Persecution of Christians in Iran: this information indicates how deeply threatened many governments that persecute Christians are by the Gospel of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ. They know that God can transform men’s souls, and authoritarian governments in particular fear that they will lose their control over their people if there are large-scale conversions to Christianity. The result is the persecution and harassment of people who have no one to come to their aid, such as Ruhsari Kamberi. Please pray that Almighty God would grant to her and to all the Christians of Iran the indomitable strength and perseverance in the Faith of the Holy Martyrs.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of Iran, see here.
“Iran forces Christian converts from Islam to declare their faith to obtain ID cards,” Barnabas Fund, February 24, 2020:
Christian converts from Islam no longer have the choice of keeping their faith secret in Iran after the Islamic Republic removed the “other religions” option from the new application form for the national ID card.
The National Census Bureau has narrowed the choices available to new applicants to only the four religions recognised under the Iranian constitution: Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Zoroastrianism.
This means that Muslim-born converts to Christianity, who may have preferred not to make public their faith in order to avoid hostility or persecution from their family, employers or the authorities, now have to reveal they are Christian, or lie about their faith and tick the box that says Muslim.
A Barnabas Fund contact said the ID cards, which are compulsory for every citizen aged 15 and above, are a necessary part of daily life in Iran and are required to access basic government services or to make bank transactions. The holder’s religion is not shown on the card, but information given on the application form is easily accessed by the state’s computer network….
