baha (and before him, of

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Tl1e Baha'i Faith in the West: A Survey 11

Baha'u'llah) to the institutionaljzed charisma of the office of the
Guardianship. This change in leadership was followed by two succes-
sive and overlapping organizational changes that marked the estab-
lishment of what Shoghi Effendi termed the "formative age" of the
Faith. These were the consolidation of the system of local and national
Spiritual Assemblies (c. 1922-c. 1934) and the adoption of systematic
planning as the cbjef strategy in the propagation of the religion
(1926/1937- ). This second transformation is dealt with in the next sec-
tion. As in the earlier period, the United States was the dominant
Western Saha' i community.

The Admi,1istrative Order. One of Shogru Effendi's cruef concerns
when he assumed the office of Guardian was to regularize and con-
solidate a system of locally and nationally elected Spiritual Assem-
blies as a means both ot· providing the Baha'is with institutionalized
leadership and of preparing the way for the future election of the Uni-
versal House of Justice. 15 In ApriJ 1922, be issued his ·first general let-
ter on the Baha'i "Administrative Order," calling for the urgent
establishment of Assembljes wherever this was feasible and for the
Assemblies to assume direct authority for all Baha'i activities within
the geographical areas of their jurisdictions. A second general letter, in
March 1923, amplified and extended these instructions. 16
In the West, developments on these lines proceeded rapidly. Na-
tional Spiritual Assemblies were formed in Britain and Germany in
1923, while the Executive Board of the American Baha'i Temple
Unity was transformed from an executive body implementing the de-
cisions of the Temple Unity's Convention delegates into a directive
legislative body vested with authority over the entire American Baha'i
community. The process of local Assembly formation also proceeded
apace, so that by 1928, there were forty-seven of these bodies in North
America, twelve in Europe, and nine in the ''Anglo-Pacific'~ (see Table
2, below). Apart from North America, Germany, and Britain, the only
other early Western Baha'i "community,, to be able to form its own
National Assembly was that of Australia and New Zealand. Progress
toward this goal was slow, however, and it was not achieved until
1934, a date which marks the end of the initial phase of National Spir-
itual Assembly formation (see Table 3). Elsewhere in the West, Baha'i

Copyr g te<l rna 1al
12 Peter Smith

groups were too small to follow suit,and the various European groups
(including France) did not form their National Assemblies until the
1950s or later.
The formationof the Assembliesrepresenteda major change in the
structure of the Baha'i communities.There had been organizing bod-
ies before 1922, but they had lacked directive authority.The new As-
semblies encouraged a centralization of authority and provided the
basis for an assertion of power.This was particularly the case in North
America, where the National SpiritualAssembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada rapidly assumed its new responsibilitiesand
pioneered a series of new administrativearrangements.These included
the establishmentof a national office, a full-time salaried national sec-
retary with considerable executive authority, a centralized national
fund, and appointed committees responsible for the main areas of
Baha'i activity.Everything that was "Baha'i" came within its purview.
A defmite legal basis for the administration was also established
through formal incorporation,thereby enabling the NationalAssembly
to hold property and receive bequests. At Shoghi Effendi's encourage-
ment, other national Assemblies later followed suit. A related change
was in the basis for membership in the Baha'i Faith.17 In place of the
vague inclusivity that had formerly prevailed, the National Assembly
adopted formal criteria of membership. A membership roll was pre-
pared and new Baha'is were required to record their confessions of
faith on "enrollment cards." Existing memberships were validated
through the issuing of individual "credential cards." Again, these in-
novations were later adopted by other national Assemblies.

Opposition and tension. These administrativechanges took place with
the approval and often at the express instructionof Shoghi Effendi.As
such, they constitute part of his transformation of the Faith: At the
same time, however, they initially took place within the context of an
American Baha'i community in which there were existing tensions re-
garding organization,and these tensions were naturally reflected in the
manner in which the administrativech.angesproceeded.
Central to this tension were two divergent conceptions of the
Baba' i religion and collateral divergent attitudes about the nature of
organization. The conceptual tension is partly rooted in the Baha'i
writings (and can still. be found in contemporary discourse) in the

Copyr g te<l rna 1al
The Baha'i Fajth in the West:A Survey 13

claim that the Baha'i Faith is both: l) an independent divine revela-
tion, and 2) the fulfillment of prophesies associated with religions of
the past, with which it forms a single and integral ''religion of God."
In the early American Baha'i community, these claims led to what
were essentially rival "exclusivist'' and '’inclusivist'' conceptions of
the religion. 18 Those who were "inclusivists'' saw the Baha'i teachings
as an all-embracing spiritual philosophy. It was the universal spirit of
the age that was also infused through in all progressive religious and
social movement~all of whose members, it was thought, should
work together to bring about the spiritual transformation of the world.
Being a Baha'i was a matter of sharing this attitude and did not entail
membership in a particular religious organization. By contrast, the
more exclusivist Baha'is viewed their religion as being based on the
revelations ofBaha'u'llah. Being a Baha'i entailed specific adherence
to Baha'u'llah's cause and obedience to his teachings. By itself, gen-
eral adherence to Baha'i principles was not enough.
These contrasting attitudes tended to be linked to divergent atti-
tudes towards authority, and hence towards organization. Thus, the
more inclusivist Baha'is were inclined towards an ''epistemological in-
dividualism" in which the preferred final locus of doctrinal and orga-
nizational authority was the individual. Some degree of organization
might be necessary, but it should be loosely structured and not curtail
individualism. By contrast, the exclusivists were generally inclined to-
wards an "epistemological authoritarianism" in which there were
clearly established bases of authority beyond the individual. 19 Corre-
spondingly, they favored the concepts of doctrinal orthodoxy and of
regular procedures of organization that should be followed.
There was also a linkage between these divergent attitudes and
membership in the ''cultic milieu" of the metaphysical movements. 20
Many early Baha'is were drawn from this background, and ''inclu-
sivist'' Baha'is often retained their links within it, continuing the uni-
versalistic and individualistic attitudes that were generally
characteristic of that milieu. The Baha'i ''exclusivists," by contrast,
tended to be unsympathetic towards this milieu and to Baha'i linkages
with it.
As far as can be discerned, these divergent attitudes coexisted
within the American Baha'i community from 1900 to the early 1930s.
The plurality of the community is remarkable and can be largely

Copyr g te<l rna 1al
14 Peter Smith

attributed to the unusual nature of 'Abdu'I-Baha's leadership and
appeal-a forceful claim to charismatic authority combined with a
highly permissive style of leadership; and, appeal on the basis of
Christian milJennial fulfillment combined with liberal social and reli-
gious teachings of the "new age." Common devotion to 'Abdu'l-Baha
was able to unite a highly diverse Baha'i community.2 1 The implicit
tension between these two attitudes was expressed in the opposition of
many early Baha'is towards the development of any strong form of
organization. The flexible and relatively non-directive form of organi-
zation that did develop allowed the two attitudes to continue to coex-
ist. However, when the American Baha'is were cut off from
'Abdu'l-Baha's encouraging guidance during the First World War, the
tensions became explicit and an inclusivistic "cultic" group of
Baha'is the 'ading Room-was expelled from the Baha'i community
by a well-organized group of exclusivists. 22
'Abdu'l-Baha sought to reconcile the divergent groups when com-
munications were restored, but a polarization of attitudes seems to
have occurred. The establishment of the Administrative Order com-
pleted the process of polarization. The changes were welcome to the
more exclusivist Baha'is, who gave their support to the new adminis-
trative institutions and gravitated towards membership in and leader-
ship of them. The inclusivists found themselves increasingly less
influential within the Baha'i community. Many were prepa.red to ac-
cept the changes-concentrating their efforts on ''teaching'' rather than
administration-but others became apathetic and inactive, while a
small minority came out in outright opposition. There was a gradual,
but far-reaching, transformation of the community. An ethos of what I
would term "organizational exclusivism" came to replace the univer-
salistic and individualistic attitudes that had been prevalent earlier.
The opponents of organization were able to attract a fair amount
of attention, especially in the late l 920s when the American adminis-
tration was becoming finnly established. They articulated disaffection,
but did not gain a large following. They were a diverse group: Harri-
son Gray Dyar (1866-1929), the editor of the New York-based Baha'i
magazine Reality (1922-29); Ruth White, an active Baha'i teacher; and
Ahmad Sobrab (1893-1958), 'Abdu'l-Baha's former secretary and in-
teipreter.23 Dyar and White publicly attacked the new administration

Copyr g'1ted ma 1al
The Baha'i Faith.in the West:ASurvey 15

and derided Shoghi Effendi-hence putting themselves beyond the
pale ofBaba'i orthodoxy~but they were not able to offer an attractive
and co.herent alternative to the Baha'i mainstream. Sohrab's critique
was more sophisticated, and his ''liberal" and universalistic ''New His-
tory Society,, (1929-c.1958) remained active for many years after he
had been excommunicated from the Baba 'i community as a Covenant-
breaker. 24
Outside of North America, the only Western Baha'i community to
experience outright opposition to the growing Administrative Order
was Germany, where a minority of Baha'is under Wilhelm Herrigel
formed themselves into a breakaway "Bahai World Union'' (c. 1930-
1937).25 As in North America, a basic transformation of attitude on the
part of the Baha'i community as a whole eventually occurred how-
ever. Exclusivism and a more directive system of administration came
to be the norm. A similar change was experienced in Britain and Aus-
tralia-the only other Western Baha'i communities of any size but
without any movements of opposition developing. Symbolic of the
change was the gradual abandonment of the term ''Baha'i Movement/'
widely used to describe the religion up to the 1920s, and its replace-
ment with the term "the Baha'i Faith."

The Third Phase: Systematic P1anning, 1926/1937-c.1968
BEFORETHE GENERALACCEPTANCEof the new system of directive As-
semblies, most Baha'i activities in the West occurred as a result of in-
djvidual iojtiatives and enthusiasms. The slow-moving Temple
construction project at Wilmette, near Chicago, was one of the few
sustained com.munal efforts. Individual initiative was effective in es-
tablishing a widespread network of Baha'i groups, in organizing
Baha'i meetings, and in securing the publication of a considerable
quantity of Baha'i literature (mostly in English, but also in German).
It was relatively unsystematic and uncoordinated, however, and in
so.me areas (notably France, Britain, and Australia) led to little actual
growth.
The idea of a more coordinated approach to Baha'i activities--
particularly that of "teaching the Cause"-was highly attractive to a
number of Baha'is. As early as 1915, American Baha'fs had made

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
16 Peter Smith

some moves to implement a systematic national teaching campaign.
Support for this idea was increased in 1916, by the receipt of the first
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's general letters on teaching, the Tabletsof the Divine
Plan, and again in 1919/1920, when the rest of the letters were re-
ceived and widely discussed.26 Even so, it was only in 1925-after the
transition to a more directive form of organization-that a systematic
"Plan of Unified Action" ( 1926-1928)was adopted by the American
National Assembly.27 This plan, which received the full backing of
Shoghi Effendi, aimed to increase Baha'i teaching endeavors and ad-
ministrative coordination and to raise sufficient funds to complete the
superstructure of the Wilmette Temple. The success of the Plan ap-
pears to have been considerably impeded by a general lack of confi-
dence in the NationalAssembly.It was only after the officialend of the
plan in 1928, that there was a marked improvement in contributions.
However,the more organizedapproachto teaching seems to have been
successful and an increasingnumber of new converts were gained.
Growth in numbers continued during a second plan ( 1931-1934),
but again, the financial response was disappointing,doubtless in large
part because of the Depression.The increase in numbers was a signif-
icant element in the transformation of the American Baha'i commu-
nity. The official United States census figures record a fall between
1916 (2,884 Baha'is) and 1926 (to 1,247), and then an increase by
1936 (to 2,584).28These figureshave yet to be properly evaluated,but
they indicate what was probably the general trend: a loss of numbers
during the period in which the transition from ''universalistic individ-
ualism" began, and an increase during the period when greater organ-
ization was gaining general acceptance among the Baha'is and a more
systematic approach to teaching had been adopted. (On the two Plans
of Unified Action, see Loni Bramson's article in this volume.)
As the AdministrativeOrder became an importantelement in what
the new Baha'is were taught before they entered the faith, their con-
version strengthened the more exclusivistic approach within the
Baha'i community.By the mid-1930s, some thirty to forty percent of
the American comm11nityhad become Baha'is since 1925.29The two
Plans of Unified Action had only limited success in terms of the com-
pletion of their stated goals, but they consolidateda general acceptance
of "planification'' as a normal part of Baha'i activity. Shoghi Effendi

