June 23, 2007
Christian Today
Jennifer Riley, US Correspondent

Christianity is expanding in the closed, heavily Muslim country of Iran through multimedia technology, according to a Christian persecution watch group. Iranian Muslims in growing numbers are coming to know and accept Jesus Christ through satellite TV, internet and other media outlets, reported Open Doors Middle East field worker Stefan De Groot.

“New media is becoming increasingly important in the future to strengthen the church,” De Groot said.

Formerly, Muslims in restricted countries such as Iran usually only come to Christianity through miraculous experiences such as visions or dreams, noted the group; Christians are prohibited from evangelizing under Iranian laws.

While the Iranian Government tolerates ethnic Christians, allowing them to hold services, guards regularly stand in front of church doors to decide if a person entering the sanctuary is an ethnic Christian. New converts to Christianity put their lives at risk and face persecution from family, friends, employers and authorities when they denounce Islam. Both lifelong believers and new converts have reportedly been imprisoned, beaten and even murdered.

“In spite of this pressure, the house church movement has seen spectacular growth,” De Groot said. “This is not happening just because of dreams and miracles…The majority of people now come to faith through the multimedia, and especially satellite TV. Nobody can control which programmes Iranians watch.”

De Groot noted that Christian satellite programme producers are receiving stories of people who have converted to Christianity after watching their station.

SAT-7, the first Arabic language Christian satellite channel to broadcast into the Middle East, also noted exceptional growth in Iranian house churches during an interview with US Christian newspaper, The Christian Post, in April. SAT-7 has a viewer reach of eight to 10 million in the Middle East and north Africa.

In addition to producing television programmes, Open Doors said it continues to use traditional evangelism techniques.

“Open Doors continues to proceed with the ‘old fashion work',” De Groot said. “I expect that our literature distribution in Iran will increase by 10 to 15 percent in the coming years. Much of the literature which we distribute complements, directly or indirectly, the programmes from the satellite channels.”

The international ministry Open Doors began in 1955 and seeks to support and strengthen persecuted believers in the world’s most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community.
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personally i believe the above, and while i dont want to slam it in peoples faces, the evil done in the name of religion (ALL RELIGION) outweighs the benefits.

IMHO

i also want to point out that religion does not equal faith.

I don't disagree with you but you ignored the point of this news story which is the fact that people of Iran, a supposed muslim country, are running away from Islam and convert to more tolerant and peaceful Christianity....

Thats the point behind this story

Originally Posted by phoenix80

I don't disagree with you but you ignored the point of this news story which is the fact that people of Iran, a supposed muslim country, are running away from Islam and convert to more tolerant and peaceful Christianity....

Thats the point behind this story

well see this is what i would disagree with....calling christianity more "peaceful"



each religion has militant, bigoted ****tards. just like every race has it's share of violent morons.

constraining those traits to one country, religion or country is just silly

again you ignored what I said. I said Christianity is a "more peaceful religion" than Islam... You can't deny it!

I am an agnostic myself but you can't deny the fact that Christianity is way more peaceful than Islam since it has gone thru enlightenment era and has become peaceful over the time. Islam is not a peaceful religion and will never be one. I am not defending neither of them but what am trying to tell you is how people of Iran are tired of oppressive Islam and since they want to have some moral compass and seek spirituality, they'd rather be christians and worship that god rather than worshipping islamic stuff and gods.

btw, this thread is not about evil of religions. It's about how people of that country hate Islam and try to run away from it. ok?

Originally Posted by phoenix80

again you ignored what I said. I said Christianity is a "more peaceful religion" than Islam... You can't deny it!

actually i can, christianity can as has been as violent, bigoted and oppressive as islam....and yes, in our time as well.

Originally Posted by phoenix80

I am an agnostic myself but you can't deny the fact that Christianity is way more peaceful than Islam since it has gone thru enlightenment era and has become peaceful over the time. Islam is not a peaceful religion and will never be one. I am not defending neither of them but what am trying to tell you is how people of Iran are tired of oppressive Islam and since they want to have some moral compass and seek spirituality, they'd rather be christians and worship that god rather than worshipping islamic stuff and gods.

same god. one god...islam has no god's (plural). just the one which is the same god as Christianity.

you may not be defending one or the other...but you are being selctive in your attack

anyway...terrorism, hate, violence and oppression is not limited to one religion, nor is religion defined by what is done in it's name by misguided or mislead followers.

i could raise Christian terrorists in northern ireland, bosnia, and the US just off the top of my head.

Originally Posted by phoenix80

btw, this thread is not about evil of religions. It's about how people of that country hate Islam and try to run away from it. ok?

well ok, if you just want to post an cut and paste article, and not discuss issues raised by it....all well and good. seems you dont want to be drawn on your bias

okie dokie!

I just want to point at the situation in Iran. Open a thread about religion in the appropriate section and I'll be there to discuss.

This is about how Iranians feel about Islam. Have any thing to say about it?

This may be a fad or it may not. Converting then acknowledging that conversion in public are two different things. Practice what you preach etc. It will take decades to see any kind of positive impact from this.

Infern0:

I believe he was talking about the majority of Christian religion(s) that are taught today vs the majority of Islamic religion(s) that are taught today. I profess to my ignorance on how many different sects of Islam religions there are vs the multitudes of Christian religion(s).

Since you profess to be an authority, show me some examples (within the past 10 years) of how Christianity has consistently and majoratively been taught to be a violent religion vs Islamic consistently and majoratively taught to be a peaceful religion. (I think i said that right).

If you can not or will not do this then you shouldn't make blanket statements about how one religion is or is not worse/better than another in some or all areas of belief.

Personally I can not think of any religion other than Islam that tells a person they are charged to kill non-believers (Infidels).

Originally Posted by Marinerhodes

This may be a fad or it may not. Converting then acknowledging that conversion in public are two different things. Practice what you preach etc. It will take decades to see any kind of positive impact from this.

Infern0:

I believe he was talking about the majority of Christian religion(s) that are taught today vs the majority of Islamic religion(s) that are taught today. I profess to my ignorance on how many different sects of Islam religions there are vs the multitudes of Christian religion(s).

Since you profess to be an authority, show me some examples (within the past 10 years) of how Christianity has consistently and majoratively been taught to be a violent religion vs Islamic consistently and majoratively taught to be a peaceful religion. (I think i said that right).

If you can not or will not do this then you shouldn't make blanket statements about how one religion is or is not worse/better than another in some or all areas of belief.

Personally I can not think of any religion other than Islam that tells a person they are charged to kill non-believers (Infidels).

I personally agree with inferno, in a limited sense. I see islam now as where christianity was during the middle ages. They are experiencing the same kind of violence that christianity did, for example inquisitions and crusades. Today christian terrorism is mostly limited to single people or small groups (not saything that Islamic terrorism isnt), and most of the time it has to do with conversion or hot button issues like homosexuality or abortion. Here is a wikipedia on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism

Edit: An example of a christian terrorist organization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_God

I don't disagree with you but you ignored the point of this news story which is the fact that people of Iran, a supposed muslim country, are running away from Islam and convert to more tolerant and peaceful Christianity....

Thats the point behind this story

CUT THE B.S.

No religion in this world has clean hands. The Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades. Millions of people have been murdered senselessly in the name of God, motivated by the radical interpretation of Islam or Christianity.

If you want people in Iran to be more "tolerant", religion is the most stupid approach yet.