Within the past week, two things have come to my attention that I feel you should know about. The title of this musing deals with those subjects, and to stop you from running off to your dictionary, the word "perfidy" is described in the Concise Oxford Dictionary as "breach of faith; treachery". The items that came to light are:
1. Government authorities in Iran have destroyed a Baha'i holy site, the Baha'i International Community has learned.
The gravesite of Quddus, a prominent figure in early Baha'i history, has been razed to the ground, despite protests from Baha'is at the local, national, and international levels.
"The destruction and desecration of this holy place were carried out with the knowledge of the national government to which appeals had been made beforehand," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.
"This act represents yet another example of the ongoing persecution against Iran's 300,000 member Baha'i community, utterly contradicting the government's claim that the human rights situation in Iran is improving," said Ms. Dugal.
Destruction of the gravesite began in February but was temporarily halted after local Baha'is demanded to see a legal permit for the demolition work.
The Baha'is were referred to national authorities and for a time it appeared that the desecration had been halted. More recently, it was discovered that the dismantling of the gravesite had continued surreptitiously over a period of days until the structure was entirely demolished.
The house-like structure marked the resting place of Mulla Muhammad-'Ali Barfurushi, known as Quddus (The Most Holy). Quddus was the foremost disciple of the Bab, the Prophet-Herald of the Baha'i Faith.
"It would be the least that the Government could do at this point to return to the Baha'i community his sacred remains," said Ms. Dugal. "We ask for the international community's support in this goal."
Ms. Dugal added that the destruction of the gravesite came soon after the international community failed this year to offer a resolution on the human rights situation in Iran.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was founded in 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed by the Government. Hundreds more have spent time in prison and thousands have been deprived of education, property, and employment, solely because of their religious belief.
To see their website and keep up with developments on this issue and others, visit Baha'i World News online. If anything, this website is devoted to the recognition and development of brother and sisterhood worldwide.
2. The Mayor of New York City, The Governor of New York State, and the City Council of New York City plan to take the small pieces of remains (bone fragments, skin, etc) from the site of the Twin Towers disaster, and not give them a proper burial, but instead, turn them into a garbage dump. Sound ridiculous? Of course it does. Go to the World Trade Center Families For Burial website and read about it. Then go to the Sign the Petition Online site and put your signature to this petition to prevent this miscarriage of common decency.
Why is it that in our supposed enlightened age, we face yet again government officials who, in item 1. above, not only completely disregard any principle of decency in the world between fellow human beings, but systematically persecute its citizens because of their religious belief, and in item 2. feel justified "on economic grounds" to flaunt public decency within the borders of the largest political democracy in the world, and feel they can get away with it, with absolutely no regard for the families of the deceased? As one small child put it, "My daddy isn't garbage".
I therefore invite you, dear reader, to voice your own opinion to these two government bodies, within and without the North American Continent, and demand that they cease their perfidy towards their own population, based either on religious hatred or on economic, money grabbing grounds. I have, and hope you join with me in condemning these acts of barbarism and cruelty. Then again, as usual, these are...
...just my musings...
Mac