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Baha'i Faith in the We t:ASurvey 17

built on this base to launch two American Seven Year Plans (1937-
1944; 1946-1953).30 These plans gave the Baha'is specific domestic
and international teaching goals, the f1rst plan calling for Baha'is to
settle permanently in all American states, Canadian provinces, and
Latin American republics; the second requiring further expansion of
the movement throughout the Americas, the establishment of new Na-
tional Assemblies for Canada and for the South and Central American
regions, and the launching of a systematic teaching campaign in Eu-
rope. There was also a call for staged work on the Wilmette Temple (fi-
nally completed in 1953). As a consequence, Baha'i groups were
established throughout North Americ~ even in the southern United
States where progress was difficult to accomplish (in part because of
the Baha'i teaching of racial equality in what was then a context of in-
stitutionalized white supremacy). Growth was slow but steady, so that
by 1947, there were over 5,000 Baha'is.3 1 The goal and attainment of
Baba 'i "administrative independence" for Canada in the form of the
establishment of its own Nation.al Spiritual Assembly in 1948-led to
an increase in Baha'i activities in that country. By 1961, there were
over 1,000 Baha'is in Canada. 32 Alaska and Hawaii subsequently also
became independent communities.
Systematic planning was only adopted in Europe and Australasia
in the 1940s, and before that time, the local Baha'i communitjes re-
mained very small. In Europe, tb.e rise of Nazi domination also pre-
sented a major challenge to the Baha'is. In 1937, all Baha'i activities
and institutions were banned in Ge1many by order of the Gestapo.
There was a consequent cessation of Baha'i activities throughout most
of continental Europe untiJ 1945-1946, when the German Baha'is and
others were able to resume their activities and the American Baha'is
began their European teaching campaign. The German and Austrian
Baha'is were subsequently given their own plan in 1948 (-1953).
Meanwhile, Baha'fs were establishing or reestablishing their residence
in most of Western Europe. From the 1950s onwards, a widespread
network o.f .Baha'i Assemblies was built up, each Baha'i national
community eventually establishing its own National Spiritual Assem-
bly. Some growth also initially occurred in Eastern Europe, but this
came to an end with the establishment of communist regimes in the af-
termath of the war. Baha'i teach.ing activity in these areas has only re-

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
18 .PeterSrnith

cently resumed. In contrast to the rest of Europe, the formerly lethar-
gic British Baha'i community became increasingly active from the
mid-1930s onwards (establishing its own publishing trust and summer
school in 1937) and was able to continue its activities throughout the
war. In 1944, it adopted its own six-year plan of internal expansion,
and in 1951 was given a new plan by Shoghi Effendi, which in addi-
tion to internal goals, gave the British Baha'is responsibilities for es-
tablishing the Baha'i Faith in Africa. In Australia and New Zealand,
concerted national activity was impeded by the great distances be-
tween the various local groups. A joint National Assembly was formed
in 1934, followed by the establishment of a national news bulletin
(1936) and summer school (1938). At Shoghi Effendi's encourage-
ment, a small-scale teaching plan was adopted in 1943, to be followed
by a more ambitious national plan in 1947 (-1953). Outside of North
America, growth was slow, however. By 1952, there were still fewer
than 2,000 Baha'is in Europe and Australasia combined. Germany re-
mained the largest community, with about 600 Baba 'is in 1951; Britain
and Australia (with New Zealand) ha.d about 400 each, as did all the
other European countries combined. 33
The Western Baha'i communities grew during the 1950s and
1960s with Shoghi Effendi ’s promulgation of a ten-year "Global Cru-
sade" (1953-1963), and the subsequent Nine Year Plan of the Univer-
sal House of Justice (1964-1973). Both these plans aimed to increase
the number of Baha'is in the main existing communities and to estab-
lish new Baba' i groups and institutions throughout the world. Each na-
tional Baha'i community had its own plan as a component of the
international plan. By 1963, the total number of Western Baha'is, in-
cluding children and youth, had risen to approximately 25,000 (19,000
in North America, 5,000 in Europe, and 1,000 in Australia and New
Zealand), and by I968, there were over 40,000 Baha'is (out of a world
total of 1.2 million; see Table 1). Given the small size of the Western
comm11nities in the early 1950s (c. 7,000), this increase is quite
marked, but it is not overly impressive. 34 In the absence of political
constraints, systematic planning provided a basis for sustained growth,
but not for any dramatic increase in the number of Baha'is.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
ur 1

7 7

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h m nc l ~o 1.0 .0 I 1. 1
’ I ’ .7 - ’

d I. l. ’ I "

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¼ of ord . +

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’
n

l m-

t
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l l
e l
e t
141 in
r :.~,IJl,....-but
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20 Peter Smith

Table 2: Selected Baha'i Administrative Statistics, 1928, 1945, 1968, 1987

North America Europe Anglo-Pacific The West (total)
NSAs LSAs Local- NSAs LSAs Local- NSAs LSAs Local- NSAs LSAs Local-
ltfes lties ities ities
1928 1 47 67 2 12 65 0 9 9 3 68 141
1945 1 134 907 2 6 93 l 6 24 4 146 1,024
1968 3 500 2,661 15 178 1,047 3 45 235 21 723 3,943
1987 3 2,110 8,543 20 660 2,907 3 250 591 26 3,020 12,041

Sources: Calculated from Baha'i World, Vol. 2, pp. 181-91; Baha'i World, Vol.
l 0, pp. 551-82; Universal House of Justice, The Baha'i Faith: Statistical Infor-
mation, 1844-1968 (Haifa: Baha'i World Centre, 1968); Universal House of
Justice, Department of Statistics, Statistical Summary Tablesfor Semi-Annual
Reports of July 1987 {Baha'i World Center, February 1988).
Note: For areas, see Footnote I. The figures for Europe exclude Turkey and the
Soviet Caucasian Republics.

Of note was the general pattern of this, with the initial formation
of four multi-country,regional Assemblies (one in 1953, and three in
1957), and their subsequent breakdown into their component national
units (1962). During this same perio~ three of the four original bi-na-
tional Assemblies (Ge1many-Austria,United States-Canada~Austra-
lia-New Zealand) also dissolved into their component units, and the
discontiguousAmerican states of Alaska and Hawaii formed separate
"National'' Assemblies. The process of forming National Assemblies
in Europe continued after 1968, all countries outside of the Commu-
nist East, apart from Malta and the various "micro-states" (Andorra,
Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City), having
their own National Spiritual Assemblies by 1978. More recently, the
Canary Islands and Sicily have formed separateAssemblies, as has the
depend.encyof Greenland.
Other achievements in the West included the construction of
Baha'i Houses of Worship in Australia (1957-1961) and West Ger-
many (1960-1964)-with Wilmette, the West now has three out of a
world total of seven; the establishmentof administrativeheadquarters

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Baha'i Faitl1 In the West:A Survey 21

for each national Baha'i community; the establishment of Baha'i pub-
lishing trusts for all the major European languages; a massive increase
in the range of literature available in the major European languages;
and a concerted endeavor to produce literature in the minority lan-
guages of Europe and North America.

The Fourth Phase: Mass Teaching, c. 1969 Onwards
BY THE 1960s, active Baha'i communities had been established
throughout Western Europe, North America, and the Anglo-Pacific.
Baha'i comm11nitiesremained small, however, and the Baha'is were
frustrated by their inability to discover any way of securing a rapid in-
crease in numbers. The onset of "mass teaching" and large-scale con-
versions in various parts of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and
Asia-which occurred from the 1950s onwards-only highlighted the
comparative lack of growth in the West. The change in the West came
in the late l 960s and early l 970s, with a series of large influxes of new
Baha'is.
The primary trigger for this new growth appears to have been the
Baha'i response to changes in the semi-autonomous and transnational
youth culture, which by the 1960s, had grown to incorporate or influ-
ence significant numbers of young people in nearly all Western coun-
tries. These changes in the youth culture led to a sudden and
widespread growth of social reformism and experimentation. As a
non-traditional religious movement committed to concepts of social
change, the Baha'i Faith was potentially attractive to those influenced
by the youth culture. Successful adaptatio.n of Baha'i teaching meth-
ods by some local Baha'i groups led to relatively large numbers of
youth converts. News of these successes was rapidly transmitted to
other Western Baba' i communities, which then sought to emulate
them-invariably with a measure of success. Nearly all Western
Baha'i communities gained new converts from the youth culture.
The influx of new young Baba' is had a major transfonnative ef-
fect on the existing Baha'i communities. From being an often neg-
lected minority, young Baha'is suddenly became the "spearhead'' of
growth. Possessing abundant energy and often more discretionary free
time than their elders, they were able to make a major contribution to

Copyr g led rna 1al
22 Peter Smith

Table 3. The Formationof Regional and National SpiritualAssemblies
in the West

1923 British Isles (1923-1972)
United Kingdom (1972-)
Ireland ( 1972-)
Germany and Austria (1923-1937; 1947-1959)
Germany ( 1959-)
Austria (1.959-)
1925 United States and Canada ( 1925-1948)
United States ( 1948-)
Alaska* (1957-)
Hawaii* (1964-)
Canada (I 948- )
1934 Australia and Netti Zealand ( J 934- J 957)
Australia (1957-)
New Zealand (1957-)
19S3 Italy and Switzerland (1953-1962)
Italy (1962-)
Sicily* (I 995- )
Switzerland (1962- )
1957 Benelux Countries ( l 957-1962)
Belgium (1962-)
Luxembourg (1962- )
Netherlands (1962-)
Iberian Peninsula (1957-J962)
Spain (1962-)
Canary Islands* (1984-)
Portugal (1962-)
Scandinavia and Fin/a11d(1957-1962)
Sweden (1962-)
Denmark (1962- )
Greenland* (1992-)
Norway ( 1962-)
Finland(1962-)
1958 France (1958-)
The Baha'i Faith in tl1e West:A urvey 23

1972 Iceland ( 1972- )
1977 Greece ( 1977- )
1978 Cyprus (1978-)
1991 USSR (1991-1992)
Russian Federation, Georgia and Armenia (1992-95)
Russia (1995-)
[Georgia (1995- )]
[Armenia (1995- )]
I
Ukraine, BelanlS and Moldova (1992-1996)
Belarus ( 1995- )
Moldova (1996-)
Ukraine ( 1996- )
Baltic States ( 1992- )
Czechoslovakia ( 1991-1998)
Czech Republic ( 1998- )
Slovakia ( 1998- )
Romania (1991-)
1992 Albania ( 1992- )
Bulgaria ( 1992- )
Hungary ( 1992- )
Poland (1992-)
1994 Slovenia and CroaJia(1994-)

Key: The names of National Spiritual Assemblies representing several countries
are italicized (e.g., British Isles). Those representing sub-national units are
starred (e.g. Alaska*). The dates of existence of National Assemblies are added
in parenthesis.
Sources:The Universal House of Justice, Department of Statistics, ''National and
Regional Spiritual Assemblies." Mimeographed. Baha'i World Centre, January
1989. Baha'i Worldvolumes.
Note: Dependent and other territories not here considered part of "Western"
Baha'i developments are exclude~ specifically, the Caribbean communities of
Puerto Rico {with its own N.S.A in 1972), French Guiana. Guadeloupe and
Martinique (all 1984).

Copyngtited mate’,al
24 Peter Smith

the further expansion of their religion, not just among other youth, but
among various sections of the population. This subsidiary expansion
was particularly marked in the United States, where teams of mainly
young Baha'is successfully sought to teach their religion to the hith’
erto neglected rural black population of the southern states. The results
were impressive, with over 20,000 Baha'i enrollments from these
areas being recorded during 1970 and the early months of 1971
alone.35 Conversions of other minority group members were also
made. As a result of these gains, the WesternBaha'i population tripled
in size between 1968 and 1973-from about 41,000 to about 126,500
(see Table 1). Expansion in North America was greatest in both ab-
solute and proportionalterms (74,000 or an increase of 23%). Propor-
tionally, Australia and New Zealand (2,800 or 187%) were more
successful than Europe (8,300 or 93%) (see Table 4).
This expansion was difficult to maintain. The youth culture itself
was highly volatile, and by the early to mid-l 970s it had begun to
change again. In common with various other movementsof alternative
religiosity,the Baha'is found that their influx of young converts was

Table 4: Baha'i Population Growth, 1963-1988
(percentageincrease by five-year periods)
1963-68 1968-73 1973-78 1978-83 1983-88
North America 63 239 24 24 11
Europe 82 93 15 5 18
Australia/
New Zealand 50 187 40 17 43
The West 66 206 23 21 13
Source:Calculated from Table 1.
Note: Cyprus and Hawaii are not included in these figures.

slackening off. There was also the major problem.of integrating new
Baha'is into established Baha'i communities. There were often con-
siderable cultural differences between the older Baha'is.-predomi-

