Then They Came for the Baha’is
September 25th, 2007 by Admin U.S congressman Mark Steven Kirk writes on his website (excerpt from the longer version):
As the representative in Congress for the Baha’i Temple of North America, I know that the Baha’i faith preaches peace, tolerance and diversity of thought—values we embrace on the North Shore. But in an oppressive Islamic dictatorship like Iran, Baha’i values pose a clear and present danger to the regime.
In March of 2006, just a few months into Ahmadinejad’s presidency, the Command Headquarters of Iran’s Armed Forces ordered the police, Revolutionary Guard and Ministry of Information to identify all Baha’is and collect information on their activities.
Two months later, the Iranian Association of Chambers of Commerce began compiling a list of Baha’is serving in every business sector.
[…]
When President Ahmadinejad rose to address the student body at Columbia—a school extolling the virtues of tolerance and diversity—why was there no mention of Baha’i student expulsion in Iran?
This is a defining moment for our new century. The lessons of the 20th century gave us all the warning signs of what will come if we do not speak out. The Iranian President has spoken – will we?
“Then they came for…” the Baha’is — we pray the poem ends differently this time.
Dear friends, especially fellow Muslims, today it’s the Baha’is, tomorrow it might be us. We must stand for others if we want and expect others to stand with us. Please support our Baha’i brethren by campaigning for their human rights, especially in Iran and Egypt.
Hat tip: Baha’i Faith in Egypt
In an interview with the National Press Club, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s explanation of the persecution of Iranian Baha’is is that the Baha’i Faith is not a divine religion.
Two aspects of this explanation are disturbing:
1) A human being (or a group of human beings) cannot and should not judge another human being (or a group of human beings) as following a divine or a non-divine religion. 2) Human rights do not refer to the divinity of one’s religion, unless one’s religion strips humanity from a person. If so, religious disagreement by definition would cast many human beings from the family of humanity.
I am amazed that a fallible human or as the President of Islamic Republic of Iran puts it, a majority of people, can alone decide what religion is divine and what religion is not divine! Isn’t this judgment God’s alone?
Idol worshipers judged Islam to be not divine, Jews judged Christianity to be not divine, Christians judged Islam to be not divine. In the 21st Century, it behooves every human being to refrain from making judgments about what religion is divine or not. Every person can judge for himself / herself what religion to follow, but that is a personal judgment that should not be dictated by the state.
Iran and Egypt have fallen into the trap of being so religious as to forget the essence of religion: love, peace, brotherhood, caring, and leaving matters of faith and conscience only for God to judge!
Iran and Egypt limit human rights only to humans of four religions in Iran, and three religions in Egypt. What a chaotic world it would be if other nations limited human rights to a list of religions they agree with! Humanity said “never again” after WWII. Humanity is now witnessing the systematic isolation of Baha’is in these two countries and their branding as people not deserving of civil or human rights! When will the world wake up and stop this outrageous crime that is committed in the name of the compassionate Faith of Islam and under the banner?