About the Bahá’í Faith
The Bahá’í Faith is the youngest of the world’s independent religions. Bahá’ís live in 235 countries and territories throughout the world. They come from over 2100 ethnic, racial, and tribal groups worldwide. Founded in Persia (today’s Iran) in 1844, founded by Baha’u’llah (Glory of God), it’s unifying message spread to North America. In 1894, Thorton Chase, became the first American to embrace the Faith. In 1909, the first national convention was held with 39 delegates from 36 cities. For more than a century, Bahá’í’s in America and around the world have been working to eliminate prejudice of all kinds, contributing to a new model of global society that is characterized by unity and harmony, justice and peace.
What does it mean to be a Bahá’í?
Baha’is generally tend toward happiness, try to have a positive, radiant, healthy outlook on life, and express their love for humanity by engaging in volunteer work for children, the elderly and the poor. Baha’is do their utmost to exemplify the spiritual teachings of Baha’u’llah, which call upon everyone to know and love God and carry forth an ever-advancing civilization:
He is a true Baha’i who strives by day and by night to progress along the path of human endeavor, whose cherished desire is so to live and act as to enrich and illumine the world; whose source of inspiration is the essence of Divine Perfection, whose aim in life is to conduct himself so as to be the cause of infinite progress. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Baha’i World, vol. 2, p. xvi.