The Baháʼí Faith in Liberia begins with the entrance of the first member of the religion in 1952 and the first Baháʼí

Local Spiritual Assembly Spiritual Assembly is a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith. Because the Baháʼí Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community. In addition to existing at the local level ...

in 1958 in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

. By the end of 1963 there were five assemblies and Liberian Baháʼís elected their first

National Spiritual Assembly Spiritual Assembly is a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith. Because the Baháʼí Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community. In addition to existing at the local level ...

in 1975. Hosting various conferences through the '70's the community was somewhat disrupted by the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...

with some refugees going to

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

in 1990 and the re-establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1998. Third parties invited the modern Baháʼí community into their dialogues in the country while Baháʼís have continued their work supporting a private

Baháʼí school A Baháʼí school at its simplest would be a school run officially by the Baháʼí institutions in its jurisdiction and may be a local class or set of classes, normally run weekly where children get together to study about Baháʼí teachings, ...

, the Baháʼí Academy and a private radio station.Review of Radio Baha'i Ecuador
Author: Kurt John Hein Published by: George Ronald, 1988; Review by Des O'Shea, published in CADE: Journal of Distance Education 4,1 (1989)

Early phase

In 1916-1917 ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion, wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

asking the followers of the religion to travel to regions of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

; these letters were compiled together in the book titled

Tablets of the Divine Plan The ''Tablets of the Divine Plan'' collectively refers to 14 letters ( tablets) written between March 1916 and March 1917 by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to Baháʼís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were pr ...

. The publication was delayed until 1919 in

Star of the West ''Star of the West'' was an American merchant steamship that was launched in 1852 and scuttled by Confederate forces in 1863. In January 1861, the ship was hired by the government of the United States to transport military supplies and reinforc ...

magazine on December 12, 1919 after the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

. Particular plans to bring the religion to Uganda began in 1950 involving the cooperation of American, British, Egyptian, and Persian Baháʼí communities and reached a level of coordination and detail that materials were translated into languages widely used in Africa before pioneers reached Africa. Wide scale growth in the religion across

Sub-Sahara Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

n Africa was observed to begin in the 1950s and extend in the 1960s. In 1952, American William Foster pioneered to Liberia as the first presence of the religion in the country and began a

named the Baháʼí Academy. Granadan Hermione Vera Keens-Douglas Edwards and Jamaican Julius Edwards (

Knight of Baháʼu'lláh A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

for Ghana in 1953) moved to Liberia and Foster and others helped form the first Baháʼí

in 1958 in

. Mrs. Edwards served for many years under the Continental Board of Counsellors for Africa. In 1959 Muhammad Mustafa traveled to Liberia and was commissioned to answer some Muslim concerns about the Baháʼí Faith. This was ultimately published as There was a second assembly in

Bomi Hills Bomi may refer to: * Yoon Bo-mi, an idol singer in the South Korean group Apink * Bomi County, county in Liberia * Tubmanburg, also known as Bomi, capital of Bomi County in Liberia * Bomi, Sierra Leone * Bomi County, Tibet, county in Tibet * Bomi ...

(see

Tubmanburg Tubmanburg, also known as Bomi and formerly known as Vaitown, is the capital of Bomi County in Liberia. It lies in the Bomi Hills northwest of Monrovia and was an iron ore and diamond mining centre until it was largely destroyed in the First Libe ...

) before 1963.

Growth

In 1956, the western African region with about 1000 Baháʼís was organized into the regional National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of North-West Africa including Tunisia, Algeria, the various Moroccos and Cameroons, Togolands, the Gold Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Madeira, the Canary Island, Cape Verde Islands, and St. Thomas Island. At this time the Baháʼís in Liberia had an endowment or a national center in Bomi Hills By the end of 1963 there were assemblies in Bomi Hills,

Harper City Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name and place names, for example: Harper Islands, Nunavut. Places ;in Canada *Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of ...

Pleebo Pleebo (or Plibo) is a city located in Maryland County, Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Gu ...

, Gboweta, and Monrovia. There were smaller groups of Baháʼís in the a district of

Gbarnga Gbarnga is the capital city of Bong County, Liberia, lying north east of Monrovia. During the First Liberian Civil War, it was the base for Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia. Cuttington College, a private, Episcopal-affilia ...

Mano River The Mano River is a river in West Africa. It originates in the Guinea Highlands in Liberia and forms part of the Liberia-Sierra Leone border. The districts through which the river flows include the Parrot's Beak area of Guinea, Liberia's Lofa ...

Camp and

Totota Totota is a small town in Bong County, Liberia, with a population between 5,000 and 8,000 depending on the season. The main paved road from Monrovia to Gbarnga Gbarnga is the capital city of Bong County, Liberia, lying north east of Monrovia. ...

