Dr. Kazem Kazerounian, Professor and Scholar of Iranian Politics
| Credible global surveys by Pew and the World Values Survey show that Iranians, despite broad rejection of religious and fundementalist dictatorship, remain among the most deeply religious populations in the world. The path to a secular, democratic Iran must begin from within this reality. It cannot succeed by rejecting it. Such change is most credible when led by a Muslim force that defends individual freedom and the separation of religion and state. |
This article is a direct response to a common claim: that Iranians have turned away from religion. Because of this, some argue that the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), with its Islamic roots, its use of spiritual language, and its religious or cultural rituals, has distanced itself from the people. They say any movement that includes religion in its identity cannot lead Iran toward freedom. This claim is fundamentally flawed. Not every Iranian Muslim will support the MEK. But the idea that the MEK is rejected simply because it is Muslim is false. This article challenges that assumption using credible and independent research. It draws on data from sources such as the Pew Research Center and the World Values Survey. It also reflects a political and cultural reality that many critics fail to recognize.
This article is not about my personal religious beliefs. Those beliefs are private. I will share them only if and when I choose. That is the essence of individual freedom. The MEK holds the same principle. It does not ask anyone to adopt or abandon any particular faith. It supports a society where belief is personal and protected by law. No ideology, whether religious or secular, should ever be imposed on anyone.
For more than five decades, the MEK has pursued a clear and uncompromising mission: the total dismantling of Iran’s theocratic regime and the establishment of a secular, non-nuclear, democratic republic which guarantees individual liberty, popular sovereignty, and the separation of religion and state.
The MEK’s understanding of secularism is not cultural. It is political and universal. It means that government must be religiously neutral. It does not privilege one faith or ideology over others. It protects the freedom of religion, but prevents religion from dominating the state. That’s what secularism means in Washington, in London, and in Delhi, and it must mean the same in Tehran.
But some critics conflate secularism with irreligiosity. They assume that a movement rooted in faith cannot possibly be democratic. They say the MEK is “too religious,” or “too cultural,” to resonate in a modern society. These claims are rooted in culturally detached assumptions formed in exile-bubble thinking. They reveal more about the critics’ distance from Iranian society than about the MEK itself.
The facts tell a different story.
And these facts do not come from anecdote or ideology. They come from two of the most respected and independent global research organizations: the Pew Research Center and the World Values Survey. Pew is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute trusted by policymakers, academics, and media worldwide. The World Values Survey is a global academic network that has tracked changing beliefs and values in over 100 countries for more than four decades. Both are methodologically rigorous, widely cited, and fully independent of any government. These findings are independently confirmed by sources such as U.S. News & World Report. We have made no use of GAMAAN data, which is widely criticized for its flawed methodology, political bias, and known connections to government and political institutions.
According to a 2018 Pew survey, 78% of Iranians said religion is very important in their lives [1]. The same study reported that 38% attend worship services weekly. A 2019 Pew study found that 87% of Iranians pray daily. This was the second-highest rate in the Asia-Pacific region, after Afghanistan (96%) and ahead of Indonesia (84%) [2].
The 2020 World Values Survey confirmed these findings. It showed that 70.5% of Iranians said religion is important, and another 22% said it was somewhat important. Only 4.1% said religion was not important in their lives. When asked about prayer frequency, 63.7% said they pray several times a day. Another 10% pray once a day. 7.2% said several times a week, 6.6% only during religious events, and 3.8% only on holy days. A further 0.7% pray once a year, 2.5% less often, and 5.4% said they never pray [3]. Similarly A US News and World Report also ranked Iran in 2024 as the third country for religious beliefs [7-9]. It is noteworthy that all of these studies place Iran at the top of the list for lack of religious freedom for non-muslems.
These are not the numbers of a culturally irreligious population. They represent a society where spiritual life remains central, despite four decades of repression, censorship, and religious hypocrisy by the regime. Despite these strong indicators of religious commitment, the vast majority of Iranians reject religious fundamentalism and oppose the imposition of ideology through state power. Their religiosity is personal and cultural, not political or authoritarian. And this spirituality exists within a society that is itself highly diverse. Iran is home to many ethnicities, sects, and traditions. Its people hold a wide range of religious and cultural identities.
Quite drastically opposite, however, is the Iranian diaspora, particularly Iranian-Americann, and specifically in its more visible and vocal segments[4][5]. Many in this community tend to view religion as something that must be excluded not just from politics, but from culture altogether. This view, while understandable in context 4 decades of religious dictatorship, often leads to misreading the spiritual depth and cultural dynamics of Iranian society.
The MEK does not make that mistake. Its goal is not to erase religion from society, but to remove it from the machinery of state power. It supports secular governance, but does not demand that citizens become personally irreligious. On the contrary, it defends the right of every individual to believe or not believe. To practice or abstain. To live according to their own values without compulsion.
This is why the leadership of Maryam Rajavi holds such symbolic weight. A Muslim woman at the head of a secular democratic resistance is not an anomaly. It is a sign of Iran’s future. A society where individual freedom, not ideology, defines public life. And where modernity and moral identity no longer stand in opposition.
MEK and Popular Support
Critics often claim that the MEK lacks popular support. But in a regime where expressing sympathy for the opposition can mean torture or execution, silence is not a measure of irrelevance. It is a measure of fear. The regime’s continued obsession with suppressing the MEK speaks volumes about its perceived threat.
More importantly, real social change does not require visible majority support at the outset. According to political scientist Erica Chenoweth, who studied over a century of protest movements, nonviolent campaigns that mobilize just 3.5% of the population almost always succeed in achieving regime change [6]. In contrast, resistance movements where nonviolence is no longer a viable option, require a much smaller (and more dedicated and specialized) share of the population to reach similar outcomes.
Because it fights for freedom without denying belief, and for secularism without erasing identity, the MEK represents something the regime fears and the critics misunderstand: the real Iran.
References
[1] Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” 2018.
[2] Pew Research Center, “Religion in the Asia-Pacific: Public Opinion on the Role of Religion in Life and Government,” 2019.
[3] World Values Survey (Wave 7, Iran 2020), Iranian data set. Accessed via WorldValuesSurvey.org.
[4] Pew Research Center, “U.S. Religious Landscape Study: Iranian-Americans,” 2014.
[5] World Values Survey Wave 7 and supplementary diaspora datasets.
[6] Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. Columbia University Press, 2011.
[7] US News and World Report 2024: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/rankings/religious
[8] These Are the Most Religious Countries”. www.usnews.com
[9] Methodology: How the 2024 Best Countries Were Ranked”. www.usnews.com. 10 September 2024.