Dec18
Plight of Baha’i Students in Iran Raised at Harvard University Morning Prayer Service
The Bahá’í representative at Harvard Chaplains gave a short talk for the Morning Prayer Service in late October, in which she was also able to address the situation of Bahá’í students in Iran.
Morning Prayers are one of Harvard’s oldest traditions and have been held daily at Harvard since 1636.
When talking about the interfaith gathering of Chaplains that had taken place previously that month, the Bahá’í representative made reference to the treatment of Bahá’í students in Iran:
That gathering of Chaplains in mid-October stood out in sharp relief from the emails I have been receiving in recent weeks about the deteriorating situation in Iran for Bahá’ís – especially Bahá’í university students – and other religious minorities, such as Zoroastrians. The Iranian government has a different kind of truth or dare for them, where the stakes are much higher. Truth or dare becomes life or death. Living what you believe can mean dying to uphold that truth. Bahá’í are dared to recant their faith, repudiate the truth. If they do, they can work, attend college, own property, or in some cases simply be allowed to live. If they don’t they have no legal rights, they are prevented from enrolling in universities or are expelled, can be detained indefinitely, or executed– as 200 Bahá’ís were between 1978 and 1998.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a 20-page document last Monday, which was a response to a request from the General Assembly for a “comprehensive report” on the human rights situation in Iran. Mr. Ban expressed his concern over human rights violations in Iran against Bahá’ís, other minorities, women and juveniles.
He stated that although Iran’s constitution guarantees a wide range of fundamental freedoms, “in practice there are a number of serious impediments to the full protection of human rights.” The report points out that Article 14 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran stipulates “protection for non-Muslims.”
The report devoted a page to the Bahá’í community, with some 300, 000 members it is Iran’s largest religious minority. There has been a significant increase in violence targeting Bahá’ís [They are presently] subjected to arbitrary detention, false imprisonment, confiscation and destruction of property, denial of employment and government benefits, and denial of access to higher education,”
The implications of this injustice are deeply disturbing, and reflecting on it here, the denial of education seems especially so. Which is why the gathering of Harvard Chaplains this month had such force. It showed how people – representing such a range of belief – these people who could be the contenting peoples and kindreds of the earth – are collaborating to understand each other and to live what they believe for the “sake of God.” This was a conversation that doesn’t often happen other places – locally, nationally, and internationally. But let’s dare to continue it. We can seize the opportunity that having religious freedom gives us to actually root out the differences, and “Cleave unto that which draws us together and unites us.”
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