Christian Converts; A Threat to Iran’s National Security?

 

 

Iran's Islamic regime uses any means to impose this idea on Iranian society that evangelical Christianity and the "house-church" movement is a deviant form of Christianity and thus is far from real the Christian beliefs.

 http://www.mohabatnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8237:-christian-converts-a-threat-to-irans-national-security&catid=36:iranian-christians&Itemid=279

 

Mohabat News – Religious surveillance on all matters is a trait of Islamic regime of Iran. This leaves no room for other religions to exist in the country, and thus religious minorities will be denied their social and political rights.

Contrary to their promises, Iranian Islamic rulers seem to have forgotten that every Iranian citizen should have equal rights to take his/ her place in the life of the nation and, regardless of their religious beliefs, should enjoy freedom to practice their religious beliefs.

Christian persecution continues with even more intensity since the beginning of 2014 with many Iranian Christians arrested over the Christmas season. In its 2013 World Watch List, Open Doors International Ministries ranked Iran among top 10 countries where Christians are persecuted the most.

Many officially registered churches were closed down over the past few years including The Central Assemblies of God Church, the AoG Church of Ahwaz, and the Janat-Abad Church. Additionally, Christians with Muslim background are not allowed in the few churches that remain open and the Farsi Bible cannot be freely published and distributed in Iran. These restrictions, in fact, have boosted the growth of house churches, despite all the risks involved in running as well as attending house-church meetings.

Islamic regime of Iran uses any means and dedicates large budgets to impose the idea on Iranian society that evangelical Christianity and house-church movement is a deviant form of Christianity and far from the real Christian beliefs. By this, the Islamic rulers seek to portray Christians as a threat to national security. This is the primary reason why most Christians, especially Farsi-speaking ones, are prosecuted and arrested for security violation charges.

Iranian constitution recognizes Christians as religious minorities, and grants them the right to practice their faith. However, this law, like many other laws in Iran, is not respected, and merely acts as a cover for more discrimination and harassment of Christians and other religious minorities.

Based on his pre-election promises, some interpret Hasan Rouhani's election as Iran's president as a hope for improvement of religious freedom in Iran. So far, Iran's new president has not been able to keep his campaign promises.