大象传媒

The Bah谩'i faith is one of the youngest of the world's major religions.

A faith without borders, most of the Bah谩'is live outside of the birth place of the religion, Iran, where they are seen as heretics. After the Islamic revolution of 1979, overnight the rights of minorities were stifled. Many Bah谩'is were incarcerated, tortured and evicted from their home country. Today, despite years of persecution, the Bah谩'is have not only survived but thrived in the diaspora, with communities in 190 countries around the world.

For Heart and Soul from the 大象传媒 World Service, Lipika travels to America, home to the second largest Bah谩'i population in the world. In New York Lipika meets several Bah谩'i asylum seekers as they begin their new lives in the US. They are graduates from the Bah谩'is' clandestine university, an underground network of teacher and students, the community's solution of self-education after being banned from colleges in Iran. Lipika also travels to Chicago where she visits the oldest Bah谩'i temple in the world.

Produced and presented by Lipika Pelham
Photo Credit : Cameron Spencer / Getty Images News