Previous research had shown that men and women’s brains were “wired” differently. This research showed that there was a similar difference between sexual orientation. So finally we have scientific proof that women love to go shopping with their gay male friends.

Using PET and MRI scans which measured blood flow the study showed:

• The brains of heterosexual men (HeM) and homosexual women (HoW) were similar in that the volumes of their two brain hemispheres were not symmetrical (rightward cerebral asymmetry).
• The brains of homosexual men (HoM) and heterosexual women (HeW) were similar in that the volumes of their two brain hemispheres were symmetrical.
• There were also opposite sex similarities between the gay and heterosexual participants in the way their amygdalae connected.

The authors of the study conclude: “The results cannot be primarily ascribed to learned effects, and they suggest a linkage to neurobiological entities”. You can read the report here. The next step is to find what exactly accounts for the difference and by what mechanism it is activated.

More and more science is taking baby steps towards an explanation of homosexuality that is anchored in biological rather than behavioral basis. That is, it may eventually offer conclusive proof that homosexuality arises from human genetic makeup. Some scientists are persuaded already by the present findings of this and other research but not all.

We are certainly not there yet but the trend from recent research reports points that way. If this is indeed realized at some time in the future, then I believe it will present the Baha’is with a severe challenge because most believe that homosexuality is an aberration from the “natural” and that, more importantly, it is a “spiritual affliction” which can be overcome by expressing a moral choice and through conscious effort (such as prayer).

Such views would become anachronistic if homosexuality is shown to be a genetic substrate wholly outside a person’s volition and choice.

Here is a thought provoking essay on “Sex and Values” from the late R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram.

But finally things seem to be coming together. The film, Mona’s Dream will go into pre-production in the fall with shooting planned for this winter and post-production into early next year.

Which would mean that if the everything goes to plan we can see the film next summer. The project has currently half of its financial budget ($7 million) and will hopefully be able to raise the rest going into (pre-)production.

Here are the confirmed actors so far for the project:

Keisha Castle-Hughes to play Mona Mahmudnizhad
Keisha was catapulted into stardom with the movie “Whale Rider” in 2002; for which she received an Academy Award nomination. There is no question she is a talented actress but I’m surprised by this casting because Keisha is twice the age of Mona (Steve corrected me - see comments).

Shohreh Aghdashloo to play Mona’s mother
Ms. Aghdashloo was the first high profile actor to be linked to Mona’s Dream.

Cas Anvar to play main interrogator
The Canadian born actor has been prolific both on the stage as well as in film with many roles in both TV and movies.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam (in her debut) to play Tahirih
The Canadian model (Miss World Canada 2003 and Miss World runner-up) and singer is active in human rights causes. She first took on the cause of Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi who was sentenced to death in Iran but who later received a new trial and was exonerated.

As well, a new foundation, inspired by the project and Mona’s life, has been created: Freedom to Believe Foundation.

(1) Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.

(2) Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of per­sonal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic” comments.

(3) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and considera­tion.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.

(4) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.

(5) Haggle over precise wordings of com­munications, minutes, resolutions.

(6) Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.

(7) Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reason­able” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.

(8) Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the juris­diction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.

Even though you may not have seen them spelled out exactly as above, you probably have seen most of these guidelines implemented if you’ve ever served on an assembly, council or other institution. Heck, you may have even done exactly one or two or more of them yourself.

Guess what?

They come from a 1944 CIA manual on how to sabotage an organization from within.

You can view and download the whole declassified document: Simple Sabotage Field Manual (see page 28 for the excerpt above).

Stephen Bedingfield offers the suggested sign - to the left - for the deaf and hard of hearing community to represent the word “Baha’i”. If I’m blessed enough to have any readers from that community, I’d appreciate their input.

This reminds me of a story: One day I was dining at an outdoor cafe with a Baha’i friend when we were approached by a deaf person who simply placed a small, well-worn card on our table and walked away to do the same to the other tables.

When I picked it up I read that he was asking for money and explaining that he was deaf. When he returned to our table, my friend surprised him by speaking to him in sign language. At first he was shocked because she was not deaf but had by choice learned sign language.

I sat there transfixed for a few minutes as a dizzying array of finger and hand gestures flew in front of my face. I was curious what they were talking about but obviously had no way to know. After he had left my friend told me that she was trying to convince him to see himself as someone who could achieve more in life and not to accept that this was all he could be.

It didn’t look like she convinced him but it did, once again, renew the question of whether Baha’is are allowed or supposed to give alms to needy persons.

