Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays the hilarious Dwight Schrute on The Office, gets serious in an op-ed on CNN.com on religious freedom in Iran.

"Dear readers of CNN, I assure you that what I'm writing about is no joking matter or some hoax perpetrated by a paper-sellin', bear-fearin', Battlestar Galactica-obsessed beet farmer," writes Wilson, who is a member of the Baha'i faith.

Why write about all this now? Well, I'm glad you asked. 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."

... It's bad right now for all the peace-loving Baha'is in Iran who want only to practice their religion and follow their beliefs. It's especially bad for these seven. Here's a link to their bios. They're teachers, and engineers, and optometrists and social workers just like us.

Wilson asks readers to contact their representatives of Congress about a resolution on the situation.

"This thought has become kind of a clich?', but we take our rights for granted here in America," he writes. "Imagine if a group of people were rounded up and imprisoned and then disappeared not for anything they'd done, but because they wanted to worship differently than the majority."

Yes, this is the same person who plays Dwight. He ends by saying, "Thanks for reading. Now back to bears, paper and beets!"

(h/t Mollie)