Sunday, November 02, 2008

Rooz: "committee to combat activities of members of religious ‎minorities"

Great news from Iran! Conspiracies against Shi'ism will now be dealt with:
In a measure to control people faithful to other religions and denominations, the Qom ‎Theological Center has formed a committee to combat activities of members of religious ‎minorities and schools. ‎

Cleric Mohammad Hassan Nabavi, the center’s public relations deputy, noted, "combating ‎deviant religions and denominations" was the reason behind the establishment of the so-called ‎‎"Minority Committee" during the latest meeting of Friday prayer leaders from across the nation. ‎According to this Qom Theological Center deputy, the "Minority Committee" was established at ‎the center to undertake "cultural confrontation" of religious minorities and prevent the growth ‎and spread of minority religions in Iran. ‎

According to the unpublished remarks of Nabavi on the official theological center’s website, "In ‎this respect, action groups dealing with Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Bahaism, Sufism, ‎Wahhabism and new spiritual schools have been set up with the duty to culturally confront any ‎conspiracy that is being undertaken." He added that the responsibility of the "Minority ‎Committee" at the Qom seminary is to monitor the activities of members of religious minorities, ‎especially with respect to their promotion of competing religions or beliefs, noting, "If these ‎religions and denominations advertised against Shiism or acted in a way that undermined the ‎principles of Islam or Shiism, we would become active to confront them." ‎

This high ranking cleric at the Qom seminary did not expand on the nature of conspiracies that ‎may be regarded by the "Qom Theological Center Minority Committee" as threats to the ‎country's official religion. However, he accused religious minorities in Iran of communicating ‎with foreigners, adding, "Religions and sects that are supported and empowered by agents ‎outside the country to weaken the centrality of the Islamic regime would be culturally ‎confronted." [...]

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