According to the Baha’i Faith, begging and asceticism are forbidden. But can we help those in dire need? should we? We have the example of Abdu’l-Baha who regularly pressed coins into the hands of beggars. We also have Writings which make the Baha’i institutions, and especially the Universal House of Justice, responsible for the well-being of the poor, orphans and elderly.

If ye meet the abased or the down-trodden, turn not away disdainfully from them, for the King of Glory ever watcheth over them and surroundeth them with such tenderness as none can fathom except them that have suffered their wishes and desires to be merged in the Will of your Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise. O ye rich ones of the earth! Flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust, nay rather befriend him and suffer him to recount the tale of the woes with which God’s inscrutable Decree hath caused him to be afflicted. By the righteousness of God! Whilst ye consort with him, the Concourse on high will be looking upon you, will be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and glorifying your action.
Baha’u'llah

There is also this Hidden Word:

O MY SERVANT!
The best of men are they that earn a livelihood by their calling and spend upon themselves and upon their kindred for the love of God, the Lord of all words.
Baha’u'llah

What are you thoughts? Have you ever given money to a beggar? did you feel guilty as a Baha’i? or do you make it a policy to not give money to beggars?

My comment regarding the equal susceptibility of Baha’i youth in Iran to the same societal pressures as other youth upset a few fellow Baha’is. We seem to have an idealized picture of Baha’i youth as spotless “Supermans”, somehow remaining pure even while swimming in the foulest muck. While I don’t doubt that there are Baha’i youth in Iran who do fit that bill, I also acknowledge that they are for the most part, human, just like you and I.

Being young and living in a very harsh and restrictive atmosphere, it is only natural that they “rebel”. This is true for religious youth or those who have no real religious identities or beliefs. Such pressures are even more pronounced when the ideals of the Baha’i Faith are heaped upon them and to top it off! the constant and growing pressure of potential religious persecution.

Depression is rampant among the Iranian youth. So is drug abuse and other activities not suitable for explicit mention in a family friendly blog. In any case, I hope that my characterization of the unfortunate situation in the Cradle of the Faith is not misconstrued by some as an attack on the precious Baha’i youth in Iran but rather as even more reasons why they deserve to exit and live in a free and just society.

What follows is an informal, somewhat rambling “chat”. I’m sure your honors will forgive Anonymouz for leading the witness. The Baha’i youth in Iran, whoever he or she is, does offer some interesting information. Finally, I should also mention that I simply take Anonymouz on his/her word and have no way to verify if s/he did indeed have this conversation with a Baha’i in Iran. Enjoy and please keep the Baha’is of Iran in your thoughts and prayers.

[START DOCUMENT]
Baha’i youth in Iran: allah u abha Mr …!!!!
Me: Allah’u’Abha!
Me: Chetori agha [how are you]
(more…)

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
Jimmi Hendrix

The way I see it, power is all about control. Love is all about losing control.

God’s love for us is the primary force behind Creation and the fountain of mankind’s nobility is free will. Which in a funny sort of way means that God gave up “control” and in a sense, put it in our own hands. We are not brute animals, controlled, lashed or beaten by God throughout our lives but instead are guided lovingly by His manifestations through intermittent divine revelations. And yet, whether we realize it or not, we always have the freedom to choose our reactions, behavior, speech… our very lives.

You and I may not be covetous of power in the meaning that we want to rule a country or take over the world. But in our own way we each choose, moment to moment, to either let go and love; or grab on to gain and maintain control and therefore, power. Lord knows I could sure use less of the latter and a heaping spoonful of the former.

Here’s the curious thing, when your power to love overcomes your love of power, something magical happens. People are drawn to you. You become a beacon, attracting others as if magnetized. They may not even know why but they sense something in you that others lack. Look at the example in the life and person of Abdu’l-Baha. Even as desiring no rank nor station beyond that of servitude, Abdu’l-Baha was so loved, revered and respected by all people.

Sounds good. Now how do we do that?

The Baha’i Faith certainly has answers - which take a lifetime to glean. These two ladies also have some ideas: Karen Armstrong + Jill Bolte Taylor

Just a little something to ponder over the weekend. Hope you all have a wonderful and restful time. It wouldn’t hurt to crank up some of Jimmi’s music and dance like no one’s watching.

