Zoroastrianism In Today's Society

Zoroastrianism is a type of religion that Darius I and his successors most likely followed. It originated in ancient Iran, and the single god of goodness named Ahuramazda was believed to be in a constant struggle against evil.

Iran was now unprotected, and a new power came into being. The Arabs invaded and the quality of life changed. “People fell into poverty as the greedy court imposed ever-increasing taxes. Tyranny tore apart the social contract between ruler and ruled that Zoroastrian doctrine holds to be the basis of organized life” (21). The Iranian people couldn’t survive with a ruler who had no sympathy or respect for them. Their life was being over run by foreigners.

In modern times when one thinks of Monotheism, the first religion that comes to mind is Christianity. But what is Monotheism? Monotheism is the belief that there is only one god. But is Christianity the first group of people to believe in one god? The answer is no, monotheism comes a long way. Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic religion approximately 3500 years ago. The religion was founded by Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran. The second monotheistic religion known to man kind is Atenism founded by the Pharaoh Akhenaten. And the third Monotheistic religion is Judaism.

Greece and Persia’s religion is one factor that makes both of these empires so diverse from each other. During the Achaemenid Period, the main religion of Persia at the time was Zoroastrianism, which the Iranian prophet and reformer Zoroaster founded in the 6th century B.C.E. At the time the royal family brought in Zoroastrianism to Persia, and since the royal family believed in it, most of the people of the Persian Empire choose to believe in it too. Greece on the other hand, did not have a religion until 146 B.C.E when Christianity entered the empire. Before Christianity had entered Greece, they believed in their mythological stories. Each myth or story had a lesson to be learned by the reader.

The Zoroastrian concept of God incorporates both monotheism and dualism. In his visions, Zarathustra was taken up to heaven, where Ahura Mazda revealed that he had an opponent, Aura Mainyu, the spirit and promoter of evil. Ahura Mazda charged Zarathustra with the task of inviting all human beings to choose between him (good) and Aura Mainyu (evil). Zoroaster taught that man must enlist in this cosmic struggle because of his capacity of free choice. Zoroastrianism is a highly ethical religion in which the choice of good over evil has cosmic importance. Zarathustra taught that humans are free to choose between right and wrong, truth and lie, and light and dark, and that their choices would affect their eternal destiny. The Zoroastrian afterlife is determined by the balance of the good and evil deeds, words, and thoughts of the whole life. For those whose good deeds outweigh the bad, heaven awaits. Those who did more evil than good go to hell. There is an intermediate stage for those whose deeds weigh out equally. Many of Zoroaster's ideas, including ethical monotheism, heaven, hell, angels, demons, the resurrection of the body, and the messiah figure, have notable parallels in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Some of the differences between Zoroastrianism and buddism and Hinduism is that the Iranians worshipped ahura who was a God and the Indians worshipped devas which were gods. Similarities between them were the exchange of ideas. Merchants and scholars would travel from

The Safavid Empire began in Azerbaijan. The empire continued to expand during Shah Abbas's reign but after his death, the dynasty gradually lost its vigor. At first, Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safavid dynasty, tried to convert members of the Ottoman Empire into Shiites. This resulted in massacre of the Sunni Muslims in 1508. Alarmed, the Ottomans fought back and won a major battle. However, after a few years, Ismail regained the land. Many years later, the Ottomans attacked back and forced the new shah, Abbas, to sign a treaty. It was Abbas who led the Safavids to their highest point. The political and social structure was strong. Senior positions in the bureaucracy were by merit rather than by birth. Religious tolerance was practiced. Abbas hired foreigners from neighboring countries for positions in his government to avoid religious competition. The shahs also took a direct interest in the economy, playing an active part in trade and manufacturing. The artistic excellence was

Safavid Empire were a native Iranian period of time with the same powerful family rulers from Azerbaijan that ruled from 1501 to 1736. It established Shi'a Islam as Iran's official religion and united its areas of a country under a single Iranian independent power of a country in the early modern period. This clearly made different to Iran from the Ottomans, who were Sunnis. Thus, the central holy and untouchable places of Sunni Islam would always be in the Arabian Peninsula and the places were much closer to Iraq, took prisoners by force by the Safavids in 1623 but then they gave up again to the Ottomans in 1639. The Safavids generally ruled over a peaceful and rich empire and their death was followed by a period of unrest but then they clever got together as partners with powers in order to protect themselves from the Ottomans.

The impact of expansion on the core Persian Empire was generally looked at and received in a positive manner. Increasing populations created more cities and more job opportunities allowed many Persians the luxury of making more money as the empire grew. The bulk of the empire was still mostly farmers, however. One of the largest influences on the core empire was Zoroastrianism. This was advocated by both Cyrus and Darius, Darius used it in order to claim divine right to kingship. This new religion spread very quickly through high-ranking Persians (Bentley and Ziegler, 174). Zoroastrianism preached for people to enjoy this life but to live well for the afterlife (Stearns, Zoroastrianism: The Major Persian Religion, 43-45). This allowed people to have fun in this life and still be able to have eternal bliss; when people are having fun and happy they are less likely to challenge their rulers.

The book written by author “Peter Clark” mainly for general public and students to give them brief idea about how Zoroastrianism was founded and along the way it also gives the detail explanation of their principal of the religion. Author Peter Clark also briefly explains the influence of Zoroastrianism on other religion such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Author Peter Clark also talks about “A living faith – Zoroastrianism

Religion is a fundamental element of human society. It is what binds a country, society or group of individuals together. However, in some instances it destroys unity amoungst these. Religion is a belief in a superhuman entity(s) which control(s) the universe. Every religion has its differences but most strive for a just life and the right morals. The three major groups are the primal regions which consist of African, Aboriginal and Native American religions, Asian which consist of South Eastern Asian religions and Abrahamic religions which consist of Middle Eastern religions. The foci of this essay are the differences between the Abrahamic religion, Christianity, and the Asian region Buddhism as well as making reference to the Islamic

Meanwhile, in Persia, there was a bout after the Mongol Holocaust when Sunni Turks took over in the fifteenth century and the belief of the Safavids was tested. But, Ismail, an heir to the

Zoroastrianism is a religion founded by a priest named Zarathustra Spitma or Zoroaster far back in the 1200BCE, with the principle belief of an almighty God or “the One” Ahura Mazda and the context of a cosmic battle between the good and evil forces.

Religion has existed for countless centuries. Christianity is one of the major religions in this world, which had people be criticized, battle in wars, and killed for, but it still survived to this day. The purpose of this paper is to study the source of the religion, recognize the teachings, observe its spread throughout the world, and to identify how it stands among people today. Approaching this paper by a factual report I will explain these major points and why we need to know about this religion and other religions that existed before our generation.

The differences between the Vedic and the Zoroastrian religion are more of a coincidence and less of an intent. The former Vedic religion that existed disappeared widely on the introduction

As a student of religion I have learnt that religion is an indispensable part of human life. History shows that every religion, it may be revealed or not, has risen in the crucial moment of the human history. According to the Semitic tradition human history has began with Adam and Eve, first prophet in Abrahamic tradition. In Indian tradition, though God is omnipresent but he directly intervened into this world, what we called Avatara, to make a clear distinction between right and wrong. In primitive society also people’s lives were highly motivated with religious affiliation.