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Bal1a'iFaith in the West:ASurvey 25

nantly white and middle-class, with fairly conservative styles of cul-
tural expression-and a proportion of the new Baha'is: youth who
were influenced by the anti-establishmentelements of the youth cul-
ture; and often poor, and poorly educated, rural African Americans.
There were also the logistical problems of socializinglarge numbers of
new Baha'is into Baha'i nonns and values, when the Baha'i commu-
nities themselves possessed only limited resources in terms of trained
and available personnel. These logistical problems were particularly
severe in the United States, and there as elsewhere, a proportion of the
new converts subsequently ceased to be Baha'is or drifted into inac-
tivity.
There were also intense debates within some of the national Baha'i
comm11nities,both about the wisdom of seeking large-scale conver-
sions (and hence relaxing the tra.ditionally strict entrance require-
ments) and, more implicitly,about the need to maintain the traditional
cultural values of those communities. Generally, there was a signifi-
cant shift in the cultural style of Baha'i activities-including a greater
use of music and the development of a more varied range of meet-
ings-as Baha'i communities successfully incorporated a significant
proportion of new Baba' is. There were undoubtedly considerable dif-
ferences in the rates of success in the various communities.
The combination of these external and internal factors resulted in
a dramatic downturn in the rate of Baha'i expansion from the mid-
1970s onwards (see Table 4). This was despite a large-scale influx of
Iranian Baha'is into many Western Baha'i communities following the
Islamic Revolution of 1979. For the West as a whole, the 206% in-
crease of the 1968-1973period was followed by increasesof only 23%
and 21% percent for the two following five-year periods ( 1973-1978,
1978-1983),while for the 1983-1988period, the rate fell even lower
to 13%. These figures closely follow changes in the North American
community (over 80% of the whole Western Baha'i population for
nearly all of this period). Australia and New Zealand, by contrast,
maintained a fairly high level of growth 40%, 17%, and 43% re-
spectively for the three successive five-year periods (1973-1978,
1978-1983, 1983-1988)-while European growth (already less
marked than the other two regions) fell to 15%, 5%, and 18% for the
three periods. By 1988, there were over 200,000 Western Baha'is, as

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
26 Peter Smitl1

compared to only 126,500 in 1973, but the rate of growth was appre-
ciably lower.
In conjunction with the lower rate of growth, it is likely that the
WesternBaha'i communitieswere more stable in 1988, than they were
in 1973. The experience of rapid growth forced them to learn ways of
consolidatinglarge numbers of new declarants and subsequentlyof co-
ordinating appreciably larger Baha'i communities.36The apparent
trade-off between growth and stability may not always hold, and it
may well be that the Western Baha'i communities are now more able
to cope successfully with unexpected rapid growth than they were in
the early 1970s.Certainly, they continue to seek rapid growth, and the
experience of rapid growth seems to have transfonned Western
Baha'is' understandingof what is achievable.
Apart from the growth in numbers, the period since the late 1960s
has been marked by a major change in the public visibility of Western
Baha'i communities.Outside of North America, it seems reasonableto
suppose that in the 1960s,the Baha'i Faith was largely unknown to the
general public. This is not the case now, as bas been evidenced by the
large amount of media coverage the Baha'is have attracted throughout
the West in recent years, largely as a result of the combinationof pub-
lic interest in the persecution of Baha'is in post-revolutionary Iran
(1979-) and the Western Baha'is' success in mobilizing media atten-
tion.37 The persecutions in Iran have also attracted considerable sym-
pathy from public figures and bodies in the West, as have the issuing
of the Universal House of Justice's statement, The Promise of World
Peace (1985) and growing Baha'i involvement in socio-economicde-
velopment projects.38

The Former Eastern Bloc. The communist regime in Russia and the
various communist governments which were established in Eastern
Europe after World War II pursued militantly anti-religious policies
w.hichprevented Baha'i activities from continuing or starting. The sit-
uation changed dramatically with the collapse of these regimes from
1989 onwards, and the break-up of the Soviet Union ( 1991). Whereas
previously there had been a number of isolated individual Baba'is in
several of these countries,organizedmeetings and proclamationevents
-such as tours by Westernand Third Worldmusic groups-very rap-
l'he Baha'f Faith in the We!>-t:ASw-vey

idly led to the growth of Baha'i communities in all these countries. By
1992, a total of 112 local Spiritual Assemblies had been established in
the region, and a process of National Assembly formation had begun,
with 13 new Assemblies formed by 1998 (Table 3). The countries to
have shown the most marked response were Albania and Romania, with
large numbers of new Baha.'is. Conditions in the former Yugoslavia
proved the most difficult, with National Assembly formation only being
possible in Slovenia and Croatia (in 1994, with a joint Assembly).

The Baha'is in the West as an Element
in the Overall Development of the Baha'i Faith
THEBAHA'IFAITH is a global religion and the Western Baha'is are only
one element in the worldwide population of believers. As a proportion
of the whole, the number of Western Baba'is has always been com-
paratively limited. Up to the 1950s, the Baha'i Faith remained over-
whelmingly Iranian in its social base. By the early l 950s, there may
have been approximately 200,000 Baha'is worldwide, but no more
than l 0,000 were Westerners. 39 The rest were almost all Iranians, in-
cluding a significant proportion of the Arab and Indian Baba 'i com-
munities. The number of "Third World Baba 'is'' outside th.e Islamic
heartJand was negligible. This picture changed dramatically when
large numbers of Baha'i converts began to be gained in various parts
of tbe (non-Islamic) Third World from the late-l 950s onwards .. How-
ever, even after the beginnings of large-scale expansion in the West
(late-1960s), the number of Western Baha'is remained comparatively
small. By 1968, there may have been as many as 1.2 million Baha'is
worldwide. Of these, onJy 41,000 were in the West, that is, 3.4 percent
of the world total. By 1988, world numbers bad risen to 4.5 million,
but Western numbers had only risen to 214,000, or 4.8 percent of the
total. 40 Despite small numbers, Western Bah.a'is have played a pro-
foundly significant role in the overall development of the Baha'i reli-
gion. This impact has been in terms of its expansion, the development
of its administration, and the diversification of its cultural expressions
and intellectual life.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
28 Peter Smith

Expa,1sion. The importance of the role of Western Baha'is in Baha'i
expansion dates from the first establishment of Baha'i groups in the
West in the 1890s. This period marked the decisive socio-cultural
breakthrough by which the Baha'i movement transcended the Islamic
miljeu of its birth and demonstratedthe transcultural nature of its ap-
peal. Earlier converts outside the Iranian milieu or its cultural outliers
in Central Asia and India had been few.
The conversion of Westernersbrought important new resources to
the development of the religion. Unlike their Middle Eastern co-reli-
gionists, the new Western Baha'is enjoyed religious freedom. They
were largely unconstrained by opposition or persecution. They were
also comparativelywell-educated and affluent, and more subtly, were
members of the dominant high-status culture of most of the world. Not
only were they able to undertake the task of propagating the Baha'i
Faith within their own societies, but they were able to contribute sig-
nificantly to the expansion of the religion into new geographicalareas.
The geographical.mobilityof some of the WesternBaha'is was a major
factor in the religion's further diffusion. By the 1920s, North Ameri-
can Baha'is ha.dalready attempted to establish Baha'i groups in Japan,
South Africa, and various parts of Latin America. With the later adop-
tion of systematic planning goals, these efforts were intensified. Dur-
ing the first and second American Seven Year Plans (1937-1944,
1946-1953),a network of American Baha'i "pioneers" was established
throughout much of Latin America and the Caribbean. With the
British-coordinatedAfrica project (1951-1953) and the Ten Year Cru-
sade (1953-1963), Europeans, Canadians, Australians, and New
Zealanders also began to play a significant role in the religion's inter-
national expansion, particularly in Africa and the Pacific. Western
Baha'is have continu,edto play a disproportionaterole in international
Baba'i pioneering up to the present time. Thus, during the Interna-
tional Seven-YearPlan of 1979-1986,there were some 3,694 pioneer
moves. Of these, the largest single group was made up of Baha'is of
Iranian background (over 1,900), but there were also some 1,100
Americans and Canadians, while the Anglo-Pacific and many of the
European communities were also prominent sources of pioneers.41
Apart from pioneering, Western Baha'is have also acted as itiner-
ant religious teachers-most famously, the much-traveled American

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
The Baha'i Falth in the West: A Survey 29

journalist, Martha Root (1872-1939) 42 and have visited and encour-
aged the Baha'i communities in other parts of the world. Even in the
early 1900s, Westerners were visiting the Baha'is of Egypt, the Lev-
an~ Iran, Central Asia, and India, their very presence demonstrating
the unity and universal appeal of the new religion. They also sought to
offer practical assistance in the form of appeals to the Iranian authori-
ties for religious toleran.ce, and the initiation of educational and med-
ical projects among the Iranian Baha'is. 43 Western Baha'is have also
acted as an important source of financial resources, both for interna-
tional ·aaha'i projects and in the assistance of man.y of the poorer
Baha'i communities of the Third World. The importance of this fman-
cial role has increased since the Islamic revolution in Iran cut off what
was traditionally the major source of international Baha'i funding.

Administration. The second major area in which Western Baha'is have
made a significant contribution to the development of the Baha'i Faith
as a whole has been in relationship to the Administrative Order. Baba' i
administrative institutions existed in Iran from an early date, but the
modem system of directive Assemblies and their subsidiary institu-
tions, together with the use of systematic planning, was pioneered
largely in the West under the guidance of Shoghi Effendi and in con-
sultation with such prominent Western Baha'is as Horace Holley
(1887-1960), long-time secretary of the American National Assem-
bly.44 As described above, many administrative innovations were first
made in North America and then extended to other Baha'i communi-
ties.
Some indication of this leading administrative role can be gained
from the figures for Assembly formation. In 1928, despite constituting
only a tiny minority of the total Baha'i population, Western Baha'is
had formed some sixty-seven percent of the world total of local Spiri-
tual Assemblies (68 out of 102).45 Even by 1987, they still formed over
16% (3,020 out of 19,273), while they constituted less than five per-
cent of the world Baha'i population.46

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
30 Peter Smitl1

Table 5: Level of AdministrativeFunctioning (1987)
Local SpiritualAssemblies reporting
that they regularly organize:
Nineteen Day Feasts Assembly Meetings
No. % No. % Total#
of LSAs
North America 1,469 69.6 1,368 64.8 2,110
Europe 601 91.1 570 86.4 660
Anglo-Pacific 229 91.6 212 84.8 250
The West 2,299 76.1 2,150 71.2 3,020
World totals 6,476 33.6 5,771 29.9 19,273

Source: Calculated from Department of Statistics, Summary Tables, July 1987.
Note: For areas, see Footnote 1. The figures for Europe exclude Turkey and So-
viet Azerbaijan.

Another important indicator is the high level of administrative
functioning in the Western Baba' i communities (Table 5).47 Thus, for
the West as a whole, 76% of local Assemblies reported in 1987, that
they held the regular Nineteen-Day Feast, which is the religious focus
of Baha'i community life. Some 71% also reported that the Assembly
itself held regular business meetings. Considering that the local Baba' i
communities in the West are mostly quite small, and that the Faith
itself has very few professional administrators (and no priesthood),
and thus must rely on the voluntary endeavors of its rank and file
members, these are impressively high figures. They compare with
34% of Assemblies worldwide holding Feasts and 30% holding regu-
lar meetings. These more modest figures reflect the greater difficulty
in administrative functioning that is experienced by many Third-World
Baha'i communities.
Western prominence in the development of the Administrative
Order is partly attributable to the prevailing conditions of religious
freedom, which also enabled Baha'i institutions to gain legal recogni-

Copyr g te<l r a I I
The Baha'i Faith in the West:A urvey JJ

tion. A second factor was the resourceful and educated nature of the
WesternBaha'i po.pulation,a factor that probably accounts for the high
level of administrative functioningin the West.
This second factor also enabled Western Baha'is to play a promi-
nent role in the development of the Faith's international and Third-
World leadership.Wester11 Baha'is often acted as the primary agents of
diffusion of the Baha'i administrative system, and. they were subse-
quently prominent among the membershipsof both the National Spir-
itual Assemblies and Auxiliary Boards throughout much of the Third
World.Their role has since lessened with the increasing number of in-
digenous believers in positions of leadership,but Westernersoften still
occupy leadership positions in many Baba'1 communities of the Third
World.
As regards the Baba'i Faith's international leadership, it is signif-
icant that of the thirty-six individuals who were appointed by Sboghi
Effendi as Hands of the Cause (1951-1957) or as members of the first
International Baha'i Council (1951-1961), twenty-three (sixty-four
percent) were Westerners.Of the rest, twelve were Iranian and one was
Ugandan. Similarly,of the twenty individuals elected to the second In-
ternational Baha'i Council (1961-1963) or the Universal House of
Justice (from 1963up to 1998),fifteen were Westerners(eleven Amer-
icans, two British, one Australian, one Canadian), and five were Irani-
ans (all with strong links outside of Iran). Finally, of the sixty-seven
CounselJors appointed in 1980, twenty-six {thirty-ninepercent) were
Westerners.4 8

Cultural Expressions. The third area in which Western Baba' is ha.ve
played a prominent role in the overall development of the Baba'i Faith
has been in the diversification of its cultural expressions and intellec-
tual Jife.49 Even though the early Western Baha'i groups were quite
small when they were first established,they significantlyexpanded tbe
range of ways in which the Baha'i movement found cultural expres-
sion. The Westerngroups were not occidental transplantationsof Iran-
ian or Middle Eastern Baha'i culture. The WesternBaha'is developed
their own cultural expressions of their religion, as for example, in the
forms of their meetings and organi:rntions,their use of American
Protestant religious styles (such as hymnody), and-most con-
sciously-their development of distinctively Western presentations of

