JW in Iran

Albert Einstein

Last year we were visiting Armenia and Iran (my family and another JW family). Talking to JW in Armenia, we were told there are JW in Iran and we got contact to one family in Teheran. To our surprise we really were able to get in touch with them when we arrived in Teheran. They were lovely and extremely friandly (as all persians in Iran). However there is just a very small number of them, just in Teheran and another iranian city (dont want be more specific...) and they all are descendants of armenian christians (there is a large armenian population in Iran). They are technicaly under ban, but the goverment doesnt give them any hard time as long as they only preach to non-muslim population. It is unthinkable to speak about the Bible to muslims (100% death penalty, execution by stone pelting still being practiced...) and it is unthinkable for a muslim to change religion...

I feel sorry for those JWs we could meet, because for them being JW means a clear identity in a very hostile enviroment, and they have very limited chance to leran the real truth...

Albert

purplesofa

I would think that the voice of the people continuing on can only help witnesses eventually in Iran.

purps

Narkissos

It's a communitarian system mostly. Language is an important parameter as it defines and delimits communities, making non-Farsi communities unlikely to proselytise to the Muslim population, hence not-threatening and well accepted. In traditional communities church leaders are responsible for some legal and judicial matters (e.g. marriage and "moral" issues) instead of Muslim religious courts. When I was there (in the 90's) I could visit several Armenian and Chaldean (Syriac-speaking, both Catholic and Nestorian) churches in Tehran and elsewhere, as well as synagogues -- including the Esther and Mordecai "mausoleum" in Hamedan (Ecbatane). There were even theological discussions between Muslim and Christian scholars of those communities on TV. Farsi-speaking churches, especially Protestant, were much more under control but they were tolerated too (I remember visiting a Methodist church). I know there are JWs but didn't meet any (I was not a JW anymore when I went there).

Albert Einstein

I remember - when applying for Iranian visas, we received a booklet at the embassy ... it said how great the system in Iran is, explaining the capitalism is dead and the only way for the western countries is islamic revolution .... and it also had a chapter FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN IRAN... it explained, that there is a freedom of worship in Iran, because anybody can abandon his religion and embrace Islam ....

Looking at it this way - WTBS also supports freedom to change ones religion - anybody can leave former religion and join WTBS!

Albert

Waffles

Great post Einstein. Iranian religious freedom does sound quite a bit like JW religious freedom haha

Albert Einstein

Back to our topic on Iran some time ago, I found some pictures from our visit there ... this for example is what former US embassy in Teheran looks like.... (Today it is baracks of Iranian Revolutionary Guards)

I really dont want to offend anybody, especially US posters... It is just a curiosity....

Albert

Witness 007

The were in the Yearbooks until 1980....afew hundred Witnesses. Often thought what happened to them after the Islam government...thanks interesting thread!

Albert Einstein

There are JW in Iran, few dozens, its just those, who were born non muslim. T

hey have no problem with the gvt, even preach house to hou to other non muslim people.

But if anybody converts from Islam to any other faith gets death penalty with no discussions...

Albert

JW in Iran

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