It is not possible to separate the history of Armenia from the greater Iranian cultural and political landscapes. The name Armenia first appeared in Darius...
Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a defining event that changed how we think about the relationship between religion and modernity. Ayatollah Khomeini’s mass mobilisation of Islam showed that modernisation by...
A funeral, a family, and a journey into a disappearing religion.
“Unlike in Europe, for example, we do not have guards outside our synagogues and schools, and our personal safety is excellent. Of course, we sometimes encounter people who are anti-Semitic, but that...
Easter and Nowruz have one common message for humanity, renewal. The suffering that is inherent in Easter (before the resurrection) is absent in Nowruz, for...
Muslim minorities from China to India and beyond are facing discrimination, mass internment, and even extermination at the hands of their own governments. Why it matters: The global trend is rooted...
Jay Willis at GQ reports that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said on Fox and Friends that Trump is God’s Chosen One. He said he told...
Behind the scenes of Iraq’s demonstrations, a decades-old rivalry between two centres of religious learning and authority, one local and the other in Iran, is...
Before Iran became Islamic, it was Zoroastrian.
Two hundred years ago a special being was born in Shiraz, Iran—then known as Persia—Who brought radically new teachings to the world. He taught that...
Although the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur was formally Muslim, it was influenced by multiple religions and different identities
Since I was a little girl, I was told not to discuss religion. Reza Aslan fascinates me. He is an Iranian American that not only...
The bloodiest, most vicious, and most pertinent struggles occur squarely inside the Sunni world.
Iranians have wondered about the meaning of life and have gazed into the night sky searching for answers like many other people on the planet...
Black Jews and Jews of choice threaten the very model of Jewishness upon which the Jewish state is increasingly predicated. And for that, they must be silenced.
It appears that many fundamentalist Christians support the hard-line policies of the Israeli Government (currently consisting of the parties Likud, United Torah Judaism, Shas, Kulanu...
The great medieval Muslim mystic and poet, Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273), interpreted the birth of Jesus as an allegory of the soul. Rumi was born in Balkh...
Zoroastrianism, as one of the oldest religions still in existence and probably the world’s first monotheistic faith, had been the state religion of three Persian...
Jewish people have called Iran home for nearly 3,000 years. The Trump administration and U.S. ally Israel often depict the Iranian government as composed of...
In the Freddie Mercury biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” there’s a scene in which a family member scolds Mercury. “So now the family name is not good...
One of the most controversial books in recent literary history, Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was published three decades ago this month and almost immediately set off angry demonstrations all...
Reza Aslan has been critical of Islamic fundamentalism. And he’s doing his best to articulate his version of Islam distinguishing it from the fanatical ones....
An exclusive Grayzone investigative documentary rips the cover off of the most sophisticated and expensive campaign of humanitarian interventionist propaganda in modern history. or decades,...
If anything seems self-evident in human culture, it’s the widespread presence of religion. People do ‘religious’ stuff all the time; a commitment to gods, myths...
This research article – which is the 2nd of 5 separate parts to be published – is intended to explore the living story of a...
This research article - that will be published in 5 separate parts - is intended to explore the living story of a community and its...
Iran is not a poor nation. It is only that about 85 percent of its people are horribly poor, while five percent are wealthy. As...
In 1966, just over 50 years ago, the distinguished Canadian-born anthropologist Anthony Wallace confidently predicted the global demise of religion at the hands of an...
Tensions between Sunnis and Shias have been flaring up, with several incidents of violence reported in recent months: Most recently a suicide bomber killed at...
The Islamic regime places the sect of Shi’a at the core of the Islamic state. The regime coerces Iranians into a way of life based...
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