Religion and the Fight for Freedom

I recently attended a discussion about the effort to spread democracy in Iran that featured a prominent exiled activist who gave his ideas about the current situation in Iran. His talk was well written and generally made good points about the state of opposition as well as what it will take to bring freedom to Iran. The discussion then opened up to the wider audience and that's when talk descended into triviality.

The main topic of contention was the role of religion both within a future Iranian state, but more broadly about the nature of Islam. Some in the audience believed that Islam was fundamentally anti-democratic and had no place in the future of Iran. The speaker felt that there are numerous iterations of Islam and the one practiced by this regime was obviously bad, but there could be a more benevolent Islamic society.

I obviously have my own opinions when it comes to these topics and my own vision for what Iran should look like in the future. Yet in a truly democratic society, everyone has their differing opinions and consensus is eventually reached through compromise. I think getting bodged down in philosophical arguments is a disservice to the cause of freedom in Iran. Our primary concern should be attaining freedom for the Iranian people and we should never forget that.

It is easy to argue and blame each other for the problems and it is a lot harder to come together for a common cause. I think we should stop our own internal bickering and focus on the goal of seeing a free and democratic Iran one day. Until that day comes, all other efforts are a distraction and play into the hands who try to keep power by ruling through division. There will be plenty of time to argue in a respectful manner when democracy comes to Iran, but until then we should work together to seek democracy under a common banner.

The only thing that matters is the people of Iran and their freedom, and we should never forget that.