Yeah...and so, anyway...

The Sacramento Baha'i Examiner (that's me, by the way) received the following comments as feedback to a recent post about the persecution of Baha'is in Iran: "The Bahai are a cult, like the branch dravidians or scientologist. The only discrimination they suffer is the scorn of the masses. During the revolution more than 30000 people died, and a few hundred were Bahais, it's not a beyond reasonable percentage given the turmoil of the day. As far as university discrimination and illegality of Bahai land ownership, this is complete disinformation. The only land Bahai's can not buy is land for cult practices and indoctrination of youth. Honestly, it is in the best interests of society that the government should eradicate this harmful cult, god willing, when the corrupt mullahs are removed a new secular government can also take more forceful corrective actions against this blight of a cult." I've heard the "scorn of the masses" type comment...

I had a dream last week about Iran and the United States, and it scared me out of a deep sleep. I purposely wiped my mind clean of the dream's details. I am powerless over the events in this country and in Iran; I can only do what I can to make myself be in the service of God and humanity a little bit more each day. For now, that involves working my recovery program so I'm not zoned out on food, making as much of my daily life as possible be acts of prayer, and to make sure that people are aware of the situations that befall us on this Earth because we are not looking for spiritual solutions to our problems. That's all I can do. I'm just, as a friend has said so often, "another bozo on the bus." But God obviously wants me to participate in this business of being a world citizen. While I was working on this post, I've been checking my Twitter stream. After clicking on a link to a story, I read this blog post from The Daily Dish : "My next door neighb...

Senator Diane Feinstein with 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl. I received a letter from Senator Diane Feinstein about the persecution of Baha'is in Iran. Here's what she said: Dear Ms. Shortt: Thank you for writing to express your concerns about the persecution of the Baha'i people in Iran. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this topic with me and welcome the opportunity to respond. As you may know, the Iranian Government has recently stated its intention to try seven leading members of the Baha'i community in Iran who are accused of spying for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic Republic. If convicted, these individuals could receive the death penalty. Like you, I am concerned about the safety and welfare of these individuals. During my tenure in the Senate I have often expressed my support for the rights of the Baha'i community to practice their faith freely without fear of persecution. As a strong supporter of human ri...

At right: Fariba Kamalabadi (Taefi) Angela's aside: We are often so besieged by news stories from all the various of media available to us that we forget that there are flesh and blood human beings involved in those reports. Their story is often trivialized by a 30 second summary of events during a newscast, or it is overly-dramatized by those wretched (my opinion) "reality" shows. This letter touched me because it is the heartfelt words of a young lady who is going through an all too familiar tragedy in Iran--family members being taken away to face a very precarious future at the hands of a cruel and unrepentant fundamentalist theocracy. These are her words,and they are her truth, not the dispassionate reading of a carefully moussed and made up newsreader, or the overly-wrought railings of a Nancy Grace-sque reality show host. It is simply the words of a girl who misses her mother. No more embellishment is needed. But they deserve a global audience so that other people ...

Angela's note: Having trouble with my writing muse these days--a lot of it is probably my bad attitude toward my recovery program (hit more than a few snags), a really bad infection in the roots of two teeth, and seasonal allergies. But I'm also trying, like a salmon swimming upstream to the spawning grounds,to get OUT of myself and remember that there is a huge world outside my door, and many people in it have much more daunting problems than I do. Case in point--the Baha'is living/trapped in Iran with a government that is determined to eradicate or force some of them to recant their faith. I'm not faced with those kinds of tests, and I need to acknowledge this. There is much I have in my life to be grateful for.) Baha’is Need Justice! (Part 1) April 8, 2009 By Majid Nafisi Editor’s Note: Nafisi is a well-known Iranian poet and writer. Recently he was asked to sign the famous letter “We are Ashamed”, but he refused. However, he has written the following brilliant e...

My name is Angela Shortt, and I am a member of Baha'i Faith, a citizen of the United States and a resident of California. I am writing to you because of the increased oppression and tyrannical treatment that the Islamic-led government has been inflicting on the Baha'is and other religious "minorities" living in Iran. The situation has escalated to intolerable levels, and I am asking that, in the name human decency, begin some sort of dialogue with Iranian government concerning the imprisoned Baha'is immediately. While I realize that the United States has had no formal diplomatic relations with Iran since the Islamic Revolution of the 70s, I feel that this situation requires immediate attention beyond the usual channels of governmental communication. Even letters of condemnation from our government are useless, as the zealous, fundamentalists leaders consider themselves beyond the reaches of the opinions and actions of foreign "infidel" governments. I ...

I feel that this is an important story, with international implications for the US government and its people. All of this is for the Glory of God, even though it is extremely sad to read about how many people in Iran, Baha'is and non-Baha'is alike, continue to suffer mightily under the current regime. However, all of us can take an action. Please reprint these articles on your blogs. Silence keeps the status quo in place. Iran: Using terror internally and abroad January 29, 2009 Editor’s note: The following article was written by Wahied Wahdat-Hagh and is reposted here due to its importance for our readers’ information. A german translation can be found at http://europeandemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13322&catid=4&Itemid=22 On 14 January Iranian secret service agents arbitrarily detained at least six members of the Baha’i religion in Tehran, including a former female colleague of Shirin Ebadi. At the same time terror propaganda aga...

This illustration, depicting the death of an early Bahá'í, appeared in the Persian magazine, Ima'mat, circa 1911. God bless Ms. Hakakian for speaking up against the continued persecution of Iranian Baha'is. As I am writing this, the fate of six prominent Baha'is arrested by the Iranian government is unknown. Those of us who live in other parts of the world continue to blog in protest of those actions. If the past is any indication of what could or may have already happened to them, I fear the worst. At a recent meeting with fellow Baha'is, I commented that the Iranian government and fanatical religious leaders will not stop systematically persecuting Baha'is in that country until every one of them is either forced to recant their Faith, or killed. Most will be killed, as we are all instructed to never recant our Faith in Bah'u'llah as the Divine Messenger for this new day of mankind. But one friend quietly remarked, "They won't stop until ...