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Spain

From Bahaipedia
 Spain
Bahá’í National Convention of Spain, 1970.
Location of Spain
National AssemblySpain
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 47,486,935
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 13,666
History:
Firsts
 -  Bahá'í to visit 1926, Martha Root 
 -  Pioneers 1930, Leonora Armstrong
1946, Virginia Orbison 
 -  Local Assembly 1948, Madrid 
 -  National Assembly 1962 
Official Website http://www.bahai.es/
Related media
Categories: Spain • People

The Kingdom of Spain is a country in Southwest Europe. Spanish is the official language and Christianity is the predominant religion. In recent history the country became an authoritarian dictatorship after a civil war fought from 1936 to 1939. Democracy was restored in 1975.

The Bahá’í Faith was first introduced to Spain in the 1920s and a community was established in the late 1940s which remains active to the present day.

History[edit]

In October 1926 Martha Root visited Spain although her ability to teach was limited due to the strong influence of the Catholic Church in the country and little is known about her visit.[2] In July 1930 Leonora Armstrong moved to Spain to study the Spanish language arriving in Barcelona then settling in Madrid actively teaching while in the country. Her efforts lead to the establishment of the first Bahá’í group of Spain however she was unable to enrol to study Spanish at a University and departed in November.[3]

In December 1946 Virginia Orbison pioneered to Spain settling in Madrid with the encouragement of Shoghi Effendi. She was unable to publicly proclaim the Faith due to governmental restrictions but through private teaching activities seven people became Bahá’ís in her first seven months in the country,[4] and Eduardo Gonzales joined her in Madrid pioneering from New York in June 1947 remaining until early 1948.[5][6] Dorothy Baker visited Spain while travel teaching across Europe in early 1948,[7] and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Madrid was established that year with a second Local Spiritual Assembly being established in Barcelona through the efforts of Virginia Orbison in 1949.[4]

In 1951 Dorothy Baker visited Spain again,[8] and by 1954 Local Spiritual Assemblies had been established in Murcia and Tarrasa.[4] In late 1954 an Iberian Teaching Conference was held in Barcelona which was attended by sixty Bahá’ís and immediately after the conference several Bahá’ís, including Virginia Orbison were arrested as the police were under the impression the Bahá’ís were communists,[9] however Orbison was able to convince the police the Faith was not a threat and the Bahá’ís were released with Orbison feeling that the incident resulted in the Faith establishing good relations with the authorities.[10]

Teaching work continued after the situation with the authorities was resolved and a Local Spiritual Assembly was established in Alicante in 1956,[11] a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds was purchased in Madrid the same year,[12] and a National Spiritual Assembly of the Iberian Peninsula responsible for administrating the Bahá’í Faith in Spain and Portugal was established in 1957 with the inaugural election taking place in Madrid.[13] In 1958 a Local Spiritual Assembly was established in Valencia which was the eighth Assembly in Spain,[14] and in 1959 the marriage of Antonio Jiminez Guitierrez and Parvin Vahid Tehrani became the first civilly registered Bahá’í marriage to take place in Spain.[15]

In 1962 an independent National Spiritual Assembly of Spain was established with Hand of the Cause Paul Haney attending the countries inaugural Bahá’í National Convention and the same year the first Bahá’í book published in Spain was made available for sale with government approval.[16] As of 1964 there were eleven Local Spiritual Assemblies in Spain,[17] and twelve by 1968.[18] The National Spiritual Assembly of Spain was legally recognized as a religious association by the Spanish Ministry of Justice in July, 1968, resulting in all Local Spiritual Assemblies also automatically gaining legal recognition,[19] and in 1969 the National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds and all local Bahá’í centres were legally recognised as sites of Bahá’í gatherings.[20] Also in 1969 the Bahá’í Publishing Trust of Spain was officially registered, the National Spiritual Assembly of Spain was granted permission to print a newsletter,[20] and the first European Youth Conference was held in Madrid.[21]

The Faith continued to grow in Spain in the early 1970's and the country had twenty-seven Local Spiritual Assemblies in 1973.[20] In early 1973 Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir visited Spain with ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan visiting later in the year, in 1974 Abu'l-Qásim Faizi and Adelbert Mühlschlegel visited, and in 1975 Ugo Giachery visited to support the Bahá’í community.[22] Major teaching projects were undertaken in several cities across the country in 1974 and 1975,[23] and the National Bahá’í Audio-Visual Committee of Spain began publishing texts to use on radio to publicise the Faith as well as sixty dossiers with information to be presented to officials and the press.[24]

