scientologyFrench court tries Church of Scientology; group and 7 leaders charged
By Pierre-Antoine Souchard, The Associated Press
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PARIS - The Church of Scientology could be dissolved in France if it is convicted in a trial that opened Monday in a Paris court, where the group and seven of its French leaders stand charged of organized fraud and illegal pharmaceutical activity.
The group, considered a sect in France, has faced prosecution and difficulties in registering its activities in many countries.
The trial comes more than a decade after one of the three plaintiffs originally filed a complaint against the Church of Scientology. A young woman said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of close to US$30,000 on books, courses and "purification packages" after being recruited by the group in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused.
Investigating judge Jean-Christophe Hullin spent years examining the group's activities, and in his indictment criticized practices he said were aimed at extracting large sums of money from members and plunging them into a "state of subjection."
The investigator questioned what he called the Scientologists' "obsession" with financial gain, and the group's practice of selling vitamins, leading to the charge of "acting illegally as a pharmacy."
Patrick Maisonneuve, lawyer for the Church of Scientology in France, dismissed any organized fraud, although he acknowledged there could have been individual abuses.
"The discovery of a pedophile priest does not allow us to question the entire Catholic Church," he was quoted as saying in the weekly L'Express magazine ahead of the trial opening.
The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, has been active for decades in Europe but has struggled to gain status as a religion. The U.S. State Department has criticized Belgium, Germany and other European countries for labelling Scientology a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.
A guilty verdict in the current French trial could shut down the group's activities in France.
The investigating judge also questioned the validity of an "electrometer" sold to members for 4,800 euros (about C$7,500) and used to measure variations in their mental state. The judge, in the indictment, called it "an illusion aimed at giving a scientific sense to an operation that has nothing of the kind."
Unusually, the Paris prosecutor's office had recommended the charges be dropped, but the court agreed to take up the case.
In 2002, a French court fined the Paris regional branch of the church for a data protection violation but acquitted it of attempted fraud and judges refused to disband it.
The Church of Scientology teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. It claims 10 million members around the world, including celebrity devotees Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
SOURCE:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090525/world/religion_france_scientology
A bleak future for Baha'is
Published 13 May 2009
International pressure may have set Roxana Saberi free, but the plight of seven Iranian Baha'is, imprisoned in Tehran a year ago, has gone largely unnoticed.
Earlier this week, US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was freed from prison in Iran after having her sentence for "spying" reduced. The charge, which she strongly denied, sparked international attention and calls for her release, which has now been widely welcomed.
But Ms Saberi leaves behind her many other inmates in Tehran's notorious Evin prison whose “crimes” against the Iranian state are also open to question.
Thursday (14 May) marks the first anniversary of the arrest and detention of seven prominent members of the Baha'i faith, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority.
The five men and two women made up an informal national committee, serving the needs of the country's 300,000 strong Baha'i community in the absence of formal Baha'i institutions, which are outlawed. Their committee – which had operated with the full knowledge of the authorities – along with all local ad hoc Baha'i administrations – was disbanded in March this year in a gesture of good will from the peaceful and law-abiding Baha'is to their government.
In the one year since their incarceration, the seven detainees have faced no charges nor have they been allowed access to their legal counsel, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Shirin Ebadi. They have faced spurious accusations of "espionage for Israel", and "insulting religious sanctities".
Iran’s prosecutor-general, Ayatollah Dorri-Najafabadi, has asserted that there is evidence that the seven have been involved in "intelligence-gathering" and "infiltration", thus more or less declaring their guilt before any trial date has been announced. The evidence he refers to has yet to be disclosed to the public or produced in a court of law.
In recent days, however, a report from the Baha'i's UN office indicates that another charge is being levelled against the seven prisoners; that of “spreading corruption on earth.”
To the Western reader, such an accusation may seem to be a confusing or even nebulous basis for criminal charges. But in theocratic Iran it has a basis in the penal code and leaves the accused in an extremely vulnerable position.
The term, found in the Koran, has increasingly been used within Islamic legal practice to brand any undesirable "offender": Muslims considered to be too lax in their practices; those who are considered socially evil, such as drug-traffickers and prostitutes; or those with whom the authorities have a fundamental theological disagreement, such as the Baha’is.
Vague as these charges may be, they still have the potential to lead the accused to the executioner.
The allegations against the Baha'is are as nonsensical as they are unjust. The accusations play to the fears of certain areas of the Iranian population about enemies - internal and external - conspiring to undermine the country.
