# The Baha'i Faith in the West: A Survey *Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-21 — 1 clipping.* --- > , , > ' > > 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 > 1600 Sawtelle Boulevard, Suite 310 > Los Angeles, California 90025 > > www.kalimat.com > kalimatp@aol.com > > 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 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 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. > > Copyr g te ("') > > 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 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 > > Copyr g te 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 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 > > Copyr g te 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 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 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 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 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 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 ur 1 > > 7 7 > > ’ > h m nc l ~o 1.0 .0 I 1. 1 > ’ I ’ .7 - ’ > > d I. l. ’ I " > > ’ 1. ’ ’ ’ 1 > ¬º of ord . + > > - > OU ..’ n um , nl .. > ’ > n > > l m- > > t > " > l l > e l > e t > 141 in > r :.~,IJl,....-but > b 1 d ri n > ’ > rd n .. > ’ ’ ’ > l a -1 _adth > ’ > nn nn I I "tua > I I r n > ’ > th r 1 bi > l ar > t > .. .1n- > 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 ¬æ 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= > 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 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 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 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 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 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 > — *The Baha'i Faith in the West: A Survey (Used by permission of the curator)*