I know that their belief system heavily influenced that of Christianity and Islam, with the whole good vs. evil thing. There's supposed to be a good deity and an evil one, like the idea of the Christian god and Satan. And dogs are second to man in goodness and value. That's all, and it could be very wrong as I've simply picked it up here and there.
i know the birthplace of the founder of Zoroastrianism, Zarathustra, in Yard, Iran. Yard is a very tranquil, albeit poor, village/small town in central Iran and the main 'fire' temple is there. the devotees of this religion are often called Parsis. those from Persia.
unfortunately, i know nothing of the details of their religious beliefs and know not what words are used for 'evil' and 'darkness'. sorry.
Zoroastrianism is a small religion with about 140,000 members.
Their theology has had a great impact on Judaism, Christianity and other later religions, in the beliefs surrounding God and Satan, the soul, heaven and hell, savior, resurrection, final judgment, etc.
It is one of the oldest religions still in existence,
It may have been the first monotheistic religion.
The religion was founded by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster in Greek; Zarthosht in India and Persia). Conservative Zoroastrians assign a date of 6000 BCE to the founding of the religion; other followers estimate 600 BCE. Historians and religious scholars generally date his life sometime between 1500 and 1000 BCE on the basis of his style of writing.
Beliefs include:
A single god Ahura Mazda who is supreme. Communication between Himself and humans is by a number of Attributes, called Amesha Spentas or Bounteous Immortals. Within the Gathas, the original Zoroastrian sacred text, these Immortals are sometimes described as concepts, and are sometimes personified.
One school of thought promotes a cosmic dualism between: An all powerful God Ahura Mazda who is the only deity worthy of being worshiped, and
An evil spirit of violence and death, Angra Mainyu, who opposes Ahura Mazda.
The resulting cosmic conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity who is required to choose which to follow. Evil, and the Spirit of Evil, will be completely destroyed at the end of time. Dualism will come to an end and Goodness will be all in all.
Another school of thought perceives the battle between Good and Evil as an ethical dualism, set within the human consciousness.
Asha is a form of righteous, all encompassing, natural law.
Legends, which are probably not those of Zarathushtra's original teachings are: After death, the urvan (soul) is allowed three days to meditate on his/her past life. The soul is then judged by a troika Mithra, Sraosha and Rashnu. If the good thoughts, words and deeds outweigh the bad, then the soul is taken into heaven. Otherwise, the soul is led to hell.
The universe will go through three eras: creation;
the present world where good and evil are mixed. People's good works are seen as gradually transforming the world towards its heavenly ideal;
and a final state after this renovation when good and evil will be separated.
Eventually, everything will be purified. Even the occupants of hell will be released.
A Saoshyant (savior) will be born of a virgin, but of the lineage of the Prophet Zoroaster who will raise the dead and judge everyone in a final judgment.
Their worship includes prayers and symbolic ceremonies.
The rituals are conducted before a sacred fire. Some believe that they actually worship fire. This is not true. They regard fire as a symbol of their God.
Zoroastrians do not generally accept converts. One has to be born into the religion. This belief is disputed by some members.
The traditional wing of Zoroastrianism discourages and does not recognize inter-faith marriages.
read Rohinton Mistry. Very nice books, his books describe the world of this religion.
May I add here that the habit of disposing of dead bodies through vultures is dying out, because the vultures are dying because of the chemicals Thieu eat with the bodies?
I have read things about it on WNW.religioustolerance.org and I've read about it on the BBC's Religion & Ethics page, and I've read some parts of some of their sacred texts on sacred-texts.com....but I don't know any person who actually practices Zoroastrianism so I don't really know much about Zoroastrians, how they actually practice their faith, and so on.
I'd love to learn more about it and I would definitely love to meet and get to know at least one person that is a Zoroastrian.
Zoroastrianism?
