100 Years of the Baha'i Faith in Europe

by Graham Hassall and Seena Fazel

Published in Baha'i Studies Review 8:3 pages 35-44

Abstract
This paper provides a brief overview of the first 100 years of the Bah�'� Faith in
Europe. It discusses the growth and the distinctive aspects of this community,
with emphasis on external affairs, the role of women, and Bah�'� studies. It
suggests certain challenges ahead, concluding with the important role that
European Bah�'�s have still to play in shaping an emerging global Bah�'� culture.
THE BAH�'� COMMUNITY IN EUROPE is 100 years old. Although reports of B�b�
persecutions appeared in the European press from 1845, and Bah�'u'll�h resided on
European soil in 1863-8 in the course of his final exile to Palestine, it was not
until 1898 that the first Bah�'� group was established in Europe.(1) From small
foundations in Paris, Bah�'�s from Europe have distinguished themselves in many
ways in the international Bah�'� community. This article will survey some of the
unique features of this regional community, and review some of its distinctive
contributions to the development of the Bah�'� Faith. We discuss to what extent
the B�b's prediction in 1850 that Europeans would come "over to his religion"(2)
has been realised.
Overview
Religious identity has always been important in Europe, but it has often resulted
in conflict. The tumultuous socio-political and religious conditions experienced
by the peoples of Europe this century have provided many contexts for the
emergence of the European Bah�'� communities. In western Europe, liberal societies
moving toward conditions of post-Christian secularism were tolerant of new
religious movements, but not necessarily moved by them. In the south, Catholic
traditions remained strong in Italy and Spain, while in Greece, the orthodox
Church retained the people's allegiance, in culture and belief. The nations of
northern Europe were arguably more open to religious change, possibly a
consequence of their experience of religious innovation during the Reformation.
From the second world war until recent times, the states of eastern Europe
remained inaccessibly wrapped in communist control, and, officially, atheistic
doctrine.
In such circumstances, Bah�'� communities were started by individuals, who formed
small groups that later matured into organised Bah�'� communities. At its
beginnings in the 1900s, activity focussed on Paris, where May Bolles (later May
Maxwell) introduced the Faith to such notable Bah�'�s as Agnes Alexander, who took
it to Hawaii, Japan and Korea; Thomas Breakwell, an early English Bah�'�;
Hippolyte Dreyfus, the first French believer; and to such expatriate Americans as
Laura Clifford Barney, Juliet Thompson, Marion Jack, and Sydney Sprague. Mary
Thornburgh-Cropper also heard about the Faith in Paris (from Phoebe Hearst who was
on her way to see 'Abdu'l-Bah� in Palestine) and became a Bah�'� in 1898. Upon her
return to England, she told her friend Ethel Rosenberg about the religion.(3) Lady
Blomfield and her daughter heard of the Faith in 1907 in Paris from Bertha
Herbert, who later married Horace Holley. Holley was another significant Bah�'�
who first heard of the Faith in Paris. A major impetus to the presence of the
community was given between 1911 and 1913, when 'Abdu'l-Bah� visited Switzerland,
France, Germany, Hungary, England, and Scotland. A 1925 list of "leading local
Bah�'� Centres" included the European communities of Paris, Switzerland, Austria,
Italy, and Sweden. It listed no fewer than 26 "Foreign Bah�'� Centres" in Germany,
compared to three in England and two in Switzerland.(4)
The first two national spiritual assemblies (NSAs) in Europe were formed in the
British Isles(5) and in Germany and Austria, both in 1923. Intensive efforts were
made to re-establish the communities following the devastation of the second world
war.(6) No other national body was formed until Italy and Switzerland in 1953. By
the end of the Ten Year Crusade in 1963, another fourteen had been established
(France in 1958; Austria in 1959; Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Italy all in 1962).
(7) No further national Bah�'� institutions were formed until the NSAs of Iceland
and Ireland were established in 1972, followed by Greece in 1977, Cyprus in 1978,
and the Canary Islands in 1984. The collapse of communism permitted revival in the
1990s of Bah�'� communities throughout countries of the former Eastern Bloc. The
first local spiritual assembly (LSA) since the second world war in eastern Europe
was elected on 21 March 1990 in Cluj, Romania. National bodies were soon
established in Romania (1991), Czechoslovakia (1991), Russia, Georgia and Armenia
(1992), Albania (1992), the Baltic States (1992), Bulgaria (1992), Hungary (1992),
Poland (1992), Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (1992), and Slovenia and Croatia
(1994).(8) Armenia, Georgia, and Belarus all elected separate NSAs in 1995,
followed by Moldova in 1996, and separate NSAs for the Czech and Slovak Republics
were formed in 1998. A national assembly was also established in Sicily.
