What has happened to Baha'i? Memories of Wilmette, IL

First of All, Photo :

Bahāʾī Temple, Wilmette, Ill.

Credit: Francisco Gonzalez/© Baha’i International Community

I chose this photo from the internet even though it is not the image I still hold in my mind's eye from living in Wilmette, IL as a youngster and driving past the Temple all the time in bright sunlight in the summer..

It was kind of incongruous, the Baha'i people chose a beautiful site for their Temple near Lake Michigan but Wilmette was hardly a hotbed of Baha'i people. In fact, I knew only one, a boy whose name I remember too, (Bruce Cutler) because he was the sole Baha'i member I knew of.

As I understand it, Baha'i has its roots in a Sufi mystic who wanted an ecumenical religion...

A lot of people have dreamed of something like this, just as people have dreamed of an international language ( whatever happened to Esperanto? There is still an Esperanto Society I hear).

I also know Baha'i's have suffered a great deal of persecution in Muslim countries in particular, where all islamic "heretics" get treated very harshly...

Let me see if I can find kind of an update of where the Baha'i Movement stands now...

Well, the situation this year in Iran is worse than ever ( no surprise there)--this from the internet:

"Last week, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran submitted his third report to the Human Rights Council and it was not good news. Dr. Ahmad Shaheed expressed his grave concern about the deteriorating situation for Iran’s Baha'i population since his last report during the 67th session of the U.N. General Assembly in October 2012.

Human rights group “Justice for Iran” also just released its list of 15 Iranian officials(Persian) that they have labeled as the worst Baha’i rights abusers in Iran.

According to the U.N. Report: “...110 Baha’is are currently detained in Iran for exercising their faith, including two women, Mrs. Zohreh Nikayin (Tebyanian) and Mrs. Taraneh Torabi (Ehsani), who are reportedly nursing infants in prison. It was further estimated that 133 Baha’is are currently awaiting summons to serve their sentences, and that another 268 Baha’is are reportedly awaiting trial.”

The Iranian regime’s persecution of Baha’is is grounded in its belief that it is a heretical sect incompatible with Islam. Bahá'ís are viewed as defectors from the traditional tenets of Islam, and according to some, must choose between repentance or death.

Apartheid Education

“Members of the Baha’i community are reported to continue to be systematically deprived of a range of social and economic rights, including access to higher education. Informed sources have reported that authorities from three different universities expelled five Baha’i students in November 2012. Four of these students were reportedly offered continued admission if they denied and/or pledged to abandon their religious practices. The students were reportedly expelled for refusing the offer.”

How about Baha'i in the United States?

I had trouble with the official Bahai website...I did find this interview with Rainn Wilson, fromTV sitcom "The Office" which I will repeat here ( by the way, I believe Wilson went to the same high school north of Chicago that I did, but I'll have to check that)--

(CNN) - Dwight K. Schrute was many things: paper salesman, beet farmer, lovable dork. Though he came from Amish stock, Schrute showed more interest in martial arts than Bibles and buggies.
But the man who played Schrute for nine years calls religion central to his life, and as Rainn Wilson transitions to life after “The Office,” his Baha’i faith is taking center stage.
Wilson is on the forefront of a campaign called “Five Years Too Many” that calls for the release of seven Baha’i volunteer leaders who have been imprisoned in Iran for the past five years.
“People need to know that this has happened and that this is happening and they don't,” Wilson said. “There are Baha'is rotting in jail on a 20-year sentence on trumped up charges simply because they have a certain set of faith beliefs that run against the theocracy in Iran."
The move from actor to advocate for a world religion is a big shift for Wilson. After a failed movie career and a lot of soul searching he is at peace with his television success and knows that his career might have peaked with “The Office,” which ends next Thursday after nine years on the air.
“It is probable that this was the high point in my career and the most awesome thing I'll ever be involved in,” Wilson told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview. “I just feel tremendous gratitude.”