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
32 Peter Smith

the Baha'i teachings.50 Although some early Western Baha'is were
given Persian names by 'Abdu'I-Baha, and there was widespread use
of some o.rientalterms, such as the salutation Allah-u-Abha, oriental
forms in general were not adopted. Baha'is retained their Westernper-
sonal names, behavioral styles, dress, and appearance. (This contrasts
markedly with the behavior of converts to some other "immigrant'' re-
ligions.)
The development of distinctively Western presentations of the
Baha'i teachings has as yet been little researched. Quite clearly, the
Western Baha'is lived in a different cultural and intellectual milieu
from their co-religionistsin the Middle East. In reflecting on their new
religion and, more specifically, in attempting to present it to their
American, British~French, and German compatriots,the early Western
Baha'is were necessarily concerned with their own cultural issues.
This is quite clearly shown by the types of questions they addressed to
'Abdu'l-Baha. For example. The early text Some Answered Questions
(1908) deals with topics such as biblical interpretation,Christian doc-
trine, evolutionism,reincarnation,spiritual healing, and industrial dis-
putes.5 1 It is also shown by the writings of early Western exponents of
Baha'i teachings, such as I. G. Kheiralla, Hippolyte Dreyfus, Charles
Mason Remey, Horace Holley, and John E. Esslemont.52 'Abdu'l-
Baha took a very active role in shaping the developmentof Baha'i be-
lief in the West, but this development can best be understood as an
interactive process between him and his followers. A similar interac-
tive process occurred d.uringthe leadershipof Shoghi Effendi, with in-
dividuals such as Holley and George Townshend making major
contributions to the development of Baha'i thinking. More recently,
the enormous expansion of Western Baha'i secondary literature re-
flects the continued contribution of Western Baha'is in this area. The
prominent role of Westerners in the recent development of Baha'i
scholarship should also be noted.
Given the general cultural dominance of the West in the modem
world, Western Baha'i ways of doing things have had a major influ-
ence on Baha'i communitiesoutside the West.The most important sin-
gle instance of this has been the emergence of English as the principal
language of international Baha'i comm,inication, but it is also ex-
pressed in the preeminenceof WesternBaha'i secondary literature and
the prominence of Western styles in areas such as form of meetings,
dress, and music.
The Baha'f Faith in the West:A urvey 33

Distribution and Social Composition
DETAIi.ED STATISTICS for the number and distribution of Western
Baha'is are not readily available, but su.chdata as we now have sug’
gest three generalizations: I) there has been a marked and persistent
disparity between expansio.nin various parts of the West, most notably
between North America and Europe; 2) within Europe, success has
varied considerably between different parts of the continent; and 3)
apart from certain exceptional areas and despite t.herecent larger num-
ber of conversions, the Baha'i population in the West remains small.
Area Contrasts. The Baha'i Faith in the West began in the United
States, but from there diffused fairly rapidly to Canada and the major
states of Europe. Despite this widespread diffusion, the Baha'i groups
in Europe, and later in Australia and New Zealand, remained minute
until after the Seco.ndWorld War.The United States remained the only
WesternBaha'i community of any size. There was then slow, but sus-
tained expansion in many countries until the 1960s and the start of the
period of mass teaching.The overallrates of increaseduring this period
varied between countries, with those for Australia, New Zealand, and
North A.m.ericagreatly exceeding that for Europe.

Table 6: Baha'i Population Densities by Area (1988)
Estimated Baha'i Baha'is per Estimated Total
population('000s) million population
(millions)
North America 179.0 658 272
Europe 24.5 68 358
Australia/
New Zealand 10.0 500 20
The West 213.5 328 650
Sources: Calculated from Departmentof Statistics, 1988 Memorandum.Popula-
tion figures taken from Population Reference Bureau, J988 WorldPopulation
Data Sheet (Washington.D.C., April 1988).
Note: These figures exclude Cyprus and Hawaii and the population figures for
Europe only include those countries in which there were organizedBaha'i com-
munities.All the then Communiststates are therefore excluded.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
34 Peter Smith

The comparative situation in the three component areas (North
America, Europe, and Australia-New Zealand) in 1988 is shown in
Table 6. What is of note here is not only that the North American
Baha' is (c. 179,000) then constituted some eighty-four percent of the
Western Baha'i population (Europeans, 11.5% with c. 24,500; Aus-
tralians and New Zealanders, 4.7% with c. 10,000), but that within
their own area, the North American Baha' is had the highest population
density, with some 658 Baha'is per million, compared with 68 per mil-
lion in non-communist Europe and 500 per million for Australia and
New Zealand. Clearly, there was (and still is) a marked contrast be-
tween the fairly high degree of penetration of their societies which the
North American, Australian, and New Zealand Baha'is .have attained,
and the low degree attained by their European co-religionists.

Country Comparisons. The degree of penetration a religious group has
achieved within a particular society is an important measure of suc-
cess. In the case of the Baha'is, population density figures on a coun-
try-by-country basis are not at present available. It is therefore useful
to introduce an alternative measure of degree of penetration, namely,
the number ofBaha 'i local Spiritual Assemblies per million population
(see Table 7). 53

Table 7: Baha'i Populationand Assembly Densities by Area (1987-1988)

Baba'is per million’ LSAs per million Baba'is per
(1988) (1987) LSA’
North America 658 7.8 85
Europeb 68 1.8 37
Australia/ 500 11.2 45
New Zealand
The West 328 4.6 71

Sources: Calculated from Department of Statistics, 1988 Memorandum; idem,
Summary Tables, July 1987; and Population Reference Bureau, 1988 World
Population Data Sheet.
Note: a. These figures exclude Cyprus and Hawaii;
b. ''Europe" excludes the Communist states.

Copyr g te<l r a
The Baha'i Faitl1 in the West:ASurvey 35

These figures again show a clear contrast between the relatively
high degree of penetration in North America (7.8 AssembJjes per nul-
lioo) and Australia/New Zealand (I 1.2), and the low degree of pene-
tration in non-commurust Europe (1.8). The .Particularly high figure
for Australia/New Zealand is accounted for by the much smaller aver-
age size of their local communities (45 Baha,is per Assembly as com.-
pared to North America's 85 per Assembly).

Table 8: Assembly Densities for North America and
the Anglo-Pacific (1987)
Local Spiritual LSAs per million Total population
Assemblies population (millions, 1988 est.)

Canada 344 J 3.2 26.l
United States
(contiguous states) 1,698
Alaska 68
Hawaii 26
U.S. total 1,792 7.3 246.1
Australia 164 9.9 16.5
New Zealand 60 18.2 3.3
Totals 2,360 8.1 292.0

Sources: Department of Statistics, Summary Tables, July 1987, and Population
Reference Burea~ 1988 World Population Data Sheet.

In terms of individual differences between countries (Tables 8 and 9).
we may note that the highest Assembly densities were in Iceland (60)
and Luxembourg (30). These were then followed by the four non-Eu-
ropean states: New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the United States
(ranging from 18.2 to 7 .3). Of the remaining European states, seven
had densities over 3.0: Cyprus, Ireland, Switzerland, Norway~ Finland,
the United Kingdom, and Sweden; five had densities between 1.8 (the
European average) and 2.5: Austria, Malta, Denmark, Portugal, and
the Netherlands; and six had densities of 1.5 or less: Spain,

Copyr g led rna 1al
36 Peter Stnith

Table 9: Assembly Densities for Europe (1987)*
Local LSAs per Total popula- Religion3
Spiritual million tion (millions,
Assemblies population 1988 est.)
Austria 19 2.5 7.6 C
Belgium 14 1.4 9.9 C
Canary Islands 11
Cyprus 5 7.1 0.7 0/M
Denmark 12 2.4 5.1 P
Finland 17 3.5 4.9 P
France 30 0.5 55.9 C
Germany
(Federal Republic) 89 1.5 61.2 PIC
Greece 4 0.4 IO.I 0
Iceland 12 60.0 0.2 P
Ireland 19 5.4 3.5 C
Italy 52 0.9 57.3 C
Luxembourg 12 30.0 0.4 C
Malta 1 2.5 0.4 C
Netherlands 27 1.8 14.7 P/C
Norway 15 3.6 4.2 P
Portugal 25 2.4 10.3 C
Spain 46
Sweden 27 3.2 8.4 P
Switzerland 31 4.7 6.6 P/C
United Kingdom 188 3.3 57.l P
Otberb 4 C
Total 660 1.8 357.5
Protestant 418 2.6 162.4
Catholic/Orthodox 242 1.2 195.1
Sources: Department of Statistics, Summary Tables, July 1987, and Population
Reference Bureau, J988 WorldPopulation Data Sheet.
Notes: a. C-Ode: C = PredominantlyRoman Catholic
0 = PredominantlyEastern Orthodox
P = PredominantlyProtestant
0/M = Orthodox majority with large Muslim minority
P/C = Protestant majority with large Catholic minority
b. Andorra, Liechtenstein,Monaco, San Marino.
’ Eastern Europe and Russia are not included.

Copyr g te<l rna
The Bal,a'JFaith 1nthe West:A urvey 37

West Germany, Belgi11m, Italy, France, and Greece. Of note is the
complete absence of any local Assemblies in then communist Eastern
Europe.
The only clear pattern that emerges from these figures is the higher
densities for the non-European states and a general tendency for those
European states that are predominantly Protestant to have higher As-
sembly densities than those that are predominantly Roman Catholic or
Eastern Orthodox (2.6 as compared with 1.2). Even here, there are im-
portant exceptions, as in the case of Catholic Ireland (5.4) and West
Germany ( 1.5) with its Protestant majority. Further research is evi-
dently needed, but no general theory to account for·these differences
as yet presents itself. There are, however, a number of factors that may
be relevant.
The most evident of these is government opposition to religious
missionary activity. Generally speaking, unless a religion is already
well established in a society, effective government opposition will pre-
vent or greatly restrict its expansion. Such certainly was the case for
the Baha'is of Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Eastern Europe until the
political liberalization of their countries.
A second factor that appears to be relevant is the Baha'i emphasis
on achieving widespread diffusion of their religion. The establishment
of even one local Assembly in a country or territory with a small pop-
ulation will produce a high Assembly de.nsity figure (e.g. Malta with
one Assembly and a density of 2.5). Generally then, those countries
with very small populations tend to have higher density figures, as in
the cases of Luxembourg (30) and Iceland (60), both of which have
populations of less than one million. There is still a great deal of vari-
ation between countries of similar popuJation size, however, as for ex-
ample, between the United Kingdom (3.3) and Italy (0.9), both with
populations of (then) 56 million, or as between Portugal (2.4) and
Greece (0.4), both with populations of IO million.
A third possible factor is the degree to which a particular culture
accepts alternative forms of religiosity. Those states in which there is
considerable religious diversity (such as those of North Am.erica and
the Anglo-Pacific) generally have higher densities than those in which
there is little diversity and in which conversion to a non-traditional re-
ligion is correspondingly a more socially deviant act. This is a difficult
relationship to establish with any degree of certainty, however; and

Copyr g led rna 1al
38 Peter Smith

there are notable exceptions such as Catholic-majority Portugal and
Ireland. Local factors are also undoubtedly of considerable impor-
tance. However, a full consideration of such factors will require more
research.

