Faith
Metro Station Honors Mary, Persecution Continues
Faith Facts
- Iran renamed a Tehran metro station “Holy Virgin Mary,” featuring Christian art near a major Armenian Christian cathedral.
- Christian converts, especially from Muslim backgrounds, still endure intense surveillance, secret worship, and risk of imprisonment.
- Public faith expression and church access remain restricted for most Christians, highlighting Iran’s contradiction between symbolism and reality.
The gesture of naming a Tehran train station after the Virgin Mary appears to promote religious harmony, but offers little comfort to Iran’s hidden Christian community.
On International Religious Freedom Day, we are reminded that true freedom is more than symbolic gestures; it’s about the right to live and worship openly, as God calls us to do.
In Iran, “peaceful coexistence” is extended only to ethnic minority Christians willing to accept severe restrictions, and converts from Islam are targeted for their faith.
Authorities have closed Persian-speaking churches and suppressed gatherings to halt the growth of Christianity, forcing many believers underground.
House churches have sprung up across Iran as believers find ways to fellowship despite the threat of arrest.
Many endure imprisonment, like Joseph Shahbazian and Mina Khajavi, while families are kept apart and worship must take place in secret homes.
Though Iran has signed international agreements on religious freedom, Christians experience real persecution and lifelong struggles for choosing to follow Christ.
As Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani powerfully said, “Any religious conversion brings ‘enormous and costly upheaval’ which may ‘take a lifetime to make sense of.'”
Believers’ courage reflects steadfast hope and the promise that Christ is with those who suffer for His name.
Let us stand in prayer and action for those who remain faithful under persecution, defending the God-given right to faith, family, and freedom.