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The Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines is a community of Filipinos, who like their fellow Bahá'ís living in other parts of the world, view the world's major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity. They recognize Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, as the most recent in a line of Divine Messengers that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad. It is composed of Filipinos from various ethnic and religious background. The religion first reached the country in 1921 with a Bahá'í first visiting the Philippines that year. By 1944 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in the country was established in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. In the early 1960s, during a period of accelerated growth, the community grew from 200 in 1960 to 1000 by 1962 and 2000 by 1963. In 1964 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Philippines was elected and by 1980 there were 64000 Bahá'ís and 45 local assemblies. The Bahá'ís have been active in multi/inter-faith developments. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimates the Bahá'í population of the Philippines at about 272600. ==Early history== The first mention of the Philippines in Bahá'í literature, is in a letter from 1911 by `Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the founder of the religion. Later he wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916-1917 asking the followers of the religion to travel to other countries; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan. The seventh of the tablets was the first to mention several island nations in the Pacific Ocean. Written on April 11, 1916, it was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I and the Spanish flu. The seventh tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919. "A party speaking their languages, severed, holy, sanctified and filled with the love of God, must turn their faces to and travel through the three great island groups of the Pacific Ocean—Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, and the islands attached to these groups, such as New Guinea, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Philippine Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji Islands, New Hebrides, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, Bismarck Archipelago, Ceram, Celebes, Friendly Islands, Samoa Islands, Society Islands, Caroline Islands, Low Archipelago, Marquesas, Hawaiian Islands, Gilbert Islands, Moluccas, Marshall Islands, Timor and the other islands. With hearts overflowing with the love of God, with tongues commemorating the mention of God, with eyes turned to the Kingdom of God, they must deliver the glad tidings of the manifestation of the Lord of Hosts to all the people." Mirza Hossein R. Touty (perhaps a transliteration of "Tiati"), a Persian Bahá'í and subscriber to ''Star of the West'', travelled to the Philippine Islands in 1921 before the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá,〔 during American territorial period. Touty arrived via Shanghai, then Vladivostok and came to Mindanao in the Philippines, ending up in Surigao, in January 1921 for a time. In 1926 both Siegfried Schopflocher and Martha Root, both later entitled as Hands of the Cause, were able to give talks in Manila. Touty left the Philippines in 1926. In 1938 Felix Maddela became the first Filipino Bahá'í. His first encounter with the Bahá'í Faith was in 1924 when a purchase he made was wrapped in a piece of old newspaper which contained an article by Martha Root about the religion. As the author's address did not appear in the article, it was another 14 years before he encountered more about the religion. In the early spring of 1937, Loulie Albee Mathews arrived in Manila on board the "Franconia." As the boat was to dock for only a few hours, she managed to place in a college library a few pamphlets for the shelf of comparative religions. A few months later, on a visit to Manila from Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Mr. Maddela came across the literature. This started a series of correspondence with the Bahá'í Publishing Committee of the United States. With Madella so fired up, he immediately taught his family and friends. Shortly before World War II, the Bahá'í's of Solano numbered around fifty. When war broke out all communications ceased. Immediately after the war, contact was re-established through Alvin Blum, who was attached to the medical unit of the United States Army. Hitch-hiking to Solano, which was in ruins, he located the Maddelas living in impoverished conditions. Of the fifty enrolled Bahá'í's, twenty-five had been killed or missing. The others had survived by hiding in rice fields for three years. On December 2, 1946, the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'í's of Solano was incorporated. The members and incorporators were Felix Maddela, Angustia Maddela, Zacarias Tottoc, Mariano Tagubat, Nicanora Lorenzo, Dionisia Vadel, Maurelio Bueza, Jacinta Piggangay and Azucena Cruz. In 1947, Mr. Dominador Anunsacion and his brother Angelo traveled to Solano, heard and accepted the Faith. Upon their return to Santiago,Isabela another community was established.〔 Hazel Mori, an American, became a Bahá'í in the USA in 1941, and later moved to the Philippines as a Baha'i pioneer. For more than ten years she served as treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Philippines when it was formed later. Others, heeding the call of Shoghi Effendi, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, also visited Philippines. These were Nina Nadler, William Allison, Miss Virginia Breaks, and Michael Jamir. Hand of the Cause Agnes Baldwin Alexander also visited the Philippines six or seven times from 1958 to 1964. In 1956, the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Rosario and Diffun were established. The first Bahá'í Summer School was held in Solano in 1958. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Manila was also established in 1959.〔 Luisa Mapa Gomez was the first Bahá'í of Manila. Born in Talisay, Negros Occidental, she was the daughter of a prominent doctor, and graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Education. She sponsored countless students to attend elementary, high schools and colleges. After the visit of Mrs. Mori to the Philippines in 1953, and after attending firesides in the home of Mrs. Nina Adler, who was then working in the American Embassy, "Momsu", as she was fondly called, accepted the Faith.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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