Europe in the Bah�'� writings
A number of European monarchs received letters from Bah�'u'll�h,(9) and Shoghi
Effendi links the downfall of virtually all of them to their failure to heed his
counsel. Shoghi Effendi refers to Europe as "the cradle of a highly-vaunted
civilization, as the torch bearer of liberty and the mainspring of the forces of
world industry and commerce."(10) But it is also "a materially highly advanced yet
spiritually famished, much tormented, fear-ridden, hopelessly-sundered,
heterogeneous conglomeration of races, nations, sects and classes."(11) Shoghi
Effendi's question remains as relevant today as when he wrote it: "Will it be
America, or will it be one of the nations of Europe that will seize the torch of
Divine Guidance from Persia's fettered hands and with it set the western world
aflame?"(12) In particular, a clear theme in the Bah�'� writings is the importance
of Germany. 'Abdu'l-Bah� lavished praise on a country which would "surpass all
other regions,"(13) and "lead all the nations and peoples of Europe spiritually,"
by virtue of its spiritual potentialities and geographical situation.(14)
Growth
Bah�'� communities in Europe tend to be smaller than those in countries of
comparable size in other continents. In mid-1997, there were an estimated 104,000
Bah�'�s in Europe, more than Oceania (73,000) but less than the other continents.
(15) The proportion of Bah�'�s in relation to the total population, however, is
only 140 Bah�'�s per million population - the least of all the continents, and 9
times less than the world average. Africa has around 20 times more Bah�'�s per
population, and Oceania and North America each have about 17 times more. In terms
of institutional development, there are far more LSAs in 1997 in Asia, Africa, and
the Americas (3897, 4053, and 3520 respectively) than in Europe (958).(16) A more
accurate indicator of the level of grassroots Bah�'� activity is probably the
number of LSAs per million population: Europe has more LSAs per million population
(1.3) than Asia (1.1). Oceania has 27.7 LSAs per million, Africa 5.3, and the
Americas 4.4. In terms of growth, the only continent with an increase in the
number of LSAs since 1992 has been Europe (2.5% annual growth from 1992-97), and
Europe and Oceania were the only continents to grow between 1986-92 (2.8% annual
growth in Europe).(17)
Most of this growth was generated by the re-establishment of the Faith in central
and eastern Europe. This may have been anticipated by Shoghi Effendi who commented
on how the people there were "much more receptive."(18) In the late 1990s, the two
largest Bah�'� communities are Albania (13,000 Bah�'�s) and Romania (7,000). The
countries with the most Bah�'�s per million population are Albania (4029), Iceland
(1345), Luxembourg (983), Portugal (605), Cyprus (529), Romania (308), Ireland
(175) and Norway (173).(19) Iceland leads the table for LSAs per million (34)
followed by Luxembourg (27), Cyprus (8) and Ireland (6).(20) The countries with
the smallest Bah�'� presences, excluding the countries of the former Eastern Bloc,
are Italy (1.1 LSAs per million), France (0.6) and Greece (0.6).
