[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     OPENING OF THE SPECIAL EXHIBIT ``DEFENDING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY''

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 3, 1995
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, thank you for this opportunity 
to speak out for religious freedom.
  The worldwide religion known as the Baha'i Faith is one of the most 
peace-loving groups in the world--and yet one of the most consistently 
persecuted.
  The Baha'i Faith began in Persia in the 1840's, and spread rapidly 
through the Mideast, where Islam has historically been dominant. Though 
the Baha'i Faith now has adherents all around the world, including all 
50 States of the United States, its historic links to the Mideast have 
helped bring it repeatedly into conflict with Islam.
  Islam, like most other world religions, teaches certain truths that 
its adherents take to be absolute. Baha'is take a different approach, 
seeing all religions as successive revelations, each with a partial 
truth.
  These questions are faced, one way or another, by all men and women 
of conscience. And it is inevitable that many of us will come out 
differently on these questions. In decent societies--in free 
societies--we respect each other's freedom of conscience. If we seek to 
persuade one another, we do it in friendship, and with respect.
  But in some parts of the world, force is still used to settle 
religious issues. In Iran, with its extremist regime, the fact that the 
Baha'is question Islam's claim to represent God's full and final 
revelation makes them a target of unceasing persecution. The fact that 
the Baha'i Faith arose on territory in which Islam has been dominant 
for some 1,400 years, and among ethnic groups with a long Islamic 
heritage, seems to be an unbearable irritant to the Iranian regime. 
They view the Baha'is as worse than mere adherents of another 
religion--which, in their eyes, is quite bad enough. They view them as 
something worse: as heretics, as conscious destroyers of Islam.
  For those of us who have met Baha'i believers--even those of us who 
come from a religious perspective quite different from theirs--the 
notion that they would be destroyers of anything is simply absurd.
  Yet Baha'is in Iran have no legal rights, despite being the largest 
religious minority in that country. More than 200 Iranian Baha'is, 
including women and teenage girls, have been executed for their faith 
since 1979. Thousands have faced torture and imprisonment for refusing 
to convert to Islam. Tens of thousands have lost their jobs, and been 
forced to repay past salaries or pensions. All Baha'i students were 
expelled from Iranian universities by 1982.
  President Clinton has placed Iran's treatment of its Baha'i minority 
on a par with ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. Given the 
professed intention of the Iranian regime to block the progress and 
development of the Baha'i Faith. I would have to agree with the 
President on this.
  I salute my colleagues for sponsoring this exhibition on the 
persecution of the Baha'i Faith community. I hope it will inspire all 
who see it to stand up for religious freedom.
  Thank you very much.
  

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