Managing Religion and Religious Changes in Iran: A Socio-Legal Analysis

This Element offers a theoretically informed examination of the manner in which religion, especially newer religious and spiritual movements, are managed by law and legal mechanisms in the authoritarian theocracy of Iran. It highlights how these phenomena have been affected by the intersection of law, politics, and Shiʿi theology in recent Iranian history. The growing interest of Iranian citizens in new religious movements and spiritual currents, fostered by the cultural diffusion of Western writings and ideas, is described. The development of religious diversity in Iran and a corresponding loss of commitment towards some Islamic beliefs and practices are of considerable concern to both the Iranian religious and political establishments. This has led to social control efforts over any religious or spiritual movement differing from the regime's view of Islam. Those efforts, supported in large part by Western anticult ideas, culminated in the passage of stringent legislation in 2021.