Billions of humans live on this vast planet with a wide range of group and individual differences; with differences that are both voluntary and involuntary.
Involuntary differences are those that humans have no control over in their choices; such as gender, race, nationality, and mother tongue. However, voluntary differences such as religion, lifestyle, political beliefs, and clothing style, are created by humans with the freedom to choose. No human should be judged or discriminated against because of any of their voluntary or involuntary differences. Establishing order, stability, peace, and tranquility on this vast planet will not be possible without “peace”.
Today, in order to live peacefully alongside each other and away from any violence or harm; in other words, to build a peaceful society, we need a chemical called “peace”. Peace should be the guiding principle in our personal and social lives, and in our actions and behaviors. In the formulation of domestic and international laws, the pursuit of peace should not be forgotten

Article 13 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
It is better to refer to international treaties, declarations of human rights, and covenants to examine and clarify the rights of religious minorities. However, in order to examine the separate laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran and international laws and human rights and explain the relationship between the two, another opportunity is necessary.
The purpose of the author in this writing is to provide a general overview of the position of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic, using some principles of the constitution and describing some of the problems of Christians.
Article 13 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is the reference for the recognition of official religious minorities, apparently reflects the attention of the ruling system and the constitution to religious minorities and the allocation of one article out of 177 articles of the constitution for their recognition. However, the reality is that this article confirms and signs the lack of impartiality of the ruling system and the constitution towards citizens with different beliefs, tendencies, and characteristics, and the existence of religious fascism

First section, Article 13 of the Constitution.

Originally, there are 23 fundamental laws:
“Inspection of beliefs is prohibited and no one can be prosecuted for holding a belief. Article 23 declares the inspection of beliefs as prohibited and under no circumstances is it allowed to be carried out. Independently, it can be inferred from this article that the beliefs of citizens are not subject to inspection and cannot be a reason for granting or revoking positive or negative privileges. However, “being recognized as a religious minority” is a privilege that requires the inspection of beliefs. Article 13 contradicts the aforementioned privilege with Article 23, which prohibits the inspection of beliefs. Although it may seem impossible to achieve Article 13 based on Article 23, in practice, Article 23 has been neglected and forgotten to the point where it is no longer visible.

The texts of Articles 13 and 23 are in conflict with each other, and this blatant conflict is not tolerable for the “Constitution” which determines the boundaries and framework of laws, provisions, regulations, and any actions and

Some necessary points for completing the explanations regarding the first section of Article 13 are mentioned below:
– Humans are born into the world without religion or belief, and also have the right to choose their religion and belief (an inherent right). Religion and belief are not in genes, blood, or sperm and cannot be passed down from one generation to another. Therefore, a person born to Muslim parents is only a Muslim by birth and not by choice. This also applies to individuals born to Christian parents or followers of other schools of thought, religions, and ideologies.
– If a person blindly follows the actions and thoughts of their parents and surroundings before reaching intellectual and rational maturity, they cannot be considered a follower of their parents’ chosen ideology. They are simply imitators. The age of reaching intellectual maturity is not the same for everyone. Therefore, the age of individuals is not a suitable and accurate criterion for ensuring their intellectual maturity.
– As inferred from Article 13, the prerequisite and condition for recognizing Christians is not conformity and sameness of religion with their parents and ancestors – being born to Christian

Originally, it is stated in the 19th Constitution:
“People of Iran, regardless of their ethnicity and tribe, are entitled to equal rights and factors such as color, race, language, and the like shall not be a cause for discrimination. Although the phrase “such as these” is ambiguous, it can be interpreted to include differences in religion and belief. Article 19, like Article 23, nullifies Article 13, which disregards the right to choose one’s beliefs.

Contrary to the common belief that only Armenians and Assyrians are recognized as Christian communities in Iran, there are many Christians from all Iranian ethnicities living in various cities throughout Iran; Rasht, Arak, Isfahan, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Mashhad, and Ardabil are among the cities with a larger population of Christians.

