Thousands of Iranians are converting to Christianity in Iran as Muslims are being criticised on social media for their religion’s oppressive rule.
“There are signs that quite a few Iranians are now also disenchanted with Islam itself,” a recent opinion piece notes.
“Often silently and covertly, they are abandoning their faith. Some opt for other faiths, often Christianity.”
Amil Imani says where it would once have been inconceivable to challenge Iran’s religion, or Iran’s former ruler Ayatollah Khomeini, much has changed since he died 30 years ago.
He contrasts the situation of a computer engineer who posted religious jokes on Facebook and was beaten, interrogated, jailed for five years and exiled, to the anti-government rallies that sprang up across the nation at the end of 2017.
These rallies “exposed how millions of Iranians are now disillusioned with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Imani says.
“The rule of the Islamic Republic of Iran is collapsing,” he adds.
Imani says many people “created their own version (of Islam) in their minds” before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, as they were unable to read Arabic.
In addition, he says the Iranian people had Islam imposed on them “at the point of a sword.”
“Iranians deeply value their own ancient non-Arab identity and have never fully surrendered to Arab culture.
“Historically, Islam has always contradicted Persian values, costumes, traditions and culture.”
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This is why many young Iranians are abandoning “the suffocating tent of dogmatic Islam for the live-giving expanse of liberty,” he says.