<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div><div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><div style="line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On Feb 27, 2018, at 4:22 PM, William Flynn Wallace <<a href="mailto:foozler83@gmail.com">foozler83@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></span></font><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-most-Iranians-are-non-believers-Islam-being-their-national-religion-and-are-prejudiced-against-Arabs">https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-most-Iranians-are-non-believers-Islam-being-their-national-religion-and-are-prejudiced-against-Arabs</a><br></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Interesting site too. These are not hard data, but personal observations. Still, it might surprise most Americans to see these opinions on religion or lack thereof.</span></font></div></div></blockquote><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Not surprising if you think about it. I mean most people are not hardcore anything; they just go along to get along. Or that’s my impression. I imagine if Iran had a more open society, the number of self-reported irreligious or even downright atheists would rise. (And then, over time, the numbers would continue to rise as “coming out of the closet” on these issues would encourage the more timid.)</span></font><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I back this up with:</span></font></div><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_Iran" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_Iran</font></a></div><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If that article can be trusted, then it seems Iranians outside Iran tend to be less religious. Inside, the social and legal penalties for atheism or even just apostasy are pretty high.</span></font></div><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></div><div><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By the way, you’ve read Pinker’s recent book where he discusses the rise of he Nones. This seems a global trend and one that extends to Iran, no? <br><br></span></font><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">Regards,</font></span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><br></font></span></div><div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">Dan</font></span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 20px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"> Sample my latest Kindle book "Sand Trap":</font></span></div><div style="line-height: normal;"><font color="#000000" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://mybook.to/SandTrap" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://mybook.to/SandTrap</a></font></div></div></div></div></div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></body></html>