How Do Baha'is Spread Their Religion?


© Lloyd Madansky

How is the Baha'i Faith spread? This is the question I would like to address in some detail.

Since the Baha'i Faith has no paid clergy, it falls upon the individual Baha'is and the Administrative Order to present the Baha'i Faith to the world. This is done through public proclamation and individual teaching.

Public proclamation is done in a number of different ways. In fact, the articles I write and publish here are a form of proclamation. The various Baha'i-based Web Sites I have links to are also means of proclaiming the Baha'i Faith to the world. The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States has begun to utilize television to proclaim the existence of the Baha'i Faith by producing a 30-minute program called "The Power of Race Unity." This will be shown on Court TV every Sunday between May 2 and June 27 at 9:30 a.m. EDT, and on the International Channel on Sundays at 12:30 p.m EDT; Tuesdays at 4:30 a.m. EDT and Thursdays at 4:30 a.m. EDT until June 29. They have also produced some commercial spots that may be seen on Lifetime, BET, the International Channel and Odyssey. Along with this is a phone line and a web site for inquirers. The phone line is: 1-800-22-UNITE. The Web site can be found at http://www.us.bahai.org. Individuals and communities also participate in local events under the banner of the Baha'i Faith as a way of not only helping with community service but with making the Baha'i Faith visible.

Teaching is different from proclamation in that it usually involves individual interaction. One of the main teaching methods is informal meetings, usually hosted in a Baha'i's house, called Firesides. These meetings present one or more of the basics of the Baha'i Faith, along with a question-and-answer period and a social portion at the end. Public meetings are also done in a similar way, usually with a Baha'i giving a short talk and then answering questions. The main difference is the place it is hosted in and the number of people that attend. It is my experience that public meetings have a larger attendance than the informal meetings in an individuals home.

Proselytizing is not an option. Shoghi Effendi wrote, "Care, however, should, at all times, be exercised, lest in their eagerness to further the international interests of the Faith they frustrate their purpose, and turn away, through any act that might be misconstrued as an attempt to proselytize and bring undue pressure upon them, those whom they wish to win over to their Cause."

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

3.   May 11, 1999 2:30 PM
Thanks, Lloyd; I can see why proselytizing has a bad name. I was afraid it meant the same as what I mean by evangelism, and it appears not. My concept of that activity was in the last article I did ...

-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth


2.   May 11, 1999 2:13 PM
Shalom Dan;

Here is a definition on proselytizing:The ardent search for receptive souls should not be confused with proselytizing, about which the Universal House of Justice has clearly stated:

...


-- posted by justin_credible


1.   May 11, 1999 10:35 AM
Shoghi Effendi's quotation, near the end, looked like something I was taught about in the Christian faith called "letting your light shine" - though the quotation, and the best Christian thinking I be ...

-- posted by Dan_Ellsworth





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