Iran’s Dismal Human Rights Record Exposed in Wilmette Conference

Iran’s dismal human rights record against women, labor and minority religions including the Baha’i Faith will be under the spotlight at a Human Rights Day conference at Wilmette’s Baha’i Temple, 1 to 4 p. m., Saturday, Dec. 10th.

Sponsored by Amnesty International USA and Chicagoland Baha’i assemblies, national experts will outline the denial of basic freedoms in Iran and worldwide efforts for change. It’s free and open to the public.

According to Amnesty International, Iran has a terrible record of human rights violations including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, unfair trials, stoning, abuses against women and limits on movement, belief, expression, assembly and association. Iran persecutes certain ethnic and religious minorities and has sentenced seven Baha’i national leaders to 20 years in prison on false charges of espionage for Israel and “spreading corruption on earth” following secret trials and minimal access to lawyers.

Wilmette conference speakers include prominent Iran experts — former New York Times Reporter Nazila Fathi, Baha’i Director of External Affairs Anthony Vance, international union authority Danny Postel and Amnesty International USA Iran Country Specialist Elise Auerbach. A new film, “Education Under Fire,” will recount the historic roots of Iran’s official persecution of the Baha’i religion and recent stepped-up efforts to pursue Iranians of Baha’i Faith.

Nazila Fathi was a journalist for the New York Times and Time Magazine and current Neiman Fellow at Harvard University on technology and the Internet shaping human rights and civil rights. She was formerly Fellow at Sweden’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute on women’s rights. Fathi holds a master’s degree from Harvard and bachelor’s from Tehran Azad University.

Anthony Vance is director of external affairs for the Baha’is of the United States in Washington and was deputy secretary-general of the Baha’i World Center in Israel. Earlier, he was program manager for the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Botswana and Egypt, and spent many prior years with a law firm. He holds JD, MBA and bachelor’s degrees from Harvard University.

Danny Postel is expert on international labor rights including Iran. Based in Chicago, he’s an international editor, writer for prominent publications, and college journalism and language teacher. His articles have appeared in openDemocracy, Chronicle of Higher Education, American Prospect, Chicago Tribune, Guardian, Nation, New Humanist, Progressive and Washington Post.
Elise Auerbach is Iran country specialist for Amnesty International USA. She received a PhD from the University of Chicago’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

The Human Rights Day Conference takes place at landmark Baha’i Temple, located at Sheridan Road and Linden Avenue in Wilmette, in the lower-level Foundation Hall. Because of construction, the site is not handicapped accessible. Free parking is available on neighboring streets and the Baha’i parking lot across Sheridan Road. There’s paid parking at the CTA lot at 4th and Linden, Wilmette, about three blocks away — the last stop on the CTA Purple Line.

Saeid Khadivian is an extremely eloquent speaker with over 20 years of service in the administrative structure of the Baha’i Faith in California, Texas, and Taiwan. He has conducted seminars with over 500 people in attendance, still talked about today by those who attended. The Bahá’í Club is honored to sponsor a rare public seminar and discussion. In addition to providing a brief introduction to the Bahá’í Faith, Mr. Khadivian will speak about the Bahá’i response to current events and the Faith’s attempt to create unity in a rapidly changing world. Topics of particular interest to the University community will include the attempt of the Bahá’í Faith to reconcile science and religion, the vital importance of higher education, and the principle of gender equality.

This exciting presentation will take place in Parkes Hall, Room 122, just south of the Chicago Ave/Sheridan Road corner at the Arch.

Please contact the Bahá’í Club at BahaiEventsChicago@gmail.com with questions.

Visit bahaitemple.org for more information.

View more Baha’i videos on the U.S. Baha’i YouTube Channel.

Children belonging to the Bud Billiken Club were taught that they should be honest and trustworthy, obey their parents and respect one another. A cartoon character, Bud Billiken, taught them how. Through a pen-pal program with children in Africa, South America, Europe and the Middle East the Billiken club helped chip away at the wall of segregation that had separated these children.

To honor those achievements, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States presents an annual award in his name to honor individuals or organizations who “represent positive role models for youth of all races and who contribute outstanding lasting service to the community.”

View a video about the life of David Kellum:

Abdu’l-Baha spent several weeks in the Chicago area and laid the cornerstone for the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette.   He also gave one public address in Evanston, on May 4, 1912 before the Theosophical Society at Northwestern’s historic University Hall.

These were some of Abdu’l-Baha’s words on that occasion and the prayer with which he concluded his talk.  The Baha’i Reference Library has a full transcript.

In the spiritual world the divine bestowals are infinite, for in that realm there is neither separation nor disintegration, which characterize the world of material existence. Spiritual existence is absolute immortality, completeness and unchangeable being. Therefore, we must thank God that He has created for us both material blessings and spiritual bestowals. He has given us material gifts and spiritual graces, outer sight to view the lights of the sun and inner vision by which we may perceive the glory of God. He has designed the outer ear to enjoy the melodies of sound and the inner hearing wherewith we may hear the voice of our Creator. We must strive with energies of heart, soul and mind to develop and manifest the perfections and virtues latent within the realities of the phenomenal world, for the human reality may be compared to a seed. If we sow the seed, a mighty tree appears from it. The virtues of the seed are revealed in the tree; it puts forth branches, leaves, blossoms, and produces fruits. All these virtues were hidden and potential in the seed. Through the blessing and bounty of cultivation these virtues became apparent. Similarly, the merciful God, our Creator, has deposited within human realities certain latent and potential virtues. Through education and culture these virtues deposited by the loving God will become apparent in the human reality, even as the unfoldment of the tree from within the germinating seed. I will pray for you.

O Thou kind Lord! These are Thy servants who have gathered in this meeting, have turned unto Thy Kingdom and are in need of Thy bestowal and blessing. O thou God! Manifest and make evident the signs of Thy oneness which have been deposited in all the realities of life. Reveal and unfold the virtues which Thou hast made latent and concealed in these human realities.

O God! We are as plants, and Thy bounty is as the rain; refresh and cause these plants to grow through Thy bestowal. We are Thy servants; free us from the fetters of material existence. We are ignorant; make us wise. We are dead; make us alive. We are material; endow us with spirit. We are deprived; make us the intimates of Thy mysteries. We are needy; enrich and bless us from Thy boundless treasury. O God! Resuscitate us; give us sight; give us hearing; familiarize us with the mysteries of life, so that the secrets of Thy kingdom may become revealed to us in this world of existence and we may confess Thy oneness. Every bestowal emanates from Thee; every benediction is Thine.

Thou art mighty. Thou art powerful. Thou art the Giver, and Thou art the Ever-Bounteous.

Rainn Wilson tells Oprah about the Baha'i Faith

On March 9, actor Rainn Wilson was Oprah’s guest on her Soul Series webcast. Wilson discusses the religion in which he was raised, the Baha’i Faith, and his new website: SoulPancake.com—a place to discuss life’s big questions.