Three things are notable in this sort of demographic overview. The first is that
the Faith has a strong presence in the islands of Europe. This is partly a
consequence of their small size, and also due to the emphasis placed in promoting
the Faith in the islands of Europe by 'Abdu'l-Bah� and Shoghi Effendi. The larger
size of Bah�'� communities in islands even extends to large ones such as the
United Kingdom (58 million), which has around three times the number of Bah�'�s
and LSAs per million than countries of similar size in Europe. Second is the role
of immigration. Although the Faith has grown steadily in most western European
countries, sociologist of religion Margit Warburg has concluded from detailed
statistical analysis that the recent growth of Bah�'�s in Europe is "as much the
result of immigration as it is of recruitment of new believers."(21) The arrival
of Persian Bah�'�s throughout the nations of Europe was stimulated by two
historical phases: the pioneering efforts in the World Crusade (1953-63) and
flight from Iran following the 1979 Islamic revolution.(22) The third feature that
is highlighted in these statistics is the impressive growth of the Faith in
Iceland. What makes Iceland so special? It is one of the smallest countries in
Europe, with only 270,000 people. Immigration is not the reason for its relatively
large size - in 1997, there were only 12 foreign Bah�'�s in Iceland, of which 2
were of Iranian background.(23) Warburg explains the difference culturally, in
that the Icelandic are more likely to innovate religiously than other Nordic
populations.(24)
Distinctive features
Although the Bah�'� Faith has not had rapid numerical growth in Europe, other
signs of its progress are apparent. Women have played a distinctive role in the
Faith's development, amidst traditionally patriarchal cultures and religions; some
of the foremost scholars of the Bah�'� Faith - professed believers and otherwise -
have come from Europe; and the European communities have contributed greatly, over
an extended period of time, to public awareness of the religion, and to the
protection of the Iranian Bah�'� community. Other distinctive contributions are
being made by individuals in the fields of music and the arts. A small number are
world famous, such as Bernard Leach, the pre-eminent potter of this century, who
was the first craftsperson to receive the British Companion of Honour.(25) Europe
has led the Bah�'� world in the field of publishing, and the UK alone publishes
nearly half the English-language books on the Faith. Also important are the
efforts of European Bah�'� youth, of such organisations as the European Bah�'�
Business Forum and the Associations for Bah�'� Studies (English, French, German,
Italian and Russian speaking), and European pioneers, living in places as far
afield as Africa, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. In terms of institution
building, a couple of examples are notable. The "Africa Campaign" to establish
Bah�'� communities in Africa was spearheaded by the British Bah�'�s in the 1950s
and thereafter. The re-establishment of communities in eastern and central Europe
after the collapse of the Soviet Union was largely led by European Bah�'�s. Europe
has also seen a high degree of cooperation between different national
institutions. This was first seen with the European Teaching Committee of 1946,
and more recently in the work of the European Bah�'� Youth Council. The spread of
the Faith throughout Europe, from the largest countries to the smallest island
groups, is itself a unique characteristic of the Bah�'� community, rarely
achieved, if at all, by other religious communities.
The role of women
Women have played the predominant role in the establishment of the Faith in
Europe. North American Bah�'� women pioneers were involved in establishing the
early communities of Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway and
the United Kingdom. Marion Jack's sacrificial efforts to establish the Faith in
Bulgaria were legendary, and much admired by the Guardian. Martha Root's travels,
particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, informed many prominent persons of the
religion and some of them became Bah�'�s, such as Queen Marie of Romania. Shoghi
Effendi placed great significance on Queen Marie's conversion, as she was the
first monarch to become a Bah�'�.(26) What made these foreign women so successful
in spreading the Bah�'� message? In the case of Denmark, Warburg has argued that
their success was due to the Danes being attracted to their "cultural style" -
"emancipated, independent, and idealistic" in much the same way as Africans were
attracted by the power of European Christian missionaries, by their literacy and
culture of modernity.(27)
The European public
Certain aspects of European Bah�'� history are notable. There are a number of
firsts: in 1845, The Times of London included the first mention of the B�b�
movement in the west. The first public mention of the B�b� religion is thought to
be by Matthew Arnold, a writer and critic, in 1871 at the Birmingham and Midland
Institute, while the first public presentation on the B�b�-Bah�'� Faiths was by
Edward Granville Browne at the Literary Society of Pembroke College, Cambridge, in
1889, and shortly after at the Essay Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Browne quoted
Bah�'u'll�h's words, "Ye are all the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one
branch," in a lecture at the South Place Institute, London, in 1890.
An interesting theme in European Bah�'� history is its role in diplomatic work,
especially on behalf of the persecuted Iranian Bah�'�s. This may be said to have
commenced with European diplomats who sought relief for persecuted B�b�s. The
British were instrumental in safeguarding 'Abdu'l-Bah�'s life during the first
world war. By the 1920s this work was manifest in the work of the "International
Bureau Bah�'�" headed by Jean Stannard in Geneva. In 1924 and 1936 papers
presented on Bah�'� themes at large multi-faith conferences raised the profile of
the Bah�'� Faith significantly.(28)
Following the Iranian revolution, parliaments and non-governmental organisations
throughout Europe joined the efforts of the European Bah�'� communities to halt
the persecution of the Iranian Bah�'� community.(29) In the early 1980s the
European Parliament, the European Human Rights Commission, and several European
national parliaments passed resolutions condemning the actions of the Iranian
regime.(30) Despite the high level of recognition that accompanied these
developments, however, there are still degrees of uncertainty in the public mind.
