ژورنال سایت خبری سیاسی ژورنال
English Journal is published on Fridays
PDF-English Journal-23 August 2025-No28
The Baháʼí International Community has reported that officials in Isfahan have confiscated the property of more than 20 Baháʼí citizens in the province solely because of their faith, informing them of the seizures only via text message and without legal process. The confiscations, announced on Thursday 14 August, cover farms, homes, vehicles and bank accounts.
Confronting anti-Baháʼí persecution requires two levels of struggle. The first is urgent and immediate: opposing the Islamic Republic’s religious persecution is not only the responsibility of Baháʼís in Iran but of all people. Defending Baháʼís – and everyone with different beliefs, including atheists – is a cornerstone of civic, secular and anti-government struggle. We must intensify the fight for religious freedom for all faiths and none, making it a central demand of public discourse. In this way, confronting a regime that exploits Twelver Shia Islam as a tool of plunder will become more effective and socially grounded. We, the people, can dismantle the division between Muslim and non-Muslim, replacing it with equal citizenship as the basis of social rights.
At a broader, more lasting level, we must struggle for a secular society – one where religion has no place in government or state institutions. A secular state is a non-ideological one: it privileges no faith, and its sole aim is the advancement of science and human knowledge to foster better, more humane lives.
When the state is secular, all citizens are equal under the law. Believers and non-believers alike enjoy no superiority over one another. Only unconditional freedom of expression and belief can guarantee the free exchange of ideas, where critique is answered with critique.
In such a society, not only Baháʼís but all citizens of every faith or none will enjoy equal rights.
Editor: Patty Debonitas
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