The Baha’i community in Europe is 100 years old. Although reports of Babi persecutions appeared in the European press from the 1850s, and Baha’u’llah resided on European soil in 1863-8 in the course of his final exile to Palestine, it was not until 1898 that the first Baha’i group was established in Europe. From small foundations in Paris, Baha’is from Europe have distinguished themselves in many ways to the international Baha’i community. This article will survey some of the unique features of this regional community, and review some of its distinctive contributions to the progress of the Baha’i Faith.

Overview

Religious identity has always been important in Europe, but has resulted in conflict almost as frequently as it has contributed to the establishment of peace. 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 Baha’i 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, Baha’i communities were started by individuals, who went on to form small groups that later matured into organised Baha’i communities. At its beginnings in the 1900s, activity focused on Paris, where May Bolles (later May Maxwell) introduced the Faith to such notable Baha’is as Agnes Alexander, who took it to Hawaii, Japan and Korea; to Thomas Breakwell, the first English Baha’i; to Hippolyte Dreyfus, the first French believer; and to such expatriate Americans as Laura Clifford Barney, Juliet Thompson, Marion Jack, and Sydney Sprague. Lady Blomfield and her daughter heard of the Faith in 1907 in Paris from English believer Ethel Rosenberg, who had just been in Akka. Horace Holley was another significant Baha’i 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-Baha visited Switzerland, France, Germany, Hungary, England, and Scotland. A 1925 list of "leading local Baha’i Centres" included the European communities of Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Sweden. It listed no less than 26 "Foreign Baha’i Centres" in Germany, compared to three in England and two in Switzerland.

The first two National Spiritual Assemblies formed in Europe were those of the British Isles and Germany and Austria, both in 1923. Intensive efforts were made to re-establish the communities following the devastation of the Second World War. No other national body was formed until Italy and Switzerland in 1953 at the commencement of the Ten Year Crusade. By 1963 another fourteen had been established (France in 1958, Austria in 1959, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Italy in 1962). No further national Baha’i institutions were formed until the NSA of Iceland was established in 1972, followed by Greece in 1977, and that of the Canary Islands in 1984. The collapse of communism permitted revival of Baha’i communities throughout countries of the former Eastern Bloc in the 1990s. National bodies were soon established in Albania, the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Belarus. A National Assembly was also established in Sicily.

Europe in the Baha’i Writings

A number of European monarchs received letters from Baha'u'llah, and Shoghi Effendi links the downfall of virtually all of them to their failure to heed his counsel. The Guardian 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." But it is also that "dark, war-devastated, spiritually famished continent", "a materially highly advanced yet spiritually famished, much tormented, fear-ridden, hopelessly-sundered, heterogeneous conglomeration of races, nations, sects and classes." Europe's potential remains as significant as any other continent in the development of the Faith. 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?"

A clear theme in the Baha’i writings is the importance of Germany. ‘Abdu’l-Baha lavished praise on a country which would "surpass all other regions", and "lead all the nations and peoples of Europe spiritually," by virtue of its spiritual potentialities and geographical situation.

Growth

On the surface, Baha’i communities in Europe have not fulfilled their promise. In 1996, there were approximately 95,000 Baha’is in Europe, more than Oceania (77,000) but less than the other continents. The proportion of Baha'is in relation to the total population, however, is 130 Baha’is per million population - the least of all the continents. Oceania has around twenty times more Baha’is per population, and North America has ten times more. In terms of institutional development, there are more Local Spiritual Assemblies in the mid 1990s in Asia, Africa, and the Americas (5,954, 4,828 and 4,515 respectively), than in Europe (950). A more accurate indicator of the level of grassroots Baha’i activity is probably the number of LSAs per million population. Here also, Europe has the least number of LSAs per million population (1.3), but the order of magnitude is mostly smaller in comparison to the number of Baha’is per continent. Oceania has 31.1 LSAs per million, Africa 6.5, the Americas 5.7 and Asia 1.7.

The growth of the Faith in central and eastern Europe was predicted by Shoghi Effendi who commented on how the people there were "much more receptive". In the late 1990s, the two largest Baha’i communities are Albania (12,000 Baha’is) and Romania (7,000). The countries with the most Baha’is per million population are Albania (3681), Iceland (1493), Portugal (604), Cyprus (529), Romania (309), Ireland (195) and Norway (161). Iceland leads the table for LSAs per million (49) followed by Luxembourg (41), Cyprus (8) and Ireland (6). The countries with the smallest Baha’i presences, excluding the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, are Italy (0.9 LSAs per million), France (0.7) and Greece (0.6).

Three things stand out in this sort of sociological 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-Baha and Shoghi Effendi. But even if we look at a large island such as the United Kingdom (58 million) and compare it to countries of similar population such as Italy (57 million) and France (58 million), the U.K. has around three times the number of Baha’is and LSAs per million. 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 Baha’i in Europe is "as much the result of immigration as it is of recruitment of new believers." The arrival of Persian Baha’is 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. 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. Warburg explains the difference culturally, in that the Icelandic are more likely to innovate religiously than other Nordic populations.