Iran remains a state with a great sense of its own historic legacy and with a clear goal of attaining a mantle of regional leadership - of both moral, as well as political, dimensions.
For the seven Baha'is being held in the grim confines of their Evin cells, their best hope for release might lie in a public protest as widespread as the one that led to the freeing of Roxana Saberi.
Such an outcry may help Iran’s leaders to reflect that imprisoning and persecuting the innocent is not in their national interest.
Moojan Momen is an Iranian author and academic, and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society
SOURCE: http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2009/05/roxana-saberi-baha-iran-tehran
"...The Earth is one country and mankind its citizens..." --Baha'u'llah
"God Bless JJ Abrams.
Seriously.
For the last decade or so I’ve thrown screenings in Austin and beyond. I’ve worked so hard to give people the sort of screening that I always dreamt about as a geek growing up."...
To continue reading his review go here: (Beware a few spoilers)http://www.aintitcool.com/node/40683
Nine women spill the secret words of wisdom that keep their relationship blissful.
By Sara Anderson for Redbook Photo: iStockphoto.com/© Kevin Russ Updated: Apr 3, 2009
SOURCE: http://dating.personals.yahoo.com/singles/relationships/24281/dating-101-the-best-relationship-advice-i-ever-got/;_ylc=X3oDMTQyYTR0bTdxBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEX3MDMjE0MjE1NDczNgRrA1RoZSBCZXN0IFJlbGF0aW9uc2hpcCBBZHZpY2UgSSBFdmVyIEdvdARzZWMDZnBfdG9kYXkEc2xrA2RhdGl%20Zy0xMDEtYmVzdC1yZWxhdGlvbnNoaXAtYWR2aWNlLWktZXZlci1nb3Q-
The Naw Ruz video doesn't seem to be on You Tube, so you'll have to go to me Facebook profile page to watch that.
What do you get if you divide science by God?
A prize-winning quantum physicist says a spiritual reality is veiled from us, and science offers a glimpse behind that veil. So how do scientists investigating the fundamental nature of the universe assess any role of God, asks Mark Vernon.
The Templeton Prize, awarded for contributions to "affirming life's spiritual dimension", has been won by French physicist Bernard d'Espagnat, who has worked on quantum physics with some of the most famous names in modern science.
Quantum physics is a hugely successful theory: the predictions it makes about the behaviour of subatomic particles are extraordinarily accurate. And yet, it raises profound puzzles about reality that remain as yet to be understood.
 | WHAT IS QUANTUM PHYSICS? Originated in work conducted by Max Planck and Albert Einstein at start of 20th Century They discovered that light comes in discrete packets, or quanta, which we call photons The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle says certain features of subatomic particles like momentum and position cannot be known precisely at the same time Gaps remain, like attempts to find the 'God Particle' that scientists hope to spot in the Large Hadron Collider. It is required to give other particles mass |
The bizarre nature of quantum physics has attracted some speculations that are wacky but the theory suggests to some serious scientists that reality, at its most basic, is perfectly compatible with what might be called a spiritual view of things.
Some suggest that observers play a key part in determining the nature of things. Legendary physicist John Wheeler said the cosmos "has not really happened, it is not a phenomenon, until it has been observed to happen."
D'Espagnat worked with Wheeler, though he himself reckons quantum theory suggests something different. For him, quantum physics shows us that reality is ultimately "veiled" from us.
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7955846.stm
| From The Community Paper from North San Diego County Cover Story | February 26th, 2009 |
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What is it?  The imprisoned in Iran. Their Crime? They are members of the Baha’i Religious Group |
When a similar thing happened in 1980, the national leadership of the Iranian Baha'i community disappeared. And this was repeated again in 1981. In fact, since 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed, holy places and cemeteries desecrated, homes burned, civil rights taken away and secret lists compiled of Baha'is (and even Muslims who associate with them) by government agencies.
It's bad right now for all the peace-loving Baha'is in Iran who want only to practice their religion and follow their beliefs. It's especially bad for these seven. They're teachers, and engineers, and optometrists and social workers just like us.
This thought has become kind of a cliché', but we take our rights for granted here in America. Imagine if a group of people were rounded up and imprisoned and then disappeared not for anything they'd done, but because they wanted to worship differently than the majority. There is a resolution on the situation of the Baha'is in Iran being sent to Congress. Please ask your representatives to support it. And ask them to speak out about this terrible situation.
