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Belgium

From Bahaipedia
 Belgium
Bahá’í European Teaching Conference, Brussels, 1949.
Location of Belgium
National AssemblyBelgium
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 11,611,419
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 3,319
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Bahá'í 1947, Léa Nys 
 -  Local Assembly 1948, Brussels 
 -  National Assembly 1962 
Official Website http://www.bahai.be/
Related media
Categories: Belgium • People

The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in Northwestern Europe. Dutch, French, and German are its official languages and Christianity and irreligion are the predominant beliefs.

The country was part of the Holy Roman Empire and ruled by the Netherlands from the Middle Ages to the 18th century achieving independence in the 1830s.

The Bahá’í Faith was present in Belgium in the 1920s and 1930s and a community was established in the late 1940s following the Second World War. The community has continued to grow and develop to the present day and the Bahá’í International Community has an office in Brussels.

History[edit]

The first significant presence of the Bahá’í Faith in Belgium came in 1928 when several Bahá’í Esperantists attended an Esperanto conference held in Antwerp. Shoghi Effendi also sent a letter to the Conference which was read at the opening session.[2] In the 1930's several Persian Bahá’ís moved to the country to complete tertiary studies at Belgian Universities,[3] and in 1936 May Maxwell and her daughter Mary made a travel teaching trip to the country at the suggestion of Shoghi Effendi.[4] The Second World War disrupted any efforts to establish a community in Belgium from the late 1930's to the mid 1940's.[5]

In 1946 Shoghi Effendi launched the Second Seven Year Plan, a teaching plan which tasked the American Bahá’í community with establishing the Faith across Europe.[5] In 1947 American Bahá’ís John and Eunice Shurcliff pioneered to Belgium and in September 1947 Léa Nys became the first Belgian Bahá’í through their efforts.[6] Nys began actively teaching the Faith herself and seven Belgians accepted the religion between January and April of 1948 leading to the establishment of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Brussels that year.[6] In 1949 Belgium hosted the second Bahá’í European Teaching Conference in Brussels.[6]

In 1951 a Regional Teaching Committee for the Benelux was formed to facilitate collaboration between the Bahá’í communities of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands and annual teaching conferences began to be held. Achieving growth proved to be difficult throughout the 1950's and as of 1956 there was still only one Local Spiritual Assembly in Belgium. In 1957 a joint National Spiritual Assembly for the Benelux Countries was established.[5]

Greater success in teaching occurred after the formation of the Benelux National Assembly with the Local Spiritual Assembly of Antwerp being established in 1959, an Assembly in Liege in 1960, and an Assembly in Charleroi in 1961.[3] The growth and administrative development of the community allowed for the establishment of an independent National Spiritual Assembly of Belgium in 1962.[7]

In the 1960's a Bahá’í Publishing Trust was established in Brussels,[8] and in 1972 the Trust contributed a display of Bahá’í books at an international book fair in Brussels.[9] and The community continued to grow throughout the decade with Belgium having six Local Spiritual Assemblies by 1968,[10] and growth became more rapid in the late 1960's and early 1970's with six Local Spiritual Assemblies being formed between 1968 and 1973 leaving the country with twelve and four Local Spiritual Assemblies had been legally recognized by 1973.[11]

In the mid 1970's the Belgium Bahá’ís began to focus on consolidation as some Assemblies had lapsed and the community was supported by pioneers and travel teachers. In 1975 an international Bahá’í Youth Conference was held in Oteppe which was attended by Ugo Giachery.[12]

In 1980 the National Spiritual Assembly of Belgium was invited to collaborated with the Faculty of Comparative Religion in Antwerp, a body founded by Belgium's Ministry of Education.[13] In 1986 the Bahá’í Faith was referred to in positive terms in an official government publication,[14] and in 1987 the Belgian Bahá’í community was awarded a Peace Messenger Award by the United Nations Information Office in Brussels.[15]

In 1996 the Kitab-i-Aqdas was published in Belgium for the first time.[16] In 1998 a conference was held in Brussels to commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bahá’í community of Belgium.[17] In 1999 the Belgian government solicited recommendations from civil societies on its plan for sustainable growth and the National Spiritual Assembly submitted recommendations.[18]

In 2007 the Bahá’í International Community established a Brussels Office,[19] which went on to coordinate the efforts of the international Bahá’í community to collaborate with the European Union, Council of Europe, and other European organizations.[20]

In 2022 members of Belgian Bahá’í institutions gathered for two days to consult on the progress of efforts of the Bahá’í community to provide moral education to children and youth over the last two decades.[21]

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. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. New York City, NY. Volume 3 (1928-1930), Pg(s) 347. View as PDF.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://bahai.be/who-we-are/
  4. ↑ https://bahai-library.com/shoghi-effendi_dear_coworker/#history-nakhjavani
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://bahai-library.com/shoghi-effendi_dear_coworker/#history-henuzet
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Paul Vreeland (Ed.), The Baha'i World, In Memoriam: 1992-1997, Baha'i World Centre: Haifa, 2010, p 6
  7. ↑ Baha'i News (1962). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 381, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 141. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 278. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 163. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 278. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 290. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 229. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 360. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 360. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 61. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 127. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2001). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 28 (1999-2000), Pg(s) 89. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/581/
  20. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1424/
  21. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1587/slideshow/24/
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