Editing Iran (section)

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Iran}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:1em; font-size: 88%; float:right; clear:right"
|+ Religion in Iran (2011 census)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=Selected Findings of the 2011 National Population and Housing Census |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/documents/Iran/Iran-2011-Census-Results.pdf |website=United Nations |publisher=Statistical Center of Iran |access-date=7 June 2024 |archive-date=12 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512001151/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/documents/Iran/Iran-2011-Census-Results.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><br /><small>Note: other groups were excluded</small>
|- style="background:#ccf;"
| style="text-align:center" | '''Religion''' || style="background:#ccf; text-align:center" | '''Percent''' || style="background:#ccf; text-align:center" | '''Number'''
|-
| [[Islam in Iran|Islam]] || style="text-align:center" | 99.4% || style="text-align:right" | 74,682,938
|-
| [[Christianity in Iran|Christianity]] || style="text-align:center" | 0.2% || style="text-align:right" | 117,704
|-
| [[Zoroastrianism in Iran|Zoroastrianism]]|| style="text-align:center" | 0.03% || style="text-align:right" | 25,271
|-
| [[Iranian Jews|Judaism]]|| style="text-align:center" | 0.01% || style="text-align:right" | 8,756
|-
| other || style="text-align:center" | 0.07% || style="text-align:right" | 49,101
|-
| undeclared || style="text-align:center" | 0.4% || style="text-align:right" | 265,899
|}

[[Twelver Shi'ism|Twelver Shi'a]] sect [[Islam]] is the [[state religion]], to which 90–95% of Iranians adhere;<ref>{{cite book |author=Walter Martin |title=Kingdom of the Cults, The |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yra4KhlMBYQC&pg=PA421 |access-date=24 June 2013 |quote=Ninety-five percent of Iran's Muslims are Shi'ites. |year=2003 |publisher=Baker Books |isbn=978-0-7642-2821-6 |page=421 |archive-date=11 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211033458/https://books.google.com/books?id=Yra4KhlMBYQC&pg=PA421 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Bhabani Sen Gupta |title=The Persian Gulf and South Asia: prospects and problems of inter-regional cooperation |quote=Shias constitute seventy-five percent of the population of the Gulf. Of this, ninety-five percent of Iranians and sixty of Iraqis are Shias. |year=1987 |publisher=South Asian Publishers |isbn=978-81-7003-077-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/persiangulfsouth0000unse/page/158 158] |url=https://archive.org/details/persiangulfsouth0000unse/page/158}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/iran/ |title=Iran |access-date=8 March 2024 |archive-date=25 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225100641/https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/iran/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Smyth |first=Gareth |date=2016-09-29 |title=Removal of the heart: how Islam became a matter of state in Iran |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/29/iran-shia-islam-matter-of-state |access-date=2024-05-23 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=13 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713043734/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/29/iran-shia-islam-matter-of-state |url-status=live}}</ref> about 5–10% are in the [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and [[Sufism|Sufi]] branches of Islam.<ref name="cia.gov">{{Cite web |title=The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107142508/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html |archive-date=2017-11-07 |access-date=2019-10-22 |website=www.cia.gov}}</ref> According to the World Values Survey, 96.6% of Iranian respondents believe in [[Islam]], while 4.1% claim that religion is "not at all important" in life.<ref name="worldvaluessurvey.org">
{{cite report 
|last1=Haerpfer 
|first1=C. <!-- The website doesn't give full first names --> 
|last2=Inglehart 
|first2=R.
|last3=Moreno
|first3=A.
|last4=Weltzer
|first4=C.
|last5=Kizilova
|first5=K.
|last6=Diez-Medrano
|first6=J.
|last7=Lagos
|first7=M.
|last8=Norris
|first8=P.
|last9=Ponarin
|first9=E.
|last10=Punaren
|first10=B.
|title=World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2022) v6.0
|date=2024 
|url=https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV7.jsp <!-- Individual PDF documents do not have a direct URL -->
|doi=10.14281/18241.24
|pages=163, 891
|publisher=World Values Survey Association 
|doi-broken-date=29 April 2025 
}}</ref>

