Houston Bahá'í Community

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Bringing Houston Together Through the Elevating of Minds and Uniting of Hearts for over 70 Years

The storied and colorful history of the Baha’i Faith in Houston is far too immense to even begin to broach here, but suffice it to say that the Houston Baha’i Community has been hard at work elevating minds and uniting hearts since the late 1940’s, when a young Baha’i lawyer by the name of Heman Sweatt worked very hard to help lay the groundwork for significant advancement in the then burgeoning civil rights movement in America. His relentless activism in pursuit of justice on the heels of a widely-known anti-discrimination case against the University of Texas School of Law eventually led to the establishment of what is now known as Texas Southern University and the advent of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education. The Houston Baha’i Community would continue to grow steadily throughout the ensuing decades, becoming a stalwart fixture of civil rights and social justice activism in the city, often providing a safe haven of real unity in diversity amidst the turmoil of profound social and political unrest. The Houston Baha’is were particularly known for their exciting network of firesides, which are periodic gatherings composed of Baha’is, friends of the Faith and seekers alike in which specific Baha’i-related themes are discussed, collaborations are formed, and music is played and sung with great vigor, the most well-attended and longest-running by far (over 50 years) being the one held at the home of Mrs. Freddie Baker (1927-2016). This was where many people first heard about this revolutionary Faith, officially declared their faith, and even entered into relationships and marriages. The sixties and seventies also saw the arrival of the first Persian Baha’is in Houston, beginning with a couple of families and continuing with a massive influx of familial networks in the years just before, during and following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which contributed greatly to the cultural enrichment and deepening of the Houston Baha’i community.

The decades-long journey of the Houston Baha’i Community from a few settlers and activists to roughly over 1,500 represents a gradual but steady blossoming of souls committed to truly living the tenets of unity in diversity through constant community engagement and practice. Since the Bicentenary of the Birth of Baha’u’llah in October 2017, this local community and the worldwide community at large have been experiencing a kind of reawakening as we usher in a new era of robust social action and engagement, aided extensively by the power of technology, leading to greater and greater numbers of souls into the realm of awareness of this civilization-advancing Revelation. Working alongside our efforts at social action are our equally-robust shapers and keepers of the community’s extensive pattern of growth through a self-sustaining network of core activities, such as children’s classes, junior youth groups, Ruhi study circles, devotional gatherings and regular home visits, all in an ardent collective prosecution of the Five Year Plan as promulgated by the Universal House of Justice, the Baha’i Faith’s supreme governing body.

Come join us as we continue to work to establish a truly divine civilization here on Earth, facilitated by cooperation from the wonderfully-diverse individuals, institutions and communities that comprise the immensely colorful and beautiful tapestry of our society.

Marcel Wormsley

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