# Only 1,4% of Iranians goes to mosque **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 27, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444 "2006-08-27T19:35:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/21 "2006-08-28T14:43:03Z")
> [@Skald the Rhymer](#): > > Skald the Rhymer, representative > NAAB > (National Association for the Advancement of Baboons) Baboon, baboon, baboon! –Lisa Simpson ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/22 "2006-08-28T15:01:18Z")
> [@Wildfire\*\*MM](#): > > If these figures are correct, it means that iranians are far less religious and fanatic than assumed by world wide media? Do you have a cite indicating that the ‘world wide media’ thinks that Iranian POPULATION is more religious or fanatic as a whole? I’ve never seen anything to indicate that. In another thread I used this [Time](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1333660,00.html) article which I think makes the point. > [@](#): > > The Creeping Restrictions in Iran > For the past few months, Iranians have been subjected to stronger enforcement of Islamic codes. Is this a revival of the dogmatic strictures of the country’s revolutionary past? > [@](#): > > When Behnaz Mohsenian, 29, started English lessons at the Najdad Institute in Tehran this spring, the 15 men and women in her class studied grammar sitting in mixed circles. Last month, the language institute divided male and female students into separate classes held on separate days of the week. Not long after, female staff began arriving at work dressed in full-length black chador, at the government-run institute’s request. Now plans are under way to move the women’s classes to a separate building, to eliminate altogether the possibility of illicit mingling. Promptly, a third of Mohsenian’s classmates dropped out of the institute, preferring to study English elsewhere in integrated classrooms, or not at all. “It feels like your rights are being amputated,” she says. “As if we’re all incapable of behaving like normal people, and need to be regulated at all times.” > [@](#): > > There is nothing new about the restrictions themselves. They were the grim reality of life here before the 1997 election of the liberalizer Mohammad Khatami. The difference today is the sporadic and velvet-gloved implementation of the old codes. Instead of announcing new bans or dispatching morality police onto the streets of Tehran to harass and arrest young people — the crude, classic measures that fomented much anger and discontent — the system is employing more subtle means that seek to make Iranians themselves, instead of uniformed agents of the state, the enforcers. > [@](#): > > So discreet is this steady creep toward Talibanism that it only hit me last week, after a visit to the beauty salon. Usually, framed photos of coiffed brides adorn the walls, but I arrived to find the coffee-colored walls blank, save a clinical advertisement for fungus-fighting nail polish. Authorities had raided the salon two weeks prior, declaring images of unveiled women illegal and demanding they be taken down. In Iran, women’s hair salons are off limits to men anyway, so it makes little sense why photos of coiffed women should be banned in a room full of women getting their hair coiffed. > > Of course, in the spectrum of ways the clerics can oppress women and restrict their rights, this is perhaps not the most alarming. What is worrisome is the shift of focus. Under Khatami, the state relaxed many of its most repressive codes, especially those aimed at restricting women’s access to public space and discouraging their participating in civic life. Women’s singing, for example, banned for years after the revolution became permissible in group ensembles. But the sort of mentality that seeks to ban images of women typically wants also to control and restrict women’s place in public life. At a recent concert in the town of Sari, the female members of Iran’s only non-government orchestra were asked to play from behind a black curtain. They have been disinvited from an upcoming concert in northwestern Iran altogether. The point being that a lot of Iranians are chaffing under the various restrictions put on them by their government/religious leaders…but that they still go along with them for now. Its not a matter of the Iranian population being fanatical or overly religious, but of those in power and a small fanatic minority being so. I think the OP is a strawman…unless s/he has some cites indicating that the ‘world wide media’ has been pushing through an impression that the Iranian population is in synch with their government… -XT ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/23 "2006-08-28T15:48:45Z")
> [@shizaru](#): > > But where I work we have muslim guests from the middle east. According to some of my friends that secure accomodations for them the first thing they ask is where they can find hookers and liquor…because “allah can’t see them here”. > > I’m not a big fan of islam and hearing that just made it seem stupider than I believed possible. I live in the buckle of the Bible belt. Believe me, I’ve heard things every bit as bad if not worse from Christians. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/24 "2006-08-28T15:51:16Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > I live in the buckle of the Bible belt. Believe me, I’ve heard things every bit as bad if not worse from Christians. In particular, I remember a guy I knew who said he hated blacks but tried not to hate Jews because he didn’t want Jesus to be angry with him. I’m not making this up. I couldn’t make this up. My imagination’s just not that good. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/25 "2006-08-28T15:59:13Z")
I have not seen any media suggestion that the Iranian population is /not/ in synch with its government. The nearest I heard was the BBC statement that 75% of the population is under 30 yrs old. Probably there is some sort of campaign just being launched, it smells like it to me, _and my contribution is that if they had not got rid of the Shah they would be in clover by now_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/26 "2006-08-28T16:10:26Z")
My contribution is that if they got rid of the Shah without the help of foreign troops, they can damn sure get rid of the mullahs without US troops. And I hope they do. But in the meantime, let’s not stick OUR big noses in it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/27 "2006-08-28T17:00:06Z")
