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Citadel of Faith
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Pages 46-48
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Marvelous Acceleration [FIRST MESSAGE TO 1948 CONVENTION]
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I am moved to share with assembled delegates of the fortieth
American Bahá'í Convention the following facts and figures testifying
to the present status of the World Faith of Bahá'u'lláh and disclosing
the marvelous acceleration in the double process of the extension of its
range and the consolidation of the institutions of its Administrative
Order in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres in the course of the
first four years of the second Bahá'í century.
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The number of countries opened to the Faith total ninety-one.
Bahá'í literature is translated and printed in fifty-one languages.
Representatives of thirty-one races are enrolled in the Bahá'í World
Community. Eighty-eight assemblies, national and local, are incorporated.
The number of localities where Bahá'ís have established residence has
been raised to over thirty in Australasia, to over forty in Germany and
Austria, over sixty in the Dominion of Canada, over eighty in the
Indian subcontinent and Burma, over one hundred in Latin America,
over seven hundred in Persia and to over twelve hundred in the United
States of America.
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The value of international Bahá'í endowments in the Holy Land
and the Jordan Valley is estimated at over six hundred thousand
pounds. National Bahá'í endowments on the North American continent
are valued at over two million dollars. The area of land dedicated
to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in Persia is approximately four million square
meters. The value of the national Hazíratu'l-Quds in the capitals of
India and Persia respectively is six hundred thousand rupees and fifty
thousand pounds. The area of land dedicated to the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
in South America is ninety thousand square meters. The
number of pieces of Bahá'í literature sold and distributed in the course
of one year in North America is over eighty thousand pieces. The
record of the number of visitors to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in America
in one year is over seventeen thousand and the total number of visitors
since its erection is over one quarter of a million. The number of
states in the American Union formally recognizing Bahá'í marriage
certificates is now eight. The number of national assemblies functioning
in the Bahá'í world is raised to nine through the formation of the
first Canadian National Assembly, to be shortly reinforced through the
constitution of two additional assemblies in South and Central America
and the West Indies.
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The second seven-year, the six-year, the four and one-half year, the
six-year, the three-year, the five-year and forty-five month plans respectively
launched by the American, British, Indian, Australasian, Iráqí,
Canadian, and Persian National Spiritual Assemblies, some culminating
at the first Centennial of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh's mission, others
the Hundredth Anniversary of the Báb's Martyrdom, are aiming at the
establishment of three national assemblies in Canada and Latin America,
the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Mother
Temple of the West, the formation of spiritual assemblies in ten
sovereign states of the European continent, the constitution of nineteen
assemblies in the British Isles, doubling the number of assemblies in
India, Pakistan and Burma, the reconstitution of the dissolved assemblies
and the establishment of ninety-five new centers in Persia, the
conversion of groups in Bahrein, the Hijáz and Afghánistán into
assemblies, the formation of administrative nuclei in the Arabian
territories of Yemen, Oman, Hasa and Kuweit; the formation of thirty-one
groups and seven assemblies in Australia, New Zealand and
Tasmania; the multiplication of centers in the provinces of `Iráq,
including the district of Shattu'l-Arab; the incorporation of the Canadian
National Assembly; doubling the number of assemblies and
raising to one hundred the centers in the Dominion of Canada; the
constitution of nuclei in Newfoundland and Greenland and the
participation of Eskimos and Red Indians in the local institutions of the
Administrative Order.
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Plans and specifications have been prepared, and preliminary
measures taken, to place contracts for the arcade of the Báb's Sepulcher.
Historic International Bahá'í Congresses held in South and Central
America and an inter-European Teaching Conference projected for
Geneva paving the way for future World Bahá'í Congress. Recognition
extended to the Faith by United Nations as international non-governmental
body, enabling appointment of accredited representatives
to United Nations conferences, is heralding world recognition
for a universal proclamation of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
[April 16, 1948]
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