In fairness I thought this commentary by the actor from the Office was worth posting. It is in regard to the persecution of members of the Bahai Faith. I condemn Iran for this shit completely.


(CNN) -- Why is Rainn Wilson, "Dwight" on "The Office," writing a news commentary for CNN? Good question.


http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/meast/02/17/wilson.faith/art.rainn.wilson.gi.jpg

It's a bit strange for me, to say the least; a comic character actor best known for playing weirdos with bad haircuts getting all serious to talk about the persecution of the fellow members of his religious faith.

Dear readers of CNN, I assure you that what I'm writing about is no joking matter or some hoax perpetrated by a paper-sellin', bear-fearin', Battlestar-Galactica obsessed beet farmer.

I am a member of the Baha'i (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Baha_i) faith. What is that, you ask? Well, long story short, it's an independent world religion that began in the mid-1800s in Iran. Baha'is believe that there is only one God and therefore only one religion.
All of the world's divine teachers (Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses, Abraham, Krishna, etc.) bring essentially the same message -- one of unity, love and knowledge of God or the divine.

This constantly updated faith of God, Baha'is believe, has been refreshed for this day and age by our founder, Baha'u'llah. There. Nutshell version.
Now, as I mentioned, this all happened in Iran (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Baha_i), and needless to say the Muslim authorities did not like the Baha'is very much, accusing them of heresy and apostasy. Tens of thousands were killed in the early years of the faith, and the persecutions have continued off and on for the past 150 years.
Why write about all this now? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see there's a 'trial' going on very soon for seven Baha'i national leaders in Iran.
They've been accused of all manner of things including being "spies for Israel," "insulting religious sanctities" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic."

They've been held for a year in Evin Prison in Tehran without any access to their lawyer (the Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi) and with zero evidence of any of these charges.
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. Here's a link to their bios (http://news.bahai.org/story/695). 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 (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Religion) 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.

Thanks for reading. Now back to bears, paper and beets!


http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/02/17/wilson.faith/index.html

Interesting read and it has made me curious about his religion.

I'm glad to see you take umbrage for the treatment of such. It of course highlights what we've been trying to tell you about the leaders of Iran. It's religion based and the leaders of such are shady to the extreme in Iran.

Interesting read and it has made me curious about his religion.

I'm glad to see you take umbrage for the treatment of such. It of course highlights what we've been trying to tell you about the leaders of Iran. It's religion based and the leaders of such are shady to the extreme in Iran.

The government of Iran is bullshit. I defend them when I believe they are being wronged or I feel they are correct in their actions.

I will not defend them when they harm innocent people for beliefs. I find it completely baffling that they would protect Jews living in Iran, but murder Bahai's.

I defend them when I believe they are being wronged or I feel they are correct in their actions.

This is what I don't get. You freely admit this is a bad government, based on bad tenets, yet you still give them the benefit of doubt on the nuclear thing. You take them at their word even though they do heinous things to their people and take away rights.

The may NOT participate in killing the Jews there, but they definitely treat them like crap.

The may NOT participate in killing the Jews there, but they definitely treat them like crap.

Iran is positively enlightened compared to the Arab countries. Jews are officially protected and "equal to muslims" according to their constitution. The reality is somewhat different, but aside from occasional accusations of spying for Israel, most jews in Iran seem to be left pretty much alone. They do face certain limitations on travel and can't take certain offices in the government, but they get their own representatives in the Majlis.

I'm not sure why the Iranians come down so hard on the Baha'i and Zoroastrians. Maybe they are less subservient somehow.

Iran is such a joke. They are massive hypocrites. They speak of Arab persecution, and western imperialism, yet mimic the same actions to those that they have power over.

I guess I am not surprised, but it is still humorous to think that people actually are rallying this resolution, when the country is a state sponsor of terror. While I am sure Jedd will disagree (it's been years since I have posted, and I still remember this) there is ample evidence to suggest this is true.

The idea that anyone believes Jews are treated equally in Iran is so far fetched, it blows my mind. Jews are treated in Iran the same way blacks in America were treated in the early 20th century. My aunt has a cousin who was arrested at a synagogue with 16 other Jews in mid-2008 for "undermining the republic" whatever that means. And of course they added in the whole spying for Israel thing. Sure he is 15 and has never left the country, but he must be a spy!

On top of that, when my Aunt went to Iran to try and help her family, she was detained for 3 days. She was not given a reason upon detention. She was interrogated, mostly non-sense (why she came, who she worked for, if she worked for the american government), and later told to "stay out of trouble."

I really hope that a shahab missile blows up in their face next time they try to flex their muscle.

Hello Weolf.

Hello Weolf.

Hail. How goes it?

If the west wasn't working so hard to spy on Iran and assassinate it's nuclear scientists, then maybe they would be less paranoid :)

If the west wasn't working so hard to spy on Iran and assassinate it's nuclear scientists, then maybe they would be less paranoid :)

Yah, why spy on a country and try to stop its nuclear program when all they playfully said was "Israel should be wiped off the map"

Yah, why spy on a country and try to stop its nuclear program when all they playfully said was "Israel should be wiped off the map"

They never said that, and it has been proven here time and time again... Try again.

Thanks for posting the lead article.

Back in the late '60's a friend and I were in that "curious" stage regarding religion and we were constantly frustrating our parents with our attendance at varied services and presentations.

This happened to be one of the more thought-provoking presentations we viewed, with none of the "ours is better" bullshit most religions embrace.

Sad that the same persecution is taking place still.