We’ll have more information on the “trial” and the accused a bit later on in this story. But let’s examine a little more in-depth of who the Baha’i are, so that we might better understand the issues:
First off, there are a couple of unique features to the Baha’i lifestyle . . . for it is a lifestyle as well as a religious philosophy. They don’t have ministers. They don’t have a “church hierarchy.” No Pope, no Bishops, no ministers, no pastors. They democratically elect their local and national leaders. Every year.
They do not accept funding from anyone outside the Baha’i faith. One of the Rockefellers once wanted to help support Baha’i with a major, large donation. The Baha’is courteously declined the money. You will never see a Baha’i in a political race. They do not believe in partisan political activity because it is divisive and, in the end, that is what the primary goal of Baha’i is. Unity. Not to divide a people, or political parties, or governments, or nations . . . but to unify the world.
While there are many Baha’is in the military, they serve as noncombatants. They avoid violence and would become violent only if it were to save someone else’s life, but not their own. If ordered by a superior military officer in time of war to take military action, they will comply as they are taught the necessity of following the government’s orders.
If you look at the Baha’i beliefs, their tenets, their philosphy, as a lifestyle . . . you’d probably agree with every single element.
What do Baha’is practice?
• daily prayer and communion with God
• high moral principles, including trustworthiness, chastity and honesty
• independent investigation of truth
• a life dedicated to the service of humanity
• fellowship with the followers of all religions
• avoidance of excessive materialism, partisan politics, backbiting, alcohol, drugs and gambling
Hmmmm. Still sounds interesting, doesn’t it? And logical. And practical.
Just what do Baha’is believe?
• the purpose of life is to know and worship God, to acquire virtues, to promote the oneness of humankind and to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization
• all humanity was created by one God and is part of one human race
• work performed in the spirit of service is a form of worship
• the soul, created at the moment of conception, is destined by God to reach the afterlife, where it will continue to progress until it attains the presence of God.
Let’s take a look and get to know some of our neighbors in North San Diego County. They’re pretty much the same as you and me. The only difference? They are Bahai’s. We spoke earlier of Jacque Smith. He has a wife, Gracie, that all of Escondido has loved ever since they’ve been in town. Actually, it was Gracie that led Jacque to Baha’i.
It was on July 6, 1947, that Jacque and Gracie Smith were married in Santa Monica. Jacque was 20, Gracie was 17. (If you’re doing the math, they’ve been married 61 years). They raised three beautiful children and are retired today and living in Escondido. Gracie became a Baha’i in 1957 in Santa Monica. Her brother had become a Baha’i. She observed, liked it, and joined.
Gracie tells the story: “We had one child, Anita. I had friends all around me who were wanting me to baptize her. Most were Catholics. I prayed every night to be shown the right way. I wanted to bring my child up to believe in the right path to God. Soon after that, months perhaps, my brother found the faith through his dentist. He became totally enamored of the faith. He and his wife became B’ahai. He brought literature home. It took me awhile to even pick up the literature . . . My mom said, “I was born Episcoplian, I will die an Episcopalian.”
Finally, I had to read the literature. The first thing I read totally convinced me, “this is the truth.” I read it to my mother . . . mother agreed. The two of us then knew it was the truth. . . she and I then declared our faith in Baha’i, together. I invited Jacque to a Baha’i meeting called a Fireside. He went, enjoyed it, and the answers suited him and he began reading on his own. Jacque and my dad became Baha’is a year later.
Jacque Smith picks up the story: “Back then, it was mandatory in order to join Baha’i that you had to study books. You had to know the ground rules. That is no longer mandatory. You do learn, however, that Baha’i is a democratically elected organization. Every 19 days there is a mandatory meeting that you should attend. There is no punishment if you don’t, but it’s for your own good. They consist of spiritual readings, an administrative part of the feast, then comes the part, you meet and great people and we have a meal together.”
Jacque would retire from the Navy where he had served for 25 years as a deep sea and salvage diver. As Jacque explained to me, for a Baha'i, the primary mission is to bring unity . . .to unify the world in peace . . . to not attack your brother, ever.
“Gossip is one of the worst things you can do,” he said. “It is called the ‘Fire of the Tongue.’ Other tenets of the faith include getting written permission from all living and sane parents to marry; because it is not a marriage of individuals but of family. Marriage exists for family.”
