‘50,000 Mosques Closed In Iran’ As Christianity Spreads
By Stefan J Bos, Worthy News.
Recent comments by a senior Iranian cleric that around 50,000 of Iran’s 75,000 mosques are closed highlight the growth of Christianity in Iran and disillusion with “the regime’s use of Islam to justify its authoritarian rule,” a prominent human rights activist told Worthy News on Monday.
Farrukh H. Saif, whose Emergency Committee to Save the Persecuted and Enslaved (ECSPE) has rescued Christian converts, referred to cleric Mohammad Abolghassem Doulabi, an adviser of Iran’s rulers.
Doulabi, a liaison between President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration and Iran’s Islamic seminaries, called the 50,000 mosque closures a “worrying admission” for a state built around the principles of Islam.
Doulabi, who is also a member of the Assembly of Experts, which appoints the Supreme Leader – noticed the broad disillusion of people with the outcome of Islam in Iran.
“When people look at the output of the religion, they decide to enter the religion or leave the religion,” he said in published remarks.
He admitted that Iranians complained about “the humiliation of people in the name of religion,” “falsification of religious concepts and teachings,” and the “depriving people of a decent life and creating poverty in the name of religion.”
DEADLY PROTESTS
His comments followed months of deadly protests sparked by the death on September 16 last year of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini. She died while in custody of Iran’s feared ‘morality police’ for the alleged “inappropriate use” of her hijab, prompting confrontations with government forces in which hundreds were killed and thousands arrested.
The rare remarks by the senior cleric noticing tensions also come as “Christianity has been steadily growing in Iran in recent years, signifying a significant religious shift in a predominantly Muslim country,” Saif said. “While most Iranians still identify as Muslims, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of Iranians converting to Christianity, especially among the younger generation.”
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