About 200 members of New Mexico's Baha'i community and their supporters gathered in a candlelight prayer vigil on the Plaza on Friday evening. The goal was to call attention to persecution of members of their faith by Iran's fundamentalist Islamic government.

Paul Slaughter, a spokesman for the Santa Fe Baha'i community, said the event was part of a national effort. Similar vigils have been and will be held in other cities.

Seven Baha'i leaders "are just languishing in prison in Tehran" simply for their religious beliefs, he said.

Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Slaughter said, more than 300 Bahá'ís have been executed or killed and hundreds jailed. In addition, tens of thousands have lost jobs and educational opportunities and other rights, and Baha'i holy places have been vandalized or destroyed.

Yakov Phillips, a Baha'i from Belen, said the persecution goes back to the religion's beginnings in the mid-1800s.

Among reasons the Iranian government is persecuting the Bahá'ís, he said, is the religion's teaching that its founder, Bahá'u'lláh, is the latest in a line of holy prophets that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus and Mohammed.

Iran's Muslim leaders teach that Mohammed was the last prophet.

"They think of Bahá'ís as heretics," Phillips said.

According to a Baha'i Web site, adherents believe in the oneness of God, mankind and religion; independent investigation of truth; the equality of women and men; harmony of science and religion; elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty; universal peace; a world commonwealth of nations; a universal auxiliary language; spiritual solutions to economic problems; and universal education.

Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, one of several community and religious leaders who addressed the Plaza gathering, reminded them that Santa Fe also was once a place of religious intolerance.

Coss cited the Pueblo Indian uprising of 1680 as "the first American revolution," in which the Spanish were routed from the city because of their intolerance of the Indians' religious practices.

Over time, Coss said, the city has become a model for the world for cultural and religious diversity. He noted that the Indian community participates in the yearly Santa Fe Fiesta celebration in which the descendants of the Spanish colonialists celebrate the resettlement of Santa Fe by the Spanish in 1692. "Acceptance of tolerance ... makes communities strong," Coss said.

Diane Lee of St. Louis, vacationing in Santa Fe, said she was drawn to the vigil because she has taught Iranian Baha'i refugees at St. Louis Community College.

"Events like this are essential because they raise awareness" of the oppression in Iran, Lee said. The vigil would be a success, Lee said, "even if only five people here learn something they didn't know before."

Contact Dennis Carroll at 986-3091 or dcarroll@sfnewmexican.com.