Bahá'í Faith in Denmark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bahá'í Faith
Central figures

Bahá'u'lláh
The Báb · `Abdu'l-Bahá
Key scripture
Kitáb-i-Aqdas · Kitáb-i-Íqán

The Hidden Words
The Seven Valleys
Institutions

Administrative Order
The Guardianship
Universal House of Justice
Spiritual Assemblies
History

Bahá'í history · Timeline
Bábís · Shaykh Ahmad
Notable individuals

Shoghi Effendi
Martha Root · Táhirih
Badí‘ · Apostles
Hands of the Cause
See also

Symbols · Laws
Teachings · Texts
Calendar · Divisions
Pilgrimage · Prayer

Index of Bahá'í Articles
This box: view • talk • edit

The Bahá'í Faith in Denmark began in 1925 but it was more than 20 years before the Bahá'í community in Denmark began to grow after the arrival of American Bahá'í pioneers in 1946. Following that period of growth, the community established its Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly in 1962. With Iranian Bahá'í refugees and convert Danes the modern community was about 300 Bahá'ís as of 2002.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early history

[edit] `Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan

`Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion, wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan. The seventh of the tablets was the first to mention several countries in Europe including beyond where `Abdu'l-Bahá had visited in 1911-12. Written in April 11, 1916, it was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of the First World War and the Spanish flu. World traveling Bahá'í journalist Martha Root's subsequently visited King Haakon VII of Norway among her many trips.[2] The seventh tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4th, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12th, 1919.[3]

"In brief, this world-consuming war has set such a conflagration to the hearts that no word can describe it. In all the countries of the world the longing for universal peace is taking possession of the consciousness of men. There is not a soul who does not yearn for concord and peace. A most wonderful state of receptivity is being realized.… Therefore, O ye believers of God! Show ye an effort and after this war spread ye the synopsis of the divine teachings in the British Isles, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, San Marino, Balearic Isles, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Malta, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Hebrides and Orkney Islands."[4]

Following the release of these tablets a few Bahá'ís began moving to Scandinavian countries:

  • August Rudd became the first Bahá'í pioneer in Scandinavia (Sweden) in 1920.[5]
  • Johanna Schubartt moved to the United States and learned of the Bahá'í Faith from May Maxwell, Ruhiyyih Khanum's mother, in 1919 and returned to Norway in 1927.[6]
  • Johanne Sørensen, a Dane, became a Bahá'í while in the Territory of Hawaii in 1925. Returning to Denmark in the same year, she was the country's first Bahá'í, though there would be no others for more than 20 years perhaps in part due to her introverted personality.[1] During those years she was involved with translating, or seeing to translations being done, and corrsponded in over 100 letters with Shoghi Effendi, then the head of the religion about the translation work. In 1926 Sørensen published a translation credited as a work of John Esslemont's the year after his passing.[7] She then translated John Esslemont's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era which drew approving academic review. But there were no other converts to the religion during this early period. Sørensen remained active in her translation work until the community elected a Local Spiritual Assembly which then held the authority for the community's translating endeavours.

[edit] Period of Pioneers

Starting in 1946, following World War II, Shoghi Effendi drew up plans for the American (US and Canada) Bahá'í community to send pioneers to Europe including Denmark; the pioneers setup a European Teaching Committee chaired by Edna True. Prominent members of the committee included the women Dagmar Dole and Elenoir Holliboaugh who arrived in Denmark in 1947 and who helped establish the Denmark's first Bahá'í community.[1] Many of the early converts were supporters of the Det Radikale Venstre political party as part of a modern liberal outlook. From 1948 to 1952 thirty eight individuals converted to the Bahá'í Faith and none withdrew. In 1949 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in the country was elected in Copenhagen,[8] and in 1950 the Danish community hosted a number of continent-wide European Bahá'í events though still having about 50 Bahá'ís in the community. One of these meetings was a Conference coordinating pioneers to several places in Norway.[9] Some credit the success of the American pioneers in Denmark to the Danes being attracted to their "cultural style" - "emancipated, independent, and idealistic".[10] In 1957 Denmark, Scandinavia and Finland together formed a regional Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly.[11]

[edit] Establishment

Protester strains under weight of Vietnamese flag carried in anti-war march in West Berlin, 1969.
Protester strains under weight of Vietnamese flag carried in anti-war march in West Berlin, 1969.

