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An organizer reads excerpts from a sacred Zoroastrian text at one of the Kurdistan Region's fire temples in Darbandikhan, Aug. 8, 2019. (Photo: Kurdistan 24/Karwan Yara) A local organization dedicated to the Zoroastrian religion and philosophy on Thursday held a special ceremony at one of the group's fire temples located in the Kurdistan Region.Members of the Basna Organization, whose efforts usually focus on preserving local archaeological sites, performed the rite in Sulaimani province’s town of Darbandikhan.During the event, participants observed a number of the religion's rituals and read some of the faith's texts and core doctrines aloud to attendees. Organizers...

Apostate Christianity, represented by mega-church pirates Rick Warren and Brian Houston and others, are preaching that Muslims and Christians ‘serve the same God’, and since we do, we should join forces. Welcome to Chrislam 2019. From time to time, articles we have done in the past will be rediscovered by people and wind up getting shared with tens of thousands of people all over again. Such is the case with one of the first Chrislam articles we ever did back in 2012. Over the past 2 days, the number of shares on social media have exploded, going well past the...

Jim Seals and Dash Crofts, March 16, 1975. | Warner Brothers Records/Public DomainThis month marks the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which made abortion-on-demand the law of the land. It also marks the 45th anniversary of what is arguably the most courageous act in pop culture history.In the early 1970s, the Texas-born duo of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts was at the peak of their popularity. After spending a few years in a band with Glen Campbell, among others, they began to perform under the name “Seals and Croft.”It took a few years, but eventually they hit it big....

The Baha’i International Community said Tuesday that Iran’s effort to crush the religious minority has continued unabated and intensified on some fronts despite President Hassan Rouhani’s promises to end religious discrimination. In a 122-page report, the community said Rouhani’s government has stepped-up its “campaign to incite hatred against Baha’is” including by disseminating more than 20,000 pieces of anti-Baha’i propaganda in the Iranian media. […] Iran has banned the Baha’i religion, which was founded in 1844 by a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by followers. Muslims consider Muhammad the final prophet. …

A report released this month on “The Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran” reveals that Iranians are worse off under “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani than his more conservative predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and that, based on their current trajectory, they are expected to exceed well over 1,000 executions by year’s end. […] Iran executes more individuals per capita than any other country in the world. In his 26-page report, (Dr. Ahmed) Shaheed notes that between January 1 and September 15 of this year, Iran executed at least 694 people by hanging, which included at least 10 women...

Religions have surprisingly diverse approaches to the issue of possible extraterrestrial life, David Weintraub found. Below, a quick survey adapted from his book "Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It?" and interviews with the author.

The election last year of self-professed moderate President Hassan Rouhani has not brought Iran's Christians any relief, according to a new United Nations report which finds the Islamic Republic's Bible believers more persecuted than ever. The detailed report finds Iran has continued to imprison Christians for their faith and designated house churches and evangelical Christians as "threats to national security.” At least 49 Christians were among 307 religious minorities being held in Iranian jails as of January 2014, noted the UN, which also blasted the regime for its hostility to Jews, Baha’is, Zoroastrians and Dervish Muslims, the UN report stated....

...From its very inception the Baha'ism has suffered from sects, denominations, isms, schisms and offshoots of various sorts. The Baha'i Faith developed as an offshoot of the Babi Faith, which developed as an offshoot of Shaykhism, which developed as an offshoot of Ithna-'Ashariyyih, which developed as an offshoot of Sufism, which developed as an offshoot of Shi'ite, which developed as a denomination of Islam. The death of the first Guardian Shoghi Effendi gave rise to the greatest number of these groups who all claim to be the one true Baha'i Faith since...

When a mother of two can be sentenced to death by stoning on the basis of a disputed confession of adultery and without proper legal representation, there is little reason for faith in the fairness or mercy of Iran's judicial system. But as in the appalling case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 20-year jail sentences just handed out to seven Bahá'í leaders must provoke an international outcry in the hope that the Iranian government can be shamed into thinking again. ............. The catch-all charge of espionage exposes the reality behind the regime's cruel behaviour. Over the years, Bahá'ís have found...

NEW YORK — The harsh prison sentences handed down to seven Iranian Baha'i leaders who are absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing is a judgment against an entire religious community, the Baha'i International Community said today. Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, whose Defenders of Human Rights Center represented the Baha'i defendants, said she was "stunned" by the reported 20-year jail terms. (/multimedia/slideshow.php?storyid=789) The incarceration of the seven Baha'i leaders is the latest development in a deliberate policy of the Iranian government to suffocate the Baha'i community. Systematic plans were drawn up in 1991 - at the request of the Leader of the...