> [@Wildfire\*\*MM](#): > > According to this swedish article, only 1,4% of iranian goes to friday prayer > > [http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=643755](http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=643755) > > Translated: “numbers from Ministry of culture shows that only 1,4% of iranians visits friday prayer” > > If these figures are correct, it means that iranians are far less religious and fanatic than assumed by world wide media? Which raises the big, burning issue: who gives a shit? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/28 "2006-08-28T17:14:31Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Which raises the big, burning issue: who gives a shit? We all should. It is a common misperception among the underinformed that Iran is a nation of ranting religious fanatics. That misperception helps those who would have us rush headlong into armed conflict with Iran. The more we can see them as ordinary people, and less we see them as some demonized “other,” the better off we all will be. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/29 "2006-08-28T17:40:13Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > I live in the buckle of the Bible belt. Believe me, I’ve heard things every bit as bad if not worse from Christians. Except they’re only worried that someone from their church might catch them. You know the old joke… ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/30 "2006-08-28T19:11:43Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Do you have a cite indicating that the ‘world wide media’ thinks that Iranian POPULATION is more religious or fanatic as a whole? I’ve never seen anything to indicate that. It’s a well known fact that we westerners (because of media) believe that Iran is more or less filled with religious fanatics. Most people \* (even if the picture of Iranian people have been more nuanced in the media the last few years)\* have this impression. Perhaps not to the degree as in the 1980’s, but our believes about Iran are pretty much colored by the media. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/31 "2006-08-28T19:17:08Z")
> [@Wildfire\*\*MM](#): > > It’s a well known fact that we westerners (because of media) believe that Iran is more or less filled with religious fanatics. Most people (even if the picture of Iranian people have been more nuanced in the media the last few years) have this impression. Perhaps not to the degree as in the 1980’s, but our believes about Iran are pretty much colored by the media. Then you should have no problem finding a cite to prove your OP, right? You claimed the ‘world wide media’ is rife with this thinking…by which I assume you mean the main stream media in the US. So…shouldn’t be a big challenge for you to dig up a few instances of the US MSM showing this…since its ‘a well known fact’ and all. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/32 "2006-08-28T19:23:16Z")
**xtisme** , do you deny that this is the common perception of Iran among the majority of Americans? If so, I’d say you need to go out and ask a few. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/33 "2006-08-28T19:26:16Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > xtisme, do you deny that this is the common perception of Iran among the majority of Americans? If so, I’d say you need to go out and ask a few. _sigh_ No. But thats not what the OP claimed or what I wanted a cite for. He claimed in the OP that this was something pushed by the ‘world wide media’…if so, then it should be easy enough to find a cite for it, no? Because in most things I’ve read, they say quite the opposite. Now, maybe I’m not reading the right ‘world wide media’ sites…if so, then the OP can educate me. Wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong, or asked for a cite that existed and I was just too uninformed to know about it…right? 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/34 "2006-08-28T19:52:22Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > _sigh_ No. But thats not what the OP claimed or what I wanted a cite for. He claimed in the OP that this was something pushed by the ‘world wide media’…if so, then it should be easy enough to find a cite for it, no? Because in most things I’ve read, they say quite the opposite. Now, maybe I’m not reading the right ‘world wide media’ sites…if so, then the OP can educate me. > > Wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong, or asked for a cite that existed and I was just too uninformed to know about it…right? 😛 > > -XT This is my impression over several years of the media. And it’s not only about Iran, but also cover other muslim nations. We usually see angry people with fists in the air burning flags when it’s from the Middle east. The swedish author Jan Guillou sat in a hotel room east Asia in the 1990s, and the only channel they had there, which he understood the language, was CNN. He then counted how many times (over several hours) he saw angry muslims on the TV that shouted with their fists in the air, burning tires, flags etc. He didn’t once saw a muslim in an normal environment - being interviewed at home etc… This inspired him to write the Crusades trilogy about Arn ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/35 "2006-08-28T22:56:23Z")
**xtisme** , if you concede that most Americans have serious misperceptions regarding Iran, where do you suppose we got them? It doesn’t take any dark conspiracy theories to observe that we simply don’t get an accurate picture of life in Iran from our media. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/36 "2006-08-28T23:01:46Z")
Are women allowed in mosques? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/37 "2006-08-28T23:02:09Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > xtisme, if you concede that most Americans have serious misperceptions regarding Iran, where do you suppose we got them? It doesn’t take any dark conspiracy theories to observe that we simply don’t get an accurate picture of life in Iran from our media. Should be easy enough for him to find cites then, no? I mean if its that pervasive, then there should be floods of stories that would back up his claim from the MSM…no? Most things I’ve read don’t back up the OP’s claim that this is the general meme in the MSM. But as I said, perhaps I’m wrong, or not reading the right web sites. As far as the rest of your theory, I’ll point out that a large percentage of American’s ALSO think that Evolution is wrong, or that Creationism is correct (something like that)…yet the MSM doesn’t pound us constantly telling us that Evolution is wrong and Creationism correct. So…where do folks get that idea from if not the MSM?? -XT ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/38 "2006-08-28T23:02:49Z")
How about foreigners/infidels? Other sects? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/39 "2006-08-28T23:48:08Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Should be easy enough for him to find cites then, no? How do you “cite” repeated television images of shouting Iranian crowds burning and stomping on American flags? It’s an image that got burned into the American psyche over a number of years and has never left. These days the problem is more a _lack_ of media coverage. The media have done little to change or update our understanding of life inside Iran. How do you “cite” this failure? We simply don’t get shown images of modern Iran [like those found here](http://www.virginiahighland.com/attr_rest.html). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444/40 "2006-08-29T00:17:13Z")
Oops. Those were modern Atlanta images. [Here are the modern Iran images.](http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=351718) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-1-4-of-iranians-goes-to-mosque/370444.md?page=3)