Let’s see. Recently, I’ve noted the Islamic Republic’s tolerance toward women and Bahāʾīs. Now they’ve extended that tolerance to Christians.
Iran: Ten Christian converts arrested
Tehran, 28 May (AKI) – Ten Iranians who converted from Islam to Christianity in recent months have been arrested in the southern city of Shiraz.
According to Goodarz, a spokesperson for the Iranian converts, more than 35 of them have been arrested since the beginning of the year. Goodarz himself has taken refuge in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.
Somehow, I do not find it terribly surprising that they have been rounding up Christians, too. What comes next is only shocking to me, in that I figured this law would have been in place for a long time. All emphases mine.
The new Majlis or Iranian parliament which met for the first time on Tuesday will be discussing in the coming weeks proposed laws presented by the government to reform the penal code.
Under the new law, anyone born to a Muslim father who decides to renounce Islam and convert to another faith, faces the death penalty.
The punishment is currently absent from the Iranian penal code even though in the past, dozens of Christian converts and followers of the Bahai faith have been hanged.
Aside from the fact that this practice is barbaric, it raises an interesting issue for Obama. As the son of a Muslim father and a member of the United Church of Christ, his calling for unconditional talks seems even more suicidal than just appeasing. If he were Iranian, he would be on his way to jail, and perhaps hanging.
Filed under: Christianity, Iran, Islam, Justice, Obama, Politics, Religion | Tagged: Apostate, Christianity, Iran, Islam, Islamic Republic, Justice, Law, Majlis, Religion
Christians are kinda like the canary in the mine. When they start getting arrested and/or targeted for death, bad things are coming.
I wouldn’t say that Christians are the canary in the coal mine. The oppression of women and other religious minorities in Iran ought to be more than enough “canary.”
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