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I grew up a Baha'i
Founded a century and a half ago, the Bah??? Faith is today among the fastest-growing of the world?s religions. With more than five million followers, who reside in virtually every nation on earth, it is the second-most widespread faith, surpassing every religion but Christianity in its geographic reach. Bah??is reside in more than 100,000 localities around the world, an expansion that reflects their dedication to the ideal of world citizenship.
The Faith?s Founder was Bah??u?Lelah, a Persian nobleman from Tehran who, in the mid-nineteenth century, left a life of princely comfort and security and, in the face of intense persecution and deprivation, brought to humanity a stirring new message of peace and unity.
The Bah?'? Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Bah?'u'll?h (1817-1892), is regarded by Bah?'?s as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.
The central theme of Bah?'u'll?h's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God, Bah?'u'll?h said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.
One of the purposes of the Bah?'? Faith is to help make this possible. A worldwide community of some five million Bah?'?s, representative of most of the nations, races and cultures on earth, is working to give Bah?'u'll?h's teachings practical effect. Their experience will be a source of encouragement to all who share their vision of humanity as one global family and the earth as one homeland.
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