Ms. Bethel reviews the theological differences that led to the persecution and execution of the Iranian Baha'is by the Shi'ah Muslims. Explains the unique response of Baha’is to persecution is “the central importance of the victimized individual's spiritual reality (nonphysical and nonmaterial reality) as the principle of guidance and support as he or she psychologically attempted to cope with persecution and death.” She quotes Viktor Frankl, one of Europe's leading psychiatrists, who asserted that "human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite meaning of life includes suffering and dying, privation and death."
She explains why human beings can rise above their circumstances and continue to make meaningful choices and reviews hypotheses related to these.