Bahá’í Faith
In the late 1890’s, while ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá'u'lláh and His successor, was still a prisoner in ‘Akká, a small number of Westerners who were learning about the Bahá’í Faith made journeys to meet with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and deepen their understanding of this new faith.
The very first person to become a Bahá’í in the British Isles, in 1898, was Mrs Mary Thornburgh-Cropper, an American resident in London. She returned from visiting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá deeply affected and immediately began sharing the teachings amongst her social circle. Her good friend Ethel Rosenberg, a professional miniature painter from Bath, in 1899 became the first native English Bahá’í woman. These women, later joined by Lady Blomfield, laid the essential foundations for the development of the Bahá’í community.
The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom was first elected in 1923.
The very first Bahá’í in Maidenhead was also a woman – Mrs Helena Eliza Kempton. Then in her 99th year, Helena Kempton became a Bahá’í in July 1962. Her enrolment marked the foundation of the Maidenhead Bahá’í community.
Helena Kempton knew of the Bahá’í Faith through her daughter, Honor Kempton, who had become a Bahá’í in San Francisco in 1939. Honor Kempton went on to help found the first Bahá’í communities in Alaska and then in Luxembourg, where she passed away in February 1981. Honor Kempton’s efforts in sharing the Baha’i teachings are celebrated by today’s vibrant Baha’i communities in Alaska and Luxembourg.
For more information:
The worldwide Bahá’í community website: www.bahai.org
The UK Bahá'í website: www.bahai.org.uk
The Maidenhead community website: www.bahaismaidenhead.org
Bahá'ís believe that, throughout history, God has sent to humanity a series of divine Educators — known as Manifestations of God — whose teachings have provided the basis for the advancement of civilization. These Manifestations have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muḥammad. Bahá’u’lláh, the latest of these Messengers, explained that the religions of the world come from the same Source and are in essence successive chapters of one religion from God.
Bahá’ís believe that the crucial need facing humanity is to find a unifying vision of the future of society and of the nature and purpose of life. And that such a vision unfolds in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh.
Core principles of the Bahá’í Faith include:
The oneness of God and religion
The oneness of humanity and the elimination of all forms of prejudice
The inherent nobility of the human being
The fundamental equality of women and men
The centrality of justice to all human endeavours
The essential harmony of science and religion
The importance of universal education.
There is no priesthood or clergy in the Bahá’í Faith. Bahá’u’lláh ordained instead the formation of elected councils at local, national, and international levels - to serve the Bahá’í community and all of humankind.
The Bahá’í World Centre, the spiritual and administrative centre of the Bahá’í Faith, is on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel, across the bay from Akká, at that time the prison city to which Bahá’u’lláh had been banished, and close to which He passed away in 1892.
His shrine at Bahjí, north of Akká, is a place of pilgrimage for Bahá’ís (and open to all).