In some instances, the Faith continues to be reported as a "sect."(31) The
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe has highlighted recently "[a]n
alarming trend towards religious intolerance in Europe ... over the past several
years, as exemplified by the investigations carried out by the French, Belgian and
German parliaments into the activities of minority or belief groups." The
Commission explains how these parliaments have instituted investigations into
"dangerous sects," and that the Belgian and French parliaments have listed as
"dangerous" groups "independent evangelical Protestant churches, Catholic
communities, Bah�'�, Jehovah Witness, and Hasidic Jews."(32)
Bah�'� studies
European scholars have observed the progress of the Bah�'� Faith from the time of
its origins. A number of orientalists who were not themselves Bah�'�s became
students of the new religion. Prominent amongst them was Edward Granville Browne,
himself attracted to its study by Gobineau's 1865 book, Religion et philosophies
dans l'Asie centrale. M. Gabriel Sassi gave an address on the Bah�'� religion at
the Paris Exposition of 1900. A.L.M. Nicolas, who had been first interpreter at
the French legation at Tehran, published several early translations of Bah�'�
writings.(33) In 1948, renowned historian Arnold Toynbee observed that the Bah�'�
Faith was amongst the new religions having the potential to establish a new
civilisation.(34)
As the Bah�'� community emerged, so too did a number of its scholar members. The
Hands of the Cause in the British Isles were all distinguished scholars:
Esslemont, Townshend, Ferraby and Balyuzi. Other scholars included Dreyfus and
Bausani. An attachment to learning has also been a characteristic of Bah�'�
communities as a whole. The German Bah�'�s, for example, were producing five
Bah�'� journals by the 1920s.(35) The present generation, which the House of
Justice highlights "include[s] outstanding scholars of the Faith,"(36) have
maintained this momentum, and much of the current work is channelled through
various Associations for Bah�'� Studies in Europe. Looking at who is most often
cited by others, the most widely used method to assess an individual's impact in a
particular field, seven of the ten most cited authors in academic literature on
the B�b�-Bah�'� religions in 1988-93 were resident in the UK and Ireland. Of the
eight that are living, four are British.(37)
Challenges ahead
Among the many challenges that lie ahead, we would like to highlight three. The
first is to build on the achievements of the past. Bah�'� communities need to
sustain their high artistic integrity. Bah�'� studies would greatly benefit from
centres and libraries to assist researchers. It is surprising that so few
resources have been channelled in this direction. Europeans have a history of
charting unfamiliar waters. This innovation needs to be encouraged within the
European Bah�'� community. In the field of external affairs, the key challenge is
the extent to which Bah�'�s can enter public life, contributing and refining the
concept of the new Europe. To what degree can public discourse on civil society
and cosmopolitan citizenship be informed by Bah�'� perspectives?
A second challenge is to further consolidate the Faith throughout the continent.
The House of Justice specifically mention the need to strengthen Bah�'�
communities in the arctic and sub-arctic areas, the islands (including
establishing an NSA of the Faeroes), amongst the Romany people and other
minorities, and in the Ukraine and in European Russia. An important part of this
process is to adapt the presentation of the Faith to local needs, bearing in mind
that "both spiritual force and intellectual clarity must be recognized as vital
elements."(38)
A third task is a European contribution to Bah�'� culture. Much of the world
appears to have given way to the American way of doing things. This inevitably
affects the Bah�'� community and needs to be tempered with other cultural styles.
The cultural and intellectual traditions of Europe, with emphasis on values such
as high-mindedness, refinement, taste, thoroughness, and breadth have much to
offer any emerging Bah�'� global culture. Shoghi Effendi remarks about the
influence of European Bah�'�s:
He urges you to tell the American friends about the work and the new Bah�'�s in
Europe. These new believers, with the well-balanced minds of Europeans, are a fine
type, and � have much to contribute of maturity and wisdom.(39)
A passage from 'Abdu'l-Bah� predicts the preeminent role that Europe will have to
play in shaping the future Bah�'� world:
Had He [Bah�'u'll�h] appeared in Europe, its people would have seized their
opportunity, and His Cause, by virtue of the freedom of thought, would by this
time have compassed the earth. But alas! this Cause, though it first appeared in
Persia, yet eventually it shall be seen how the peoples of Europe have wrested it
from its hand. Take note of this and remember it in the future. Ultimately you
shall see how it has come to pass.(40)
End Notes (Use [BACK] to return to article.)