Size. The differences in Assembly densities and the differences in de-
gree of penetration they reflect are important, but they also need to be
put in the context of the overall small size of the Western Baha'i com-
munities, particularly in Europe. Even in North America, the Baha'i
population represents only some 0.066 percent oftbe total population,
and the EuropeanBaha'i population represents less than 0.007 percent
of its total population.54Considering that this is after ninety years of
Baha'i activity in the West, these are not high figures-particularly
when compared with some parts of the Third World where the histor-
ical depth of Baba'i expansion is much more recent. Thus, in 1986, of
thirty-four listed countries or territories with an adult Baha'i popula-
tion equal to or in excess of l % of the total adult population, only
one Alaska, with 1.43% was in the West, the rest being in Africa
(four), Asia (three), Latin America and the Caribbean(twelve), and the
Pacific Islands (fourteen).55

Social composition. T.herehave been few studies of the social compo-
sition of the Western Baha'is, but the overall impression is that until
comparatively recently, urban, middle-class, white Protestants were
the predominant group in most Western Baha'i communities.The fol-
lowing section provides an overview of five socio-demographicvari-
ables: (i) gender, (ii) age, (iii) class and occupation, (iv) race and
ethnicity, and (v) religious background.56

(I) GENDER

Females have generally outnumbered males. The predominanceof fe-
males is apparent in a variety of surveys, sample surveys and censuses
(Table 10). Approximately two-thirds of the American converts prior
to 1900were female,57 and a similar proportion is shown in studies of
AmericanBaba' is up to the 1950s,as also of Danish Baba' is in the late
1950s. More recent data for the 1979-1981period from Britain, New

Copyr g'1ted ma 1al
The Baha'i Faith in the West:A Survey 39

Zealand, Denmar~ and Los Angeles shows a slight predominance of
females over males (54-56%). Only one data set (Austria, 1976) shows
a female minority (44%). In the Danish case, this more equal sex ratio
is partly due to the incorporation of Iranian Baha'is into the commu-
nity, the native Danish Baba,is being 59% female.58 It is of note that
despite their smaller number, men have tended to be predominant in

Table 10: Gender Composition of Various Baha'i Populations

Year and Place Female(%) N Source
U.S., 1906 65.8 1280 U.S., 1906 Census
U.S., 1916 66.9 27238 U.S., 1916 Census
U.S., 1936 67.4 5258 U.S., 1936 Census
New York, 1953 61.1 90 Berger
Denmark, 1959 66.0 50 Warburg
Austria, 1976 44 (349) f iscber-Kowalski & Bucek
Los Angeles, 1979 53.9 1158 Smith
U.K., 1979 55.0 1498 Smith
New Zealand, 1979 55.6 356 Ross (N.Z. norm = 50.08)
Denmark, 1981 56.0 184 Warburg

Sources: United States, Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Cen-
sus, Census of Religious Bodies, 1906, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C., Government
Printing Office, 1910);·united States, Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census, Census of ReligiottS Bodies, 1916, 2 vols. (Washington, O.C., Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1919); idem, Census of Religious .Bodies, 1936. Berger,
"From Sect to Church: A Sociological Interpretation of the Bah!'i Movement."
Ph.D. dissertation (New School for Social Research, New York, 1954);Margit
Warburg, "The Circle" (this volume); Marina Fischer-Kowalski and Josef
Bucek, Structuren der socia/en Ungleichheit in fiJsterreich, Teil II: Endbericht,
Band 2 (Vienna, Bundersmi.nisterium fiir Wissenscbaft und Forschung, 1978);
Peter Smith, "A Sociological Study of the Babi and Baha'i Religions," Ph.D.
dissertation (University of Lancaster, 1982); Margaret J. Ross, "Some Aspects
of the Bahti'i Faith in New Zealand," M.A. thesis (University of Auckland,
1979).
Notes: See footnote S6.
a. Totals represent the number of males plus females rather than the total
number reported.

Copyr g led rna 1al
40 Peter Smith

Western Baha'i leadership roles. However, women have always con-
stituted an important minority of leaders. More detailed statistics are
not at present available to the author, but as of 1988, some 37% of Na-
tional SpiritualAssembly members and 42% of Auxiliary Board mem-
bers in the Americas as a whole (that is, includingLatin America) were
women. The comparable figures for Europe were 28% and 31%, and
for Australasia as a whole 26% for both.59
(n) AGE
Most of the early surveys of Baha'i membership concentratedon
adult members. Indeed. for many years there was a tendency for only
adult Baha'is to be fully incorporated into the Western communities.
The predominance of adults is indicated in the 1936-1937 American
data in Table 11, with only a little over 1% of the sample being aged
less than twenty-one.Also of note is that a majority (65%) of the sam-
ple is over the age of forty. It has been noted that the early Australian
Baha'i community was also predominantly middle-agedor elderly.60

Table 11: Age Distributionsof Various Baha'i Populations
Age North America, United Kingdom, Los Angeles,
Group 1936-37 (0/4) 1979 (%) 1979 (o/o)
0-14 0.4 2.7 2.5
1.3 19.6 18.6
15-20 0.9 16.9 16.1

21-30 12.9 29.7 23.7
33.2 43.2 45.7
31-40 20.3 13.5 22.0

41-50 22.9 19.6 13.6
42.6 30.4 22.9
51-60 19.7 10.8 9.3

Over60 22.8 6.8 12.7
N =542 N = 148 N = 118
Sources: Smith, "Sociological Study," p. 438. See footnote 56.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Baha'fFaith in the West:A Survey 41

Modem Western Baha'i communities have generally shown a very
different age structure, with a general predominance of those under the
age of 41. During the 1970s at least, there was also a significant pro-
portion under the age of 21. The two data sets given for 1979 (United
Kingdom and Los Angeles) are probably not untypical, each with al-
most 20% in the 0-20 age group and well over 40% in the 21-40 group.
In each population, there is a substantial proportion in the 41-60 age
group (30% and 23% respectively), but a relatively small percentage
over the age of 60 (7% and 13%). The method of data collection is
likely to have excluded a large number of Baha'i children from these
two samples, so the overall youthfulness of modem Baha'i popula-
tions is likely to be understated.

(Ill) CLASS AND OCCUPATION
The early American Baha'i community appears to have been gen-
erally middle class.61 Certainly, those who were prominent within it
included many business and professional men or their wives. It was
also largely urban at a time when most Americans were still living in
small towns and rural areas. There were, however, marked differences
between the various Baha'i communities. 62 Chicago may have been
predominantly middle-class. Thus, in 1899, out of 236 Chicago
Baha'is whose occupation is known (out of a total Baha'i community
of about 790), sixty-five (28%) were professionals (doctors, teachers,
engineers and lawyers, etc.), twenty (8%) of the men were in business,
fifty-five (23%) were clerks, stenographers or bookkeepers, and a
number were skilled artjsans. There were none of the very rich or the
highly educated. Nor were there any factory workers. 63 By contrast
with Chicago, the Baha'i community of Kenosha, Wisconsin, seems to
have been predominantly working-class. In 1899, out of eighty-one
Baba'is whose occupation is known (out of a total Baha'i community
of about 191), forty-three were ''employees," "laborers," or machin-
ists. There were also a small number of skilled artisans, engineers and
small businessmen. 64 Information on other local Baha'i communities
is more sketchy. New York City and some of the other East Coast com-
munities included Baha'is who were prominent businessmen and pro-
fessionals or who were members of the social elite, but there were also
clerks and skilled artisans. The Cincinnati community appears to have
resembled Chicago in its social composition; that of Racine (Wiscon-
sin) resembled Kenosha.65

Copyr g te<l rna 1al
42 Peter Sn1ith

Table 12: Occupational Composition of Various Baha'i Populations

Occupational New York Los Angeles United Kingdom New Zealand
Category 1953 1979 1979 1979
No. % No. o/o No. % No.

Professional 37 41.6 26 22.0 37 25.9 65b 18.4
Business and
Administration 8 9.0 15 12.7 12 8.4 14 4.0
Clerical 22 24.7 19 16. l 13 9.1 45 12.7
Skilled Manual 6 6.7 3 2.6 6 4.2 35 9.9
Semi-/Unskilled
Manual 3 3.4 7 5.9 5 3.5 34 9.6
Students - - 20 17.0 38 26.6 43 12.2
Housewives 10 11.2 8 7.3 24 16.8 84 23.8
Retired 1 I.I 11 10.0 7 4.9 22 6.2
Non/unemployed 2 2.2 I 0.9 I 0.7 ll 3.1

Totals 89 100.0 110 100.0 143a 100.0 353 100.0

Sources: Berger, "From Sect to Church," p. 131; Ross, "Baha'i Faith in New
Zealand" (adapted);Smith, "SociologicalStudy."See footnote 56.
Notes: Occupational categories for the Los Angeles and United Kingdom samples
derived from Gabriel Kolko, Wealth and Power in America: A11Analysis of
Social Class and Income Distribuh·on (New York:Praeger, 1962).
’ a. Excludes7 school children
b. Includes IO "artists''

The predominantly middle class status of many Western Baha'i
communities is also suggested by some more recent data on occupa-
tional distribution for populations or sample populations in several
countries (Tables 12 and 13). Of these, the sample surveys of New
York, Los Angeles, and the United Kingdom most clearly reveal a pre-
dominance of professional, business, administrative and clerical occu-
pations, together with a sizeable number of (potentially middle-class)
college students in the latter two cases. Taken together, these groups
constitute some 75% (New York), 73% (Los Angeles) and 70% (U.K.)

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Baha'i Faith in the West:A urvey 43

of the sample populations. By contrast, the combined totals for skilled,
and semi- and unskilled manual workers amounts to only about one-
tenth of each sample ( l 0%, 9%, and 8% respectively). By contrast, the
New Zealand survey reveals a much larger pro-portion of manual
workers (19.5%) and unemployed (3.1 %). Even here, students and the
middle-class occupations comprise 47% of the population. It may also
be that many in the large category of housewives (23.8% in New
Zealand) are also members of middle-class households, but this is un-
certain.

Table 13: Occupational Composition of the Baha'is of Austria (1976)
(National figures in parentheses)

Occupational Category o/o

School children and students 33.3 (22.2)
Worken 5.4 (20.0)
Clerical and civil servants 28.0 (16.7)
Self-employed 14.0 (6.7)
Housewives 16.1 (10.0)
Pensioners 3.2 (24.2)

Total 100.0 (l 00.0)

Source: Adapted from Fisher-Kowalski and Bucek, Strocturen der socio/en Un-
gleichheit in 0sterreich, p. 22, excluding the category of pre-school cbjldren
(Baha'i: 7%; national: 10%).

The Austrian data (Table 13) is less easy to interpret, the category
of ''workers" being quite vague, and the categories of school children
(non-class specific) and college students being combined. However,
the contrast between the Baha'i and national figures is clear, the
Baba 'is having an appreciably larger proportion of clerical workers
and civil servants (I .7 times as many), self-employed (x 2.1), and
housewives (x 1.6), but an appreciably smaller proportion. of "work-

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
44 Peter Smith

ers'' (x 0.27). A marked difference in age structure is also suggested,
the Baha'is having 1.5 times as large a proportion of school children
and students as the nation as a whole, but only about one-tenth of the
proportion of pensioners.
As between the various middle-classcategories,the largest in each
case is that of professionals(the less specific Austrian data is here ex-
cluded), business, administrativeand.clerical categories being signifi-
cantly less well represented. Within the category of professionals, no
one type of profession is consistently over-represented.In Berger's
New York.study, seventeen out of the thirty-seven professionals (al-
most baJf) were identified as members of the "marginal intelligentsia,"
a type which Berger implied might be particularly attracted to the
Baha'i teachings.66 This type is less well representedin the Los Ange-
les (eleven out of twenty-six) and British (five out of thirty-seven)
samples, but it is notable that ten out of the sixty-five New Zealand
professionals were specifically identified as ''artists.'' Another type
well representedis that of the medical and "caring'' professions.These
comprisednineteen out of thirty-sevenin Britain, thirteenout ofthirty-
seven in New York, and six out of twenty-six in Los Angeles.
Another indicationof the predominantlymiddle-classcomposition
of Western Baha'i communities is provided by the high educational
levels recorded in several sets of survey data. We find 28.5% and
26.6%, respectively, of participants in the British and New Zealand
surveys had either received or were receiving degree level education
(8.6 percent of the British sample at higher degree level), and a further
12.6% of the British sample had received or were in pursuit of other
higher certificates.67 An American (1968) and the New Zealand sur-
veys also recorded significantly higher educational levels among the
Baha'is than in the national popu1ations.68Of those taking or possess-
ing degrees, no particular subject bias was discernible in the British
sample.
A third indication of at least the British Baha'is' middle-class sta-
tus lies in their readership of newspapers. Of 151 individuals, forty-
one obtained copies of one or more "quality" dailies (Guardian,
Telegraph,or 1imes), while a further seventeen only obtained copies
of a Sunday quality paper or periodical (especially the American Tzme
magazine). Of those who did not obtain quality papers, ten obtained
copies of the up-market tabloids (Express and Mail), seven obtained

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Baha'i Faith In the West:ASurvey 45

copies of other popular dailies, and 76 reported reading no national
newspapers at all. No marked political bias was discernible in the
choice of papers. Sixty-nine individuals also subscribed to one or more
magazines, but no overall trend seemed evident in their choice. 69
As to class mobility, only the British sample survey contained per-
tinent data, although the high rate of non-response (36%) to the ques-
tion about parental occupation must cast doubt on its usefulness. Of
those who responded to this question, most of those employed (thirty-
one out of forty-eight) had fathers in the same occupational category
as themselves; 68.0% of the fathers were categorized as professional
or business, 3.1% as clerical, and 28.9% as manual. Despite the low
response rate, some definite upward mobility is suggested by these fig-
ures. While only eleven individuals were currently in manual occupa-
tions, at least twenty-eight had fathers who were so engaged. 70
These various data sets are indicative of what has probably been
the prevailing class composition of most (if not all) Western Baha'i
communities for most of their history. That is, while there has always
been some diversity of class membership, middle-class groups have
always been disproportionately over-represented, even when they
have not constituted an absolute majority of the membership. By con-
trast, working-class and socially elite groups have been greatly under-
represented. This is not necessarily a fixed pattern. The conversion of
members of North American minority groups-notably reservation-
living Amerindians and rural southern black Americans, both groups
which have been at the bottom of the North American class structure-
indicates that the potential appeal of the Baha.'i Faith in the West is not
limited to a single class category. The long-tenn success of the Baha'is
in appealing to such groups and successfully incorporating them fully
into their community structures has yet to be adequately assessed,
however. Given that middle-class leadership and cultural styles appear
to continue to be dominant within Western Baba' i communities, it may
well be that members of these minority groups who are more upwardly
mobile will be fully integrated, while others who are not will be
merely encapsulated as members of essentially marginal enclaves
within the community as a whole. 71 The geographical localization of
the majority of these minority group members could well encourage
such encapsulization.

