A recent article reported Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds in Iran, at around 20% each year, and that Christianity is growing faster in Iran than anywhere else. Is this Iran's new way to protest the Islamic Republic?
A recent article reported Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds in Iran, at around 20% each year, and that Christianity is growing faster in Iran than anywhere else.
Considering the context, that Iran is currently under a radical-Islamist dictatorship, that is astounding. Why would people predominantly of Muslim background (not necessarily practicing/identifying Muslims) leave the comfort and security of being Muslim, and convert to Christianity—a faith persecuted by the ruling regime? More pointedly, why would these individuals convert, when apostasy—or “leaving the Islamic Faith” is illegal and punishable by death?
A country of an estimated 80 million people, Iran’s Evangelical Christian Community numbers only in the hundreds of thousands—still a small minority against a largely Shia-Muslim backdrop. But at a growth of 20% a year, Iranian-Christians might change the population-playing field in less than a decade. That is, if the Regime hasn’t been ousted by secularists or democratic activists, by then.
Christians in Iran, including Armenians, live as second class citizens like other minorities— for example Sunni Muslims, Jews and Zoroastrians. Still, however, these “tolerated” minorities fare better than Baha’is, who are considered Muslim-heretics under the Regime’s legal code. Iranian-Christians are under constant threat of harassment and attack. Home-worship sessions are often attacked, Persian-language bibles are practically illegal, and Pastors are often imprisoned under charges of “conspiracy” or being an “enemy of Allah.” Furthermore, they are barred from holding many jobs in both the private and public sectors, are occasionally denied acceptance to university or different educational programs and are sometimes denied the right to live in certain neighborhoods.
So why are so many people risking comfort, and their lives? While that may seem like a trick question, it certainly isn’t. Surely there are arrays of different reasons for why one might convert, but perhaps this trend shows something deeper about Iranian society as a whole. Perhaps even Iranians of Muslim background are so uncomfortable under the iron fist of the Islamic Regime, that by converting to Christianity they aren’t take a huge risk—they have nothing, or very little to lose. But what they gain is priceless; a world-wide community and support system and a role in quietly protesting and challenging the Regime that likely lead them to renounce their Islam in the first place.
Although this article is not meant to place a value on one faith over the other, it does seek to start the conversation on the potential reasons for a growth-spurt of Christianity in a predominantly Muslim country, and under a viciously Islamist Regime.
Originally published at Iranian.com