Office of Public Information

The Public Information Officer (media communications liaison) for the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Boise
can be contacted through the Boise Bahá'í Community.

The Office of Public Information for the United States Bahá'í National Community may be contacted at:

Office of Public Information
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120
New York, NY 10017-1822
Phone: 212-803-2500
Fax: 212-803-2573
E-mail: usopi-ny@bic.org.

General Background on the Bahá'í Faith

Origins and History:  The Bahá'í Faith, an independent world religion, originated in Irán (Persia) in the 1840's. Its adherents were persecuted as heretics and exiled, first to Baghdad, and eventually (1868) to Akká in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Faith, was imprisoned or held under house arrest in Akká until His death in 1892.

Bahá'ís Worldwide: The Bahá'í Faith is a world religion, not a sect. There are organized Bahá'í assemblies (elected governing bodies) in more than 100,000 localities in over 340 countries and territories. More than 2100 ethnic groups and tribes are represented. The Bahá'í World Center in Haifa is both the administrative and spiritual center of the Faith. Affairs of the Bahá'í world community are administered by a supreme elected council, the Universal House of Justice.

Bahá'ís in the U.S.: 120,000 American Bahá'ís are active in 1700 communities in all 50 states. Ninety-percent of U.S. Bahá'ís are American-born; approximately one-third are blacks. Native American Indians and many other minority groups are active in the U.S. Bahá'í Community. Since the Islamic Revolutionary regime took over in Irán, some 10,000 Iránian Bahá'ís have found refuge in the U.S. from religious repression in Irán. The American Bahá'í community is governed by elected local assemblies and an elected national assembly.

Principal Teachings: The oneness of God, who has revealed religion through a series of prophets; the oneness of religions, and the oneness of all mankind. Bahá'ís teach that religious truth is not absolute, but relative; and that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin. Racial harmony, equality of women and men, harmony of science and religion, independent seeking after truth, universal compulsory education, and obedience to the civil law of the land are basic principles of the Bahá'í Faith.

For information on the religious persecution of the Iránian Bahá'ís, see the statement from the Office of Public Information for the United States Bahá'í National Community:  Religious Persecution of Iránian Bahá'ís.