NEW YORK — The harsh prison sentences handed down to seven Iranian Baha'i leaders who are absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing is a judgment against an entire religious community, the Baha'i International Community said today. Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, whose Defenders of Human Rights Center represented the Baha'i defendants, said she was "stunned" by the reported 20-year jail terms. (/multimedia/slideshow.php?storyid=789) The incarceration of the seven Baha'i leaders is the latest development in a deliberate policy of the Iranian government to suffocate the Baha'i community. Systematic plans were drawn up in 1991 - at the request of the Leader of the...

Faith, life and death in Iran Bahá'í leaders are being made scapegoats. We must press Tehran to grant them a fair trial Cherie Blair The Guardian, Tuesday 12 January 2010 As the Iranian government struggles to contain growing demands for freedom and democracy from its courageous people, it is flailing around trying to deflect blame for the protests. Foreign media and other countries, including Britain, have been accused of encouraging unrest. But the regime is also ­worryingly turning on all too familiar scapegoats within Iran. Once again, followers of the Bahá'í faith within the country are in the firing line....

Arson investigators were looking Tuesday into two fires in three days that destroyed the Orlando Bahá'í Center in Orlando. The first fire in the one-story wood building on Hillcrest Street was reported at 4:48 a.m. Sunday. When the Orlando Fire Department responded to the second blaze at 12:55 a.m. Tuesday, flames were shooting through the roof. "It is unusual for something like that to happen, especially this much down time between the two," said Orlando Fire Department Commander Vicki Robles. A spokesperson for the Bahá'í Center said the fires are baffling to the members, who number about 300 in the...

Seven members of the Bahai faith in Iran are to go on trial on Tuesday on charges of spying for Israel and of "insulting sanctities".   It is not clear how long the trial of the seven Bahais will last                   Six of the Bahais were arrested in May, 2008. The other one was arrested two months earlier. They were the leaders of the Bahais in Iran. The Bahai faith is banned by the Islamic revolutionary leadership of Iran which considers it heretical. Bahais claim some 300,000 members in Iran, where the faith originated.  Midnight raids "The trial...

Seven Baha'i Leaders, who have been imprisoned since May 2008, are to appear in court on August 19 in Tehran. The court order was sent to the office of Abdolfatah Soltani, one of their defense lawyers, who is himself currently under arrest. The International Baha'i Community in Geneva announced that since Mr. Soltani is unavailable and Shirin Ebadi, the other defense lawyer in this case, is out of the country, a trial at this time will infringe on the right of these defendants to a fair hearing. They add that since the investigations and questionings were wrapped up months ago,...

The last eight years well intentioned people of different political beliefs, different religious faiths, and different cultural perspectives have been quietly asking themselves some vital questions. Is Islam a religion of peace? Is the goal of Islam violent global conquest or rather the persuasion of non-Moslems that Islam is the true religion? There are many good Moslems in our world, but is that because of Islam or in spite of Islam? These questions will be answered in Iran. There is no question (or there should not be) that the Iranian people -- actually, the different peoples of the nation of...

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN'S PERSECUTION OPPRESSION OF MINORITIES - ISLAMIC APARTHEID In General, Christians, Baha'i, Kurds, Jews, Azeris, Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs Again, religious persecution in IranFebruary 20, 2009Ethel C. FenigAs Thomas Lifson noted yesterday Iranian authorities destroyed a Sufi holy site, continuing their practice of pressuring and discriminating against religions that do not strictly follow the Shi'ite form of Islam.  But the Sufis are not the only religious minority suffering discrimination in Iran.   The 2500 year old Jewish community, which numbered over 80,000 thirty years ago at the time of the Khoemeni Revolution which overthrew the Shah, has dwindled to about...

Villagers attacked the homes of members of the tiny minority Baha'i faith with stones and firebombs in the south of Egypt this week, forcing families to flee for safety, rights groups said on Friday. Police later asked all Baha'is remaining in the mainly Muslim village of Shuraniya to depart, and no Baha'is were left there by the evening of April 1, a group of six Egyptian rights groups said in a joint statement, quoted by Reuters. Egyptian police have detained seven people on suspicion of vandalism in the case, security sources said. "Because the violence was ongoing, police asked them...

Some fear the oppression of a little-known religious minority in Iran is intensifyingNaeim Tavakkoli last saw his father Behrouz three years ago in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison. Behrouz, a leader in among the 300,000 Iranians who follow the Baha’i religion, had failed to come home weeks earlier. Naeim, his mother, and brother searched hospitals and police stations but found no trace. Finally they were told Behrouz had been arrested by the Intelligence Ministry and were allowed to see him. The three of them sat across from Behrouz on a small bench in a tiny room with two government agents standing...

NEW YORK — Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed. The six men and women, all members of the national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Bahá’ís in Iran, were in their homes Wednesday morning when government intelligence agents entered and spent up to five hours searching each home, before taking them away.The seventh member of the national coordinating group was arrested in early March...