Navigation
In other projects
Learn more
Core topics
Bahá’í Faith
Central Figures
Teachings
Practices

Angola

From Bahaipedia
 Angola
Participants at the Angola Bahá’í National Convention, 2006.
Location of Angola
National AssemblyAngola
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 34,503,774
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 3,550
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Assembly 1956, Luanda 
 -  National Assembly 1992 
How to contact:
 -  Email secretariado@bahaiangola.com
Official Website https://www.bahaiangola.com/
Related media
Categories: Angola • People

The Republic of Angola a country on the west-central coast of Africa. Christianity is the predominant religion and Portuguese is the official language with Kimbundu, Umbundu, Chokwe, and Kikongo also being national languages.

The region was colonized by the Portuguese Empire in the 16th century and came to be known as Portuguese West Africa. In 1951 it was named Portuguese Angola and remained under colonial rule until achieving independence in 1975. After independence a civil war took place which was not resolved until 2002.

The Bahá’í Faith was present in Angola as early as 1952 but a community was not established until 1956. The Bahá’í community has faced challenges due to instability in the country but has continued to develop until the present, beginning to participate in social action and discourse in the 1990's.

History[edit]

In 1950 the African Campaign was launched, a teaching plan to establish the Bahá’í Faith on the continent. Angola itself was not designated a goal,[2] however a young Portuguese woman who had recently declared pioneered to the country,[3] with Shoghi Effendi announcing the country had been settled in 1952.[4] When the Ten Year Crusade was launched in 1953 Angola was designated a goal area for consolidation of a Bahá’í community and in December, 1953, Melvin and Helen Hope pioneered to Luanda from Great Britain.[5] The early pioneers were unsuccessful in establishing a community and departed Angola after a short time.[3]

in 1956 Mozambican Bahá’í Rudolfo Duna pioneered to Angola with his wife, Angelica, and daughter, Julia.[6] They settled in Luanda and began teaching with the first Angolan declaring in March, 1956,[7] and by April enough people had declared that the Local Spiritual Assembly of Luanda was established.[8] Teaching efforts also found success in Malange and Nova Lisboa with large numbers of people becoming Bahá’ís.[9]

Throughout 1956 additional pioneers arrived including Portuguese Bahá’ís Hilda and Jose Xavier Rodrigues in June,[10] and Cape Verdean Bahá’í Frutuoso de Brito in October, and the Duna's returned to Mozambique in December that year feeling the community was well established with the Rodrigues's assuming much of the responsibility for managing the community.[9]

In 1957 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Malange was established,[11] and Auxiliary Board member Harlan Ober visited the Angolan Bahá’ís.[12] In 1959 Hand of the Cause John Robarts visited the community.[12] The Rodrigues's departed the country returning to Portugal in 1960 due to the situation in Angola deteriorating and becoming unsafe.[13] In 1960 and 1961 several prominent Bahá’ís across the country were arrested due to the authorities fearing the Faith was a political movement,[14] with eight being sentenced to six years in a maximum security prison.[3]

In December, 1971, Rúḥíyyih Khánum briefly visited Angola when a ship she was travelling on docked in Lobito for two days and she gifted a young Angolan woman a copy of Prescription of Living.[15] During the 1970's many residents of Angola moved to Portugal as refugees and the Bahá’í community of Portugal experienced some success teaching in Angolan refugee communities in the late 1970's.[16]

War had broken out in Angola by 1975 disrupting Bahá’í activity in the country, however by 1976 activities had resumed.[17] In 1976 the National Spiritual Assembly of Swaziland, Mozambique, & Angola was established however the following year the body was dissolved with the Universal House of Justice assuming the responsibility of directly overseeing the administration of the Angolan Bahá’í community.[18] During the early 1980's Bahá’í travel teachers were able to stimulate significant growth of the countries Bahá’í community.[19]

In 1992 an independent National Spiritual Assembly of Angola was established,[20] and in 1995 the body was invited to be a member of Angola's National Institute of Religious Affairs Council.[21] In 1996 the Angolan Bahá’í community held a workshop for youth in Angola which aimed to provide a vision for their participation in society with many youth being unable to attend school due to unrest in the country.[22] In 1997 the Angolan Bahá’ís launched the Angolan Peace Project which resulted in seventy-two people declaring in one month.[23] In 1998 Angola was able to host a Bahá’í summer school,[24] and in 1999 a Bahá’í study course on the advancement of women.[25]

As of 2022 the Bahá’í Faith is an officially recognized religious group by the government of Angola being one of only two non-Christian groups to be officially recognized in the country.[26]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ Baha'i News (1953). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 265, Pg(s) 2. View as PDF.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 8
  4. ↑ Baha'i News (1952). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 255, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 276, Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 10
  7. ↑ Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 12
  8. ↑ Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 13
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 14
  10. ↑ Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 19
  11. ↑ Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 22
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 20
  13. ↑ Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 21
  14. ↑ Lowell Johnson, Heroes and Heroines of the Ten Year Crusade in Southern Africa, NSA of South Africa: Johannesburg, 2003 p 23
  15. ↑ Baha'i News (1972). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 499, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ Baha'i News (1977). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 552, Pg(s) 16. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 157. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ Baha'i News (1981). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 608, Pg(s) 10. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 149. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 249. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 120. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 3. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1999). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 26 (1997-1998), Pg(s) 100. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 79. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2001). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 28 (1999-2000), Pg(s) 48. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/angola/
Retrieved from "https://bahaipedia.org/index.php?title=Angola&oldid=140005"
Powered by MediaWiki