the Iranian intelligence Minister
recently admitted that Christianity is
growing at a concerning rate in Iran
join me today as I look at why people
are converting from Islam and the
obstacles they face in Iran
my last video I examined the truth of
the meme that Islam is the world's
fastest-growing religion
focusing on hard data if you haven't
done so already be sure to check out
that video I'm still working on a
follow-up video that will examine the
future of Christianity and religion in
general however in my last video I also
mentioned that there was an intent that
the Islamic bubble was beginning to pop
several people suggested in the comments
that would be good idea to create videos
looking at this evidence periodically
this is the first such video so be sure
to let me know what you think about it
in the comments but first a quick note
all my videos are licensed under the
creative commons share-alike license
this means you're free to reuse any of
my content however you like just provide
a link back to the original video for
example youtuber in time 2016 is
reuploading some of my videos with
german subtitles be sure to check out
his channel if that interests you a link
is in the description if you're
interested in doing something similar
with your own native language just send
me an email and I'll be happy to send
you transcripts and early access to
future videos to facilitate I've also
enabled community translations on my
videos in case you prefer not to
re-upload tira and channel with that out
of the way let's take a look at Islam
and Iran approximately 99% of the
country is Muslim however in early May
Mahmud Olivia addressed a group of Shia
leaders the ironically titled
intelligence minister declared that
Christianity is growing in parts of Iran
and talked about what the government is
doing to address the problem Radio Farda
reports according to a Lavie in one of
the cities of the hamadan province in
northwestern iran a number of people
running ordinary businesses such as
sandwich parlors have shown interest in
christianity but the ministry has
summoned them apparently mister olivey
had quote no choice but to summon them
even though it's not part of his job
description
however he tried to downplay the
importance of the conversion by implying
that it was just
commoners that were converting guess
he's not a big fan of sandwiches the
report continues I'll have a quote at
some of these individuals as saying we
are looking for a religion that could
give us peace of mind adding that we
told them Islam is the religion of
brotherhood and friendship sure it is
mr. intelligence minister the lowly
sandwich shop owners not buying it but
they said Muslim scholars are constantly
speaking against each other if Islam is
the religion of friendship you should
first create peace and friendship among
your own religious scholars olivey went
on to say that quote propaganda is a
necessity and should be explained to
people who needed at least according to
google translate it probably actually
said something more like advertising but
propaganda is an appropriate translation
apparently a country that's 99% Muslim
needs advertising to prevent people from
converting to religion that carries with
it a guarantee of persecution and a
great possibility of jail time if not
worse good luck with your empty claims
of peace and friendship sir
of course propaganda isn't the only tool
the government has at its disposal
Christianity is technically legal in
Iran
however conversion to Christianity is
illegal and can carry the death penalty
actual death sentences are rare but
long-term jail sentences are not
additionally it is illegal to conduct
church services or even own a Bible in
the national language of Farsi as such
Iran is listed as the Knife worst
country in the world to be a Christian
according to open doors USA due to the
heavy persecution that Christians face
even so people are converting to
Christianity in large numbers the world
religion database has summits that there
is around two hundred and ninety
thousand Christians in Iran in the year
2000 by the Year 2015
that number had swelled to five hundred
and thirty two thousand based on the
growth rate of the general population
that makes a conservative estimate of
just under two
hundred thousand converts a separate
academic study estimated that there was
between 100 and 500 thousand X Muslim
converts to Christianity in Iran by the
year 2010 open doors puts the estimate
around three hundred and seventy
thousand converts to Christianity in
Iran regardless of the exact number
currently living there the total number
of Iranians who have converted to
Christianity is no doubt higher due to
the number of Christians who flee the
country after converting it is likely
that there are more X Muslim converts to
Christianity living in Iran than
anywhere else in the Middle East and
that trend is likely to continue as
Islam is more closely associated with
the unpopular government than with
national pride
additionally mosque attendance in Iran
is the lowest of any Middle Eastern
country parts for Iran ministries
reports that they receive about 700
enquiries a day or 250,000 annually from
Muslims seeking to learn about
Christianity God truly is at work in
Iran and its inhabitants are beginning
to find Christ if you enjoyed this video
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just like this thanks for watching
