To Die For: Human Rights

December is a month of celebrations of diversity in religion expressed by the symbol of light. Christians use lights as a symbol of Jesus Christ’s appearance on earth in the celebration of Christmas. In the Jewish tradition, Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, commemorates the miraculous eight-day continuation of a single day’s oil supply for the temple lamp.

In 1906, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, son of Bahá’u’lláh the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, was nearing the end of over fifty years of exile and imprisonment in Iraq and Palestine, a sentence imposed by the Ottoman Empire for new religious beliefs. In correspondence with one of his many visitors to Akka, 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote his famous tablet, the Seven Candles of Unity.

In this tablet, 'Abdu'l-Bahá states that in this day the unity of all mankind can be achieved. He named the twentieth century “the century of light” because of its “unique and unprecedented glory, power and illumination; hence the miraculous unfolding of a fresh marvel every day. Eventually it will be seen how bright its candles will burn in the assemblage of man.” 'Abdu'l-Bahá maintained that its light was already “dawning upon the world’s darkened horizon”.

The faint glimmerings of the candles of political unity, unity of world undertakings, and unity of freedom were evident four decades later in the December 10, 1948 signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and the subsequent passing of the International Bill of Human Rights in 1976 as law.

The fourth candle of unity in religion, “the corner-stone of the foundation itself,” is on shaky ground in many parts of the world today.

“The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland. The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth peoples and kindreds of one race. The seventh candle is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in which all peoples will be instructed and converse. Each and every one of these will inevitably come to pass, inasmuch as the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization.”

Religious suppression of the Bahá’ís in Iran is alarming. Many have been executed within the last three decades. Thirty-five members of this Faith are in prisons today, including seven Baha’i leaders who have remained in prison for over a year without trial.
The current situation in Iran is of particular concern to the Bahá’ís of the Comox Valley. Mr. Soheil Habibi is a member of the local Bahá’í Community who is personally touched by these events. His cousin, Sasan Taqavi is one of three youths imprisoned 18 months ago in Shiraz on a four-year sentence for assisting underprivileged youth. Sasan’s leg was broken after the arrest, and his pain was exacerbated by sleeping on the prison floor without a mattress until very recently. The leg is not getting the required treatment. Added to Sasan’s distress is the fact that he and the other two youths are in solitary confinement.

Instead of fanning the flames of ignorance, prejudice, and distrust among religions, let our prayer this season be a beacon for our religious diversity and our action be to light the flames of the candles of unity.