Distinctive features

Although the Baha’i Faith has not grown rapidly in Europe, other signs of its evolution and progress are discernible. In Europe, for instance, women have played a distinctive role in the Faith's development, amidst traditionally patriarchal cultures and religions; some of the foremost scholars of the Baha’i 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 Baha'u'llah's teachings, and to championing the emancipation of the Iranian Baha’i community. Other distinctive contributions are being made by individuals in the fields of music and the arts. Europe has led the Baha’i world in the field of publishing, and the U.K. alone publishes nearly half the English-language books on the Faith. Also important are the efforts of European Baha’i youth, of such organisations as the European Baha’i Business Forum and the Associations for Baha’i Studies (English, French, German, Italian and Russian speaking), and European pioneers, living in places as far afield as Africa, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. Europe has also seen a high degree of co-operation between different national institutions. This was first seen with the European Teaching Committee of 1946, and more recently in the work of the European Baha’i Youth Council. The spread of the Faith throughout Europe, in the largest countries to the smallest island groups, is itself a unique characteristic of the Baha’i 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 Baha’i women pioneers were involved in establishing the early communities of Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. Marion Jack's sacrifices in pioneering in Bulgaria were legendary, and were much admired by the Guardian. Martha Root's travels were instrumental in teaching many prominent persons particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, including Queen Marie of Romania. Shoghi Effendi placed great significance on the acceptance of the Faith by Queen Marie, the first member of royalty to become a Baha’i. What made these women teachers so successful? 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. In a sense, as the European continent was being "saved" by America in their military and economic contributions to the Second World War, pioneers were being dispatched from North America by Shoghi Effendi to effect the spiritual salvation of the continent.

The European public

Certain aspects of European Baha’i history are notable. There are a number of firsts: in 1845, The Times of London included the first mention of the Babi movement in the West. The first public mention of the Babi religion is thought to be by Matthew Arnold, the famous writer and critic, in 1871 at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, while the first public presentation on the Babi-Baha’i 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 Baha'u'llah’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 Baha’i history is its role in diplomatic work, especially on behalf of the persecuted Iranian Baha’is. This may be said to have commenced with European diplomats who sought relief for persecuted Babis. By the 1920s it was manifest in the work of the "International Bureau Baha’i" headed by Jean Stannard in Geneva. In 1924 and 1936 papers presented on Baha’i themes at large multi-faith conferences raised the profile of the Baha’i Faith in Europe significantly.

Following the Iranian revolution, parliaments and non-governmental organisations throughout Europe joined the efforts of the European Baha’i communities to halt the persecution of the Iranian Baha’i community. 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. Despite the high level of recognition that accompanied these developments, however, there are still levels of ignorance in the European public mind. In some instances, the Faith continues to be reported as a "sect". 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 such as "independent evangelical Protestant churches, Catholic communities, Baha’i, Jehovah Witness, and Hasidic Jews."

Contribution to scholarship

European scholars have observed the progress of the Baha’i Faith from the time of its origins. A number of orientalists who were not themselves Baha’is 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 Bahá'í religion at the Paris Exposition of 1900 (Martinists Report). A.L.M. Nicolas, who had been first dragoman at the French legation at Tehran, published several early translations of Baha’i writings. In 1948 renowned historian Arnold Toynbee observed that the Baha’i Faith was amongst the new religions having the potential to establish a new civilisation.

As the Baha’i community emerged, so too did the number of its scholar members. The Hands of the Cause in the United Kingdom were all distinguished scholars: Esslemont, Townshend, Ferraby and Balyuzi. Other scholars have included Dreyfus and Bausani. An attachment to learning has also been a characteristic of Baha’i communities as a whole. The German Baha’is, for example, were producing five Baha’i journals by the 1920s. The present generation , which the House of Justice say "include outstanding of the Faith", have maintained this momentum, and much of the current work is channeled through various Associations for Baha’i Studies in Europe.

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. Baha’i communities need sustain their high artistic integrity. Baha’i studies would greatly benefit from more resource centres and libraries to assist researchers. Europeans have a history of charting unfamiliar waters. Materially a tradition of partnership was, to some extent, achieved with nations from other continents, and intellectually it has been the source of the great movements in the Western world. This innovation needs to be encouraged within the European Baha’i community. In the field of external affairs, the key challenge will be the extent to which Baha’is can enter public life, contributing and refining the concept of the new Europe. To what degree can we influence public discourse on civil society and cosmopolitan citizenship?

A second challenge is to further consolidate the Faith throughout the continent. The House of Justice specifically mention the need to strengthen Baha’i communities in the arctic and sub-arctic areas, the islands (including establishing an NSA of the Faroes), amongst the Romany people and other minorities, and in the Ukraine and 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."

A third task is an European contribution to an emerging Baha’i culture. Much of the world appears to have given way to the North American way of doing things. American dominance in present-day world culture comes, to some extent, with its excesses of hedonism, emotionalism, superficiality, and a fixation with personalities, entertainment, and money. These things inevitably affect the Baha’i community and need to be tempered with other cultural styles. *Europeans with their great cultural and intellectual traditions, with an emphasis on such values as tolerance, high-mindedness, refinement, taste, thoroughness, and breadth have much to offer an emerging Baha’i world culture.* Shoghi Effendi interestingly remarks about the influence of European Baha’is in a letter:

"He urges you to tell the American friends about the work and the new Baha’is 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."