section_path: Demographics/Religion
section_name: Religion
paragraph_text: Religion
  
  The majority of Tehranis are officially Twelver Shia Muslims, which has been the state religion since the 16th-century Safavid conversion. Other religious communities include followers of the Sunni and Mystic branches of Islam, Christian denominations, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and the Baháʼí Faith. In the 2016 "Tehran Survey", when residents were asked about the importance of religion in their life, 53.5% considered it to be "very important / important", 31.1% to be "rather important", 10.5% to be "not very important" and 4.8% to be "not at all important."
  
  There are many religious centres scattered around Tehran, from old to newly built centres, including mosques, churches, synagogues, and Zoroastrian fire temples. Tehran has a very small third-generation Indian Sikh community with a local gurdwara that was visited by the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh in 2012.