[Peter Khan:] There are 2 parts to this question.
The first part is the question of obedience to a government. As a matter of principle in the writings, we are obedient to government in all matters except matters of conscience where there is a spiritual principle involved. It takes a National Assembly to decide that, not the individual.
There is for example the classic example of Nazi Germany in the late 1930s where the Hitler regime said to turn in the Jews. Would you turn in your neighbour who you know to be a Jew and who is pretending to be a Christian? Had that question arisen, it would be up to the National Assembly to determine whether there was a spiritual principle involved in turning in the Jews in sending them to concentration camps to be killed.
Now onto the question of the BIC in relation to its defence of the Bahá’ís of Iran. Its defence of the Faith in Iran is not a criticism of the government but an appeal for human rights. It’s one thing to condemn, it is another thing to appeal. We appeal for human rights in Iran. We say to the Iranian government, your constitution says you’re not discriminating against people of any religion. The defence of the Iranian representative at the United Nations is that there is no religious discrimination in Iran. And then the BIC representative says what about the Bahá’ís? They say, well they’re a bunch of Zionist spies, it is not a religion, but something that the British created. We appeal for application of principles that the government has agreed to. So in that sense, we’re not disobedient to the government. We’re basically saying to the government, you have committed yourself to these constitutional principles, apply them please. And in that sense we’re not opposed to government, but rather calling for it to put into practice its avowed principles.
(The Need for Bahá'ís of Capacity and Expertise by Peter J. Khan, 2002)
https://bahai-library.com/khan_bahais_capacity_expertise
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