Introduction
    The Bahá'í Faith is an independent world religion with adherents in virtually every country. The Bahá'í world community - often known as the Bahá'í International Community - is a cross-section of humanity, including almost all nationalities, classes, trades, professions, rich and poor, literate and illiterate. Its members live in more than 127,000 localities in 235 countries and territories, 2,112 ethnic groups and tribes are represented. It is also the second most widespread religion in the world, after Christianty *.
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*  1997 Britannica Book of the Year, Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., Chicago.

    The Faith is a distinct religion rather than a sect of one of the other great traditions or a syncretistic creation. In the words of historian Arnold Toynbee:

 "Bahá'ísm is an independent religion on a par with Islam, Christianity and the other recognized world religions. Bahá'ísm is not a sect of some other religion; it is a separate religion, and has the same status as the other recognized faiths."

Bahá'í Teachings
    The central teachings of the Bahá'í Faith are the oneness of God, the oneness of religion, and the oneness of mankind. Of religion, Bahá'u'lláh teaches:

•     that religious truth is not absolute, but relative
•     that divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process
•     that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin
•     that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society.

Characteristics of the Bahá'í Community
    The basic purpose of human life for Bahá'ís is, in essence, to know and to worship God, and to carry forward an everadvancing civilization. The Bahá'í world community encourages the fulfillment of certain requirements which it regards as integral to this process:

1)     The development of good character. This is achieved through prayer, meditation, and work done in the spirit of service to humanity - all expressions, for Bahá'ís, of the worship of God.

2)     The eradication of prejudices of race, creed, class, nationality and sex.

3)     The systematic elimination of all forms of superstition through encouraging an unfettered search for truth, and respect for the harmony of science and religion as different facets of truth.

4)     The development of the unique talents and abilities of every individual through the pursuit of knowledge and the acquisition of skills for the practice of a trade or profession.

5)     The full participation of both sexes in all aspects of community life, including the elective and administrative processes of decision-making.

Non-Partisan Character
    The Bahá'í Faith is not aligned with any government or political party. Bahá'ís may not be members of any political party or partisans of any political faction or ideology. Both individually and collectively, they are enjoined to obey the laws of their respective states and the authority of the legally-constituted governments under which they live.

Bahá'í Funds
    The institutions and programs of the Bahá'í Faith are supported exclusively by voluntary, confidential contributions from its own members.

Bahá'í Administrative Order
    Having neither priesthood nor ritual, the Bahá'í Faith relies on a pattern of local, national and international administration, created by Bahá'u'lláh. Each locality having nine or more adult Bahá'ís, elects each year a council - a local Spiritual Assembly which governs the local affairs of the community. At present, there are over15,800 Assemblies throughout the world.

    National Spiritual Assemblies are also elected annually by regionally elected delegates who come together in a national convention. There are174 National Spiritual Assemblies. Once every five years, at an international convention, these Assemblies gather to elect the Universal House of Justice, the international governing council of the Bahá'í Faith.

    All Bahá'í elections take place by secret ballot, with no nominations or electioneering.

Appointed Offices
    Appointive institutions also exist in the Bahá'í world cornmunity. Among them are the Hands of the Cause, Continental Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members. Members of these institutions have no authority but rather function to educate, inspire and protect the unity of the Bahá'í community.

Relationship to the United Nations
    The Bahá'í International Community is accredited as a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and with the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF). It is also affiliated with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and with the U.N. Office of Public Information. It has representatives with the United Nations in New York, Geneva and Nairobi. The relationship of the Bahá'í International Community with the United Nations dates from 1948.

Bahá'í History
    The Bahá'í Faith was founded in Persia (Iran) by Mi'rzá Husayn-Alí (1817-1892), known as Bahá'u'lláh, the "Glory of God." The word "Bahá'í" derives from bahá ("glory" or "splendour") and means a follower of Bahá'u'lláh. The Bahá'í Faith is intimately linked with the Babi Faith, founded in 1844 by Mirzá Ali-Muhammad (1819-1850), known as the Báb or "Gate". The Báb announced that he was not only the founder of an independent religion, but the herald of a new and far greater prophet or messenger of God, who would usher in an age of peace for all mankind. In 1863, Bahá'u'lláh declared that he was the one prophesied by the Báb.

    By the combined forces of the Sháh of Persia and the Sultán of Turkey, Bahá'u'lláh was exiled from Iran to various places within the Ottoman Empire, and in 1868 was sent as a prisoner to the fortress city of Akka in the Holy Land, where he passed away in 1892.

    Bahá'u'lláh specified in his will that his eldest son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, would be the authorized interpreter of his writings and the centre of unity for the growing Bahá'í community.

    By the time of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing in 1921, the Bahá'í Faith had been established in over 30 countries. In his will he appointed his eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as the Guardian of the Bahá'í community. The principal role of Shoghi Effendi, the last individual leader of the Faith, was to guide and strengthen the growing number of local and international administrative institutions of the Faith which, at the time of his death in 1957, had been established in over 200 countries. By 1963, these institutions were sufficiently developed to hold the first world-wide democratic election to establish the nine-member Universal House of Justice, the international council of the Bahá'í Faith which now govern the affairs of the entire Bahá'í world community.

    Today, the affairs of the Bahá'í world community are administered by the Universal House of Justice, the supreme elected council of the Bahá'í Faith.

Bahá'í World Centre
    The seat of the Universal House of Justice is at the Bahá'í World Centre in the Holy Land. As a result of Bahá'u'lláh's exile and imprisonment in Palestine (then a province of Syria), the World Centre was established in the two cities of Akka and Haifa. The Bahá'í holy places at the World Centre consist of shrines of the Founders of the Faith - the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh - and historic sites associated with them. It was Bahá'u'lláh who instructed that the World Centre of his Faith should be in the neighbourhood of these Shrines.

Statistics in Canada
 

Growth of the Bahá'í Faith and its Institutions
 

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