The Baha’i World Center is in Haifa, Israel. There, the "Universal House Justice", comprised of nine elected panel members reside and oversee the worldwide Baha’i faith. They serve five year terms.
Another North County Baha’i neighbor is Eileen Norman. Like Jacque and Gracie Smith, Eileen Norman was not born in the faith but discovered it and embraced it.
“I had a very good friend who had become a Baha’i; we were in our 20’s, raising children. One of my pregnancies was very difficult with the potential for serious consquences which could involve losing my child. I became morose, desperate. My friend gave me a pamphlet called “Open Door.” I read it and it made great sense to me. That took me to my first Fireside meeting. It took about a year, heels dragging, and I asked every question I could think so I could trip those people up. After a year, I realized I was a Baha’i! It was so close to what I believed in all my life that I became a Baha’i. That was 51 years ago, in Los Angeles.”
Eileen, now a widow, had three children. Her daughter, who died at age 29, was a Baha’i prior to her death. Her son is a physicist. He and his wife are both Baha’i, as was her husband, prior to his passing. Her husband was a musician and Eileen was a professional singer, prior to their marriage.
She was invited by the Baha’i National Assembly to go to Wilmette, Illinois, where she managed the International Department and, later, the Education Department. She moved to La Costa in 1982. She has traveled all over the world for Baha’i. Panama, India, Central America, all over Europe. “Wherever you go,” she says, “if you are a Baha’i, there is an instant close, warm, bond. Baha’i is like a giant family, world wide. Perhaps you don’t speak the same language . . but that’s not important. If you are Baha’i . . . you are instant family, wherever you go.”
We asked Eileen about the tenet that requires a Baha’i to not engage in partisan politics.
“That’s true,” she says. “It’s divisive. But, we do vote; we do serve in offices which are not partisan. We just don’t participate in divisive politics. We feel the bedrock of world peace and advancement of civilization is the unity of people.”
What about when a Baha’i dies? Is there a traditional funeral? Or do they burn the dead on funeral pyres as in India?
"Upon death, we do not cremate. Nor do we embalm. We believe that which composes gradually should decompose gradually. The funeral service is anything that is planned by the family; no ritual, no special speeches; there are prayers for the departed.”
Eileen was not born into Baha’i. She acquired it. Her background is Jewish. Her husband also became Baha’i, after Eileen embraced it. All of their combined children and grandchildren are Baha’i . . but they were all free to choose their own religion.
An interesting quote that we heard from several Baha’is we interviewed for this story:
“We don’t make Bahai’s, Bahai’s are found.”
Shahla Mazandarany is one Baha’i in North County who was born into the faith. (Out of an estimated seven million Baha’i members worldwide, only about 800,000 are born into the faith. In Iran, where the Faith began, there are only 300,000 Baha’is. The remaining 500,000 born into the faith are in the rest of the world.)
“I was born in Western Iran. My great great grandfather was one of the first Bahai’s in Iran. All of our family is Baha’i. I am about 4th or 5th generation Baha’i. At age 17, I emigrated to America to study at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, studying chemistry but got married before I graduated. My husband was born into a Muslim family but he does not follow Islam, nor is he a member of Baha’i. After our children were grown I switched my college studies from chemistry to accounting. Today, I am Treasurer of the Bahai’ Assembly of Carlsbad. Our children are not Baha’i. They are not active religiously. We all have freedom of choice in our religious beliefs. We elect nine people every year, on April 21st, to be on our Carlsbad Assembly.”
Yet another Baha’i in North County is a retired psychologist, Dr. Homayoun Mahmoudi. He was born in Iran, coming here for college in 1958. He was of the Muslim tradition and, of all things, attended Brigham Young University, that bastion of Mormonism . . . which is where he became . . . no, not a Mormon, but a Baha’i.
“Prior to that I was an existentialist agnostic. But, while in Provo, Utah, I began to study a variety of religions. As a result, I became a Baha’i in 1961. I Became a psychologist, taking my undergraduate work at BYU, my Masters at Utah State, my Phd at Florida. I had a 35 year practice in Solana Beach and Rancho Santa Fe, working primarily with schools in the area, counseling students. I also have a Juris Doctor degreee, but never practiced law. My daughter, however, is an attorney. I married an American gal from Kansas. We had three children, all of whom are Baha’i."
Another North County Baha’i family is Patty and Dick Yant. Dick was in college and at age 24 when he became a Baha’i in 1970. In 1977 Patty became a Baha’i.
