Religion In Iran

[Cheerful Charlie]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/irans-secular...17092.html

...
Our results reveal dramatic changes in Iranian religiosity, with an increase in secularisation and a diversity of faiths and beliefs. Compared with Iran’s 99.5% census figure, we found that only 40% identified as Muslim.

In contrast with state propaganda that portrays Iran as a Shia nation, only 32% explicitly identified as such, while 5% said they were Sunni Muslim and 3% Sufi Muslim. Another 9% said they were atheists, along with 7% who prefer the label of spirituality. Among the other selected religions, 8% said they were Zoroastrians – which we interpret as a reflection of Persian nationalism and a desire for an alternative to Islam, rather than strict adherence to the Zoroastrian faith – while 1.5% said they were Christian.

Most Iranians, 78%, believe in God, but only 37% believe in life after death and only 30% believe in heaven and hell. In line with other a quarter of our respondents said they believed in jinns or genies. Around 20% said they did not believe in any of the options, including God.
...

22% self identify as Nones.  By contrast, the Iranian government census claims 99.5% of Iranians are Moslems.  And in Sudan, the government there has officially abandoned being a Moslem theocracy.
 
Always nice to have a little good religious news in this little green planet of the clocks.

[Thumpalumpacus]

If you go back a few decades, you will see that this trend is not new. In cuiture, Iranians in the 60s and 70s enjoyed a secular rule that kept religion in place. Fashion, music, and cinema were all enjoyed by Muslims who held their beliefs much like American Christians, cherry-picking what they thought important and disregarding the rest. The culture was more open and libertine. There were of course still fundies, but they lacked the power to impose their views, then. Obviously things have changed ... on the surface.

The current Iranian government likely claims that absurdly-high percentage as a function of it relying on Islam as the basis of its power. I don't think that will last in the long run. We've seen dissatisfaction with the mullahs spread into the streets several times now since 2009, and that subversion may be quiet right now but it hasn't gone away, I don't think. I'm not surprised Iranians are more secular, and more skeptical, nowadays.