Who knew Rainn Wilson was a member of the Baha'i faith? Or that the members of this faith we'd kind of half-heard of and pretended to know about are being persecuted in Iran? And that the guy we know very well as Dwight Schrute would write an essay demanding this religious persecution cease?
Rainn Wilson wrote a Commentary on CNN's website entitled "Stop Religious Persecution In Iran." Hey, that's not funny, Dwight. Wilson realized he's an unlikely source for this sort of call to action, and admitted as much -
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...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. They're teachers, and engineers, and optometrists and social workers just like us...
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!
