Iran 7: It felt as if I hadn’t left Utah!

Last updated on: March 14, 2019 at 11:22 am by Dan Peterson

Iran 7: It felt as if I hadn’t left Utah! 2019-03-14T11:22:55-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Tehran is much more populous, of course, but, during my stay in the city, I was struck by the area’s resemblance to Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

One aspect of my visit to Iran was that, in a few ways, the place reminded me of Utah.

Obviously, there are huge differences — not least the fact that Tehran is vastly larger than the Salt Lake City metropolitan area and that all of the woman are covered from their heads on down in coal-black chadors.

But — and, to make my point, I repeat above a photograph above that I’ve already recently used — it looks a bit like the part of Utah that runs along the Wasatch Front. Semi-arid, with high mountains that receive dry powder snow and with high plateaus, it has a climate (in some places, anyway) that resembles my adopted state. Like Utah, it has extensive desert regions, but it’s not all desert. (In Utah, the Green River area is excellent for the raising of melons, and Iran, too, is well known for its melon production — for similar reasons, I think.)

But what amused me while I was in Iran was that, several times, one or another of the few Westerners who had, like me, come for a conference on the Persian Shi‘ite philosopher Mulla Sadra (1571/2-1640) would get into a conversation with me and, finding that I was from Utah, would ask me about my experience of living in the state. And their questions weren’t inspired by the terrain of the Iranian plateau and its resemblance to the Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau. After all, Utah is fly-over country. They’ve never been here. Or, if they have, it was generally to change planes at the airport.

Oddly, academics often don’t stop to think that, if I’m teaching at Brigham Young University, which is a Latter-day Saint school, I’m very possibly a Latter-day Saint myself.

“Wow,” they’ll say. “What’s it like working with all those Mormons?”

I’ve been asked that question innumerable times at academic conferences. I was asked that very question several times in Iran, too.

“Doesn’t this feel just like Utah?” one or two asked. “Theocratic and all? No separation of church and state? No freedom to question? Women oppressed and forced into subservience?”

No, I would respond. This is really nothing like Utah. Very different. No chadors. No Gašt-e Eršād (گشت ارشاد‎) or “Guidance Patrol” roaming the streets enforcing state dress codes preventing unrelated men and women from mingling with each other without a mahram or male guardian present. No executions of Baha’is and Jews. No highest court made up entirely of professional clerics.

These folks didn’t mean to be offensive, of course. It’s just that, coming typically from social regions in which nobody they know is religious, it’s easy for them to imagine that the rest of the country is inhabited by rubes who play banjos — or maybe santurs — with their toes and that the world of The Handmaid’s Tale is just around the corner, with only liberal members of the federal judiciary saving us (often by perilously close 5-4 votes on the Supreme Court) from a dystopian theocracy.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 14, 2019

New Testament Notes 106-107

Next Post

March 14, 2019 Passing sunlight on the grass

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Job Moses David Solomon