The Community of Newtownards
Where are we?
Newtownards is the main town in a region known as the Ards, an area of great beauty and diversity which has evolved through the natural forces of wind, water and ice, as well as through man's activities. Located at the northern end of Strangford Lough, ten miles east of Belfast, Newtownards is the largest town in the Ards region. Ards is from the Irish Gaelic word for a promontory. The Ards peninsula stretches down and carves out Strangford Lough - famous for its hundreds of islands and the diversity of its wildlife - from the Irish Sea.
Dating from 1607, the town was built by the Scottish planter Sir Hugh Montgomery. A ruin in the Court Street area of the town is all that remains of a Dominican priory founded by the Anglo-Norman Savage family in 1244. Once a quiet market town, Newtownards is now a busy manufacturing and commercial centre with a population of more than 28,000.
One of the dominant features of the area around Newtownards is the Scrabo Tower, built as a memorial to the Third Marquis of Londonderry in recognition of his concern for the plight of his tenants during the great potato famine. It affords impressive views over the town and also the northern part of the Strangford Lough. The tower is part of the Scrabo Country Park and it is open to the public and home to an historical and local environment exhibition.
Scrabo Tower
Scrabo Tower and Newtownards
Strangford Lough
Who are we?
"We are the Bahá'í Community of Newtownards, Northern Ireland. We draw our members from all strata of society and religious backgrounds, finding unity in the Bahá'í Faith, the second most widespread religious community in the world. Our Faith gives meaning and direction to our lives both individually and collectively, answering such age old questions as who we are, where did we come from, and where are we headed. It gives great hope for the future at a time when major uncertainties challenge world peace and security."
The Bahá'ís of Newtownards see themselves as a part both of their town and area but also of something far greater. They are part of the world-wide community of the Bahá'ís and people for whom the essential oneness of the human race is a key belief.
The first Bahá'ís moved into the Ards district in the 1970s and the first local people to become members of the faith did so in 1978. In 1979 the first Spiritual Assembly for the Ards w - the local administrative body for the Bahá'í community - was elected. In 2000 it became the Spiritual Assembly for the town. As the Bahá'í Faith has no clergy, or individuals in positions of personal leadership, and all members are involved in its activities, its elected administrative bodies have a key role to play at local, regional, national, and international levels. The local Bahá'ís come from a variety of backgrounds; they work together to enhance both their own religious life and the wider community.
What we believe
The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Bahá’u’lláh (a title meaning “Glory of God”) (1817-1892), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time. In just over a century-and-a-half it has established itself as the world's second most widespread religion (after Christianity) and it is now the eighth-largest organized religion (these statements come from non-Bahá'í scholars, by the way, not from us).
The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its coming together in a global society based on justice and cooperation. Historical forces are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The main challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to work together.
For more than a century, Bahá'í communities around the globe have been working to break down barriers of prejudice between peoples and have collaborated with other like-minded groups to promote the model of a global society. At the heart of our belief is the conviction that humanity is a single people with a common destiny. In the words of Bahá'u'lláh, "The Earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
There are no Bahá'í clergy or leaders, the community is administered at all levels by elected bodies. All members have a say in the work of community and play their part. To learn more about the Bahá'í Faith and its teachings and see something of its activities world-wide in the section below.
Find out more
The Bahá'ís of the Republic of Ireland
The Bahá'ís Worldwide Community
The Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom