- 1996-07-01 — The Bahá'í International Community launched the site "The Bahá'í World". Its stated purpose was to present "a collection of essays and articles that explore themes of relevance to the progress and well-being of humanity, highlight advancements in the worldwide Bahá'í community at the levels of thought and action, and reflect on the dynamic history of the Bahá'í Faith." It is one of the websites that continues the tradition initiated by Shoghi Effendi in 1926 when he began the publication of what came to be called "The Bahá'í World". Thirty-six volumes were published over to cover the period from 1925 to 2006, providing a public record of the Bahá'í international community's activities and achievements. [Ridván 1997]
See 2019-05-23. - 1997-00-00 — In 1997 One Country launched its website that contained all the English issues of the newsletter published over the previous three years. [One Country Vol 23 Issue3, BW'86-92p539]
- 2000-10-00 —
The Bahá'í World News Service began publishing online, picking up the reins of the former Bahá'í International News Service which was a biweekly printed newsletter. [One Country Vol 12 Issue 3 October-December 2000; Ridván Message 2001]
- In 2018 the BWNS began providing podcasts and in subsequent months, in addition to English and Persian, stories were be made available in Spanish and French. [BWNS1289]
- By September 2023 the site was publishing in English, French, Russian, Spanish and Farsi. [BWNS1695]
- 2004-05-31 — The launch of the Web site The Bahá'í Reference Library by the Bahá'í International Community. It marked the first time that a voluminous authoritative library of Bahá'í scripture and other Bahá'í publications had been available on the Internet. [reference.bahai.org, BWNS302]
- 2005-04-20 —
The launch of the new official website, titled The Bahá'ís to replace the previous site, "The Bahá'í World," at the same address. The site is also a portal to the family of official web sites of the Bahá'í International Community.
- The content of "The Bahá'í World" continued to be available as Bahá'í Topics: An Information Resource (archived, now redirects to bahai.org).
[BWNS368]
- 2006-06-16 —
The Bahá'í International Community's Office of Public Information announced the launch of a new website called "Bahá'í Media Bank,". The site contained more than 2,500 high-quality photographs on Bahá'í-related themes and the plan was to eventually include video and audio material.
[BWNS455]
- In September 2017, after nearly 11 years, the site was given an upgrade in time for the historic 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh. [BWNS1200]
- 2007-03-05 — The start of Bahaipedia - The Bahá'í collaborative encyclopedia. The name Bahaikipedia is a portmanteau of Bahá'í, wiki and encyclopedia. It was later changed to [Bahaipedia]
- 2007-11-07 — The launch of a new website by the Bahá'í International Community, The Life of Bahá'u'lláh to provide illustration of Bahá'u'lláh's life through photographs of places and artifacts and relics associated directly with Him. [BWNS586]
- 2015-01-20 — The website of the worldwide Bahá'í community at www.bahai.org was launched in a new version, representing the latest stage in the development of an official presence on the Web that extended back to 1996. [BWNS1037]
- 2017-02-15 —
The Bahá'í International Community announced the launch of a website for the Bahá'ís of Iran at Bahaisofiran.org. "Although the official website of the worldwide Bahá'í community had recently been made available in Persian and a number of other languages, the new "Baha'is of Iran" website was the first website of the Bahá'í community of Iran. This development was especially important at a time when a large volume of anti-Bahá'í propaganda had proliferated in that country. Since 2013 alone, more than 20,000 such pieces had been disseminated in Iran's media." [BWNS1152, The Baha'i Question Revisited]
- Web sites for other national communities can be found at A Global Community.
- 2017-09-28 —
The Universal House of Justice announced the launch of a new website, created in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Persian. This portal will be used to share news of the commemoration of the Twin Holy Days throughout the world.-
Included on that portal was the Message from the Universal House of Justice date October 2017 regarding the celebration of the Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh.
- 2017-10-20 —
Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh
From the time of the setting of the sun on October 21st in Kiribati, an island republic in the Central Pacific just west of the International Date Line, until sunset in Hawaii on the 22nd of October, 72 hours later, celebrations were held in thousands of localities throughout the world commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh.
Coverage on the bicentenary website began soon after 8:00 GMT on 20 October and concluded at 4:00 GMT on 23 October documenting some of the thousands of celebrations.
[BWNS1201,
BWNS1203,
BWNS1205,
BWNS1206,
BWNS1207,
BWNS1208,
BWNS1209,
BWNS1210,
BWNS1211,
BWNS1221,
BWNS1213,
BWNS1214,
BWNS1216,
BWNS1218]
- A number of countries issue commemorative stamps to mark the occasion of the bicentenary of Bahá'u'lláh's birth.
- 2017-11-30 —
Bahá'ís celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh in a ceremony in Baghdad attended by representatives from the Iraqi parliament, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, civil society as well as media activists.
- This was considered the most prominent ceremony where Bahá'ís officially announced themselves for the first time in 47 years, as the Baathist Revolutionary Command Council issued Decree No. 105 in 1970 to ban Bahá'í activities. As a consequence, Bahá'í administrative institutions in Iraq were dissolved and any activity where Bahá'ís declared their religious identity was punishable by imprisonment.
- During the proceedings they asked for support to rescind the law on prohibiting Bahá'í activity, which was still in effect despite the fact that the law contradicted the 2005 constitution, which guaranteed freedom of belief to all citizens.
- Millions of Bahá'ís around the world celebrated the honorary bicentennial of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh on Oct. 21-22. Bahá'ís in Baghdad celebrated after one month of postponements given the security difficulties and challenges surrounding the ceremony.
[Al-Monitor.com]
- 2018-02-18 — In an open letter, twenty-five prominent international lawyers and human right activists appealed to Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Secretary-General of the High Council for Human Rights in Iran, to take steps to end the persecution of the Bahá'ís in Iran. In the letter they made reference to the new website, "Archives of the Bahá'í Persecution in Iran", stating that it "vividly demonstrates the depth and breadth of unjust, relentless, and systematic oppression against a religious minority". [BICNews10Feb2018]
- 2019-05-23 —
The Baha'i World publication website was launched online this date.
- The website made available a selection of thoughtful essays and long-form articles on a range of subjects of interest to the wider public, conveying advancements in Bahá'í thought and action and reflecting the Faith's purpose in the world. [BWNS1329]
See 1996-07-01 - 2019-09-06 — The Universal House of Justice announced the launch of a new website to provide information about the events held to commemorate the Twin Holy Days. The site was revealed over an eight week period and was made available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili. It provided live streaming during the hours that the Bahá'í communities around the world commemorated the Birth of the Báb and the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh on the 29th and 30th of October. [BWNS1350]
- 2020-04-20 — A new section, featuring images, videos, and music from commemorations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Báb, was added to the two bicentenary websites. These websites stand as a permanent testament to how Bahá'ís and many of their compatriots throughout the world—from major urban centres to remote rural locations—commemorated the bicentennial anniversaries of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The final additions made to the bicentenary websites included country pages illustrating the diversity of celebrations that these historic occasions inspired in over 150 countries and territories.
[BWNS1717]
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