Christians
pray at the Saint Thaddeus Church in Northwest Iran.
RheinischerMerkur,
Germany
Christian Converts in
Iran Face Increasing Hostility from Regime
"Iranian
Christians are often in touch with European or American churches and associate
themselves with their networks. The regime fixes on this and even accuses them
of spying for foreign powers. Time and again, Iranian Christians are held
hostage to the regime’s problems with the West."
Christianity and Islam: The often uneasy coexistence between the two great world religions is again being tested - this time in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Parliament [Majlis] has
approved a law that includes 'the renunciation of Islam.' It remains to be seen
whether it will enter into force. But those who would be affected have already
begun practicing their faith in secret.
The regime in Tehran is sending
out mixed signals as to whether Iran's Criminal Code will now impose the death
penalty on Muslims who forsake Islam to convert to Christianity. A final decision
on the question should finally be taken this autumn. The bill's first reading
in the Majlis last September passed by a large majority: 196 representatives
voted yes, seven voted no, and there were two abstentions.
Now, supposedly, the Majlis
has excised this intended change to the Criminal Code. According to media
reports on June 27, the Chairman of the Majlis Legal Affairs Committee, Hojatoleslam Ali Schahroki, said
that the regulation on "the renunciation of Islam." wouldn't even be mentioned
in the bill. According to the Farsi Christian News Network, Christians in Iran
are surprised and irritated by this statement, because the truth is that the Council of Guardians
and the Supreme Leader have the final say on this unsettled question.
The confrontation
among Islamic factions over this element of the Criminal Code is increasingly visible,
and there may be a connection with the protests that followed the disputed
presidential election. Joseph K Grieboski, President
of the Institute
on Religion and Public Policy in Washington, sees no sign that this debate
indicates an opening up, but only the regime protecting itself. "If the
regime were to uphold Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and then push through a restrictive penal law,
international pressure on the Iranian regime would be unbearable." According
to the International Society for Human Rights, the announced withdrawal of the
bill is a “purely cosmetic move.” There is still the possibility of being
executed for renouncing Islam under Iran's Islamic laws.
Up to now, punishment for
renouncing Islam - also known as apostasy - has been practiced arbitrarily in
Iran. Once it becomes part of the Criminal Code, every Iranian court would be
bound to enforce it. It's certain that Christians who convert from Islam will
continue to be arrested and convicted. This doesn't include so-called ethnic
Christians - members of the Armenian and Assyrian
churches - but specifically evangelical Christians who actively pursue
missionary work. The independent online Persian news agency Rooz,
which is critical of the regime, reported on July 15 that two Christian women,
30-year-old MarsiyeAminsadeh
and 27-year-old MariamRostampur,
had been arrested in Tehran about four months earlier. The pair are social workers who without pay, help people in trouble
regardless of race or religion. The two Christians were charged with apostasy
and violations of national security and are being held at the notorious Evin
Prison. Interrogated on a daily basis, they are held under very harsh
conditions with no access to legal or medical assistance. According to Rooz, there are currently at least 50 Christians in
Iranian prisons in Tehran, Schiras, Maschad and Urumije, among
others.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Recent political
events in Iran have ushered in a new phase in the emergence of a totalitarian
dictatorship. Pressure on Iranian Christians is growing just as foreign powers
are being blamed for rioting that broke out due to the electoral fraud. The
argument on the influence of foreign powers is well known to Iranian
Christians. Under the Islamic regime, they are regularly accused of embracing Western
influence. The narrative of these allegations is this: that Iranian
Christians are often in touch with European or American churches and associate
themselves with their networks. The regime fixes on this, even accusing them
of spying for foreign powers. Time and again, Iranian Christians are held
hostage to the regime’s problems with the West.
Of necessity, collaboration
with Christian Web sites or Christian TV channels that transmit their programs via
satellite, takes place in secret. Christians in Iran are dependent on the flow
of information from precisely these media, because with the help of modern
technology, this is how the Persian-language bible, Christian children’s books and
prayers are disseminated. The Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN) - a central source
of news about Christian communities in Iran - reports that there are hundreds
of thousands of Iranians who would embrace the message of Jesus Christ.
Accordingly, Iranian Christians can expect a new wave of oppression and
persecution.
It's interesting in this
context to assess how Iranian Christians behaved during the recent presidential
election. The agency says that a majority of those who participated in the
elections voted for presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mussawi
because they hoped, “bad would be better than worse.” But the elections have
clearly shown that the political system of “Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists
[Velayat-e faqih]”
doesn't allow opposing political positions to have a serious chance. Those who
believed that there was a “minimal democracy” in Iran have now been disabused, according
to FCNN.
In another report by FCNN, clear positions are staked out.
“There is a political power
struggle between two elements, both of which are despotic and repressive. There
is no struggle between despotism and freedom. Therefore, we have to expect even
more pressure put on churches. We know that difficult times lie ahead. Nevertheless,
under no circumstances will Iranian Christians give up their new faith.”
However, following the recent
riots and repression, more and more Christians are abandoning Iran. Since the
first government of Ahmadinejad came into office, the situation of Iranian Christians has worsened significantly.
It's not yet clear what the nature of the future threat will be. But at the
same time, FCNN has reported on an increase of
interest in Christianity among Iranian young people. At least 70 percent of Iranians
support more freedom for religious minorities and support the separation of
religion and state. The more people are impacted by the violence of despotic
rule, the more they will be drawn toward Christianity.
Josef Hovsepian, son of Iranian Bishop HaikHovsepianMehr [photo,
left] who was kidnapped and murdered in 1994, told FCNN
in a conversation on July 4 that, “in times of crisis, the unity of our
communities is strengthened.” In particular, “young people are looking for a
religion that isn't being forced on them.”
In another conversation, a
Christian woman remembers the period before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when
she lived happily in the town of Schiras among other
Christians, Jews, Bahai and followers of Zoroastrianism. But one
day in the 1980s, two of her girlfriends were taken from their classroom by
strange men. Later she learned from their mother that their father, a Bahai, had been arrested and executed. In her family, it is
now assumed that the situation for Christians will worsen in a similar fashion.
In the midst of these threats
and persecution, there are a number of events that reflect a touch of humor. The
story goes that one day the satellite dish of an Iranian priest was stolen from
the roof of his house. The thief had taken a good look at some Christian broadcasts
and, as a result, became a member of an illegal home church.
The home church movement
remains fragile and underground, since in the official churches people aren't
even allowed to hear prayers in Persian. This is because Iran's rulers fear
that if they were, more people would be drawn to Christianity. As recently as
May of this year, a home church in Karadsch was discovered
and raided by paramilitary units of the Basij. The
home church members were arrested.
*Dr. WahiedWahdat-Hagh was born on
October 20, 1957 in Ludwigsburg, in southern Germany. He's a senior research
fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels. He received his
PhD at the FreieUniversität
Berlin. His dissertation, 'The Islamic Republic of Iran: The
Rule of Political Islam as a Form of Totalitarianism,' was published in 2003.