– There is no limitation based on denomination in Article 13, and followers of all Christian denominations, including Orthodox and Protestant, are covered by this article.
– The definition of “Christian” is someone

Part Two of Article 13 of the Constitution.
“…are free to perform their religious ceremonies within the limits of the law and act according to their own rituals in personal matters and religious teachings. In this principle, like many other laws and principles, the ambiguous phrase ‘within the limits of the law’ has been used. This phrase has the potential to be misused in various ways and limit the freedoms and fundamental rights of religious minorities. With the support of these ambiguous phrases, which are abundantly present in the constitution, sometimes in the Islamic Consultative Assembly by passing a law or clause, and sometimes in courts, judges with different and sometimes conflicting interpretations, violate the rights of religious minorities and increase pressure against them. In courts, judges with different and sometimes conflicting interpretations, trap and condemn religious minorities in the grip of personal interpretations of these laws and ambiguous phrases. These condemnations are justified by referring to the “law” for themselves!
In other words, the spectrum of freedoms for religious minorities is subject to change according to the interpretation of those in

Church, a place for performing religious ceremonies and personal affairs.
The church, which is a place for religious ceremonies, if deprived of Christians, practically loses the right to hold religious ceremonies. In the past years, churches under the name of “Spiritual Assembly Churches” were active in different cities. These churches were sealed one after another by security forces. The process and reasons for the unjustifiable sealing of these churches have been briefly reflected in some media outlets and are available. Since the purpose of the writer in this article is not to explain these events, only a reference is made to these incidents.

In the aforementioned churches, services were also held in Persian and Persian-speaking Christians (2), some of whom were Christian-born and others were non-Christian-born, attended these churches under security measures. The last branch of the Spiritual Assembly Church, which held services in Persian, namely the Central Spiritual Assembly Church in Tehran, was sealed on May 26, 2014, and there is no longer any church in the country that holds Christian services in Persian. The churches

Home church
Naturally, after being deprived of their rights, all individuals strive to compensate for their shortcomings and deficiencies using the available resources. The deprivation of religious individuals from their place of worship also falls into this category of deficiencies and shortages. Deprivation from the official church provides the grounds and platform for the formation of so-called “home churches” (4).
One of the main ways to identify Persian-speaking Christians is through infiltrating home churches, where multiple Christians can be trapped and convicted at once. It seems that the deprivation from the official church, which leads to the formation of home churches, is a tactic designed to facilitate the identification and suppression of Persian-speaking Christians.

Oppression and pressure on the Persian-speaking Christian community.

In these years, Christians were sometimes sentenced in court and sometimes executed without a trial. Among these individuals, we can mention Mr. Hossein Soodmand, who was officially working as a priest in one of the branches of the Assembly of God churches in Mashhad, but was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence. He spent some time in prison and on December 3, 1990, without informing his family and without a trial, he was hanged in the prison yard, despite having four young children. After that, even his body was not returned to his family and the security institution buried his body in an abandoned place in Reza Cemetery in Mashhad and did not allow his family to put a gravestone for him.

Or Mr. Mehdi Dibaj, a priest of one of the Assembly of God churches in Sari, who was sentenced to death and spent more than 9 years in prison waiting for his execution. But after the support of international organizations and the efforts

Footnotes:
1 – Includes cases such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, burial, education, Christian teachings, and many other matters.
2 – The term “Persian-speaking Christians” refers to Christians who are not of Armenian, Assyrian, or Chaldean descent and belong to other Iranian ethnic groups.
3 – In order to eliminate any ambiguity from the minds of readers, it should be noted that Armenian, Assyrian, and Chaldean Christians are also not fully entitled to their citizenship rights and are only free to practice their religious ceremonies, daily life, marriage, and burial according to their own customs. However, they face serious discrimination in other areas such as employment in government institutions and holding important positions. Over the years, many priests and church leaders have been prosecuted and forced to migrate.
4 – A home church is usually the home of one of the Christians where they gather and the activity that takes place there is the study of the Bible and discussion about its content. No