Christian persecution in Iran

This is just awful:

Evangelical Pastor Faces Imminent Execution in Iran

By Joseph Perkins | Christian Post Contributor

Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani needs Christians around the world to stand in the gap for him as he faces execution Thursday at the hands of the Iranian government. That was the urgent email message disseminated Wednesday by International Christian Concern, a Washington, D.C., organization that assists the worldwide persecuted Christian church.

Nadarkhani, leader of a 400-strong house church movement in Rasht, Iran, was arrested in October 2009 for opposing the Islamic republic’s requirement that non-Muslim students read the Quran in school. The Christian pastor had argued that the Iranian constitution permitted children to be raised in their parents’ faith.

In September 2010, an Iranian regional court sentenced Nadarkhani to death by hanging for “convert(ing) to Christianity” and “encourag(ing) other Muslims to convert to Christianity.”

The Iranian Supreme Court upheld the 34-year-old Christian pastor’s death sentence this past July, while ordering a reexamination of the case. That reexamination began this past Sunday and continued the following three days.

On Wednesday, Nadarkhani refused for the fourth time in open court to renounce his Christian faith. That’s one opportunity more than required under Iranian law to execute the pastor for apostasy.

via Evangelical Pastor Faces Imminent Execution in Iran, Christian News.

At the risk of sounding like a neoconservative; this is just wrong. This sort of religious oppression should not be permitted to continue. On the other hand, it is an Islamic State and he was practicing Christianity there.  Still, the death penalty seems a bit harsh. Just the same, invading that Country would not be an easy task, as we found out in Iraq,  John Bolton and his crowd would love to see America invade that Country. However, clear minded folk, like myself, consider the risk, and loss of life; and quite frankly, it would not be worth it really. As it could destabilize that region further.

The Bottom Line: While the Christian in me think that this man being killed is awful. The Conservative libertarian in me, who believes in personal responsibility, says that this man knew the risks of going into an Islamic Country and starting a Church. For this, he was caught and imprisoned.  In short, he broke the law in Iran and was caught, and now must pay for his crimes. The point is this; you do not want to be executed for crimes of this nature in Iran, then stay out of the Country.