1. A photo captioned "Pioneer group of Occidental Bah�'�s in Paris, France, about
the year 1900" appears in Bah�'� World 1926-28 (Wilmette: Bah�'� Publishing Trust,
1928) 29.
2. The full reference of his comments to Dr Cormick, an English physician who was
asked to assess his fitness to stand trial, is: "He only once deigned to answer
me, on my saying that I was not a Mussulman and was willing to know something
about his religion, as I might be inclined to adopt it. He regarded me very
intently on my saying this, and replied that he had no doubt of all Europeans
coming over to his religion" (cited in M. Momen, The B�b� and Bah�'� Religions
1844-1944: some contemporary Western accounts [Oxford: George Ronald, 1981] 74).
3. Robert Stockman, "The Bah�'� Faith in England and Germany, 1900-1913," World
Order 27.3 (1996): 31-42.
4. Bah�'� Yearbook 1925-1926 (Wilmette: Bah�'� Publishing Trust, 1926) 101.
5. Referred to in Bah�'� Yearbook 1925-1926 as "Great Britain and Ireland" (101).
6. M.K. Sprague, "The First Bah�'� European Conference," World Order 14.11 (1949).

7. In 1957 Regional Assemblies were formed in Scandinavia and Finland, the Benelux
Countries and the Iberian Peninsula. These later dissolved to form national
assemblies.
8. By 1998 Yugoslavia did not have a NSA. However, its first LSA was established
in November 1990 in Belgrade. The Ten Year Crusade ended with an isolated Bah�'�
in Belgrade.
9. An interesting reference to this has recently appeared in C.N. Murphy,
International Organisations and Industrial Change: Global Governance Since 1850
(Polity Press, 1994): "� a Persian aristocrat found very little interest among
Europe's leaders in his proposals for an international tribunal to decide disputes
between nations and an international police force to support its decisions. But
then Bah�'u'll�h, as the founder of the Bah�'� Faith, did not limit his arguments
to the functionalist rhetoric of the public system builders. Tsar Alexander II,
who claimed a special interest in issues of international peace, did not respond
to Bah�'u'll�h's appeal. Queen Victoria was unenthusiastic, saying 'If this is of
God it will endure; if it is not, it can do no harm' (Hatcher and Martin 1984:45).
But Serge Yulevich Witte's success in selling the same proposals to Nicholas II
suggests that Bah�'u'll�h may have gotten further if, like Lubin, he had left God
out of his argument."
10. World Order of Bah�'u'll�h (Wilmette: Bah�'� Publishing Trust, 1974) 31.
11. Messages to the Bah�'� World: 1950-1957 (Wilmette: Bah�'� Publishing Trust,
1971) 33. Cf. Light of Divine Guidance, vol. 1 (Hofheim-Langenhain: Bah�'�-Verlag,
1985) 113.
12. Bah�'� Administration (Wilmette: Bah�'� Publishing Trust, 1968) 89.
13. From a tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bah� cited in "A Compilation of Bah�'� Writings on
Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland," The Bah�'� Studies Review 4.1 (1994):
108.
14. From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi dated 15 March 1934 cited in
ibid., 119.
15. Britannica Book of the Year 1998 (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998).
16. Information released from the department of statistics, Bah�'� World Centre,
November 1998.
17. We are grateful to Bryan Graham for the growth statistics.
18. From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi dated 29 January 1932 cited
in "Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union: A Compilation from the Bah�'� Writings,"
The Bah�'� Studies Review 3.1 (1993): 101.
19. Some of these numbers are taken from an unpublished paper presented by R.
Andrew Turvey at the ABS-ESE annual conference 1996, Oxford UK, and others are
from direct communication with NSAs.
20. 1997 LSA data from the department of statistics, Bah�'� World Centre.
21. M. Warburg, "Growth Patterns of New Religions: The Case of Bah�'�," in Robert
Towler (ed.), New Religions and the New Europe (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press,
1995) 187.
22. For research on this, see M.F. Kerschbaumer (1991), Persecution, exile and
integration of a religious minority: the integration of Iranian Bah�'� Refugees in
Swiss Exile (University of Vienna, PhD); and M. Momen, "The Integration into the
British Bah�'� Community of Recent Iranian Bah�'� Migrants," Bah�'� Studies
Bulletin 4. 3-4 (1990): 50-53.
23. Personal communication with the NSA, 21 December 1998. This is in contrast
with Luxembourg, the second largest community according to LSAs per million, where
there is a large Persian Bah�'� community.
