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Last week some of you may have heard about the arrest by the Iranian government of the informal leadership council of the Baha’is of Iran. Today the Iranian government made an announcement where they claimed the arrests were not made because the individuals were Baha’is, but “for security reasons and not for their faith”. The Baha’i International Community responded, pointing out reasons why the idea that Baha’is are a security risk to the state is preposterous.

“The group of Bahá’ís arrested last week, like the thousands of Bahá’ís who since 1979 have been killed, imprisoned, or otherwise oppressed, are being persecuted solely because of their religious beliefs. The best proof of this is the fact that, time and again, Bahá’ís have been offered their freedom if they recant their Bahá’í beliefs and convert to Islam \u2013 an option few have taken.

“Far from being a threat to state security, the Bahá’í community of Iran has great love for their country and they are deeply committed to its development. This is evidenced, for example, by the fact that the vast majority of Bahá’ís have remained in Iran despite intense persecution, the fact that students denied access to education in Iran and forced to study abroad have returned to assist in the development of their country, and the recent effort by Bahá’ís in Shiraz to provide schooling for underprivileged children \u2013 an effort the government responded to by arresting some 54 Bahá’í participants in May 2006,” said Ms. Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

Last weeks arrests are the latest action in a campaign by the government there to suppress the Baha’i Faith. Tactics taken include bulldozing cemeteries, denying government positions and access to higher education to Baha’is, even directing elementary school teachers to ridicule Baha’i students in class. Little kids!

The amazing thing is that not only does these actions, intended to remove the Baha’i Faith from Iran, cause foreign news agencies to write articles explaining Baha’i beliefs for an international audience and international governments to put pressure on Iran in ways that make news there, but there’s some news out of Iran that all this is causing an increase in interest in the Baha’i Faith among moderate and progressive Iranian Muslims.

Meanwhile the Baha’is in the Charlottesville area continue to have public devotional gatherings, study circles, children’s classes and otherwise carry on our lives, with extra prayers for the friends in Iran who continue to be under attack from a government that can’t accept them.

Please share your comments below.

In Charlottesville, Virginia

Jeff Lavezzo

In Ruby Slippers and Race In America
Phillipe Copeland provides some insightful commentary on the reactions to Senator Obama’s recent speech on race in America. Quoting a New York Times editorial entitled “Let’s Not, and Say We Did“, Phillipe points out some of the problems with the editorial’s logic.

First the author, like many people believes that “racial progress” is measured by personal attitudes rather than structural equality. Essentially if people of different races like each other more than they used to then things must be better. … Of course the problem of race has never been just in our heads, it’s reflected in policies and practices that perpetuate the privilege of some and the deprivation of others based on race and ethnicity (among other things).

He also points out a false dichotomy (one of the more popular logical fallacies these days):

Another problem is that the author creates a false dichotomy between “sober, results-oriented debates about economics, social mobility, education, family policy and the like — focused especially on how to help those who are struggling” and “race talk”. I would love to have the kind of debate that he is describing, but that should include the issue of racial/ethnic inequality and what our nation intends to do to correct it.

He wraps up with a quote from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá about the necessity of action:

“What profit is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the human race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless. The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world’s misery would very soon be changed into comfort. My hope for you is that you will ever avoid tyranny and oppression; that you will work without ceasing till justice reigns in every land, that you will keep your hearts pure and your hands free from unrighteousness. This is what the near approach to God requires from you, and this is what I expect of you.”
(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 16)

And man-o-man, that action part is the hardest… It takes doing more than just going through my day the same old way.

in Charlottesville, Va

Jeff Lavezzo

Hurray! Today is the first day of Ayyam-i-Ha, the days of celebration and gift giving that come before the fast in the Baha’i calendar.

The folks in the Flowers of One Garden Baha’i School in Wilmette, IL put up a fun video on Youtube:
YouTube - Happy Ayyam-i-Ha!

Lets make plans to have breakfast out during the Fast!

~ Jeff