THE PULPIT: Local Baha'i a testament to freedom

It's easy to take our religious freedoms in the U.S. for granted - until we hear accounts of religious persecution in other parts of the world.

For Sia Fallahi, a 72-year-old Colorado Springs resident born and raised in Iran, every day on American soil is a blessing.

The freedom to follow the faith of his choice without having a state or group impose religious beliefs on him is something he cherishes.

"What you believe is between you and your God," said Fallahi, a critic of the Christian right's attempts over the years to, in his words, impose its beliefs on American culture.

And he thinks an American theocracy would be a civil rights tragedy.

"It would be like Iran, where religious people run the state," Fallahi said.

He speaks from experience.

Fallahi is a lifelong follower of Baha'i, a faith that's under persecution in a country where Islam is the state religion.

Human rights groups say more than 250 Baha'is have been killed in Iran by Islamic extremists since 1979, when the Ayatollah Khomeini imposed sharia law.

Reports have filtered out about Baha'is being imprisoned, discriminated against, denied access to higher education and having their property confiscated.

Until he fled the country in 1957, Fallahi remembers being spit on and beaten for being a Baha'i. In 1980, he said, one of his uncles and a cousin were killed because of their faith.

"It's like how it was in America for blacks before the civil rights movement of the 1960s."

The Baha'i religion is based on the writings of the 19th-century Persian Balla' Ullah, regarded by the faithful as the most recent prophet in a line that includes the Buddha, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

Baha'is believe that men and women are equal, all religions are divinely inspired and all people's beliefs are to be respected.

Muslim extremists denounce the faith as a heresy because it recognizes a prophet after Muhammad, considered in Islam to be the final prophet.

The Baha'i faithful number about 250,000 in Iran and 6 million worldwide. El Paso County is home to about 200 followers, a count based on the number of worshipers at the Baha'i Faith Center, 1622 Rainier Drive.

Many local Baha'i want to help their brethren in Iran, but they're frustrated by lack of information from what is a relatively closed society.

They've written to the U.S. House of Representatives to bring attention to the persecution, but most of their efforts have been religious.
"We rely a lot on prayer right now," said Dixie Dole, a 63-year-old Baha'i from Colorado Springs.

"We feel that is pretty powerful."

For more information on the issue of Baha'is in Iran, go to my blog, The Pulpit.
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CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0367 or mark.barna@gazette.com.