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
46 Peter Smith

(IV) RACEAND ETHNICITY
In North America, the overwhelming majority of early Baha'is
were white, but some black converts were made from the J 890s on-
wards. The Baha'i teachings concerning racial equality distinguished
it from most other white-dominatedAmerican religious organizations
of the time. Black Baha'is became a significant minority of Baha'i
membership.By the 1930s, some 7% of the community was black, as
were 13% of a sample of newly declared Baha'is in 1968(Table 14).72
Since then, the proportion of black Baba'is has massively increased,
not only in the southern states where large-scaleenrollments have oc-
curred, but also in urban communitiessuch as Los Angeles (Table 14),
where 23% of the sample were black.

Table 14: Racial and National Composition
or VariousBaha'i Populations
Racial/National N America US enrollments Los Angeles UK
Category 1936-37 December 1968 1979 19798
No. % % (U.S. average) No. % No. %

American (US)
Black 40 6.7 13 (10.55) 27 22.9
White 554 92.2 87 (87.77) 40 33.9
(exd lrania.ns)
British (UK) 91 60.3
Iranian/Middle
Eastern 5 0.8 38 32.2 48 31 .8
Other 2 0.3 0 (1.68) 6 5.1 ll 7.3
Non-response - - 7 5.9 1 0.7
Total 601 100.0 (N = 160) 118 100.0 151 100.0
Sources: Hampson, "Growth and Spread," p. 347; Smith, ~’sociologicalStudy,"
p. 436. See footnote 56.
Note: a. British figures by nationalityrather than "race."

Althoughfewerin numbers,NativeAmericanshaveaJsocometo
constitutea distinctive (but localized)minority within the North Amer-

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
The Baha'i Faith in the West: ASurvey 47

ican Baha'i communities. This has particularly been the case in
Canada, where in the early 1960s, Amerindians comprised as much as
one-quarter of the Baha'i community. 73
Of white Americans, the majority of early Baba' i converts were of
northwest European origin, whether native-born or recent immigrants
(there were appreciable numbers of both). 14 By national origin, the
largest group was of British stock (33% of the 1936-1937 sample, and
38% of those sample members that had become Baha'is by 1919), fol-
lowed by Germans ( 15% and 34% respectively) and Scandinavians
(7% and 8%). Almost all were former Protestants. T.he Irish and east-
ern and southern European groups-mostly non-Protestants, and who
at that time were of much lower social status--were little represented.
Outside North America, at present we have little data. In common with
Baha'i teaching endeavors throughout the rest of the world, Western
minority groups have often been specially targeted for teaching. Thus,
in Europe alone, Baha'i literature has been produced in some seventy
separate languages and dialects, 75 and systematic attempts have been
made to gain converts among such groups as the Lapps (Same), Ro-
many, and Chinese. However, apart from refugees from Portugal's for-
mer African territories and Turkish migrants, significant numhers of
conversions do not appear to have taken place. The British Baha'i
community may be indicative here, the substantial minorities of peo-
ples of Afro-Caribbean, South Asian, or Chinese origin or descent
being almost entirely unrepresented. ln my 1979 sample survey (Table
14), there was a small ''new-commonwealth" element (most of the
7.3% "other''), but most of these were students or medical workers
from the Indian Ocean islands and Malaysia, and were likely to have
become Baha'is before their arrival in Britain. Greater success in
teaching minority peoples bas been achieved in the Anglo-Pacific, not
only in the cosmopolitan state of Hawaii, but also in New Zealand and
Australia, where there are numbers of Maori and Aboriginal Baba' is.
Of considerable importance in almost all Western Baha'i commu-
nities are numbers oflranjan Baha'is. lraniaos have constituted an ac-
tive element in some Western Baha'i communities since the early
1900s. But it is only since the troubled years which led up to the Is-
lamic Revolution in Iran ( 1979) that large numbers of Iranians have
settled in the West. In the British and Los Angeles sample surveys, Ira-
nians constituted close to one third of the populations (32% in each),

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
48 Peter Smith

and it is likely that in some communitiesthe proportion is even higher.
The effect of this influx has varied considerably.While in some com-
munities the Iranian Baha'is have become an active and well-inte-
grated element within the Baba'i population as a whole, it is evident
that this has not always occurred, and that major cultural divisions de-
veloped at least initially within some Western communities between
indigenous and Iranian Baha'is. Studies in Britain and Italy suggest
that, in those countries at least, the Iranian immigrantsbecame well in-
tegrated quite quickly in terms of administrativeinvolvement in their
host Baba’i comm\1oities.There was also a high level of intermarriage
between the Iranians and local Baha'is. 76

(v) RELIGIOUSBACKGROUND
Excluding Iranian Baha'i immigrants, the majority of Western
Baba'is are first-generationconverts. In the United States, in particu-
lar, there are families that have been Baha'i for several generations,
but these are a minority in the Baha'i population as a whole. Some in-
dication of this is provided by the data in Table 15. Excluding Middle
Easterners from the Los Angeles and British samples (i.e., reading
columns 4b and Sb), those of Baha'i background in each survey are in
the range of 4.5% to 7%.
Until fairly recently,the vast majority of Westernerswho became
Baha'is were of Protestant background. This was true throughout the
West, and in Europe was reflected in the much slower growth of the
religion in those countries that are predominantlyRoman Catholic or
Eastern Orthodox. Greater numbers of Catholic converts have been
gained in recent years, but overall, Protestants (active or nominal) still
constitute the predominant source of new Western Baba'is outside of
the former Communist states. This predominance is reflected in Table
15. Again excluding Iranians from the Los Angeles and British sam-
ples, the percentage of Protestants in the surveys ranges from 41.3%
(Los Angeles) to 65% (USA, 1968),while the percentage of Catholics
ranges from 5.2% (North America, 1936-37) to 15% (USA, 1968).
Several surveys also record an appreciable percentage of individuals
(6.0%-16.6%)who identified themselves only as having been "Chris-
tians," but whom it might be assumed were Protestants.As regards the
type of Protestants that have become Baha'is, it would appear that, at

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Baha'i Faith in tl1e West: A Survey 49

Table 15: PreviousReUgiousAffiliations
of VariousBaha'i Populations,1934-1979

1 2 3 4 5
North New York U.S.A. Los Angeles United Kingdom
America 1953 ¾ 1968 % 1979 1979
1936-7(’/4) (a) (b) Non- (a) (b)
TotaJ Iranians Total British
Religion (o/o) 0
/4 ’;. Nationals
(%)

Baha'i 4.5 5.6 7 35.6 5 35.8 5.5
Catholic 5.2 7.8 15 7.6 11.3 6.6 8.8
Protestant 56.9 54.5 65 28.9 41.3 28.5 46.1
"Christian" 16.6 - 6.8 JO 6.0 8.8
Jewish 2.5 16.7 4 9.3 13.8 2.0 3.3
OtherWestern
groups 6.5 2.2 - 2.5 3.8 4.6 6.6
Eastern
religions 0.8 l .I - 2.5 3.8 6.6 5.5
No religion 7.0 12.2 7 7.6 11.3 10.6 l 5.4
Mixed - - 3 - - - -
(N=<iOI) (N=90) (N=l60) (N=ll8) (N=80) (N=l51) (N=91)

Sources: Berger, "From Sect to Church," pp. 133-34; Hampson, "Growth and
Spread," p. 347; Smith1 "Sociological Study," p. 440. See footnote 56.

least in Britain and North America, the majority has been drawn from
the mainstream churches and denominations, rather than from the
smaller and less conventional Protestant groups. Some indication of
this is provided in Table 16, whlch shows some 33% of the sample
being drawn from the main "Anglo-Saxon'' churches, while a further
11% is drawn from the "German/Scandinavian" Lutheran churches.
The relatively Largeproportion (5%) of ultra-liberal Unitarians and
Universalists is also of note in this sample of early Baha'is.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
50 Peter Smith.

Table 16: Religious Backgrounds of a Group of Early American Baba'is
"Christian" 28
Episcopalian 16 Total "main
Methodist 16 denominations"
Congregationalist JO =64
Presbyterian 16 Total assumed
Baptist 6 Protestant
Lutheran 21 = 137
Unitarian/
Universalist 10
"Protestant" 11
Other Protestant 3
Catholic 7
Swedenborgian l Total
Christian Science 3 "metaphysical"
New Thought l =6
Theosophy l
Mormon l
Jewish 2
Muslim 2
Baha'i 27
None 10
Insufficient data 5

Source: Peter Smith, ~'The AmericanBaha'i Community.1894-1917: A Prelimi-
nary Survey" in Moojan Momen, ed., Studies in Babi and Baha'i History,
Vol. 1 (Los Angeles, KalimatPress, 1982) p. 120. Calculated from a sampleof
1936 "Baha'i Historical Record Cards.'' See footnote56.

The survey data includes an appreciable number of marginal- and
non-Christians. In Table 15, these comprise Jews (2.5% to 4% in the
country surveys excluding Iranians, 13.8% and 16.7% in the Los An-
geles and New York City samples); Eastern religions (mostly Buddhist
or Indian, 0% to 5.5%); unorthodox Western religious groups such as
the Latter-Day Saints (Monnons) and Christian Scientists (2.25 to

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
The Baha'f Faith i11the West:A urvey 51

6.5%); and individuals without a former religion (7% to 15.4%). The
Largeproportion of the non-religious and, in certain localities, Jews is
noteworthy. Of those drawn from the unorthodox Western. groups, the
majority in the earlier American samples (North America, 1936-1937;
New York, 1953) were former members of the various ''metaphysical"
groups such as Christian Science, New Thought, and Spiritualism. The
large number of early converts drawn from this background bas also
been noted in more qualitative research accounts. 77 Jn the more recent
surveys, there is a greater range of unorthodox backgrounds, severaJ
former Latter-Day Saints being included.
It is not yet possible to generalize about the former theological ori-
entations of Western Baha'is. Certainly, many of the early American
Baha 'is were religious liberaJs, as may be evidenced by the apprecia-
ble number of Unitarian-UniversaJists and metaphysical group mem-
bers among the early converts. Again, few if any extremely
conservative or fundamentalist Christians appear to have been con-
verted during the period covered by this survey. A range of attitudes is
evident among both the early Western Baha'is and their modem-day
successors, however. Liberal, conservative, and fundamentalist orien-
tations are discernible, and it is likely that these distinctive attitudes
are at least partly traceable to the pre-Baha'i worldviews of the adher-
I
ents. This is a topic that requires further research. The level of previ-
I
I ous religious activity and involvement is another factor of interest.
Again, generalization is not yet possible, beyond noting a considerable
I
range: from those who formerly had little religious involvement to
those who had been highly active religiously, whether as orthodox
Christians or as religious seekers.

Conclusion
FURTHER STUDY of the various Western Baha'i communities is evi-
dently necessary. As yet, we have comparatively little material on
which to base any detailed account of the development of the Baha'i
Faith in the West or to describe its present character. Of course, this is
not an isolated lacunae: Baha'i Studies as a whole has tended so
far-to focus on the history and texts of the earlier "heroic age" of

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
52 Peter Smith

Baha'i development, and to neglect both more recent developments
and more sociologicalperspectives.I would hope that the present sum-
mary has the value of alerting readers to some of the research ques-
tions that need to be addressed, and of encouraging other researchers
to take up the work of examining them. Certainly,despite the compar-
atively small number of Baha'is in the West, Western Baba'is and
Western Baha'i communitieshave played a major role in the develop-
ment of the Baha'i Faith. As such, they constitute an important topic
of enquiry.Again, in terms of the history and sociology of religions in
the West, the Baha'i Faith is surely of interest, constituting as it does
an example of a non-Christian religious movement which has suc-
ceeded in becoming part of Westernreligiosity, having sustained itself
in the West for over a centu.ry,and having now established itself in
every part of the Western world.

NOTES

The author gratefully acknowledgesthe assistanceof the Departmentof Statistics
at the Baba'i World Center for its provision of various data used in this paper. My
particular thanks are also due to Dr. Moojan Momen and Dr. Ahang Rabbani for
their assistance. This paper was prepared in 1997 and it bas not been possible to
update it.

