NAJAF, Iraq — Iraq's Islamic movements and political parties have intensified their rhetoric in recent weeks against atheism, warning Iraqis about its spread and the need to confront atheists. Such movements and parties worry that public sentiment is turning against Islamic parties in politics and that this could be reflected in upcoming elections, scheduled for the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018.

In a lecture this month in Baghdad, Ammar al-Hakim — head of the mostly Shiite Iraqi National Alliance party, which holds the overwhelming political majority in parliament and government — warned against the prevalence of atheism.

“Some people resent Iraqi society’s adherence to religious principles and its connection to God Almighty,” he said. Hakim called for “confronting these extraneous atheistic ideas with good thinking and with an iron fist against the supporters of such ideas by exposing the methods they use in disseminating their ideas.”

Hakim’s message is contrary to the Iraqi Constitution, which guarantees freedom of belief and expression and criminalizes incitement against others and against compelling others to adopt or reject a specific faith.