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 Saeed Abedini is shown here with his 4-year-old son.
January 26th, 2013
10:00 PM ET
Group: U.S. pastor's family was told he has been moved within Iranian prisonThe family of an American Christian pastor being tried in Iran for his religious activities were told Saturday that he had been moved to a different ward in the prison where he is being held, a U.S. religious group said. Saeed Abedini "reportedly was moved to (another) ward to receive better medical treatment, although it is impossible to confirm his health status or if he is receiving treatment," the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said in a statement. They were turned away because visitation hours for the ward are on Monday, according to the statement. Neither Abedini nor his attorney has not been present at his trial since January 21. His family became concerned when they attempted to visit him on Thursday and were told by prison guards that he wasn't there, said the group, a right-leaning nonprofit founded by television evangelist Pat Robertson.
September 25th, 2012
04:40 AM ET
Ahmadinejad denounces reactions to filmIn an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemns the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims" and the extremist reactions to it.
September 20th, 2012
05:55 AM ET
Putting the 'jab' in 'hijab': Girls beat up Iran cleric when he tells them to cover upBy Ben Brumfield and Shirzad Bozorgmehr, CNN Tehran, Iran (CNN) - They may be a far cry from their Western counterparts fighting for the acceptance to breast feed - or go topless - in public, but two girls clobbered a cleric recently in a small town in Iran, when he admonished one of them to cover herself more completely. The cleric said he asked "politely," but the girl's angry reaction and some pugilistic double-teaming with her friend landed the holy man in the hospital, according to an account in the semi-official Mehr News Agency. FULL STORY Youcef Nadarkhani, born to Muslim parents in the northern Iranian town of Rasht, converted to Christianity when he was 19.
July 10th, 2012
02:39 AM ET
State Dept: Release pastor jailed for 1,000 days, sentenced to death in IranBy Ed Payne, CNN (CNN) - It has been more than 1,000 days since a Christian pastor was thrown into an Iranian jail for leaving Islam and sentenced to death for, as the U.S. State Department put it, "simply following his faith." On Monday, the agency once again called on Iran to release Youcef Nadarkhani. "Pastor Nadarkhani still faces the threat of execution for simply following his faith, and we repeat our call for Iranian authorities to release him immediately," said a statement from State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. His next scheduled court date is September 8.  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons.
March 13th, 2012
02:25 PM ET
My Take: Iranian leader’s statement that nukes are sinful deserves a close look
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN (CNN) - As politicians in Israel and the United States beat the drums for war on Iran, it is worth remembering that Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is on record against nuclear weapons. In fact, according to a statement read on August 9, 2005, at a meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, he issued a fatwa declaring that “the production, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that the Islamic Republic of Iran shall never acquire these weapons.”  U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week.
March 8th, 2012
09:12 AM ET
My Take: Does Netanyahu's Bible gift to Obama mean war?
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN Being president is stressful. Even the presents you receive can turn your hair gray. Take the gift Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bestowed upon President Obama on Monday: a copy of the Book of Esther. This book, which appears both in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament tells a tale that Jews commemorate on Thursday with the holiday of Purim. In this tale, set in the Persian Empire in the 5th century BCE, Persians plot to destroy the Jews. The villain of the story is Haman, whom Netanyahu described in his AIPAC speech on Monday as “a Persian anti-Semite [who] tried to annihilate the Jewish people.” The hero is Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who urges Esther, the queen to Persian king Ahasuerus, to prevail upon her husband on behalf of the Jews.  Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani shown in an Iranian prison.
February 23rd, 2012
07:59 PM ET
White House, State Department condemn Iran on pastor's execution ordersBy Dan Merica, CNN Washington (CNN) - Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, an Iranian Christian charged with leaving Islam, has received a local trial courts final verdict, according to sources close to his legal team, and may now be executed for leaving Islam. Jodran Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, said he was informed on Monday by the pastor's legal team that the final execution order had been issued. At this point, said Sekulow, the pastor could be executed without the legal team's knowledge. The White House issued a pointed statement on Thursday, strongly condemning the reports and renewed calls for Iranian authorities to release the pastor.  American religious leaders with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, far left, on Saturday.
September 21st, 2011
04:50 PM ET
Religious delegation plays role in release of American hikersFrom Stan Wilson, CNN (CNN) - When a prominent group of American Muslim and Christian leaders returned to Washington Monday after meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and top clerical leaders during a six-day visit to Iran, they expressed optimism that two American hikers would be released within a few days. On Wednesday, their hopes were realized when Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were escorted out of Evin prison in Tehran after more than two years behind bars. "We were very happy to learn about their release today," said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), who visited Tehran last week as part of a religious delegation.. "We are extremely happy for the hikers, their families and the country."  Iran's women national football team in 2009.
June 7th, 2011
01:43 PM ET
World soccer officials defend hijab ban after Iranian team forfeits matchBy the CNN Wire Staff (CNN) - The head of Iran's football federation has written a letter of protest to FIFA after the Iranian women's soccer team forfeited a match because of a head scarf rule, the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported Tuesday. World football officials have defended their refusal to allow the players to wear head scarves while playing in an Olympic qualifying round in Amman, Jordan, last week. "Iran's women team took part in the Olympic qualifier according to FIFA rules. FIFA commissioner's decision to bar the Iranian team is not logical," Ali Kaffashian, head of the Iranian federation, wrote in a letter to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, Mehr reported. FIFA safety rules enacted last year allow women to wear "a cap that covers their head to the hairline, but which does not extend below the ears to cover the neck," according to a statement released by FIFA Monday. Iran's coach chose to forfeit last Friday's match with Jordan rather than dressing players in the smaller FIFA-approved head covering. "Despite initial assurances that the Iranian delegation understood this, the players came out wearing the hijab, and the head and neck totally covered, which was an infringement of the laws of the game," FIFA said. Three players on Jordan's team who wanted to wear hijab scarves for religious reason also sat out the match, FIFA said. The FIFA statement concluded that match officials "decided to apply correctly the laws of the game, which ended in the match being abandoned."  Eleven of the educators detained for teaching members of Iran's Baha'i community.
May 31st, 2011
09:43 AM ET
For Baha'i educators, a lesson in power from IranBy Mitra Mobasherat and Joe Sterling, CNN (CNN) – The three Iranian security officers rang the doorbell, politely informed the man of his arrest, thoroughly searched the house, confiscated high-tech gear and books, and whisked him away to the nation's notorious Evin Prison. The early Sunday morning raid took three hours. Now, every second seems like an eternity for the man's anguished family members, praying for his physical safety, hoping for his release, and getting their heads around the prospect of a long stint in prison, his relatives told CNN. His family says the reason for his arrest is his religion. Read the full story on the plight of Iran's Baha'i educators |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke and Eric Marrapodi with daily contributions from CNN's worldwide newsgathering team and frequent posts from religion scholar and author Stephen Prothero.  |
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Editor's note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.