1. Peter Smith, The Babi and Baha'i Religions: From Messianic Shi'ism to a
World Religion (Cambridge University Press, 1987) pp. 162-71. The term
"West" refers collectively to North America, Europe, and the Anglo-Pacific.
North America refers to the continental United States and Canada, i.e., in-
cluding Alaska, but excluding Hawaii. Puerto Rico and other U.S. Caribbean
territoriesare not included.Europe here refers to tbe countries of Westernand
Eastern Europe, together with the European part of Russia. It also includes
Cyprus. The former Soviet Caucasian republics and Turkey are excluded, de-
spite this latter country being included as part of Europe in recent Baba'i sta-
tistical digests. European external dependencies {e.g., French overseas
departmentsin the Caribbean)are also excluded,with the exceptionof Green-
land. The Anglo-Pacific refers to Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. The
boundariesof the first two areas are delineated in Smith, TheBabi and Baha'i
Religions, Map 2. Baha'i usage has varied over time, and in some of the fig-
ures cited here, the relatively small Baha'i communityof Hawaii is included
with North America. In several instances, because of conflicting area defini-
tions, both Hawaii and Cyprus (also a very small Baha'i community)are ex-
cluded altogether from statistical tables in the present article.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
The Baha'f Faith in the West: A Survey 53

2. On Kheiralla and the early establishment of the Baha'i religion in North
America, see Richard Hollinger, ..Ibrahim George Kheiralla and the Baha'i
Faith in America" in Juan R. Cole and Moojan Momen, eds., From Iran East
and West. Studies in Babf and Baha ·; History, Vol. 2 {Los Angeles: Kalimat
Press, 1984) pp. 95-133; and Robert H. Stockman, The Baha 'l Faith in Amer-
ica, Vol. l: Origins, I 892-1900 (Wilmette, Ill.: Baba 'f Publishing Trust,
1985).
3. Stockman, Baha'i Faith in An1erica, p. 163. These included a Baha'i group in
Washington, D.C. On numbers, see also Richard Hollinger, "The Baha'i Faith
in America, 1894-1900," paper presented at the Second Los Angeles Baha'i
History Conference, August-September 1984; and Peter Smith, "The Ameri-
can Baha'i Community, 1894-1917: A Preliminary Survey'' in Moojan
Momen, ed., Studies in Babi and Baha'i History, Vol. 1 (Los Angeles:
Kalimat Press, 1982) pp. 203-204.
4. On the Behaists, see Richard Hollinger, ''The Behaists of America," unpub-
lished paper.
5. For a general account of this period, see Smith, "American Baha'i Commu-
nity," pp. 85-223, and Robert Stockman, The Bah.ti'i Faith in America, Vol. 2:
Early Expansion, 1900-1912 (Oxford: George Ronald, 1995). See also Smith,
Babi and Baha'i Religio11s,pp. 100-114.
6. United States, Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census,
Census of Religious Bodies, 1906, Vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, l 910) pp. 41-42.
7. On the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar project, see Bruce Whitmore, The Dawning Place:
The Building of a Temple, The Forging of a North American Bah<i'i Commu-
nity (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1984).
8. Sociologists and Baha'is have developed varying definitions for the basic so-
ciological terms ..community" and "group." For modem Baba'is, "commu-
nity" refers to any centrally administered collectivity of BabA’is (e.g., the
local Baha'i community of Los Angeles, the nationaJ Baha'i community of
Canada, the world Baha'i community). "Baha'i International Community"
refers to the collective representation of the Baha'i Faith at the United Nations
and its related bodies. "Group" is used by modem Baha'is to refer to a local
body of Baha'is that has not yet formed a local Spiritual Assembly. By con-
trast, sociologists generally use the term "community" to refer to a relatively
large group of people \Vho live and work together, and whose basic needs are
largely satisfied within the group, e.g., a local village community. The term
"group" is used to refer to any number of people who interact together and
have some sense of shared identity, e.g., a family, a formal organization (such
as the Baha'i Faith), or a community. The present work employs the modem
Baba'( usage of "community." Most Baha'i "communjties" are not in fact
communities in a sociological sense, but the term is both ubiquitous in Baha'i
literature and is of use as a general referent. However, the Baha'i usage of the
term "group" is overly technical in tbe present context, and the more general
sociological usage is retained.
9. The most detailed account of' Abdu' I-Baba 's visit to North America is Mirza
Mahmud Zarqani, Kitab-i Badayi 'u 'I-Athar, 2 vols. (Hofheim-Langenhain:

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
54 Peter Smltll

Baha'i-Verlag, reprinted from the original 1928 edition). An English transla-
tion of this work has recently become available: Mahmuds Diary. Trans. by
Mohi Sobhani and Shirley Macias (Oxford: George Ronald, 1998). See also
H. M Balyuzi, 'Abdu'l-Baha: The Centre of the Covenant of Baha'u'l/ah
(London: George Ronald, 1971) pp. 171-339, which draws extensively on
Zarqanf; Alan Lucius Ward, "An Historical Study of the North American
Speaking Tour of' Abdu' I-Baba and a Rhetorical Analysis of His Addresses,"
Ph.D. dissertation (Ohio University, 1960); and idem, 239 Days: 'Abdu'J-
Baha ~-Journey in America (Wilmette, lli.: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1979).
l 0. United States, Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of
Religious Bodies, 1916, (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office
1919) Vol. 2, pp. 43-45. There is a reference to 5,000 Baha'is in 1913, im-
mediately following' Abdu'l-Baha's visit (Star of the West, Vol. 4, p. 139). If
valid, we may assume that this figure included sympathizers. Hollinger notes
the vague terms of membership of many local Baha'i groups at this time
(Richard Hollinger, ed., Community Histories: Studies in the Babi and
Baha'i Religions, Vol. 6 (Los Angeles: Kali.mat Press, 1992) pp. xi-xiii.
11. Smith, uAmerican Baha'i Community," pp. 155-61. See also Peter Smith,
"Millenarianism in the Babi and Baba 'i Religions" in Roy Wallis, ed., Mil-
lennialism and Charisma (Belfast: Queen's University, 1982) pp. 231-83.
12. Richard HolJinger, "Baba' is and American Peace Movements" in Anthony A.
Lee, ed., Circle of Peace: Reflections on the Baha '{ Teachings(Los Angeles:
Kalimat Press, 1985) pp. 3-19.
13. There has been Uttle systematic study of Westem Baha'i history outside of
the United States. On Australia, see Graham Hassa.ll, ~'The Baha'i Faith in
Australia, 1920-I 963," paper presented at the Second Los Angeles Baha'i
History Conference, August-September 1984, and "Outpost of a World Reli-
gion: The Baha'i Faith in Australia, 1920-1947'' (in this volume). On Britain,
see Philip Smith, "From a Movement to a Religion: An Examination of the
Development of the Baha'i Faith in Britain from 1900 to 1950," M. Phjl. the-
sis (University of Birmingham, 1987); idem., "The development and influ-
ence of the Baha'i Administrative Order in Great Britain, 1914-50" in
Hollinger, Community Histories, pp. 153-215; idem., "What was a Baha'i?
Concerns of British Baha'is, 1900-1920" in Moojan Momen, ed., Studies in
Honor of the late Hasan M. Balyuzi: Studies in the Ba.bi and Baha'i Reli-
gions, Vol. 5 (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1988}pp. 219-51. On Canada, see
Will van den Hoonaard, "The development and decline of an early Baha'i
community: Saint John, New Brunswick., Canada, 1910-1925" in Hollinger,
Com,nunityHistories, pp. 217-39; The Origins of the Baha '[ Community of
Canada, 1898-1948 (Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press,
1996). On Denmark, see Margit Warburg, "From Circle to Community: The
Baha'i Religion in Denmark, 1925-2002" (in this volume). On Germany, see
Rai.ner Flasche, "Oje Religion der Einheit und Selbstverwirklichung der
Menscbichte und Mission der Baha'i in Oeutschland," Zeitschriflfiir Mis-
sionwissenschaft und Religion, Vol. 16, no. 3 (1977) pp. 188-213. On
Hawaii, see Agnes B. Alexander, Forty Yearsof the Baha 'f Cause in Hawaii,
1902-1942 (Honolulu: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
The BaJ,a'i Fa1ti1in the West: A urvey 55

Hawaiian Islands, 1974). On New Zealand, see Margaret J. Ross, "Some
Aspects of the Baha'i Faith in New Zealand," M.A. thesis (University of
Auckland, 1979).
14. On 'Abdu'l-Baha's visits to Europe, see Balyuzi, 'Abdu'I-Baha, pp. 250-68,
454-96. On his visit to Britain, see Lady [S. L.] Blomfield, The Chosen High-
lvay (Wilmette, TU.:Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1967); Eric Hammond, Abdul
Baha in Londo,, (East Sheen, Surrey: Unity Press, for the Bahai Publishing
Society, 1912; Rev. edition. London: Baha'i Publisbjng Trust, 1982); and
Anjam Khursheed, The Seven Candles of Unity: The Story of 'Abdu 'I-Boho
in Edinb11rgh{London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1991).
15. On the early development of the Administrative Order, see Sboghi Effendi,
God Passes By (Wilmette, 111.:Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1944) pp. 323-53.
See also Smith, Babi and Baha'i Religions. pp. 120-22.
16. Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration, 5th edition (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i
Publishing Trust, 1945) pp. 17-25, 34-43.
17. Smith, Babi and Baha'i Religions, pp. 145-46.
l 8. Ibid., pp. 112-13, 181.
19. On these contrasting epistemologies, see Roy WalJjs, "Ideology, Authority
and the Development of Cultic Movements," Social Re.search, Vol. 412
(1974) pp. 299-327.
20. Smith. "American Baha'i Community," pp. 121, 161-70.
21. Ibid., pp. 103-105, 195.
22. Ibid., pp. 189-94.
23. On Dyar, see Peter Smith, "Reality Magazine: Editorship and Ownership of
an American Baha'i Periodical" in J. R. Cole and M. Momen, eds., From
Iran East and West, Stttdie.s in Babi and Baha 'f History, Vol. 2 (Los Angeles:
Kalimat Press, 1984) pp. 135-55. On White and Sobrab, see Vernon Elvin
Johnson, "An Historical Analysis of Critical Transformations in the Evolu-
tion of the Baha'i World Faith," Ph.D. dissertation (Baylor University, Tex.as,
1974) pp. 306-21. On White, see Loni Bramson-Lerche, '-'-Someaspects of
the establishment of the GuarcUanship" in Momen, Studies in Honor of the
Late Hasan M. Balyuzi, pp. 253-93.
24. For his own accounts, see Ahmad Sohrab, Broken Silence: The Story of
Today's Struggle for Religious Freedom (New York: Universal Publishing
Co., for the New History Society, 1942), and nie Story of the Divine Plan,
Taking Place During and Immediately Follol-ving World War I (New York::
New Hjstory Foundation, 1947). For a brief account written on behalf of
Shogbi Effendi, see Shoghi Effendi, The Light ofDivine Guidance: The Mes-
sages from the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith to the Baha 'is of Germany and
Austria (Hotbeim-Langeohain: Baha'i-Verlag, 1982) pp. 135-36.
25. Bramson-Lerche, "Some aspects of the establishment," p. 280.
26. 'Abdu'I-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan, Rev. edition (Wilmette, fll: Baha'i
Publishing Trust, l 993).
27. See Loni Bramson-Lercbe, "The Plans of Unified Action: A Survey" (this
volume).
28. United States, Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Censtts of
Religious Bodies, /916, Vol. 2, pp. 43-45; idem, Census of Religious Bodies,

Copyr g'1tedma 1al
56 Peter Smith

1926, Vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1929-1930)
pp. 70-76; idem, Census of Religious Bodies, 1936, Vol. 2 (Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1939-1941)pp. 76-82.
29. Personal communicationfrom Richard Rollinger.
30. The whole topic of planned Baha'i expansion is discussed in Arthur Hamp-
son, ..The Growth and Spread of the Baha'i Faith," Ph.D. dissertation (Uni-
versity of Hawaii, 1980).
31. Baha 'I News, No. 193, p. 8.
32. David Millett) "A Typology of Religious Organizations Suggested by the
Canadian Census," Sociological Analysis, Vol. 30 (1969) p. 109.
33. National SpiritualAssembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles, World.Devel-
opment of the Faith (London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1952)p. 29; and Has-
sall, "Baha'i Faith in Australia," p. 12.
34. Different methods of compiling population data may have exaggerated the
extent of the increase between the early 1950sand 1963estimates.The 1950s
figures are here assumed to exclude children.
35. Christian Century, Vol. 88, p. 616.
36. Of particular importance here was the opening of a Baba'i radio station in
Hemingway,South Carolina (1984), in the area of the greatest concentration
of new Baha'is in the United States. See UniversalHouse of Justice, Depart-
ment of Statistics (comp.), The Seven Year Plan, 1979-1986: Statistical Re-
port, Ridvan 1986 (Haifa: Baha'i World Centre, 143 B.E./1986) pp. 114-15.
37. Ibid., pp. 124-28.
38. Ibid., pp. 131-37.On development, see pp. 108-15.Universal House of Jus-
tice, The Promise of World Peace (Haifa: Baha'i WorldCentre, 1985).
39. Peter Smith and Moojan Momen, "The Baha'i Faith, 1957-1988:A Survey
of ContemporaryDevelopments,"Religion, Vol. 19 (1989) pp. 63-91.
40. Calculated from Universal House of Justice, Department of Statistics, Mem-
orandum, dated 15 May 1988. In author's possession.
41. Universal House of Justice, Department of Statistics, Seven Year Plan, Rid-
van 1986, p. 56.
42. On Root, see The Baha'i World, Vol. 8, pp. 643-48; M. R. Garis, Martha
Root: Lioness at the Threshold (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust,
1983);Barron Deems Harper, Lights of Fortitude: Glimpses into the lives of
the Hands of the Cause of God (Oxford: George Ronald, 1997) pp. 112-22.
43. See, in particular, R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram,"American Baha'i Women
and the Education of Girls in Tehran, 1909-1934"in Peter Smith~ed., In Iran,
Studies in Bab£ and Baha'i History, Vol 3. (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press,
1986) pp. 181-210.
44. On Holley, see Baha'i World, Vol. 13, pp. 849-58; Harper, Lights of Forti-
tude, 253-64.
45. Calculated from The Baha'i World, Vol. 2, pp. 181-91. See also Smith, Babi
and Baha'i Religions, pp. 166-67.
46. Calculated from Universal House of Justice, Department of Statistics, Statis-
tical Summary Tables for Semi-Annual Reports of July 1987 (Haifa: Baha'i
WorldCentre, February 1988) and idem, Memorandum,dated 15 May 1988.
The Baha'i Faith in the West: A Survey

