Napkin

Apparently there are millions of Bahai's in the US? And this is the largest Baha'i forum in the world? How come there are only 2500 members? only one person viewing the general board right now.

I participate in a hobby that is fairly unpopular and there are usually 30 people on that forum. What gives?

arthra

Who told you there were millions of Baha'is in the U.S.?

I think that might be true some day but where did you get your figures?

ahanu

Yeah, the figure right now should be in the thousands, huh?

wombatwolf

There are only 6 million-ish Baha'is in the whole world...about 170,000 U.S. members

imranshaykh

This is an interesting article which I saw on the internet which I think may be useful for this thread -

Recently two articles posted on net effectively analyzed exaggerated Baha’i census. One "Exit by Troops" (Exit By Troops: Why the Baha'i Faith Can't Keep its Converts) and the other "Three types of Baha’i census of India." (BAHA'I CENSUS)

The first article is a very moderate view of the author, whereas the second article “The Three Type of Baha’i census of India” is much deeper analysiation supported by documents authenticated by figures.

The common point in the two analyziations is the fact that One reason for this huge discrepancy in Baha’i census is that’ no one is ever removed from the membership rolls unless they write a letter to the National Center renouncing their belief. So a person who becomes disillusioned and simply drifts away can remain on the rolls indefinitely. Once a Baha’i then always a Baha’i even after his death.’

There is another opinion by Mr. Larry Rowe who believes that "The gross exaggeration of world Baha'i membership numbers is meant to placate all those who have been promised entry by troops for the past 80 years. The gross exaggeration of the number of actual Baha'is in India goes hand in hand with the inclusion of tens of thousands of people who signed declaration cards in North America in the past 20 to 40 years and that was it; they never truly became Baha'is they simply put their name on a card like you would on a Zellers card and never followed it up. Also the many others who signed declaration cards but who have become inactive and no long believe in the Baha'i faith or have actually joined other religious communities but have never taken the time to resign and have been addressing unknown for many years."

Well I feel that the real cause for such a huge exaggeration in Baha’i census is much deeper and that is ‘well planned strategy of Baha’i administration centered at Haifa to show to the world high acceptability and success so as to claim that Baha’i Faith is one of the major religions of the world. It can be considered as the thirteen unwritten principle of Haifa based organization. All the counselors, ABMs assistant and members of LSAs are trained to work towards achieving this goal. The one who is more expert in this exaggeration is promoted much higher in the Baha’i Organization.

The Ruhi book courses are just to collect the addresses and to claim these are bahais. False stories are fabricated that the whole world is just dying for doing Ruhi books and to be converted. Whereas the fact is that many countries have deported Bahais for prolyesting children and Junior youths as young as fifteen years and in many countries the Priests have warned the bahais not to do any moral classes with Christian children they may do it only for Baha’i children.

There is virtually no Baha'is in continental Europe. Very few in Holland, similar in Spain, Germany and France, fewer in Italy. From a demographic point of view this may as well be "zero."

The Bahais claim to be about 5,000 in the UK but who knows what that means, and it is not a lot anyway. Likewise the CIS countries have very few Baha'is. Almost none in China. So, with Europe, Eurasia and China out of the way, where are they?

There are 60,000 adult Baha'is with good addresses in the US, 12,500 in Canada. These are addresses only! It means the aim of Ruhi Books courses are implemented very successfully. Actually they are not more than 500 in US and same number in Canada

The Middle East is likewise very small. Mostly Persians who deceitfully married Arab women without giving their Baha’i identity and then claiming their Baha’i children as citizen of that country.

There are 2,000 at most in the Arab world mostly Iranian pioneers. There are less than 30,000 registered Bahais in Iran. Maybe 200, mostly Iranian refugees, in Turkey.

Not more than 1500 in Pakistan (mainly former Hindus, mainly rural peasants).About 500 in Bangladesh

There are 300 in Thailand. There were 400 in Vietnam before the revolution, but few are likely to remain. There are very few, then, in all of Southeast Asia. There are only a few hundred in Japan, and a similar number in Korea. East Asia is a wash.

