Iran's small Christian community enjoyed a rare reprieve last month when Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was released from prison before finishing a six year sentence. The reasons why Nadarkhani, 38, was in prison to begin with, provide a stark example of the restrictions that Iran's Christians, especially those who converted from Islam, live with each day.
In June 2012, the Hollywood film For Greater Glory, starring Andy Garcia, appeared in U.S. theaters. The movie tells the story of the Cristero War in Mexico in the late 1920s, a popular rebellion against the Mexican government's efforts to throttle religious freedom in order to secularize post-revolutionary Mexican society. In the savage clash that followed, Catholic priests and nuns were executed for practicing their faith, some were even tortured and hanged from telephone poles. It is estimated 90,000 Mexicans lost their lives during the Cristero insurrection.
The citizens of Iran are signaling just how unhappy they are with the regime in power, and one advocate for persecuted Christians believes this could be the watershed moment his ministry s been praying for.