When I saw Rainn Wilson had something up on CNN today about religious persecution in Iran, I thought to myself, "Isn't he part of some weird religious sect that isn't Scientology?" In fact, that's exactly what Rainn is writing about in an Op-Ed today: the trial of several Baha'i worshippers in the Middle East, which is the same religion that Wilson subscribes to.

For once, we're actually listening when an actor takes up a socio-religious cause, if only because we haven't heard this one before.

You see there's a 'trial' going on very soon for seven Baha'i national leaders in Iran.

They've been accused of all manner of things including being "spies for Israel," "insulting religious sanctities" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic."

They've been held for a year in Evin Prison in Tehran without any access to their lawyer (the Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi) and with zero evidence of any of these charges.

When a similar thing happened in 1980, the national leadership of the Iranian Baha'i community disappeared. And this was repeated again in 1981.

In fact, since 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed, holy places and cemeteries desecrated, homes burned, civil rights taken away and secret lists compiled of Baha'is (and even Muslims who associate with them) by government agencies.

Now, an argument can be made that this is still some actor's vanity project, seeing as how Rainn grew up in Seattle, has probably never been to Iran, and seemingly picked this religion out of a "kookie character quirk" hat. On the other hand, it's not often you see a famous actor, let alone a famous comedian, speak soberly and intelligently at length about a subject you've never heard about. And we're willing to be that Wilson knows his stuff. So yeah…religious persecution in Iran. Who would have thought?