
The 2025 Ridvan Report released by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States looks celebratory at first glance. Pages and pages of professional language, statistics, and institutional initiatives are meant to give you the impression of strength and success. However, read the fine print, and you see a different story—a story of stagnation, exclusion, and disconnection from the spirit of Baha’u’llah sand the original message. Let’s explore the real message behind statistics and language
The Decline of the Faith: A Crisis Created by the Administration
The report indicates that 260 believers have chosen to disengage from the Faith, and 464 people died. That means over 700 people were lost to the community in one year, with only 396 new believers. The total number of declared Baha’is in the U.S. stands at just 15,200, spread thinly across a vast population. Most of those new arrivals likely arrived due to family or birth-born Baha’is, meaning they are likely not new, or they joined via outreach. Excluding reinstatements and returns, the data shows a glacial hemorrhaging of membership.
Despite billions of dollars being spent globally for decades, there are now 25,832, out of 32,625, localities without Baha’is in the U.S. – a staggering 79% of U.S. localities have NO active Baha’i community whatsoever. This shows a deep Administration failure in outreach and retention. This is nowhere near the community building. This is decline.
Youth: Missing in Action
The Ridvan report really makes effort to boast the successes of youth programs that were put into place—junior youth camps, summer activities, institute events, etc., but admits the harsh reality between the lines. For instance, the Wilmette Temple, the largest Baha’i institution in North America, only launched youth service initiative this year. Why? Because young people don’t care. The numbers say it all. In the entire country, only 125 youth declared this year, and just 26 junior youth became Baha’is. A mere 4,374 junior youth participated in programs – and most were not even Baha’is.
Young people are seekers of truth. The desire for justice, for sincerity, for independence in their search for faith. In exchange they find an inflexible administrative structure based on bureaucracy and fear of questioning. Ruhi books don’t motivate them. Declaration cards don’t liberate them. The Free Baha’is, who don’t control the bylaws, continue to receive more and more inquiries from disenfranchised youth.
The False Refuge of Institutionalism
The paper consistently speaks of “havens of peace,” implying that study circles and children’s classes are the sole solution to the suffering of humanity. Meanwhile, 79% of the country has no local Baha’i presence. This is not addressed at all; there is no reflection given on why the Faith has not spread organically, no mention of spiritual transformation, just institutionally managed participants. Each completed, and celebrated, Ruhi book (6,229 this year) holds no symbolism; there are no indications provided to answer the more significant question: are souls transforming? Where are the personal accounts of individuals who are finding peace, service, or a relationship with God through this ceremonial bureaucracy? There are none. It’s all output, no outcome. In fact, the Baha’i Faith boasted 58,921 devotional participants, yet doesn’t say how many were actual Baha’is. These programs increasingly serve as numbers-padding rather than soul-nourishment.
The Financial Empire Built on Faith
The report clarifies, $3.3 million has been given to the International Fund, and $39.5 million to the Shrine of Abdu’l Baha from the U.S. only. Meanwhile, the Faith’s total assets ballooned to over $181.7 million, and yet local communities struggle with relevance and visibility. Yet, while the money flows, the hearts are fleeing. How is it that a dwindling community is putting tens of millions into construction and development projects, while local assemblies are unable to attract people to the core teachings of Baha’u’llah? Are we building the Kingdom of God, or just building kingdoms of glass and concrete?
The Ruhi Curriculum – A Symptom of Control
The Ridvan Report exalts “advancement in clusters” and “programs of growth,” but these phrases are only thinly veiled euphemisms for systematic indoctrination through the Ruhi Institute. It’s all one and the same, complete with a lack of depth for the sake of duplicity.
Even the Wilmette Institute, which pretends it is an educational setting, is co-opting Baha’i theology to have propagandized graduates with the institutional vision of the Baha’i Faith. Evidence of co-opting is that Wilmette instructs its graduates to go back into the community and “revise your approach and reflect”—reflect on what? Not with regard to the authentic Writings of Baha’u’llah. There is no focus on personal investigation, nor critique of the actual status quo.
What the Free Baha’i Community Sees
The Free Baha’i movement sees through this veil. We see the administration drifting away from the true essence of faith. We see meetings full of statistics, without spirit. We see youth walking out, not because they don’t love Baha’u’llah, but because they no longer recognize him in what the UHJ has become.
Baha’u’llah warned about religious hierarchy and spiritual arrogance. And now, in this day, the Baha’i institutions look the same as the very clerical power structure they meant to replace.
A Call Back to the Core
A total of 254 individuals withdrew from Faith, with 77 citing doctrinal or administrative concerns, and 32 officially converted to another religion. These are not rebels; they are seekers of truth. When you move away from the original teachings of Baha’u’llah, people leave you – it is that obvious! The moment is here to reexamine: What did Baha’u’llah want? A religion directed by accountants, fund reports, and Ruhi completions? Or a world that fosters independent investigation, unity of hearts, and unconditional service.
Free Baha’is are not rebels. We are returners. We have returned to the original call of Baha’u’llah: the call not to control, but to liberate. The call is not to create kingdoms of paper, but communities of love. The call is not to sign cards, but to unlock hearts.
Conclusion: A House Divided
The Ridvan 2025 Report reads like the desperate attempts of an empire losing its hold. Money is rising, but meaning is fading. Under Administration, the reports are thick, but the Faith is thin. Community-building has become code for control, and the “society-building power of the Faith” has been buried under administration speak.
We Free Baha’is offer another way. A better way. A return to Baha’u’llah – not to the institutions that now stand between Him and His followers.
Let the reader decide.
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