Of course these charges have no credibility but still I thought it would be fruitful to go to the source and see what Baha’u'llah commands:

Beware lest ye shed the blood of any one. Unsheathe the sword of your tongue from the scabbard of utterance, for therewith ye can conquer the citadels of men’s hearts. We have abolished the law to wage holy war against each other. God’s mercy hath, verily, encompassed all created things, if ye do but understand.
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

And again, speaking to the Babi and Baha’i community of the time, Baha’u'llah explains not only the injunction to eschew violence but He explains in no uncertain terms that His Cause has no desire to gain or hold power in the form of civil authority:

Know thou that We have annulled the rule of the sword, as an aid to Our Cause, and substituted for it the power born of the utterance of men. Thus have We irrevocably decreed, by virtue of Our grace. Say: O people! Sow not the seeds of discord among men, and refrain from contending with your neighbor, for your Lord hath committed the world and the cities thereof to the care of the kings of the earth, and made them the emblems of His own power, by virtue of the sovereignty He hath chosen to bestow upon them. He hath refused to reserve for Himself any share whatever of this world’s dominion. To this He Who is Himself the Eternal Truth will testify. The things He hath reserved for Himself are the cities of men’s hearts, that He may cleanse them from all earthly defilements, and enable them to draw nigh unto the hallowed Spot which the hands of the infidel can never profane. Open, O people, the city of the human heart with the key of your utterance.
Tablet to Nabíl-i-‘Azam

I was going to write this in the comment section of a previous post but Baha’u'llah’s clear words deserve a more prominent exposition. I’m going to delve further into the question of church and state within the Baha’i Faith a bit later. But can’t resist for now to touch on it since it is so important an issue.

It has been not only an important issue but a contentious one for almost the whole duration of the Faith. Originally those who sought to cast the Baha’i Faith as supportive of theocracy were mischief makers who wished it ill. For example, they spread lies and rumors that Abdu’l-Baha was not building simply a shrine (of the Bab) but a citadel from which He would attempt to overthrow the government.

More recently the perpetrators are well meaning but ignorant Baha’is who have not bothered to read the consistent, clear and repeated Writings of their own Faith about this matter. Such error is dangerous whether the intention behind it is evil or not because it misrepresents the Baha’i Faith and it opens it to attacks from those who mistake it as having temporal motivations.

All I can say to fellow Baha’is who are under the wrong impression that their Faith promotes or condones in any way a theocratic model is, please, inform yourself. There are clear texts. You have but to read and study them.

Theirs is not the purpose, while endeavoring to conduct and perfect the administrative affairs of their Faith, to violate, under any circumstances, the provisions of their country’s constitution, much less to allow the machinery of their administration to supersede the government of their respective countries.
Shoghi Effendi

If you don’t know where to begin, a good place to start would be Church & State , a book that has passed Baha’i pre-publication review (as have all books published by Kalimat) [Ed. please see comments for clarification]. It contains a methodically and exhaustively collection of Baha’i texts on the relationship of church and state. Here is a recent and relevant entry from the author’s blog.

There is no shame in not knowing but there is shame in wallowing in ignorance. As a Baha’i the standard is extremely high and our duty is to fulfill individual investigation of truth.

God bless.

You’ll recall that there was an explosion in a Shiraz mosque on April 12th - at the time a part of me hoped that the Islamic Regime in Iranian would not use it as a pretense to crack down on Baha’is there.

Although initial news reports mentioned the blast as a bomb attack, the official response following the event blamed improperly stored ordinance inside the mosque and classify it as an accident.

However, less than 3 weeks later official sources in Iran changed their tune saying that it was a terrorist act. Interior Minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi blamed the blast on “monarchists” and “enemies of the Iranian people”.

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie also mentioned that people had already been arrested in connection with the explosion.

The only group to have claimed responsibility is the UK based “Kingdom Assembly of Iran” who issued this press release.

It is very difficult to get a clear sense of anything from the Iran regime and this is mostly by design. The Islamic regime revels in confusing and befuddling everyone, including themselves on occasion. There is such varying and competing agendas within the government that it really depends who you listen to and on which day.

My personal conviction was from the very start that the blast in Shiraz was a terrorist act and that calling it an “accident” was a convenient way for the Iranian regime to appear impregnable until they could calculate a means to extract further means to use it to their advantage.

Similarly the attempt to tie this tragic event with the Baha’i community in Iran is yet another tactic which affords them the convenience of deflecting international pressure regarding the arrest of the national Baha’i administrative group. They no longer have to answer to the world community on charges of religious persecution.

They can now use the smoke screen of national security to hold the 7 Baha’is and who knows, perhaps make further arrests and ratchet up the already alarming level of persecution of Baha’is in Iran.

Of course, the Baha’i Faith does accept and prefer monarchy (as a symbolic station devoid of civil authority) but no one except the most fanatic and ignorant Muslims would believe that the Baha’i Faith would in any way shape or form condone violence. On the contrary, we have clear and repeated guidance to uphold the laws of the country in which we live and to respect civil authority. This is something that the Baha’i community of Iran has been doing since its founding, even when under severe oppression.