Dick was in college and was searching for his religious identity. He had been raised a Methodist, his great grandfather was a Methodist minister. In high school, he decided he didn’t like the hypocrisy and exlusivity (one religion is right, all others are wrong) that was taught by his Methodist clergy, as well as all other Christian faiths. He became an agnostic. Then, at UC Davis, there was an anti-war rally that he attended. The UC Davis student body had invited a Baha’i to speak. “The things he spoke of drew me to the faith,” said Dick. “It seemed like a lifestyle I had been looking for all my life. The things he spoke of were things I believed already. I soon became a member of Baha’i.”
Patty: “I stumbled into it; was in a down side of my life, learned it was a way to world peace, learned all the tenets . . what I had gleaned from other Christian faiths was that we were going to be damned and going to hell; also, if we didn’t believe the way they did then we were totally lost. I just couldn’t buy that. I looked at all the Buddhists and Muslims in the world. What about them I wondered? But Baha’i . . . unified the world. I came into Baha’i from my head, then after a time, my head and heart came together.”
These, then, are just a few of the members of Baha’i who live, work and love in North San Diego County. There is no proselytizing within Baha’i. If the subject of religion comes up . . .they will discuss it, if asked. They believe the best way to teach is by example. “If you don’t walk the walk you shouldn’t talk the talk,” said Gracie Smith.
You will see occasional ads in newspapers. This is not considered proslyetizing. While amongst the approximate seven million Baha’is in the world there are some wealthy patron/members, the faith is supported largely by its members who are just ordinary citizens. Members of Baha’i include people who were Muslims, Jews, Christians and those of no organized religion at all. In keeping with their goal of unity, Baha’i members are urged to “consort with the followers of all religions . . . with the utmost affection and love.
Whatever you have, you offer it as a servant offering to the king, a gift. If the gift is accepted, your mission is accomplished. If not, you should pray for them and move on.”
 Above, The Shrine of the Báb |
Oceanside has a Baha’i Center, as does San Diego. Each continent has a Baha’i temple. For America, the national temple is in Wilmette, Illinois. It’s the goal of every Baha’i to to go Haifa, Israel, once in a lifetime. Upon completion of the pilgrimage, they meet with members of The Universal House of Justice and other Baha’is. There are many prayers and meditations, and they visit holy sites which includes the tombs of its founder, Bahá’u’lláh and the messenger who announced the coming of Bahá’u’lláh, The Bab.
Now . . . just what is this religious philosophy? Where did it come from? Who started it?
It’s a comparatively new religion, having started in 1844. The Baha’is believe that throughout history, God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series of divine Messengers, each of whom has founded a great religion. The Messengers have included Jesus, Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, and Muhammad. The latest, the Baha’is believe was Bahá’u’lláh. In 1844, a youth named Siyyid 'Alí-Muhammad arose in Iran to proclaim that the great day of God awaited by all religions had come. He called Himself the Báb, which, in Arabic, means "the Gate." His teachings shook the country to its core and spread rapidly among its most notable people.
At that time there was a young and prosperous man, Husayn Ali, the son of a wealthy government minister, Mirza Buzurg-i-Nuri. Husayn Ali had been born on 12 November 1817 in Tehran, Iran. The family could trace its ancestry back to the great dynasties of Iran's imperial past. The young man led a princely life, receiving an education that focused largely on calligraphy, horsemanship, classic poetry, and swordsmanship.
Much later in life, after the Prince had a son, his son would remark: “From earliest childhood He was distinguished among His relatives and friends.… In wisdom, intelligence and as a source of new knowledge, He was advanced beyond His age and superior to His surroundings. All who knew Him were astonished at His precocity. It was usual for them to say, 'Such a child will not live,' for it is commonly believed that precocious children do not reach maturity."
Mirza Husayn Ali Mohammed, a prince of Nur, became one of the most active followers of the Báb. At the village of Badasht, in 1848, the Prince hosted a gathering of the most eminent followers of the Báb, known as Bábís. The meeting established for the growing number of believers the independent character of the Bábí religion. In 1848, in Amul in the province of Mázindarán, the Prince was arrested and bastinadoed (beaten with a rod on the soles of His feet) for being a follower of the Báb.
