The Bahá’í community is a world-embracing community with an estimated membership of over five million (also estimated over 7 million by the World Christian Encyclopedia followers residing in over 100,000 localities in 188 sovereign countries including 2100 indigenous tribes, races, ethnic, economic background, and groups perhaps forming the most highly diverse community in the history of the planet. The Bahá’ís have established ‘significant’ communities in more countries and territories than any other independent religion being recognised as the second-most geographically widespread religion after Christianity. According to The World’s Religions in Figures: An Introduction to International Religious Demography “The Baha’i Faith is the only religion to have grown faster in every United Nations region over the past 100 years than the general population; Baha’i was thus the fastest-growing religion between 1910 and 2010, growing at least twice as fast as the population of almost every UN region”. – p. 59.
The growing number of followers of the Bahá’í Faith since its inception in the Nineteenth Century have found the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh a compelling vision for making a better world. Many individuals from the wider community have also been inspired by these teachings including the central and social principles – for example, the oneness of humanity, the equality of women and men, the elimination of prejudice, the harmony of science and religion – and have sought to apply Bahá’í principles into their lives and work. Others have gone a step further and have decided to join the Bahá’í community so that they can directly contribute to the realisation of Bahá’u’lláh’s sublime vision for humanity’s current and future ages.
The global Bahá’í community collaborates with like-minded organisations and millions of friends of the Faith with shared values, common goals and goodwill to collectively walk on the same path of spiritual growth, service to humanity, and developing a new framework for global prosperity. Also, the Office of Bahá’í International Community through its United Nation Non-Governmental Offices represents the global Bahá’í community at the UN and in other major global forums, and works towards the worldview of the Bahá’í Faith, which according to the Bahá’í Writings is that all human beings “have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.”
The Australian Bahá’í Community and The Bahá’í Community of The Hills Shire are part of the world-wide Bahá’í community working towards peace, unity and betterment of the human society.
“Bahá’u’lláh has drawn the circle of unity, He has made a design for the uniting of all the peoples, and for the gathering of them all under the shelter of the tent of universal unity. This is the work of the Divine Bounty, and we must all strive with heart and soul until we have the reality of unity in our midst, and as we work, so will strength be given unto us.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá , Paris Talk, pp. 51-54.
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How many Bahá’ís?
Bahá’í International Community
Australian Bahá’í Community
The Promulgation of Universal Peace