All that is really left is Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and India. 2.2 millions are claimed in India but the official census of Government of India say the exact number of Baha'is are only 11,324. Indians like to 'join' things, but go on being Hindus.

The claim of millions of Baha'is in Latin America is also fake. Mexico appears to have almost none. Columbia and Bolivia may have few hundreds each, to my recollection, but that is not the same as millions.

The biggest community was Uganda. But it has been greatly disrupted in the last 2 decades by war and dictatorship, and one doesn't know how many are left.

The Baha’i movement contains no potential for growth. It has only vertical potential of growth in terms of different sects originating in small time of 160 years. (Sects OF Bah's). The 7 million reported to Encyclopedia Britannica by someone in Wilmette or Haifa is....wish fulfillment rather than a solid social science statistic. This high exaggeration also points towards a high level of frustration which is developing amongst members of Haifa based organization. At any point of time the Baha’i population in the World is not more than hundred thousand (0.1 million).

InvestigateTruth

@Imranshaykh,

We know that, how worried the Iranian Government is regarding the progress of Baha'i Faith in Iran. Recently, Iranian state TV made a fake interview with 3 people who claimed were Baha'is but came out from Baha'i Faith.
It was funny, because the Baha'is just know this was a fake interview, as the ,manner and the way Baha'is talk is known to Baha'i community.
Simillarly your information above is just a fake way to misrepresent Baha'i Faith.
But it's not really worth to go through it and make a reply to show it is not true.

arthra

The Ruhi book courses are just to collect the addresses and to claim these are bahais. False stories are fabricated that the whole world is just dying for doing Ruhi books and to be converted.

This is an interesting statement and in my view has little relationship to the facts... Ruhi classes are open to anyone..non-Baha'i or Baha'i can attend the courses. There is no fabrication in claiming conversions in this process... Are names and addresses noted? Yes they are but the non-Baha'i people who take the classes are not considered converts.

If a non-Baha'i decides to become a Baha'i... He or she must apply for membership by signing a declaration card they they accept Baha'u'llah as the Lord of this age. The application goes before a Local Assembly or a designated person who has some recognized standing as a Counselor or Auxiliary. The applicant is often asked what their understanding is of Baha'i laws and beliefs.. After this process if they maintain their belief they are considered Baha'i.

At a later time if they choose to resign or leave the Faith they can again request to do do so and their wishes are honored and they return to being non-Baha'i.

hypnotoad

It's likely that the numbers are exaggerated, but they are for many religions. I'm not even sure how to get a solid count on total Baha'is.

What I do know is that the post claiming only 500 Baha'is in the US is absolute Rubbish. I have almost that many people who self identify as Baha'is as friends on facebook that I've met at various summer schools/winter schools or in the communities I've lived in.

There are many Baha'is who are not "active" but that doesn't mean they are not Baha'is. This is really no different than any other religion.

Edit: Also of note, there are over 1,000 facebook "likes" of this website alone, and very few posts in non North American Regions. That would mean that all of the 500 American and Canadian Baha'is, as claimed above, were all on this forum.

170k does seem like quite a few, and it really just depends on the metrics. That would come out to about 3,400 per state, although some states are more populous. I would guess we're looking at more like a couple of hundred active Baha'is in each city of a major metro area, so probably close to a few thousand in Chicago, Dallas, etc.

I'm guessing in terms of "active" Baha'is, there are probably about 50,000, and generally speaking with religion, only 20-30% are usually active, in any sense, which means that if 50,000 Baha'is are active, there are probably somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 Baha'is total, which jives with the numbers claimed.

wombatwolf

I disagree- Independent surveys (conducted ,for example the World Christian Encyclopedia) have estimated into the several millions (that particular source says 7 million).

Considering the Fund is pulling in tens of millions of dollars a year there should be a realistic number of people giving. I would throw my number into the hat at around 2-3 million.

hypnotoad

I just meant in the United States.