Before he died the Báb identified the Prince, Mirza Husayn Ali Mohammed, a prince of Nur, as the true Messenger of God. He gave the Prince a new name, Bahá’u’lláh. The name, translated, means:
Baha’ = Glory, u = of, llah = God. “Glory of God.”
The Báb was executed in 1850, by 750 soldiers. Nearly all the leading exponents of His religion were killed by fanatical clergy and government troops. Bahá’u’lláh was spared the fate of His companions but was falsely charged, in 1852, with complicity in an attempt on the life of the Shah.
Without shade, under a blazing August sun, Bahá’u’lláh was forced to walk to the place of imprisonment in Tehran. In Tehran, Bahá’u’lláh was cast into a dungeon known as the Black Pit, notorious for its foul air, filth, and pitch-black darkness. It was in this prison that He received the first intimations of a divine revelation within Him.
He later wrote: "I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven."
 The tomb of Bahá’u’lláh |
However, the time to publicly announce this revelation would be later.
The Baha’is believe Bahá’u’lláh brings new spiritual and social teachings for our modern age. He taught that there is only one God, that all of the world’s religions are from God, and that now is the time for humanity to recognize its oneness and unite. During His visit to Mount Carmel in 1891, Bahá’u’lláh stood near a circle of cypress trees and showed his son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, where the tomb of the Báb should be built.
The sacred remains of the Báb had been carefully hidden in Iran since His execution in 1850. In 1899, at the instruction of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, they were brought to the Holy Land and, in 1909, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá fulfilled his Father's wishes by placing them in their final resting place on Mount Carmel.
The Prince would now be known as Bahá’u’lláh forever more. Bahá’u’lláh wrote 100 volumes of books himself; His books have been said to be “sent by God,” a revelation.
One book. . . a book of laws - the major book is known as - “Aghdas” - “the most holy.”
His son wrote almost 250 volumes of books as well. His grandson, who was “Shoghi Effendi” - was named as Guardian of the Faith.
Since that time the Universal House of Justice has become the Guardian of the Faith. This organization is comprised of all Baha'is. There are nine members, all democratically elected. They serve for five years and must live in Haifa.
The passing of Bahá’u’lláh
In the early hours of May 29, 1892, Bahá’u’lláh passed away at the Mansion of Bahjí. Nine days later His will was unsealed. It designated ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith — the first time in history that the founder of a world religion had made explicitly clear whom should follow after His death. This declaration of a successor is the pivotal provision of what is known to Bahá'ís as the "Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh." It has enabled the Bahá'í Faith to remain united around one central authority for over a century.
After Abdu’l-Bahá died, Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Bahá’u’lláh became the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. He passed away in 1957.
With a religious belief that promotes unity, equality, justice, and that is opposed to war and political power, why, then, have the Baha’is been persecuted down through the years and, indeed, even in the present time?
It is because the Muslims consider the Baha’is heretics. Baha’is came from Islam. They left Islam to form their new religion. As a result, the Muslims have killed thousands of Baha’is in the name of their religion. Most of the persecution comes from Iran, but wherever there is a large community of Muslims, there is strong sentiment against Baha’is which often results in violence, sometimes deadly.
Even though members of Baha’i have no real interest in political, military or financial power, those members of Islam who are fanatics, are bound to “destroy all heretics.” Chief amongst this list of heretics are Baha’is.
And that is where we are now. As mentioned earlier in this story, time and circumstance dictated that now was an appropriate and important time to learn a bit more about the Baha’i faith.
Why?
Because, today, there are seven innocent members being held and persecuted in Iran because they have committed no crime but that of being Baha’i.
The chief Iranian prosecutor says, “the seven Baha'i followers will be tried on charges of ‘espionage for Israel, desecrating religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic."
Upon hearing this, the US State Department condemned the action, saying the espionage charges were “baseless.”
“Baha'i organizations are illegal and their connections to Israel and their enmity toward Islam and the Islamic system are absolutely certain and their threat against the national security is a proven fact,” added the Iranian cleric.
Followers of the Baha'i sect — founded in Iran in 1863 — are regarded as infidels and have been persecuted both before and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Meanwhile, The Baha’i International Community has issued a statement of gratitude to the Iranian intellectuals, scholars, writers, journalists, activists, and artists throughout the world who signed an open letter apologizing for their silence during Iran’s long-running persecution of the Baha’is.
