Life for Persecuted Christians in Iran

Sandra,* an Open Doors co-worker, talks below about the high price that Iranian Christians pay for their decision to follow Jesus. The Iranian government controls churches and particularly persecutes Muslim-background believers, arresting them for committing the 'crime' of leaving Islam.

Following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election in 2005, he promised the restoration of an Islamic government. How have Christians been affected by this?

Gradually their freedom to practise their faith has been restricted. Ordinances introduced following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, curtailing the rights of Christians, are now more rigorously enforced than before. One Assemblies of God Church in Tehran was forbidden to run a Sunday School. Islamic clerics vet children's Christian material while all discipleship materials need to be approved by the government. 

In order to prevent Muslims from converting to Christianity, Christians cannot meet with Muslims to share their faith and Muslims are not allowed to attend a church. Churches are much more closely monitored so that Iranian Muslims now feel unable even to go into a church and ask for a Bible, as they would have done previously. Some church boards include government informants. 

Apart from the government, who else persecutes Christians?

Islamic clerics have incited hatred against missionaries in their mosques on Fridays. The authorities harass both evangelical Christians and Muslim-background believers (MBBs), and will arrest, interrogate, mistreat and torture them. Christians are often isolated from essential social interactions with family and friends. Devoted Muslims consider Christians to be unclean and won't even drink tea with them.

Of course, leaving Islam is regarded as a disgrace. Apostates are shunned by society, wives are divorced, jobs are terminated and, hardest of all, converts are ostracised by their families. However, the main sources of persecution are the government and the secret police.

What is the legal penalty for leaving Islam?

According to Islamic law, an apostate must return to Islam or die, and the government wants to start punishing converts now with execution; women are to be imprisoned for life in such cases. I know a Christian couple who were flogged because of their faith. The husband was a former Muslim and she was an Assyrian Iranian. They had to have a Muslim wedding ceremony because the traditional churches wouldn't marry them. The couple attended a house church and were arrested in September 2005 along with fellow house church members. When their case came before the court, the judge ruled that the wife had abandoned Islam because a Muslim wedding is equal to a conversion in Islam. For two years the couple had to report regularly to authorities until a verdict was reached, but the wife stopped going after she was sexually harassed by an official. As a result, security forces came to their home with a court order to whip them as punishment. 

How do Iranian Christians cope with persecution?

It's normal for them. Persecution and discrimination are seen by Iranian Christians as a part of being Christian, just as Jesus predicted in the Bible. In conversations, it doesn't seem important to even mention their experiences. In recent years their situation, and that of MBBs in particular, has worsened. They expect even more persecution in the future.

What can we learn from our fellow believers in Iran?

Their urge to serve God is great. MBBs in particular are highly motivated, enthusiastic teachers or evangelists. Of course, they do not like to be monitored, discriminated against, arrested or mistreated but they know that being a Christian in Iran means having no rights and not being heard or listened to – and they accept it!

*Name changed for security reasons