. Individual Baháʼís lived in Belefania, Gbarma, another district of

Harbel Harbel is a town in Margibi County, Liberia. It lies along the Farmington River, about 15 miles (24 km) upstream from the Atlantic Ocean.

, Kakata, Knowoke, Lazamai, Soboreke, Suakoko, and districts of Webbo. In 1967, the Baháʼí marriage ceremony was accepted in Liberia. And

Enoch Olinga Enoch Olinga (June 24, 1926 – September 16, 1979) was born to a Ugandan family of the Teso people, Iteso ethnic group. He became a Baháʼí Faith, Baháʼí, earned the title Knights of Baháʼu'lláh, Knight of Baháʼu'lláh and was appointed ...

also had a large influence on growth of the community including witnessing the first election of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1975. In 1971, the Baháʼís of Liberia hosted one of the Continental Conferences called for by the

Universal House of Justice The Universal House of Justice is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼí Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, as an institution that could legislate on issues not already addressed in the ...

. The Baháʼí Faith was a recognized part of the intellectual milieu at the

University of Liberia The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia Coll ...

in the early 1970s. The community hosted a West African Baháʼí Women's Conference held at the University of Liberia in December 1978. However, between the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War was a civil war in the West African nation of Liberia that lasted from 1999 to 2003. The war was mainly caused by transition failures after the First Civil War, especially the peace-building process which would res ...

stretching from 1989 to 2003, some 200 Liberian Baháʼí refugees fled to

in 1990 and there re-elected Local Assemblies, established regular Baháʼí meetings, invested the equivalent of $20 in order to buy tools for gardens and fish ponds and by ??? about 1,000 Baháʼís and 25 Local Assemblies in the area. The use of folk art was mentioned as one reason for growth in the community - Liberian Baháʼís had established a Light of Unity Project for promoting the arts. and

Baháʼí radio Since 1977, the international community of the Baháʼí Faith has established several radio stations worldwide, particularly in the Americas. Programmes may include local news, music, topics related to socio-economic and community development, ed ...

stations of which Liberia has one. In 1994 the first national youth conference held at which 75 youth came. By 1998, the National Spiritual Assembly was re-elected.

Modern community

Since its inception the religion has had involvement in

socio-economic development Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analys ...

beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the

dated 20 October 1983 was released. Baháʼís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the

Baháʼí teachings The teachings of the Baháʼí Faith are derived from the writings of Baháʼu'lláh, its founder. A corpus of Baháʼí literature include books and writings of the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh, along with the public talks and writings of ‘Abdu� ...

, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Baháʼí socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. While Liberia was still in civil war Baháʼís continued to be active in and near Liberia. In 2000 a Baháʼí was among the volunteers that gave relief to refugees in Ghana. In 2002, Kathleen and Brannon Underwood pioneered in Liberia for a short time. Brannon had just retired in 2002 from a 30-year career as a professor of rehabilitation counseling in the master's program at

South Carolina State University South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina. It is the only public, historically black land-grant research university in South Carolina, is a member o ...

. In 2005 the United States Embassy in Liberia supported a panel discussion among religious leaders from the Islamic, Christian, and Baháʼí faiths. In 2007, the Liberian Better Future Foundation (BFF), in collaboration with the

United Nations Refugee Agency The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, lo ...

, invited Baháʼí youth to be among the participants in a two-day interfaith leadership workshop in Jacob Town and Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly in 2007, James Peabody spoke to the assemblage.

Baháʼí Academy

In 2004, Kathleen Underwood returned to serve as principal of the K-12 Baháʼí Academy, which was on the verge of closing. It was broke, needed to repair the roof and didn't have the means necessary to secure a license from the ministry of education have no textbooks relying solely on their instructors for information. Near the end of their studies, students must pass the West African Senior School Certificate Examination ( WASSCE) which is administered by the

West African Examinations Council The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is an examination board established by law to determine the examinations required in the public interest in the English-speaking West African countries, to conduct the examinations and to award certi ...

. Each day the students participate in Formation, which includes the raising of the Liberian Flag, morning prayer and the recitation of the pledge to their flag.

Demographics

A small percentage of the Liberian population is Baháʼí,

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, or

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. The

Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making t ...

(relying on

World Christian Encyclopedia ''World Christian Encyclopedia'' is a reference work, with its third edition published by Edinburgh University Press in November 2019. The ''WCE'' is known for providing membership statistics for major world religions and Christian denomination ...

) estimated some 11,691 Baháʼís in 2005.

References

External links

Liberian Baháʼí National Community
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baha'i Faith in Liberia Religion in Liberia

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...