There is a common misconception that Iran�s restrictions on the right to worship freely apply only to members of the Baha�i religion. But while the Islamic republic has reserved the most vicious forms of persecution for the adherents of this gentle faith � whose numbers, according to some estimates, have dwindled from around 500,000 at the time of the 1979 revolution to just 150,000 now � the situation of Iranian Christians is little better.
Through its treatment of its Christian and Jewish minorities, Iran�s policies underscore that mythology behind the oft-heard claim that the followers of the �Abrahamic