24. M. Warburg, "Growth Patterns of New Religions: The Case of Bah�'�," 183.
25. The first critical biography of Leach has recently been published by the Tate
Gallery. It has only one reference to Leach's belief: "Tobey was to introduce
Leach to the Bah�'� faith, and to become a central figure in his continuing
attempts to synthesise the spiritual traditions of East and West" (Edmund de Waal,
Bernard Leach [London: Tate Gallery, n.d., ?1997] 44-46).
26. See H. Pakula, The Last Romantic: A Biography of Queen Marie of Romania
(London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985); Jan T. Jasion, "Queen Marie of Romania: A
Preliminary Bibliography," Journal of Bah�'� Studies 6.2 (1994): 15-23; Robert
Postlethwaite, "Queen Marie and the Bah�'� Faith" Journal of Bah�'� Studies 6.2
(1994): 55-86. Pakula's book has only one paragraph that mentions the Bah�'�
Faith: "Carol's abdication was a windfall for the enemies of the dynasty. They
seized on his desertion to cut down his mother and succeeded in planting serious
doubts about her in the minds of her people. In the desperation and near loss of
faith that followed, Queen Marie turned to the teachings of the Bah�'� religion,
which she discovered a month or so after Carol's flight. The Bah�'� call for the
unification of humanity under one faith was vastly appealing to the Queen, who had
always rebelled against the rigid distinctions separating her immediate family
into three religions, and the Bah�'� goal of universal peace and its warnings of
social upheaval seemed prophetic to the distraught woman..." (337).
27. M. Warburg, "The Circle, the Brotherhood, and the Ecclesiastical Body: Bah�'�
in Denmark, 1925-1987," in Religion, Tradition and Renewal, A.W. Geertz and J.P.
Jensen (eds.) (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1991).
28. W.L. Hare (ed.), Religions of the Empire. Papers delivered at the conference
on Some Living Religions within the British Empire, London, 22 September - 3
October 1924 (England: Duckworth, 1925); H. Bishop, "World Congress of Faiths:
London, England, July 3-18, 1936," World Order 2.7 (1936): 247-250; F.E. Pinchon,
"World Congress of Faiths: London, England, July 3-18, 1936," World Order 2.7
(1936): 250-254.
29. E.g., Roger Cooper, "The Bah�'�s of Iran," Minority Rights Group, Report No.
51, 1982.
30. Geoffrey Nash, "The Persecution of the Bah�'� Community of Iran," in The
Bah�'� World 1979-1983 (Haifa: Bah�'� World Centre Publications, 1986) 249-356.
31. See, e.g., M. Voisin and K. Dobbelaere, "Sectes et nouveaux mouvements
religieux en Belgique [Sects and new religious movements in Belgium]," Recherches
Sociologiques [Belgium] 16.3 (1985): 359-392; and the Guardian newspaper on the
burial of a boy of mixed religious background in a Bah�'� cemetery: "The boy was
finally put to rest on Sunday...by devotees of a faith the Pesahovics' had never
heard of - the Bah�'�s. Rick Miller, the sect's representative in Jerusalem, said
he found nothing in Bah�'� teachings which would prevent Grisha's burial. The
creed encourages spiritual unity and the 'advancement of civilisation'" (Julian
Borger, The Guardian, 6.8.98).
32. Press release from Associated Press, New York, dated 23.7.98, "Helsinki
Commission announces joint hearing with House International Relations Committee on
continuing religious intolerance in Europe."
33. Le Livre des sept preuves de la mission du B�b (Paris, 1902); Le Libre de la
certitude (1904); and Le Bey�n arabe (1905).
34. Civilization on Trial (London: Oxford University Press, 1948) 204.
35. Bah�'� Yearbook 1925-26, 103.
36. Universal House of Justice Message to Europe, Ridv�n 153.
37. S. Fazel and J. Danesh, "Bah�'� scholarship: an examination using citation
analysis," The Bah�'� Studies Review 5.1 (1995): 13-26.
38. Universal House of Justice Message to Europe, Ridv�n 153.
39. From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi dated 21 July 1949 cited in
The Bah�'� Studies Review 1.1 (1991): 52.
40. The Bah�'� World: 1928-1930 (Wilmette: Bah�'� Publishing Trust, 1930) 75. We
are grateful to Ahang Rabbani and Iskandar Hai for bringing this reference to our
attention.
The authors are grateful to Robert Weinberg for his comments on an earlier draft.