New tv series on Iran state network grossly misrepresents history, tenets of Bahá’í Faith

 

GENEVA – BWNS (Persian)

Bahá’ís deplore portrayal of their Faith in new tv series on government-owned Iranian national network

12 February 2010

Bahá’ís deeply deplore the malicious portrayals of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, the Twin Prophet Founders of the Bahá’í Faith, in a new national Iranian television network series. The characterizations degrade, ridicule, and insult these Central Figures of the Bahá’í Faith, Who are revered by Bahá’ís worldwide. The broadcast of this series is all the more lamentable in the face of the government’s loud denunciation of religious defamation in international forums.

The series, titled “Salhaye Mashrooteh” (“The Years of the Constitutional Revolution”), began on 1 February to coincide with the beginning of the ten-day celebration in Iran of the anniversary of the Islamic revolution, is being aired daily and will conclude on 15 February.

It purports to present a factual historical account of Iran’s “Constitutional Revolution” in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, a period which coincides with the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in that country. The programs purvey timeworn and wholly unfounded allegations that the Bahá’í Faith was created by British imperialists as an anti-Islamic movement.

This current national network television series is only the most recent occurrence in an unremitting and systematic campaign of propaganda against the Bahá’í Faith by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The campaign has utilized all forms of state-controlled mass media to incite hatred and, suspicion against the Bahá’ís throughout the country by flagrantly misrepresenting, denigrating, and distorting the history and teachings of the Bahá’í Faith.

Iranians eager to learn the truth have no easy access to accurate information about the Bahá’í Faith, as Bahá’ís in Iran are utterly denied the opportunity to correct the slander that is being promulgated by the authorities. Moreover, the mass media is so strictly controlled that even the mere publication of a photograph of the Bahá’í Temple in India in conjunction with an article promoting tourism to that country resulted in the immediate, albeit temporary, closure of the newspaper concerned.

Bahá’ís call upon their well-wishers to join them in seeking to counteract the falsehoods being spread by the government through wide circulation of accurate information about the Faith’s teachings. For those eager to assist in this process, the book titled “Tolouie Digar” and posted at: http://www.aeenebahai.org/node/835 and in audio version at http://www.aeenebahai.org/node/616, is offered as a reliable resource.

Source is at http://news.persian-bahai99.info/story/196. English version distributed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United Kingdom in e-mail letter dated 17 February 2010.