I continue to beg my fellow Baha’is inside Iran to leave and start productive lives in the many alternative civilized countries around the world - for themselves and their children.

UPDATE:
Thanks to Bahaisonline.net for pointing out that the Baha’i International Community has now responded to the IRI’s allegations and rejected them completely.

I don’t think they will persuade anyone but fellow fundamentalist Islamic regimes (who would support them in the UN in any case) in arguing that the Baha’is had something to do with the Shiraz explosion last month. In any case, a civilized country that respects basic human rights would swiftly bring on charges and commence a fair and transparent trial. The charges of “Zionism” ring hollow and underscore the Iranian government’s moral as well as creative bankruptcy.

Report from the Universal House of Justice

… the members of the Friends in Iran - the group that coordinates the activities of the Baha’i community in the absence of a National Spiritual Assembly in the Cradle of the Faith - have been summarily and unjustly arrested by the Iranian authorities in raids conducted in the early hours of this morning, 14 May 2008. Details are as follows.

Officers of the Intelligence Ministry in Tehran entered the homes of six of the seven members of the Friends in Iran, whereupon they conducted extensive searches, following which all six were arrested and brought to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. These individuals - Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi [Fariba Kamalabadi], Mr. Jamalu’d-Din Khanjani [Jamaloddin Khanjani], Mr. ‘Afif Na’imi [Afif Naeimi], Mr. Sa’id Rida’i [Saeid Rezaie], Mr. Bihruz Tavakkuli [Behrouz Tavakkoli], and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm [Vahid Tizfahm] - now join the seventh member of the group, Mrs. Mahvash Thabit [Mahvash Sabet], resident of Tehran and Secretary of the Friends in Iran, who has been held in custody since 5 March 2008 when she was summoned to Mashhad by the Ministry of Intelligence, ostensibly on the grounds that she was required to answer questions related to the burial of an individual in the Baha’i cemetery in that city. Contrary to recent indications that Mrs. Thabit would be released some time soon, the events that have transpired today are yet another indication of the government’s determination to extinguish the Baha’i community in the land of its birth.

… such dire action on the part of the government has not been witnessed since the heartrending events in 1980 and 1981, when all nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran were abducted on 21 August 1980 and disappeared without a trace, following which the reconstituted National Assembly was again ravaged by the execution of eight of its members on 27 December 1981.

Related from Baha’i Rants:

Three Baha’is jailed in Iran
Intensifying persecutions in Iran
Return of the Hojjatieh Society
Those “devious” Baha’is
Iran steps up monitoring of Baha’is
Persecution of Baha’is linked to Hojjatieh Society

I wrote this more than 2 years ago:

With the arrival of the new president, everyone has noted that Iran’s political situation has taken a very bad turn. Unfortunately most people don’t have even a clue as to the extent nor the underlying reasons. I hope to shed some light in the next paragraphs and once again, show why I believe the UHJ’s policy of encouraging Baha’is to remain in Iran is completely wrong and extremely dangerous.
…
The recent arrests and persecution of Baha’is in Iran are, I’m afraid, only the beginning of a renewed campaign of persecution. Unlike previous administrations in Iran which were reluctantly influenced by international pressure, the perverse ideology to which this one subscribes to allows them to be immune to such forces. Any and all actions taken by the civilized world against the Iranian regime as a consequence of the persecution of Baha’is, will only reinforce the belief system of the Hojatieh and result in their redoubled efforts to sow the seeds of chaos.

I pray that I am completely wrong in my understanding of the situation and wholly ignorant of the real political cross currents in Iran. I pray so because if I am right, many Baha’is are in extreme and imminent danger.

I beg them to get out, for if I am wrong, the consequence is acceptable. They and their families can build a life in one of many civilized countries in the world and simply go back when Iran’s future changes for the better. But if I’m correct, then the consequences of staying in Iran will be tragic.

If a lowly blogger with limited resources can put the pieces together a few years in advance, it is safe to require the UHJ/ITC to have done so years ahead and with a much deeper understanding. Which is why I’m utterly puzzled why this time around the highest administrative bodies are choosing to do nothing when in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution they were not only encouraging Baha’is to leave Iran but actively involved with helping them re-establish a life outside of Iran.

As Baha’is we have faced many waves of persecution and violence. But it is not within the precepts of our Faith to seek out martyrdom when there is a clear alternative.

Related External Links:

Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center - Press Release
LA TIMES: Blog Post - Babylon & Beyond
US State Department - Press Release
United States on International Religious Freedom - Press Release
United Nations Special Rapporteur: Report on Baha’is in Iran - March 2006