Global Missiology, January 2012 1 IRANIAN DIASPORA CHRISTIANS IN THE AMERICAN MIDWEST & SCOTLAND: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, PRESENT REALITIES, & FUTURE CHALLENGES Duane Alexander Miller 1 Published in “Diaspora Study” www.GlobalMissiology.org January 2012 I. INTRODUCTION Over the last few years (2009-2011) I have been able to meet with numerous Iranian Christians in various cities in the UK and the USA. I have attended their churches and gatherings, I have sat down at Starbucks or over Persian food for conversations, and even in a hot tub once. In this article I will share a few of my preliminary conclusions and mention what I understand to be some of the key issues and challenges facing the Iranian Christian community in the coming years. 2 II. THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION, MIGRATION, AND DISILLUSION Western Christians do not tend to link political events and religious movements because of their secular way of interpreting history. Resisting this trend we would do well to remember the words of French historian Marc Bloch (1886-1944): As for homo religiosus, homo oeconnomicus, homo politicus, and all that rigmarole of Latinized men, the list of which we could string out indefinitely, there is grave danger of mistaking them for something else than they really are: phantoms which are convenient providing they do not become nuisances. The man of flesh and bone, reuniting them all simultaneously, is the only real being. (1953:151) Taking this into account we are able to understand that both the religious shift to Christianity and the ever-growing population of Diaspora Iranians is linked to the deteriorating situation in Iran regarding political and religious freedom, and also a declining economy. In fact, one could argue that a sizeable, long-term Diaspora was directly caused by the 1979 Revolution: 1 Miller lectures in church history and theology at Nazareth Theological Seminary in Nazareth, Israel. He holds degrees in philosophy and theology and Arabic. He has published articles in Anglican and Episcopal History, Journal of Anglican Studies, and St Francis Magazine. Most of his articles are available at scribd.com/xphilosopherking, his blog is duanemiller.wordpress.com, and he can be reached by e-mail at xphilosopherking@yahoo.com. 2 Most of the texts of these interviews are private, but Miller 2009 contains extensive direct quotes from one such interview.