In 1960, shortly after the passing of Shoghi Effendi and the culminating period of the Ten Year Crusade, which was an international Bahá'í teaching plan, Denmark became the home of some Iranian Bahá'ís, increasing the community's population to over 60,[1] and the Danish National Spiritual Assembly was formed in 1962.[10] In the wake of the 1968-9 cultural changes across Europe including youth movements, war and environmental issues protests.[12] most Bahá'í communities experienced sizable growth; from 1971 to 1974 the community nearly doubled. By 1979 the community's progressing organization of assemblies and petitioning, lead to government recognition of the Bahá'í Faith as a legal institution with privileges, including the authority to grant marriages.[1] In 1979 with the Iranian Revolution and its severe persecution of Bahá'ís, which continues past 2007,[13][14] many thousands of Iranian Bahá'ís fled the country and the portion that came to Denmark almost doubled the community's population again.[1]

[edit] Modern community

As of 2002 their were about 300 Bahá'ís in Denmark, and the community has also spread beyond Copenhagen into the countryside and rural provinces. It has been shown that there is a mix of liberal and conservative world views among the Bahá'ís.[15] Though a small proportion in a nation of over 5 million, yet in 1995 when Denmark hosted the United Nations World Summit for Social Development the Bahá'ís participated in an NGO contribution to the Summit as well as to the NGO-Forum held alongside.[1][16] Additionally the Bahá'is of Denmark are an object of academic study by University of Copenhagen Professor Margit Warburg and her students.[17]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Warburg, Margit (2004). in Peter Smith: Bahá'ís in the West. Kalimat Press, pp. 228-63. ISBN 1890688118. 
  2. ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, pp. 388. ISBN 0-87743-020-9. 
  3. ^ Abbas, 'Abdu'l-Bahá; Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, trans. and comments (1919). Tablets, Instructions and Words of Explanation. 
  4. ^ `Abdu'l-Bahá [1916-17] (1991). Tablets of the Divine Plan, Paperback, Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, p. 43. ISBN 0877432333. 
  5. ^ Collins, William; [Ed.] Moojan Momen. Studies in Babi and Baha'i History, volumes 1, chapter: Kenosha, 1893-1912: History of an Early Bahá'í Community in the United States. Kalimat Press, p. 248. ISBN 1890688452. 
  6. ^ Johanna Schubarth. Official Website of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Norway. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Norway (2008-03-25). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  7. ^ MacEoin, Denis; William Collins. Principles. The Babi and Baha'i Religions: An Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Press's ongoing series of Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  8. ^ Dr. Ahmadi. Baha'i timeline. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  9. ^ van den Hoonaard, Will C. (1994-03-09). "Baha'i Faith in Circumpolar Regions (Arctic)". draft of "A Short Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith", Bahá'í Library Online. Retrieved on 2008-04-22. 
  10. ^ a b Hassall, Graham & Fazel, Seena, “100 Years of the Bahá'í Faith in Europe”, Bahá’í Studies Review 1998 (8): pp. 35-44, <http://bahai-library.com/asia-pacific/Europe.htm> 
  11. ^ Hassall, Graham; Universal House of Justice. National Spiritual Assemblies statistics 1923-1999. Assorted Resource Tools. Bahá'í Academics Resource Library. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
  12. ^ Rootes, Christopher. "1968 and the Environmental Movement in Europe." [1] Retrieved 02-2008
  13. ^ UN Doc. E/CN.4/1993/41, Commission on Human Rights, 49th session, 28 January 1993, Final report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, paragraph 310.
  14. ^ Human Rights Watch (2006-06-06). Iran: Scores Arrested in Anti-Baha’i Campaign. Human Rights News. Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
  15. ^ Warburg, Margit (1999), “Baha'i: A Religious Approach to Globalization”, Social Compas 46 (1): pp. 47-56, doi:10.1177/003776899046001005, <http://scp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/46/1/47> 
  16. ^ Boyles, Ann (1994-5). The Bahá'í World; Bahá'ís and the Arts: Language of the Heart, pp. 243-272. 
  17. ^ van den Hoonaard, Will C.. "A bibliography of sociological or anthropological studies on the contemporary Baha'i Community". see entries 17, 18, 41, 55, 56. Bahá'í Academics Resource Library Retrieved on 2008-04-02.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Bahá'í Faith in Europe
Sovereign
states

Albania · Andorra · Armenia1 · Austria · Azerbaijan2 · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus1 · Czech Republic · Denmark4 · Estonia · Finland · France4, 5, 6 · Georgia2 · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Republic of Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan3 · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Republic of Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia3 · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain6 · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey3 · Ukraine · United Kingdom (England • Northern Ireland • Scotland • Wales)
Dependencies,
autonomies,
other territories

Abkhazia 2 · Adjara1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Åland · Azores · Crimea · Faroe Islands · Gagauzia · Gibraltar · Greenland7 · Guernsey · Jan Mayen · Jersey · Kosovo · Isle of Man · Madeira8 · Nagorno-Karabakh1 · Nakhchivan1 · Northern Cyprus1 · South Ossetia 2 · Svalbard · Transnistria
Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country. 1 Entirely in Southwest Asia.  2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the border definitions.  3 / 4 / 5 / 6 Has part of its territory in Asia / North America / South America / Africa.  7 / 8 Entirely on the North American Plate / African Plate.