ABSTRACT
The Bahá’í community in Iran, that country’s largest religious minority, has been subjected to systematic, state-sponsored persecution since the 1979 Revolution. This chapter presents its response to this persecution as a model worthy of further reflection, in that it raises a number of valuable questions. It asks how, in the face of a sustained campaign to eliminate their community, the Bahá’ís have been able to eschew the mantle of victimhood and prevent the seeds of hatred from taking root in their collective consciousness. The authors explore why the Bahá’ís have refused to respond with violence or become involved in partisan politics, and how the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith have informed their response. In addressing these questions, the chapter seeks to provide insights not only into how religious minorities can maintain their integrity and continue to flourish even under bitter persecution, but also into the role of religion in social change at a time when religion is the focus of much debate around the world. It argues that there is great value in analysing the different conceptions of religion that exist in society and the power that these conceptions have to engender: on the one hand, there is ferocious, bloody persecution, while, on the other hand, there exists commitment to long-term social transformation, even under the bleakest of circumstances.
