Two prominent Canadian philosophers have joined more than 40 of their colleagues around the world in condemning Iran’s attacks on the Baha’i community’s efforts to provide education for Baha’i students who are systematically denied access to higher education.
The leading thinkers, from 16 countries, represent Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim backgrounds. The open letter was published October 10 in The Daily Telegraph (UK), and reported in the Folha de São Paulo (Brazil).
Among the celebrated academics backing the call is Dr. Charles Taylor, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at McGill University, Canada. He signed the letter, he said, out of his deep sense of “conviction that there ought to be ‘no compulsion’ in religion.”
Professor David Novak, Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto, also signed the letter, as did Cornel West of Princeton, Hilary Putnam of Harvard, Leonardo Boff of Brazil and Tahir Mahmood of India.
The letter condemns recent attacks by Iranian authorities on an educational initiative of the Baha’i community – known as the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) – in which Baha’i professors, prevented from practicing their professions by the Iranian regime, voluntarily offer their services to teach young community members who cannot go to university because of their religion.
Seven Baha’is associated with the educational initiative recently made their first court appearances after being imprisoned for four months. They were detained after a series of raids on 22 May, in which 39 homes were targeted. The Institute’s activities have since been declared “illegal.”
“As philosophers, theologians, and scholars of religion, living throughout the world, we are raising our voices in protest against the recent attack by Iranian authorities on the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education,” the open letter states.
“To acquire knowledge and learning is the sacred and legal right of all; indeed, the state is obliged to provide it. In Iran, the government has done the opposite…”
“Attacks such as these, against the rights of citizens to organize and be educated in freedom, can no longer be tolerated. We call upon the Iranian government not only to cease its persecution of Baha’is, but to provide, and promote, education for all.”
The letter follows a very strong letter two weeks ago from Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu and Jose Ramos-Horta in which they denounce Iran’s actions as similar to the “Spanish inquisition” and the “Dark Ages in Europe”.
Charles Taylor said he signed the letter out of his deep sense of “conviction that there ought to be ‘no compulsion’ in religion.”
It is also “connected to my disquiet about the Iranian revolution,” said Professor Taylor, “and the way its finer ideals have been hijacked by people who are abusing their faith in order to make it serve as a tool of mobilization against the ‘enemy.’”
Hilary Putnam, Cogan University Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Harvard, U.S.A. said, “Ever since the American and French revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century, the aspiration of peoples of different ethnicities, nationalities, and creeds for their fundamental human rights, including the right to worship as one’s conscience dictates and the right to education, have gained momentum.”
“The persecution of the Bahá’í university students in Iran is a shameful attempt to turn the clock back to the dark ages. Their causes deserve the support of enlightened and moral people everywhere.”
Signatories to the letter
Charles Taylor - Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, McGill University, CanadaHilary Putnam - Cogan University Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Harvard University, U.S.A.Cornel West - Class of 1943 University Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University, U.S.A.Leonardo Boff - Professor Emeritus of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, and Ecology, Rio de Janeiro State University, BrazilStanley Hauerwas - Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke University, U.S.A.Ebrahim Moosa - Professor of Religion & Islamic Studies, Duke University, U.S.A.Graham Ward - Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford University, U.K.John Milbank - Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics, University of Nottingham, U.K.Rabbi David Novak - J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto, CanadaTahir Mahmood - Chairman, Amity University Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; former member, National Minorities Commission and former member, Law Commission of India.Moshe Idel - Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IsraelAbdulkader Tayob - Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Cape Town, South AfricaWilliam Desmond - Full Professor of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium; Adjunct Honorary Professor of Philosophy- National University of Ireland Maynooth, IrelandXinjian Shang - Professor of Philosophy, Peking University, ChinaKevin Hart - Edwin B Kyle, Prof of Christian Studies and Chair of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, U.S.A.; Professor Of Philosophy, Australia Catholic University, AustraliaMurray Rae - Professor of Theology and Head of the Department of Theology and Religion, University of Otago, New ZealandAsghar Ali Engineer - Founding Chairman of Asian Muslim Action Network; Head of Center for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai, IndiaRemi Brague - Chair of the Study of Religion, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, GermanyA. Rashied Omar - Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding, University of Notre Dame, U.S.A.; Imam at Claremont Main Road Mosque, Cape Town, South AfricaJoshua Cho - President and Professor of Christian Thought, Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary, Hong Kong.Douglas Pratt - Professor of Religious Studies, Waikato University, New ZealandAshok Vohra - Professor of Philosophy, Delhi University, India; Indian Council of Philosophical Research.Carver Yu - President and Professor of Christian Thought, China Graduate School of Theology, Hong KongLaurie Zoloth - Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, Professor of Religious Studies, Northwestern University, U.S.A.Pilgrim W.K. LO - Professor of Systematic Theology, Chairman of Institute for Luther Studies in the Asian Context, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong KongPhilip Goodchild - Professor of Religion and Philosophy, University of Nottingham, U.K.Paul Morris - Professor of Religious Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New ZealandJames E. Faulconer - Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding, Brigham Young University, U.S.A.Rod Benson - Ethicist and Public Theologian, Tinsley Institute, Morling College, AustraliaHassan Mwakimako - Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Pwani University College, KenyaYunus Dumbe - Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Islamic University College, GhanaJoseph Cohen - University Lecturer in Philosophy, University College Dublin, IrelandAdam Miller - Professor of Philosophy, Collin College, Texas, U.S.A.Elaine Wainwright - Professor of Theology, University of Auckland, New ZealandRaphael Zagury-Orly - Head of the MFA Program, Bezalel School of Design and Fine Arts, IsraelFelix Ó Murchadha - Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, National University of Ireland Galway, IrelandNa’eem Jeenah - Associate Lecturer of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand; Coordinator of Masjidul Islam in Johannesburg, South AfricaKathleen Flake - Associate Professor of American Religious History, Vanderbilt Divinity School, U.S.A.Rabbi Aryeh Cohen - Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature, American Jewish University, U.S.A.Jeffrey Bloechel - Associate Professor of Philosophy, Boston College, U.S.A.William Hackett - Research Fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy, Australian Catholic University, AustraliaRabbi Akiba Lerner - Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, Santa Clara University, U.S.A.Nathan Oman - Assistant Professor of Law, William and Mary School of Law, U.S.A.