There is a large population of adherents to [[Yarsanism]], a [[Kurds in Iran|Kurdish]] indigenous religion, estimated to be over half a million to one million followers.<ref>''Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa'' (Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2004) p. 82</ref>{{sfnp|Hamzeh'ee|1990|p=39}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 November 2019 |title=In pictures: Inside Iran's secretive Yarsan faith |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50378946 |access-date=24 March 2024 |language=en-GB |archive-date=26 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526153448/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50378946 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Monazzami |first=Ardeshir |date=20 February 2022 |title=Rereading the Religiosity of Yarsan |url=https://adyan.urd.ac.ir/article_136086_en.html |journal=Religious Research |language=en |volume=9 |issue=18 |pages=143–167 |doi=10.22034/jrr.2021.261350.1805 |issn=2345-3230 |access-date=24 March 2024 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324104814/https://adyan.urd.ac.ir/article_136086_en.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='Men and women have equal rights in the Yarsan community' |url=https://test.jinhaagency.com/en/community-life/men-and-women-have-equal-rights-in-the-yarsan-community-33444 |access-date=24 March 2024 |website=JINHAGENCY News |language=en |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324104813/https://test.jinhaagency.com/en/community-life/men-and-women-have-equal-rights-in-the-yarsan-community-33444 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Baháʼí Faith]] is not officially recognised and has been subject to official persecution.<ref name="fdih2">{{cite web |author=International Federation for Human Rights |date=1 August 2003 |title=Discrimination against religious minorities in Iran |url=http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ir0108a.pdf |access-date=3 September 2020 |publisher=fdih.org |page=6 |archive-date=31 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061031221624/http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ir0108a.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Since the Revolution, the [[persecution of Baháʼís]] has increased.<ref name="ihrdc">{{cite web |author=Iran Human Rights Documentation Center |year=2007 |title=A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Bahل'يs of Iran |url=http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/pdfs/Reports/bahai_report.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611140854/http://www.iranhrdc.org/english/pdfs/Reports/bahai_report.pdf |archive-date=11 June 2007 |access-date=19 March 2007 |publisher=Iran Human Rights Documentation Center}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kamali |first=Saeed |date=27 February 2013 |title=Bahل'ي student expelled from Iranian university 'on grounds of religion' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/27/bahai-student-expelled-iranian-university |access-date=21 June 2013 |newspaper=The Guardian |archive-date=7 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507194258/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/27/bahai-student-expelled-iranian-university |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Irreligion]] is not recognised by the government.

[[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], [[Zoroastrianism]], and the [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] branch of Islam are officially recognised by the government and have reserved seats in the Parliament.<ref name="Colin Brock p 99">Colin Brock, Lila Zia Levers. [https://books.google.com/books?id=rOJsCQAAQBAJ ''Aspects of Education in the Middle East and Africa''] Symposium Books Ltd., 7 mei 2007 {{ISBN|1-873927-21-5}} p. 99</ref> Iran is home to the largest Jewish community in the [[Muslim world|Muslim World]] and the [[Middle East]], outside of Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Population of the World |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-population-of-the-world |access-date=2019-10-22 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org |archive-date=13 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013082335/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-population-of-the-world |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=In Iran, Mideast's largest Jewish population outside Israel finds new acceptance by officials |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/in-iran-mideasts-largest-jewish-population-outside-israel-finds-new-acceptance-by-officials/ |access-date=1 September 2015 |website=[[Fox News]] |date=24 March 2015 |archive-date=14 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151014124935/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/11/26/in-iran-mideast-largest-jewish-population-outside-israel-finds-new-acceptance/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Around 250,000 to 370,000 [[Christianity in Iran|Christians reside in Iran]], and Christianity is the country's largest recognised minority religion, most are of Armenian background, as well as a sizable minority of Assyrians.<ref name="IRFR2009-Iran">{{cite web |author=U.S. State Department |date=26 October 2009 |title=Iran – International Religious Freedom Report 2009 |url=https://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127347.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029231558/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2009/127347.htm |archive-date=29 October 2009 |publisher=The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affair}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=2011 General Census Selected Results |page=26 |year=2012 |url=http://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/0/Files/abstract/1390/n_sarshomari90_2.pdf |publisher=Statistical Center of Iran |isbn=978-964-365-827-4 |access-date=27 January 2017 |archive-date=24 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624231316/https://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/0/Files/abstract/1390/n_sarshomari90_2.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Country Information and Guidance "Christians and Christian converts, Iran" December 2014. p.9</ref> The Iranian government has supported the rebuilding and renovation of Armenian churches, and has supported the [[Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran]]. In 2019, the government registered the [[Vank Cathedral]], in [[Isfahan]], as a [[World Heritage Site]]. Currently three Armenian churches in Iran have been included in the World Heritage List.<ref>[https://ancawr.org/iran-to-register-armenian-cathedral-in-isfahan-as-unesco-world-heritage-site/ "Iran to Register Armenian Cathedral in Isfahan as UNESCO World Heritage Site"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425221459/https://ancawr.org/iran-to-register-armenian-cathedral-in-isfahan-as-unesco-world-heritage-site/ |date=25 April 2021 }}. ''Armenian National Committee of America''. Retrieved 25 April 2021.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1262/ |title=Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran |access-date=25 April 2021 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117154240/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1262/ |url-status=live}}</ref>