The Bahá’í Community of Canada: A Case Study in the Transplantation of Non-Western Religious Movements to Western Societies

Abstract

This study concerns the transplantation of non-Western faiths into Western settings, taking as a case study the origins and early life of the Bahá’í community in Canada. The article first indicates the historical origins of the Bahá’í Faith as a religious tradition and then gives a short history of the Canadian Bahá’í community. However, since the author’s objective is sociological rather than historical, the substance of this study is an examination of various factors that affected the ability of the Bahá’í Faith to be transplanted into Canadian society.