Another excerpt from Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran

(I posted this in my FB Notes back in September 2009, and after finding I didn't have it here was inspired to post it after reading a story about increasing conversion to Christianity in Iran.)

"...She was talking about the teacher who taught Islamic morality and translation....Her voice took on a serious tone as she began to describe his recent lecture on the difference between Islam and Christianity...On one side [of the blackboard] he had written, in large white letters, MUSLIM GIRL, and drawn a vertical line in the middle of the board. On the other side, in large pink letters, he wrote CHRISTIAN GIRL. He had then asked the class if they knew the differences between the two. One was a virgin, he said at last, after an uncomfortable silence, white and pure, keeping herself for her husband and her husband only. Her power came from her modesty. The other, well, there was not much one could say about her except that she was not a virgin. To Yassi's surprise, the two girls behind her, both active members of the Muslim Students' Association, had started to giggle, whispering, "Now wonder more and more Muslims are converting to Christianity".