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The open letter from the Iranians - dated 3 February 2009 and signed so far by 243 men and women living in 19 countries - had asked Baha’is to forgive them “for the wrongs committed against the Baha’i community of Iran” over the last century and a half. “We will no longer be silent when injustice is visited upon you,” the letter said after enumerating some of the ways Baha’is have been persecuted, from “barbaric murders” to depriving youth of higher education.
The letter was particularly significant in that it rejected the milieu of intimidation created by Iranian authorities throughout the decades that served to silence “those fair-minded and informed individuals who had always wished to rise up” in support of the Baha’is.
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Indeed, in a press statement recently, the organizers behind the letter said that many more people would like to sign. “We are confident,” their statement said, “that many more individuals, responsible and humane individuals, both inside and outside Iran, will add their seal of approval to it, as they become aware of such a letter, and we hope that the independent and committed Iranian media will join us in disseminating this message.”
The open letter began with the heading “We are ashamed! A century and a half of oppression and silence is enough! We are ashamed that during the last 30 years, the killing of Baha’is solely on the basis of their religious beliefs has gained legal status and over 200 Baha’is have been slain on this account,” said one clause. “We are ashamed that a group of intellectuals have justified coercion against the Baha’i community of Iran,” the letter continued.
The letter ended thus: “We stand by you in achieving all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights. Let us join hands in replacing hatred and ignorance with love and tolerance.”
Meanwhile, The United States House of Representatives has introduced a resolution, H.Res.175, on the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. The resolution was sponsored by Representatives Mark Kirk, James McGovern, Brad Sherman, Dan Burton, Bill Foster, Maurice Hinchey, Frank Wolf, and Jim Moran.
The resolution reads, in part:
Whereas in November 2007, the Iranian Ministry of Information in Shiraz jailed Baha’is Ms. Raha Sabet, 33; Mr. Sasan Taqva, 32; and Ms. Haleh Roohi, 29; for educating underprivileged children and gave them 4-year prison terms, which they are serving;
Whereas Ms. Sabet, Mr. Taqva, and Ms. Rooshi were targeted solely on the basis of their religion;
Whereas, on January 23, 2008, the United States Department of State released a statement urging the Iranian regime to release all individuals held without due process and a fair trial, including the 3 young Baha’is being held in an Iranian Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Shiraz;
Whereas in March and May of 2008, Iranian intelligence officials in Mashhad and Tehran arrested and imprisoned Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm, the members of the coordinating group for the Baha’i community in Iran;
Whereas, on February 11, 2009, the deputy prosecutor in Tehran, Mr. Hassan Haddad, announced that those seven leaders will go on trial at a Revolutionary Court the week of February 15, 2009, on charges of ‘espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic’’;
Whereas the lawyer for these seven leaders, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Laureate, has been denied all access to the prisoners and their files;
Whereas these seven Baha’i leaders were targeted solely on the basis of their religion; and
Whereas the Government of Iran is party to the International Covenants on Human Rights:
Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) condemns the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Baha’i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights;
(2) calls on the Government of Iran to immediately release the seven leaders and all other prisoners held solely on account of their religion;
(3) calls on the President and Secretary of State, in cooperation with the international community, to immediately condemn Iran’s continued violation of human rights and demand the immediate release of prisoners held solely on account of their religion.
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International reaction to news that Iran may soon put on trial seven Baha’i leaders for espionage and other charges came swiftly last week as governments, parliamentary leaders and human rights organizations expressed strong criticism of any such trial. Many called for the immediate release of the Baha’is. A spokeswoman for the Baha’i International Community last week stated emphatically that the seven are innocent of all charges and are being held solely because of their religious belief.
“The accusations are false, and the government knows this,” said Diane Ala’i, the representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva. “The seven Baha’is detained in Tehran should be immediately released.”
In its “urgent action” appeal last Thursday, Amnesty International said it “considers the charges to be politically motivated and those held to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely because of their conscientiously held beliefs or their peaceful activities on behalf of the Baha’i community. If convicted, they would face lengthy prison terms, or even the death penalty,” the organization said.
Other human rights groups and nongovernmental organizations made similar statements.
The Freedom House published a condemnation of Iran over the possibility of a trial for the seven, saying: “The five men and two women should be released immediately, along with dozens of other Baha’is who are in prison for exercising their human right to religious freedom.”
In one of his latter day messages, Bahá’u’lláh stated:
"… That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled — what harm is there in this? … Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come.… Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind."
Source: http://www.thecommunitypaper.com/archive/2009/02_26/index.php
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