‘World Citizens-Not Consumers’

People’s spiritual beliefs influence their attitude toward climate change, with religious groups increasingly helping to frame humanity’s response to environmental issues. That was one of the messages from a session at the 33rd annual conference of the Association for Baha’i Studies, held in mid-August in Washington. The gathering drew nearly 1,000 participants from some 20 countries. The theme of the conference was “Environments,” and one of the plenary speakers was Peter G. Brown, a geography professor at McGill University in Montreal who has participated in the Moral Economy Project of the Quaker Institute for the Future. Dr. Brown said the current economic paradigm is bringing mayhem to the planet and that people need to learn to think of themselves as citizens, not consumers. “We need a different image of ourselves,” he said – an image that sees humanity as part of a long “co-evolutionary” process. Rather than asking how to better exploit the earth’s resources, humanity should be asking how to live with an ethic of respect and reciprocity for all life, he said. Society’s concept of morality is too limited, he continued, suggesting that a moral framework must be applied to systems, not just to individuals. “We have not been able to connect our scientific knowledge with our moral systems,” he noted. A Baha’i speaker, Peter Adriance, described how religious groups and faith communities are increasingly collaborating with the environmental movement. He quoted Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, as saying that “no other group of institutions can wield the particular moral authority of the religions.” Mr. Adriance listed a dozen initiatives by various groups that focus on spiritual or moral aspects of creating a sustainable environment.

Source: http://news.bahai.org/story/728

‘It Is Better To Guide One Soul…’

IT is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of God’s tender mercy, whereas possession of earthly things will cease at the time of death. The path to guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion. This hath been God’s method in the past, and shall continue to be in the future! He causeth him whom He pleaseth to enter the shadow of His Mercy. Verily, He is the Supreme Protector, the All-Generous. 

There is no paradise more wondrous for any soul than to be exposed to God’s Manifestation in His Day, to hear His verses and believe in them, to attain His presence, which is naught but the presence of God, to sail upon the sea of the heavenly kingdom of His good-pleasure, and to partake of the choice fruits of the paradise of His divine Oneness.

The Báb

Spurious Charges To Be Levied Against Baha’is In Iran

I am concerned to read the following article by Bijan Masumian of Iran Press  Watch.

The news coming out of Iran indicates that at some time in the future, the Islamic Republic government intends to put the seven leaders of the Iranian Baha’i community on trial.  The group, which includes two women, has been in “temporary” custody for over ten months.  The official charges are:

1. Espionage for the state of Israel: a sentence that could carry the death penalty
2. Activities against the Islamic regime
3. Insulting government authorities

More than likely, the trial will be conducted behind closed doors, so neutral observers will not be able to watch the Iranian judicial system make a mockery of justice.  Ironically, the cost of taking the Baha’i leaders through a show trial would be quite high for the government.  Global coverage of news having to do with the persecution of Baha’is has been on a steady rise in the past few years.  In the process, increasing numbers of Iranian groups and media outlets have risen to the defense of Iran’s largest religious minority.  The highly publicized open letter of apology recently issued by a group of Iranian professionals that included political activists, poets, musicians, actors, and others was a clear indication of the increasing cost the regime will have to incur if it continues to disregard public opinion and carry on repressive measures against its largest religious minority.  Even inside Iran, certain members of the clerical establishment as well as Iranian students and university professors have demanded justice for the Bahá’ís in public seminars.

While the likely scenario of a closed-door trial for the Baha’i leaders has its cost, the alternative would come at a much higher cost: allowing the internationally known and respected Noble Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, to publicly grill the Islamic Revolutionary Court and an Islamic judge who has little to no experience in contemporary legal proceedings, who would thus prove no match for Ebadi’s expert defense.

While all three charges are trumped up, the most serious is the first: that of espionage.  According to the Islamic penal code, spying for a foreign country is considered treason and could carry the death penalty.  In fact, only a few months ago an Iranian Jewish merchant was executed in Iran on the same charge.

Since 1979, numerous Iranian Baha’is, young and old, men and women have been accused of espionage for Israel.  Yet, in none of the cases has the government produced a shred of evidence.  They have never bothered to explain to an inquiring world what kind of “spy” was an eighty-five-year-old man like ‘Abdu’l-Vahab Kazemi of Yazd who had never set foot outside his village.  Or what kinds of espionage activities the 17-year old Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other Baha’i women from Shiraz had committed for which they were eventually hanged, despite international appeals to save their lives.  Mona’s real “crime” was teaching ethics to Baha’i children in Sunday school.  The same preposterous charge of espionage for Israel was also leveled against Baha’i farmers of the villages of Afus, Chigan, Qal’ih Malik (near Isfahan), and from the village of Nuk in Birjand.  The outlandish nature of these accusations is simply remarkable.

Nonetheless, times have changed.  In the 1980s, when these crimes were committed against a defenseless community, there was no internet and no social networking sites.  Thus, the infrastructure for grassroots movements was not nearly as robust as it is today.  Therefore, while the Islamic Republic could come out of those unjustified killings relatively unscathed, it is now becoming virtually impossible for them to continue that practice.  Every time a Baha’i or any other Iranian is arrested on unfounded charges, the news is global within hours. Thousands of concerned citizens from all walks of life and different corners of the earth stand up and demand justice in a wide variety of forums and blogs.  Thus, the cost of administering injustice is becoming prohibitive.  Regarding the Baha’i “dilemma”: while the official policy of the Islamic Republic has been to “fight their cultural influence” both inside and outside Iran, in reality this is proving to be a losing battle.  The clerical establishment began its anti-Babi, anti-Baha’i activities over 160 years ago.  If the most brutal and inhumane killings of thousands of members of a relatively small population of Babis and Baha’is across Persia in the 1800s and early 1900s could not “solve” this “dilemma”, then where does the optimism to wipe out a now global community of 5-6 million people come from?

Yet, there is hope that the imminent trial of Baha’i leaders may prove to be the tipping point for this losing battle.  The Islamic government of Iran may finally realize that public awareness of the situation of Baha’is both inside and outside Iran is reaching the boiling point.  Therefore, they should either release these individuals or produce reliable evidence against them.  While producing fabricated evidence against others may be a relatively easy undertaking inside Iran, the litmus test for the government would be to allow any potential evidence against Baha’i leaders be examined by an impartial court of law — something the Islamic government is highly unlikely to accept.

Source: http://www.iranpresswatch.org/2009/04/trial-no-win/

Baha’is Imprisoned In Iran Should Be Released Not Tried

There are no grounds for imprisoning the seven Baha’i leaders in Iran and they should be released not tried. The Baha’i International Community recently stated

Reports that seven imprisoned Baha’is have been accused of espionage and other crimes and that their case will be referred to the Revolutionary Court next week are deeply concerning, potentially marking a new and dangerous stage in Iran’s persecution of Baha’is, said the Baha’i International Community today.

“The accusations are false, and the government knows this,” said Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “The seven Baha’is detained in Tehran should be immediately released.”

Word of a possible trial against imprisoned Baha’is came yesterday in an Iranian ISNA news agency report quoting Tehran’s deputy public prosecutor, Hassan Haddad. According to the report, a case will be sent to the revolutionary courts next week accusing the seven Baha’is of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic.”

It is presumed that the seven referred to by Mr. Haddad are the group of Baha’i leaders from Tehran who were arrested last year in raids reminiscent of sweeps nearly 30 years ago at the start of the Islamic revolution. Those sweeps led to the execution of dozens of Baha’i leaders at the time. …

To read the full article, go to:
http://news.bahai.org/story/694