Religion and Democracy in Contemporary Iran and the United St a Tes

only attempting to procure and develop weapons of mass destruction for themselves, but potentially to pass those anns to international terrorists.That speech served as a prelude to another war, the war in Iraq that began on March 19, 2003.The continuation of that war has meant that not only have more than 2,000 U.S. soldiers been killed, tens of thousands of Iraqis have met the same fate, and much of the country's infrastructure has been destroyed or severely damaged, but that the future of Iraq, its relations with its neighbors, and the future of the Middle East as a whole are all open to change and question.It is this political situation that concerns the Islamic Republic oflran.Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post queried in July 2004, "Did we invade the wrong country?"He questioned whether Iran may have been, or may be, the real threat in the war on terrorism, and that critics of the war in Iraq assert "we should have done Iran instead of Iraq."However difficult such an undertaking would have been, the fact that the question gets raised is evidence of distrust, hostility, and fear of a regime that is little understood in the United States, but that gets daily coverage in news headlines regarding how far it is moving on its nuclear weapons program.I aim to demonstrate in this paper that, unlikely as it may sound, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America share more in common than they would each like to admit.Although the "Great Satan" and a member of the "Axis of Evil" are at one level pitted against one another, each state is marked by a religious fundamentalism, which includes the cultural movements and public policies that result from or are in opposition to that fundamentalism.For each country, the question of religion, of God, is not a neutral question.According to The Economist, in 2003, more than 80% of Americans said they believed in God and 58% of Americans believed that unless you believe in God, you cannot be a moral person.A Gallup Poll conducted in late 2004 found that 42% of Americans identified themselves as born-again.President Bush has called Jesus his favorite philosopher, Bible study classes are arranged by White House staff members, and the Bush administration encourages religious institutions to play a larger role in social policy and delivery of services, as witnessed by the Faith-Based Initiatives program.In comparison, although 89% of Iran's population is Shi'ite Muslim, few attend Friday prayers, and, as of 2000, one cleric estimated that 73% of Iranians did not say their daily prayers.The nation-states are linked historically: not only did Iranian students hold 52 American hostages at the US embassy in Tehran for 444 days; not only did the U.S.