Magdalena Vytlačilová
APOSTASY AND THE LEVEL OF ACTIVITY IN THE BAHÁ’I FAITH
Abstract: The Bahá’i faith is usually described as one of fastest growing religions in the world. In
the following article the numbers of Bahaʾi adherents given by the official Baha’i statistics and by
the Association of Religious Data Archives (the Arda) is compared with numbers from the latest
censuses. Worldwide there are less than 700 thousand active Baháʾists, which is in conflict with the
numbers given by Arda and by Baha’i statistic (from six to seven millions of adherents). Although an
attempt to prove that the data provided by Baháʾis are false or inflated is not made, an argument
is presented that this data reflects good missionary results. However, since the Bahaʾi faith lacks
conversion rituals and collective rituals which would strength religious identity, it is argued here that
the Baháʾi faith is not able to turn new converts into stable adherents.
Keywords: the Bahá’i faith; apostasy; conversion; religious identity; Bahá’ist
THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, Vol. 92, 2021, No. 1, Number of Article 4, p. 54 – 70.
DOI: 10.14712/12117617.92.1.4