Inside Tehran’s latest metro station, Iranians who could be imprisoned for proudly owning bibles will quickly stroll previous a plaque that declares, “the message of Jesus Christ was the salvation of people from darkness, ignorance, corruption, depravity and discrimination.”
Elsewhere within the Maryam-e Moqaddas station, or Holy Mary station, a aid of Christ strolling on water decorates a vestibule, and his mom Mary is depicted, bigger than life, praying amongst flowers.
State media have characterised the identify and motif of the station as a gesture of cultural coexistence. Mary can be a commemorated determine in Islam.
But the almost accomplished metro station, which is because of be formally opened in early November, has raised eyebrows in a rustic the place spiritual converts from Islam have been executed and Christian worship within the nationwide Persian language is forbidden.
Among scores of Christians presently imprisoned within the nation, one is an Armenian citizen sentenced to 10 years for “unlawful Christian actions” after being found with a number of Persian-language bibles amongst his belongings.
Fred Petrossian, an Iranian-Armenian journalist based mostly in Brussels, advised RFE/RL that the brand new metro station is being made largely to sanitize the Islamic nation’s picture on the worldwide stage. “It is to say to the West and the surface world that look, we’re tolerant, we honor Christianity and different spiritual minorities.”
On October 29, Iran’s safety chief lauded the brand new station for its potential to play a “important function in diplomacy.”
Estimates of Iran’s Christian inhabitants varies extensively however a 2020 survey from the Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN) reported 1.5 % of respondents recognized as Christian. That determine would extrapolate to tons of of hundreds throughout the nation.
Most Christian converts observe their religion in secret amongst small teams of associates and in high-risk “home church buildings,” that are regularly raided by the authorities.
Dr. Pooyan Tamimi Arab of GAMAAN advised RFE/RL that an rising variety of youthful Iranians are turning away from Islam amid waves of latest anti-government protests.
“The youthful individuals are [turning away from Islam], the extra they establish with labels reminiscent of ‘agnostic’ or ‘atheist’ and that signifies that in a state of affairs during which the bulk faith is being doubted, some individuals won’t select, for instance, non-religiosity, however they may select one other faith, like Christianity,” he stated.
The Netherlands-based researcher says the pattern towards Christianity “should be seen in a much bigger sample of opposition to the theocratic regime [of Iran].”
Among the flip away from Islam documented by GAMAAN, Iran has considerably stepped up its persecution of Christians, with a reported whole of 96 converts sentenced to a mixed whole of 263 years in jail final yr, in contrast with 22 Christians sentenced in 2023.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “conversion by Muslims to different faiths is forbidden beneath most interpretations of sharia [law] and converts are thought-about apostates,” a criminal offense punishable by loss of life in some instances.
The Tehran metro station is positioned inside a stone’s throw of the Saint Sarkis Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Ethnic Armenians are permitted to observe Christianity in Iran inside strict limits, together with a ban on providers held in Persian, and potential execution for making an attempt to transform Muslims to Christianity. Congregations are monitored intently by the authorities and repair instances should be agreed on with the authorities prematurely.
Several representatives of the Armenian church previewed the metro station on October 22 forward of its official opening.
During that tour, the pinnacle of Tehran’s metro system known as the ability “one of the vital stunning stops in [a wider infrastructure] undertaking, the place human religion and the particular respect Iranians have for his or her Armenian and Christian compatriots merge.”
On the identical day the Armenian clergy toured the metro station, 61-year-old Christian Mina Khajavi was launched after serving almost two years within the infamous Evin jail for internet hosting a house church, which the Iranian authorities deemed was “performing towards nationwide safety.”