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979 Spain became a country which served as a transit centre for Iranian Bahá’ís aiming to settle in America as refugees,[25] with a representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada visiting to assist in procedures in 1983.[26] Efforts to teach the Faith to members of the Romani people were undertaken in the south of Spain in the early 1980's with two Local Spiritual Assemblies being established with mostly Romani members early in the decade.[27] In 1988 a Bahá’í Studies conference was held in Barcelona and attended by one hundred and fifty people with four newspaper articles about the event being published,[28] and in 1989 a regional Bahá’í Youth Conference was held in Madrid which was attended by seven hundred youth making it the largest Bahá’í gathering ever held in Spain.[29]

In 1993 the first Bahá’í Congress of Catalonia was held in Barcelona which was attended by representatives of the European Parliament and National Congress of Spain.[30] In 1995 the Bahá’í community of Spain organized a roundtable discussion on religious tolerance at the Spanish National Bahá’í Center to commemorate the United Nations International Year of Tolerance,[31] and Bahá’ís were interviewed by television stations after holding a Human Rights Day celebration the same year.[32] In 1996 the Bahá’í National Education Committee held a Children's Class seminar at the National Bahá’í Centre in Madrid attended by over fifty people,[33] and in 1997 a celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Bahá’í Faith in Spain was held in Madrid with Rúḥíyyih Khánum attending the event.[34] In 1999 the Kitáb-i-Aqdas was officially translated into Spanish and the translation was presented at an event attended by two hundred people in Madrid.[35]

In 2009 a major Bahá’í Regional Conference was held in Madrid which was attended by around 1,400 people who consulted on the institute process.[36] In 2011 the Spanish Bahá’í community participated in an interfaith dialogue which culminated in the publication of a document putting forward a propsal for how religions could contribute to the accomplishment of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals.[37] In 2013 an international Bahá’í Youth Conference was held in Madrid which was attended by 370 youth from Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands.[38]

In 2015 the Spanish Bahá’í community cosponsored a conference on governance and religion in Barcelona which was attended by over fifty people,[39] and in 2016 a document on governance and religion was published as a result of the discussions.[40] Also in 2016 the Bahá’í community cohosted an interfaith event in Madrid attended by two hundred people.[41] In 2019 the Spanish Bahá’í community co-organized a university course aiming to explore the nature of radicalization and the impact of religion on society,[42] and the Spanish Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs held a roundtable discussion for prominent Spanish journalists to discuss the function of journalism in society.[43]

In 2022 local Bahá’í conferences were held in Spain as part of the Global Conferences initiative of the international Bahá’í community.[44]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

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. ↑ M. R. Garis (1983). Martha Root: Lioness at the Threshold. United States: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, United States. p. 260. ISBN 0877431841.
  3. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1986). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 18 (1979-1983), Pg(s) 736. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 694. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 197, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ Baha'i News (1948). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 205, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Baha'i News (1948). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 206, Pg(s) 1. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ Baha'i News (1954). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 277, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Baha'u'llah, George Ronald: Oxford, 2017, p 348
  10. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 695. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ Baha'i News (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 308, Pg(s) 9. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ Baha'i News (1957). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 315, Pg(s) 4. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ Baha'i News (1957). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 319, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ Baha'i News (1958). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 329, Pg(s) 22. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ Baha'i News (1959). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 342, Pg(s) 15. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ Baha'i News (1962). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 376, Pg(s) 9. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 135. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 167. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ Baha'i News (1968). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 451, Pg(s) 13. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 288. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1976). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 15 (1968-1973), Pg(s) 329. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 312. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 313. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1978). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 16 (1973-1976), Pg(s) 313. View as PDF.
  25. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 52. View as PDF.
  26. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 52. View as PDF.
  27. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 19 (1983-1986), Pg(s) 173. View as PDF.
  28. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 363. View as PDF.
  29. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 355. View as PDF.
  30. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1993). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 21 (1992-1993), Pg(s) 146. View as PDF.
  31. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 129. View as PDF.
  32. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1997). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 24 (1995-1996), Pg(s) 105. View as PDF.
  33. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 109. View as PDF.
  34. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1999). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 26 (1997-1998), Pg(s) 72. View as PDF.
  35. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2001). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 28 (1999-2000), Pg(s) 99. View as PDF.
  36. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/community-news/regional-conferences/madrid.html
  37. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/847/
  38. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/community-news/youth-conferences/madrid.html
  39. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1042/
  40. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1134/
  41. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1104/
  42. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1337/
  43. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1318/
  44. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1601/slideshow/83/
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