47. On administrative functioning in general, see Universal House of Justice,
Department of Statistics, Seven Year Plan, Ridvan 1986, pp. 65-80.
48. Smith, Babi and Baha'i Religions, p. 172.
49. "Cultural expressions" here refers to all formal and informal patterns of be-
havior and belief that are characteristic of a religious group as a collectivity,
and which new members acquire through socialization. They include forms
and styles of interaction between members; the conduct of meetings (both
formal and infonna.l); forms of organizations; attitudes towards outsiders and
towards the socialization of children and new members; forms of personal
behavior and appearance (dress, hair, etc.); and artistic expressions. Intellec-
tual expressions (folk tales, formal reHgious codes, scriptural interpretations,
etc.) constitute a specialized form of cultural expression. As in most religious
movements, only a few of the cultural expressions of being a Baba 'i are
scripturally prescribed. Most patterns of Baha'i collective life emerge in the
process of group interaction. In the Bahi\'i case, these now vary quite con-
siderably from one society to another, no doubt re.fleeting the Baba 'i princi-
ple of tolerance of diversity.
50. The topic of Western Baha'i cultural styles has received little scholarly at-
tention. See R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram, Music, Devotions, and
Mashriqu '1-Adhkar, Studies in Bab/ and Baha'i History, Vol 4 (Los Ange-
les: Kalimat Press, 1987), and Sandra S. Kahn, "Encounter of Two Myths,
Baha'i and Christian, in the Rural American South: A Study in Transmythi-
cization,., Ph.D. dissertation (University of California at Santa Barbara,
1977) for discussions of particular topics. More generally, see the various na-
tional Bahi\'i periodicals.
51. 'Abdu'I-Baha. Some Annvered Questions, collected and trans. L. C .. Barney
(London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1908); Rev. edition (Wil-
mette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1981).
52. On Kheiralla's in.fluence and writings, see the works by Ho1linger and Stock-
man (note 2, above). For the rest, see Hippolyte Dreyfus, Essai sur le
Behafsme(Paris: Leroux. 1908); idem. The Universal Religion: Bahaism
(London: Cope & Fenwick, 1909); John E. Esslemont, Baha 'u 'lltih and the
New Era (London: Allen and Unwin, 1923; subsequent editions have been
posthumous1y revised and edited); Horace Holley, Bahaism: The Modern
Social Religion (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1913) and Bahai: The
Spirit of the Age (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Tubner and Co., 1921);
Charles Mason Remey, The Bahai Movement: A Series of Nineteen Papers,
2d ed. (Washington, D.C.: J. D. Mjlans and Sons, 1913) and The Bahai Rev-
elation and Reconstruction (Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society, 1919).
53. Data on the number and location of Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies is readily
available. A local Spiritual Assembly is generally formed when there are
nine or more adult Baha'is (aged 21 or over) in a particular locality. As great
efforts are made to ensure the continued existence of an Assembly after one
has been formed, its existence indicates a certain minimum level of Baha'i
activity and the presence of w.hat is effectively a Baha'i congregation.
54. Those countries io which there were then no organized Baha'i communities
(i.e., Eastern Europe) are here excluded.

Copyr g led rna 1al
58 Peter Smith

55. Universal House of Justice, Department of Statistics, Seven Year Plan, Rid-
van 1986, p. 51.
56. The main sources of data for Tables 10-16 are as follows: (1) the United
States Censuses of Religion for 1906-1936;(2) a one-third sample (n-=60l)
by the present author of the set of ''Barut'i Historical Record Cards" collected
by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada in or
about 1936 (Wilmette, Ill., National Baha'i Archives); (3) a sample survey
(n=90) of Baha'is in New York City in 1953. See Peter L. Berger, "From Sect
to Church: A Sociological Interpretation of the Baha'i Movement," Ph.D.
dissertation (New School for Social Research, New York, 1954) pp. I 31-39;
(4) an unpubljshed survey (n:::160) of newly-enrolledAmerican Baha' is con-
ducted in.December 1968 (National SpiritualAssembly of the Baha'is of the
United States, Department of Personnel and AdministrativeServices, "A Sta-
tistical Comparison of the Background of Newly Enrolled Baba'is with the
U.S. Population" (Wilmette, Ill: National Baha'i Center, 1969)). See Arthur
Hampson, 'The Growth and Spread of the Baha'i Faith," Ph.D. dissertation
(University of Hawaii, 1980), pp. 344 49; (5) a survey of the Baba'is of Aus-
tria in 1976 (n=349) produced as part of a study of social groups by the Aus-
trian Ministry of Scjence and Research. See Marina Fischer-Kowalski and
Josef Bucek, Structuren der socio/en Ung/eichheit in f!Jsterreich, Tei/ If:
Endbericht, Band 2 (Vienna: Bundersminjsterium filr Wissenschaft und
Forschung, 1978); (6) a survey of the New Zealand Baha'i community in
1978 (n=356). See Margaret J. Ross. "Some Aspects of the Baba'i Faith in
New Zealand," M.A. thesis (University of Auckland, 1979);(7) a sample sur-
vey (n=l51) of British Baha'is by the present author in 1978; (8) a sample
survey (n=118) of Los Angeles Baba'is conducted on behalf of the author in
1979; and (9) a series of figures on the composition of the Danish Baha'i
community in 1959, l962, and 1981, in Warburg,"From Circle to Commu-
nity." The sample surveys of New York (Berger), Britain (Smith) and Los
Angeles (Smith) were conducted at second hand, through the intennediary of
Local Spiritual Assembly officers who distributed and collected the survey
questionnaireson the authors' behalf at regular Baha'i Nineteen Day Feasts.
Most religiously active Baba'is attend these Feasts and most or all of those
present at each Feast completed the questionnaires. The New York survey
represented between one-third and one-half of the total Baha'i community,
the British survey about fifty-two percent of the adult and youth membership
of the nineteen local communities that participated (of a sample of twenty-
nine that were contacted), and the Los Angeles survey about seventeen per-
cent of local membership.
57. Hollinger, ''Baha'i Faith in America."
58. Warburg,"From Circle to Community."
59. Universal House of Justice, Department of Statistics, Memorandum, 15 May
1988. The comparable figures for Africa were twenty-four and eighteen per-
cent, and for Asia, eighteen and twenty-two percent. The world figures were
twenty-sevenpercent for both National Assembly and Auxiliary Board Mem-
bers. By I 996, the Assembly figures were forty-onepercent for America and
r’,e Baha'f Faith in the West: A Survey 59

Europe and thirty-six percent for Australasia. The world figure was thirty-
two percent (Universal House of Justice, The Three Year Pla11,1993-1996.
Summary of Achievements.Baha'i World Centre. 1997, p. 164).
60. Hassall, ''Baha'i Faith in Australia, 1920-1963."
61. Class categorization remains a matter of debate among ociologi ts. It also
tends to be popularly perceived in quite different ways by Europeans and
North Americans.The conceptualizationused here is that Western industrial
societies comprise small minorities of people who primarily subsist through
their ownership of capital or land, and an overwhelming majority who sub-
sist through the sale of their labor power or the receipt of benefits and pen-
sions. Of those who sell their labor power, important distinctions have
developed between people with different degrees of responsibility and con-
trol within their working Lives and with associated differences in "life
chances" and lifestyle. In operational terms, involvement in non-manual
(middle-class) or manual (working-class) work is basic, but so also are the
distinctionswithin each general category: between the professionaland man-
agerial upper mjddle class and lower middle class groups such as clerical
workers; and between upper working class artisans and the lower working
class of unskilled, semi-skilled, and casual workers. There is also an under-
class of the long-term unemployed and others who must subsist largely on
state and ot.herbenefits and pensions.
62. Stockman, Baha'i Faith in Alnerica, Vol. l, pp. 85-135; Hollinger, "Baha'i
Faith in America."
63. Stockman, Baha'i Faith in America, pp. 100-101, 163.
64. Ibid., pp. 112-13, 163.
65. lbid.,pp.113-14, 126-35.
66. Berger, "From Sect to Church," pp. 131-32.
67. Smith, "Sociological Study"; Ross, "Baha'i Faith in New Zealand."
68. Hampson, "Growth and Spread," p. 346; Ross. "Baha'i .Faith in New
Zealand;' pp. 155-56.
69. Smith, ''Sociological Study," p. 435.
70. Ibid.
71. My own impressions are that a similar pattern has been in operation within
the British Baha'i community, working class converts being both less nu-
merous and more likely to becotne marginalized unless they are socially up-
wardly mobile.
72. Of the 1936-37 sample (n~Ol), 197 individuals had become Baha'is by
1919. Of this sub-group, twelve (6.1%) were black. (Smith, "American
Baha'i Community,"pp. 118-19).
73. Baha 'I World,Vol. 13, p. 258.
74. Stockman, Baha'i Faith in America, Vol l, pp. 94-100, 113, 114, 126.
75. Elias Zoboori, Names and Numbers:A Baha'i History ReferenceGuide.Na-
tional Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Jamaica, 1990, pp. 165-68.
76. Moojan Momen, "The integration into the British Baha'i community of re·-
cent Iranian Baha'i migrants." Baha ·; StudiesBulletin, Vol.4, nos. 3-4 (April
1990), pp. 50-53; Chantal Saint-Blancat, "Nation et religion chez les immi-

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
60 Peter Smith

gresiraniens en ltalie." Archives des science social des religio11s,Vol. 68
(1989), pp. 27-37.
77. Smith, "American Baha'i Community," pp. 119-21, 125-26, 161-63; Stock-
man,Baha'i Faith in America, pp. 101-103.

Copyr g te<l r a 1al
64 Moojan Momen

Turkestan, with Shaykh Faraju'llab on Egypt and Mirza
MuhammadHusayn Vakil on Iraq.2
c) Passages from what was known as "Shoghi Effendi's Diary."
These were typewrittencopies of English notes taken by Shoghi
Effendi of 'Abdu 'I-Baba's utterances and correspondencedur-
ing most of 1919, and part of 1920.3

The importance of this material lies in the fact that this is the first
attempt to survey the whole worldwide Baha'i community and pres-
ents a valuable picture of this community at an early date. In addition,
the material is of value for the historical informationprovided by such
important figures. It is, of course, a pity that Esslemont did not ever
write the chapter itself, as his assessment of this material would also
have been valuable.
Most of this material was collected by Esslemont during his pil-
grimage to Haifa, November 5, 1919, to January 23, 1920. This in-
cludes all the oral material collected, and Esslemont probably asked
for the written material at the same time. The account of the Baha'i
community in Germany by Alma Knobloch is dated March 1920, and
is sent from Stuttgart. So Esslemont presumably arranged this piece
after his return from Haifa.
The material is reproduced here exactly as it was written with no
change to the transliteration.The punctuation has, on occasions, been
altered to make the sense clearer and some material has been added in
brackets. The first item reproduced below is Esslemont's own plan for
the proposed chapter. The original item is in Esslemont's handwriting:

Progress of [thel Baha'i Movement
I. Persia. History: Present Position: Women's organintion, need for.
S.A. [Spiritual Assembly]-Election; Functions; Funds. Various
kinds of meetings.
II. Turkestan. Immigration of Persians to lskabad about 1880. Re-
prieve of murders; School and Mashraku'l Azlcar. Public Library.
Star of the East. 2nd Mashraku'l Azkar in Marv.
m. America. Parliament of Religions in 1893. Words of B[aha'u'Uah).
K.hayrullah; Thornton Chase. 1894-5 Bahais. 1895 Classes started.
1896 hundreds ofbelievers in Chicago. 1897. N.Y. [New York] as-

Copyr g te<l r a 1al

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