Religion in Iran

Following the 1979 Revolution, Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic and to approve a theocratic constitution. The preponderance of religiosity in Iran is the Twelver Shi’a sub-branch of Islam (the official state religion) constituting approximately 90 to 95% of the population (CIA World Fact Book, 2014). Approximately 5 to 10% of the population belong to the Sunni Branch of Islam, aggregating a total Muslim population of 99.4%. The remaining less than 1% of the population are non-Muslim minorities, including Bahá’ís, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Mandeans, Yarsanis, Yezidis, and Zoroastrians. The Constitution of Iran officially recognises three minority religions along with the State religion of Islam – Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism –all have reserved seats in the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) and, under the constitution,robust growth experienced by Christianity, and even the apparent rejection of religion by significant numbers of people, suggests that the current apostasy laws do little to deter the questioning of the credence and the verisimilitude of the Islamic doctrine portrayed in Iran. The perceived threat posed by Christianisation and secularism to the Islamic State (acknowledged in public statements by the Supreme Leader and other influential leaders in October 2010) has increased the persecution of religious minorities in Iran as the Mullahs consistently inveigh non-Muslims to consolidate the Islamic State. This rhetoric was encapsulated by the proposed bill in September 2008, which approved amending the ambiguity on the language on apostasy which could be later codified into Iranian legislation. Judges currently revert to Islamic law for apostates in order