...just thought that was something interesting to consider. I wonder if that played any role in the election last year...
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Religion in Iran
I was talking to my friend from Iran today after our class. He told me that the government "says" that 98% of the population is Muslim. But he said that a large percentage of young Iranians age 20-30 (about 70%) are Agnostic, and that the government keeps the "Muslim face" for foreigners to see.
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Rick Steve's also said something similar in his lecture--that the religiosity of the regime paradoxically allowed the populous to be LESS religious. I saw the same thing in Israel. Very few Jews in Israel are 'religious' per se--they keep Shabbat (generally don't work) but they drive, smoke, barbeque and rip their own toilet paper! They don't have to be religious, because the government does it for them.
ReplyDeleteI think that the rest of the world is catching up to the United States in that regard. For the most part, our country is becoming less and less pious. Everyone knows the statistic that 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and that our country was partly found on religious ideals. I think that as Iran yearns for more and more power that they will become less pious. It makes sense due to the simplification of daily activites and the effect of technology. The Middle East and surrounding regions have always taken pride in their ability to maintain their position as the chosen people, but they also want power on a world stage. This means that the population will have to become more and more educated on pop culture and technology. I believe that this will ultimately have a lessening effect on the religion. In a country like Iran, the large cities, like Tehran, are modernized or "westernized" as some would say, but the majority of the country is not. I think that politicians in the country know that until that changes they cannot become a serious power.
ReplyDeleteI also wish to add that I think that while religion is a tying bond in the region, critics and the countries themselves hide behind it and use it as an excuse. There are different schools of thought in Islam, wars between Muslims, and each Islamic state has their own past and character. I think that Orientalism has created that cloak of Islam that every action and idea is placed behind. Rather than explain them they just throw them into the Islam basket.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the young Iranian population generally identifies with being agnostic absolutely played a role in the 2009 Iranian presidential election. Many young Iranians supported the opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leader of the green party. Mahmoud Amadinajad was supported by the Ayatollah during his campaign. If young Iranians were more religious I don't feel they would have went against the candidate the "supreme ruler" supported.
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