The 2,700 or so followers of the Baha'i faith in Southern California enjoy a life their brethren in Iran have cause to desire.

Here, they have access to education, work and, most importantly for them, the right to worship.

Iran's fundamentalist Shiite government has barred the country's 300,000 Baha'i from holding government jobs, attending universities and practicing their religion, according to human-rights groups and the United Nations. Conditions have worsened in recent years, observers say, and now seven leaders of Iran's Baha'i community are held in Tehran's Evin prison, where they face charges of espionage and possible execution.

Their imprisonment has been condemned by the United States and human-rights groups, who see it as evidence of Iran's persistent persecution of Baha'is, its largest non-Muslim minority. It has weighed heavily on the faith's adherents in Los Angeles.

Nonetheless, the Baha'i's response to the arrests has been understated, at least in public. Local Baha'is — immigrants and American converts — have neither taken to the streets in protest, nor have they tried to ride the wave of international indignation over Iran's disputed presidential election last month.

To do so, they said, would run counter to their religious principles of love, compassion and trustworthiness.

"These tests and difficulties have a purpose to them. They help us grow spiritually," said Randy Dobbs, a Western-born Baha'i leader who lives in Los Angeles. "Persecution makes people come together."

In recent weeks, especially before the postponement of a July 11 trial date for the imprisoned leaders in Iran, Dobbs and others had courted media attention here. They also have hosted support meetings at a large Baha'i Center for relatives of the imprisoned Iranians.

Dobbs said that the Baha'i faith is a religion of peace, and that its followers are required to support the government wherever they live. He said Baha'is in Iran don't want to meddle in the country's politics; they just want their rights.