IRAN IS A THEOCRACY

Persian Rug from Isfahan, Iran

When you go shopping for “Persian” rugs in Beverly Hills on La Cienega Blvd, where all the rug dealers are, most of the shop owners resent being called Iranian. They prefer being called Persians. It is not well known that  the area of land was called Persia in the past. By a strange quirk of history, it was under Nazi influence that the then government was convinced to change the name to Iran in 1935, with the help of 7500 racial books sent to them by Germany, which laid the basis for the racial theories of Nazi Germany.  Hitler himself declared Persia to be inhabited by “Aryans”. Eventually, Reza Shah Pahlavi, the then-ruler, agreed that Persia was populated by the migration of “Aryans” from central Europe to India, some of whom stopped off in Persia, rather than by the Semitic peoples surrounding them. There was a deep hatred of the Persians toward the Arabs and Jews. The Shah eventually changed the name of Persia to Iran (a merger of Indo-Aryan). At that point Germany formally excluded the new Iran from the Nürenberg Laws, which defined what separated Aryan from Semitic people. Iran and Nazi Germany carried on a thriving economic and diplomatic relationship in the pre-war and intra-war time period. But their hatred for Jews remains steadfast, if their continued confrontation with Israel is a strong hint.

Iran is a Theocracy now. This means they use their religious philosophy, Sharia Law, to guide their government in making rules and regulations that affect every detail of their lives. This includes how to dress, how to educate, and whom to educate, what they consider crimes, what punishments are meted out for those crimes, in fact, every aspect of their lives are governed by what Sharia Law requires. This creates incredible injustices that are incompatible with modern concepts of equality. As the previous Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, said, before he was deposed, “If the Mullahs win, it will set Iran back 1500 years!” Which it has! For example, 50% of their population, who are women, essentially have no rights; they cannot get an education beyond 6th grade, they are not allowed access to male doctors, they do not vote, and they cannot even show their faces or sing in public. In fact, no music is allowed in Iran, as they see it as inducing people to become immoral. One of the first acts of Iran’s Morality Police was to execute musical performers.  

The current Iranian uprising is a natural phenomenon that all democratic countries worldwide must support. We cannot allow this archaic thinking to deprive people of inalienable rights because of philosophies of the past 1500 years. I would hope the Ayatollahs of Iran will lose their undeserved power. We don’t know how many people have been killed by the Revolutionary Guard, but some have put that number at 30,000 at this point.

The Ayatollah Khamenei has dropped an “Iron Curtain” around Iran by closing borders and eliminating the Internet in order to prevent the world from knowing what incredible atrocities are going on in Iran.  Iran has been very determined to develop nuclear weapons in order to destroy Israel and to fulfill their wish, “Death to America.”  It is imperative and in our national interest to prevent them from acquiring the ability to develop nuclear weapons! By doing so, we shall help them cast off ancient, archaic ideas that deprive people of their human rights,e as well as save more of them from losing their lives.

I agree that we have no right to change people’s religion and religious beliefs, but these must be beliefs that are voluntarily shared by those it affects. It cannot be imposed on people against their will, which is what is happening in Iran. The vast majority of the population is of a different persuasion. They are subject to being ruled by Sharia Law by force and against their will. That is against International Law, and common sense! A government can’t just impose unjust ancient rules on a population that is not in agreement. It would be akin to Christian Nationalists deciding that the US would now have to obey the rules of one of Christianity’s 4000 sects. Perhaps Anabaptists, for example. Never mind that our current religious mix is:

Noting that 29% (the Nones -no affiliations are 29%, the second most common group after Protestants, 40%). I would think we would not react well to such a situation. We likely would revolt just as the Iranian people have.