| A Brief History
1993(click picture for larger view if you have a
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A Brief Historical
Sketch of the Baha’is of Long Island
The Baha’i Faith is a world religion with more than
five million believers throughout the planet. It originated in
Persia in the 19th century. Its Founder, Baha’u’llah,
proclaimed in 1863 that He was the latest in a series of Prophets
sent from God to revitalize humanity spiritually.
He reaffirmed the central principles of the previously revealed
religions and brought teachings aimed at creating a unified world
civilization. Baha’u’llah wrote, “The earth is but one country and
mankind its citizens.” Baha’is believe He is the Promised One of
all religions.
In the late 19th century, Baha’is traveled to North
America to announce the glad tidings of Baha’u’llah’s appearance.
By the beginning of the 20th century, there were several
Baha’i communities, including one in New York City. In 1912, Abdu’l-Baha,
the son of Baha’u’llah and appointed leader of the Baha’i Faith,
arrived in New York City. He crossed the East River to Long Island
and visited American Baha’is in Brooklyn.
Among the early Long Island Baha’is was Arthur Pillsbury Dodge
(1849-1915) who became a Baha’i in Chicago in 1896 and moved to
Freeport, Long Island in 1914. Mr. Dodge held Baha’i meetings in
his Freeport home on Sunday afternoons. In addition to being very
active in the Baha’i community, Mr. Dodge was a lawyer, publisher,
and inventor. He franchised the Babylon Street Long Island Railroad
(which used horse-drawn cars) to demonstrate his newly invented
kinetic steam motorcar. In 1901, he wrote The Truth of It,
an introduction to the Baha’i Faith for Christians.
By 1915, the Baha’is had an organized community in Hempstead, Long
Island. Over the next forty years, the presence of the Baha’i Faith
increased gradually. By 1954, there were Baha’is living in such
localities as Bellmore, Blue Point, Glen Cove, Freeport, Huntington
Station, Merrick, Port Washington, Sea Cliff, Seaford, Shoreham, and
Valley Stream, and as far east as Shelter Island.
By the early 1960s, the number of Baha’is living on Long Island was
approximately 100. Two of the first Baha’i Spiritual Assemblies on
Long Island were elected in 1962 in the Towns of Hempstead and North
Hempstead. By the end of the decade, the number of believers on
Long Island more than doubled, and Baha’i Spiritual Assemblies were
formed in the Towns of Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, and
Oyster Bay. Elected annually from the adult members of the Baha’i
community, which has no clergy, these Spiritual Assemblies are
consultative bodies responsible for the organization and guidance of
the local Baha’is.
In 1963, the first Baha’i election for the Universal House of
Justice (the governing body of the Baha’i world community) was held
in Haifa, Israel. Among its first nine members was H. Borrah
Kavelin, a Baha’i from Manhasset, Long Island.
In 1963, the first Baha’i World Congress was held at the Royal
Albert Hall in London. Among its thousands of participants were
also more than a dozen members from Long Island, including Rouhieh
McComb of Glenwood Landing who had, as an eight-year old child, met
Abdu’l-Baha in 1912.
In 1992, the second Baha’i World Congress was held at the Jacob
Javits Center in New York City. Among approximately 27,000
attendees from around the world were Baha’is from Long Island.
There are currently about 275 adults and 50 youth and children on
Long Island, residing in a dozen Baha’i communities throughout
Nassau and Suffolk counties. These communities are models of unity
in diversity and are composed of believers with a wide variety of
educational, cultural, religious, racial, and economic backgrounds.
The Baha’is of Long Island gather every 19 days, usually in local
believers’ homes, to commemorate the Baha’i Feast. At these
gatherings, Baha’is recite holy verses and prayers, consult on the
plans and activities of the community, and engage in spiritual
fellowship. Baha’is also gather to commemorate their Holy Days.
They participate in Baha’i School programs for adults and children,
conferences and conventions, devotional meetings, and charitable
endeavors. They have, for more than 80 years, shared the history
and teachings of the Baha’i Faith with the Long Island public in a
variety of ways, including public meetings, the media, firesides
(informal introductory meetings held in homes), social gatherings,
and information tables at fairs and colleges.
Long Island Baha’is are active in combating racism through their
Baha’i Race Unity Committee and serving on anti-bias task forces.
They also participate in interfaith forums and activities.
Over the years, several Long Island Baha’is have moved to faraway
places to spread the Baha’i message, places such as South Africa,
Uruguay, Hawaii, Mexico, Tanzania, Macao, Liberia, and Costa Rica.
These Long Island Baha’i “pioneers” and their counterparts
throughout the world are chiefly responsible for spreading their
Faith to the extent that the Baha’i Faith is now the second-most
widespread religion on the planet with Baha’is residing in more than
127,000 localities.
In 2001, land was purchased in Central Islip for a future Baha’i
Center on Long Island. The Baha’is are confident that their new
center, when built, will enhance their ability to share the Baha’i
Faith with the public and to promote teachings such as the
independent investigation of truth, the equality of men and women,
the elimination of prejudices, the unity of humanity, the oneness of
religion, and the establishment of universal peace.
Prepared in 2004 by the Long Island
Baha’i History Project
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