Obstacles Ahead Philosophy of Religion in Iran

Teaching and researching the philosophy of religion in Iran has faced many challenges and obstacles for three or four decades up to now. Some of them are as follows: 1. Atheistic, western, and Christian backgrounds of the philosophy of religion have caused a kind of pessimism in Iranian religious society. 2. No restraint of philosophy of religion towards theological presuppositions of Islamic tradition that has led to critical approaches to teachings of Islamic tradition, meantime, worries of some religious scholars concerning spreading disbelieving in the result of developing the philosophy of religion due to the role of its rational debates and taking critical or meta-religious approach to religion, has its special importance. 3. Low levels of people’s religious knowledge and dominance of imitation aspect of religious beliefs that are led to more vulnerability of their religiosity due to developing a philosophical approach to religion. 4. Theological presuppositions of religious scholars that have been prevented from welcoming to philosophical approach to religion. 5. Dominance of an exclusivistic approach to our religious tradition has led to deny the merits of other religious traditions that can be possible based on the philosophical study of religion. 6. Historical dominance of jurisprudential approach in Islamic tradition and religiosity that has been caused by the negligence of philosophical and rational approach to religion and to reinforcing imitation of it. The result of the mentioned obstacles is the slow development of the philosophy of religion and its thinkers to many problems and challenges regarding teaching and doing research. Should be added to these obstacles the dangers resulted from misunderstanding some subjects and questions of the philosophy of religion which led to some religious deviations and striking people’s religiosity. There are some ways to remove such obstacles. The best is to separate the theological approach to religion from the philosophical one.