28 - Armin Navabi - The Battle for Iran

Timestamps:

3:45 Armin’s upbringing in Iran
9:05 Armin’s fear of hell and how it drove him to attempt suicide
18:29 How seriously do people generally take religion?
21:32 Sex and religion
23:33 The true costs of religion
25:42 Armin loses his faith
28:27 Opposition to theocracy in Iran
32:03 Iranian ethnonationalists; Zoroastrianism
52:33 The MEK
56:12 The monarchists
01:02:03 Secular democrats
01:02:49 Ethnic minority groups in Iran
01:04:03 People with economic grievances
01:04:50 Conflicts between the various groups
01:07:01 Opposition to foreign intervention
1:11:57 Paranoia and conspiracy theories
1:23:08 Grass roots opposition to Islamic extremism and theocracy
1:37:44 How can we support atheists and secularists within Iran

Armin Navabi is the founder of http://www.atheistrepublic.com/ and the co-host of the podcast “Secular Jihadists” (with Ali Rizvi, see episode 8 of this podcast). You can find them here:
https://secularjihadists.libsyn.com/
and here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmR6dMMdVE9lhsRAOn56K3A.

Armin is the author of Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God (2014).

Follow Armin on Twitter @ArminNavabi or on Facebook: Armin.Navabi.

To learn more about the secularist campaign in Iran, follow the social media hashtags #MyStealthyFreedom #WhiteWednesdays and #MyCameraIsMyWeapon and read Masih Alinejad’s book The Wind in my Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran (2018).