Baha'is diminishing in The United Kingdom

The first one is believed to be the Return of "Jesus Christ" while the other one (Baha'u'llah) has claimed himself to be the "Sender of Prophets", the "God of Gods".

How have England & Wales changed in the last decade? Today we get a pretty good idea as the Office for National Statistics releases the first detailed results of the 2011 census. If you want to find out what religions Britons practice, how many of them are mixed-race, where they come from or whether they work, this is the place you can find out :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/dec/11/census-2011-religion-race-education

At one other place the blogger of "Heresy Corner" writes thus about the "OTHER RELIGIONS"

Officially, around 241,000 people in England and Wales listed their religion as "other" on last year's Census form, the results of which were released yesterday.  This doesn't include the 177,000 self-declared Jedi, who are counted separately (the Census people assume, for some reason, that it's not a proper religion).  In 2001 there were 390,000 Jedi Knights, who were put down as No Religion, as were people who called themselves atheists, humanists and even heathens.  This was problematic because many, perhaps most, "Heathens" are followers of Norse gods rather than atheists.  This year, following a campaign, Heathens were listed as "Other religion".  Otherwise, the figures were calculated in much the same way.

The total represents a big increase on the 151,00 Others in 2001 - even allowing for the misidentified Heathens.  It mirrors, almost exactly, the percentage increase in those of No Religion, which rose from under 15% to over 25%.  It's up by two thirds.  It's a smaller increase, in both absolute and percentage terms, than Buddhism has enjoyed - Buddhists leapfrogged Others to go from 144,000 to 248,000, an increase of 72%.  It also trails behind Islam, up 75%.  But Islam's increase can largely be attributed to immigration and birthrate.  It's dramatic when set against the huge fall in Christianity (down from 72% to 59%), the modest rise in numbers of Hindus and Sikhs and the flatlining Jews.

Further.....

The Category "Others" also includes well-established faiths, some of great antiquity, others just about long-enough established to count as "proper" religions.  These can be broken down as follows:

Minority Indian religions:
Jain: 20,288
Ravidassia: 11,058
Total: 31,346

Baha'i: 5,021

Traditional Chinese Religion:
Taoist: 4144
Chinese: 182
Confucian: 124
Total: 4450
(I suspect that the majority of UK Chinese put themselves down as Buddhists or Christians)

Zoroastrianism: 4,105
Shinto: 1075
Druze: 515
Traditional African, Voodoo, Animist: 1290
Native American Church: 127

The grand total of "minor faiths" is 47,929: well behind the number of pagans and very similar to that for the religious freelancers.  No Mormons are listed, incidentally.  I assume that all the Mormons described themselves as Christians.

Finally, New Religious Movements, some of which come under the rubric of cults.  By far the largest (and certainly no cult) is Rastafarianism, with 7,906 adherents, more than the Baha'i, Zoroastrianism or all the traditional Chinese faiths combined.  The others that make the list are: Scientology (2418), Moonies (452), Brahma Kumari (442), Eckankar (379).  This brings a total of 11,597, or just 3691 if you exclude the Rastafarians.

SOURCES :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/dec/11/census-2011-religion-race-education
http://heresycorner.blogspot.com/2012/12/significant-others.html

Iran arrests 28 over links to foreign-based TV networks advocating banned Baha’i religion

Indian Iranian (Baha'i) Sama Sabet reporting for Noveen TV

TEHRAN, Iran — Tehran’s chief prosecutor says authorities have arrested 28 Iranians for alleged links to foreign-based TV networks advocating the Baha’i religion, which is banned in the Islamic Republic.

A Tuesday report by semi-official Mehr news agency quotes Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi as saying intelligence officers arrested the members of “counterrevolutionary networks” in 10 buildings across the city of Tehran.

The detainees were in close contact with TV networks that advocate the Baha’i faith, Dowlatabadi said.

Source : http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-arrests-28-over-links-to-foreign-based-tv-networks-advocating-banned-bahai-religion/2012/12/11/b4d635b4-439f-11e2-8c8f-fbebf7ccab4e_story.html

One more "World Religion" comes out from the "Baha'i World Faith"

The Greatest Maitreya Symbol. And the "Twin Manifestations" of ........ !

This new cult is an offshoot of Baha'ism. Now its missionaries (also Iranian) denounce the Baha'i faith. They say that they don't have any direct relationship with Baha'ism but they have written letters to the Baha'i Organizations to join them. They consider Baha'u'llah as one of the true prophet. The founder of Maitreya Cult was also born in Iran in 1944 (1844 is a significant year for Baha'is) and claims to be the one promised by Baha'u'llah. They have their reasoning, more powerful then what the Baha'is have. They also speak the language of Baha'is (Unity, Equality, Peace and stuff like that). Many Baha'is have accepted this new cult that originated in Iran but flourished in the West.

Please read the history of this new "Manifestation" and how he learned to 'cook' a new Religion from Baha'i books.
http://www.maitreya.org/files/Other/became-m.htm

A Maitreya Missionary speaks the Baha'i language and talks about his invitation to Baha'is :


So this is a newly discovered Sect of Baha'is.

More Baha'i sects can be studied here :
http://www.thesectsofbahais.com

Attention Baha'is :
Please also read this : http://www.maitreya.org/english/WHOISM.HTM

Utimately Farzam Arbab and Kiser Barnes have decided to leave the longly occupied seats!

Farzam Arbab - Member of UHJ for 19 Years

In a letter dated November 5, 2012, the Universal House of Justice has announced the resignations of two of its members, Dr. Farzam Arbab and Mr. Kiser Barnes, with effect from the completion of the election of the Universal House of Justice at Ridvan 2013. Dr. Arbab (b. October 27, 1941) was appointed to the International Teaching Centre in 1988 and elected to the Universal House of Justice in 1993, Mr. Barnes (b. January 13, 1943) was appointed to the International Teaching Centre in 1993, and elected to the Universal House of Justice in 2000.

The letter is available as a PDF document in SEN MCGLINN'S documents archive.

Source : SenMcGlinn's Blog

Unitarian Baha'is to commemorate the "Day of the Empty Throne" on 20th November

The Empty Throne of Guardian

"The Day of the Empty Throne" commemorates the anniversary of the day, in 1957, on which the Hands of the Cause voted to declare the office of Guardianship of the Bahai Faith permanently vacant, basing their decision on Shoghi Effendi Rabbani's sudden death apparently without appointing a successor or providing any instructions for who should lead the faith after his passing. The Hands invoked the Islamic concept of "bada" (revision), i.e. that God had changed His mind.

On this day every year, Unitarian Bahais mourn the loss of the ideal of the "Covenant" and "World Order of Bahaullah" in which successors of Bahaullah would guide the Bahai cause and preserve the unity of its followers. As a result of this loss, we look to the opportunity for the Throne of the Holy Spirit to reside within each and every one of us, and for inspired teachings and guidance to emanate from our own hearts, minds, tongues and pens rather than only from one man or one institution of religious leadership.

For more info about :
The Unitarian Bahai Association
Please visit : http://www.unitarianbahai.org/