{"id":7710,"date":"2011-09-26T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T23:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=7710"},"modified":"2011-09-26T19:09:10","modified_gmt":"2011-09-26T23:09:10","slug":"will-the-theme-to-2001-a-space-odyssey-soon-be-all-thats-left-of-zoroastrianism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/09\/will-the-theme-to-2001-a-space-odyssey-soon-be-all-thats-left-of-zoroastrianism","title":{"rendered":"Will the theme to “2001: A Space Odyssey” soon be all that’s left of Zoroastrianism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Their faithful\u00a0fear\u00a0the day is coming\u00a0when all that remains in the public’s memory\u00a0of Zoroastrianism will be composer Richard Strauss’ 1896 tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra” — also known as the opening theme to Stanley Kubrick’s classic movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.”<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cWnmCu3U09w<\/a>\n

According to their own estimates, only 11,000 Zoroastrians remain in the U.S. They are following one of the oldest known religions, founded perhaps 1,000 years before Christ’s birth. Its philosophy is based on the teachings of prophet Zarathustra and was the predominant religion in Persia until it the invasion of Macedonia’s Alexander the Great in 334 BC.<\/p>\n

It teaches that the\u00a0god Ahura Mazda is creator of all good and no evil originates from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were once at least 40, 50 million \u2014 can you imagine?\u201d mused Illinois psychologist Kersey Antia, senior priest at one of the few Zoroastrian temples left. \u201cAt one point, we had reached the pinnacle of glory of the Persian Empire and had a beautiful religious philosophy that governed the Persian kings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are we now? Completely wiped out,\u201d\u00a0Antia recently\u00a0told Laurie Goodstein <\/a>of the New York Times<\/a><\/em>. \u201cIt pains me to say, in 100 years we won\u2019t have many Zoroastrians.\u201d<\/p>\n

“There is a palpable panic among Zoroastrians today \u2014 not only in the United States, but also around the world \u2014 that they are fighting the extinction of their faith, a monotheistic religion that most scholars say is at least 3,000 years old,” writes Goodstein<\/a>:<\/p>\n

While Zoroastrians once dominated an area stretching from what is now Rome and Greece to India and Russia, their global population has dwindled to 190,000 at most, and perhaps as few as 124,000, according to a survey in 2004 by Fezana Journal<\/em>, published quarterly by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurvival has become a community obsession,\u201d said Dina McIntyre, an Indian-American lawyer in Chesapeake, Va., who has written and lectured widely on her religion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An effort to create a global organizing body fell apart two years ago after some priests accused the organizers of embracing \u201cfake converts\u201d and diluting traditions, noted Goodstein<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey feel that the religion is not universal and is ethnic in nature, and that it should be kept within the tribe,\u201d said Jehan Bagli, a retired chemist in Toronto who is a priest, or mobed, and president of the North American Mobed Council, which includes about 100 priests. \u201cThis is a tendency that to me sometimes appears suicidal. And they are prepared to make that sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In South Africa, the last Zoroastrian priest recently died, and there is no one left to officiate at ceremonies, said Rohinton Rivetna, a Zoroastrian leader in Chicago who, with his wife, Roshan, was a principal mover behind the failed effort to organize a global body. But they have not given up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why is the religion vanishing? Zoroastrians believe in free will, so in matters of religion they do not believe in compulsion. They do not proselytize, so there is little growth from newcomers, notes Goodstein<\/a>:<\/p>\n

They can pray at home instead of going to a temple. While there are priests, there is no hierarchy to set policy.<\/p>\n

Some Zoroastrian priests refuse to accept converts or to perform initiation ceremonies for children of intermarried couples, especially when the father is not Zoroastrian. The North American Mobed Council is so divided on the issue of accepting intermarried spouses and children that it has been unable to take a position.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so, numbers dwindle ever\u00a0more year after year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Their faithful\u00a0fear\u00a0the day is coming\u00a0when all that remains in the public’s memory\u00a0of Zoroastrianism will be composer Richard Strauss’ 1896 tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra” — also known as the opening theme to Stanley Kubrick’s classic movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” \u00a0 According to their own estimates, only 11,000 Zoroastrians remain in the U.S. They are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1636],"tags":[2278],"class_list":["post-7710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zoroastrian","tag-zoroastrian"],"yoast_head":"\nWill the theme to "2001: A Space Odyssey" soon be all that's left of Zoroastrianism?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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in the public’s memory\u00a0of Zoroastrianism will be composer Richard Strauss’ 1896 tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra” — also known as the opening theme to Stanley Kubrick’s classic movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” \u00a0 According to their own estimates, only 11,000 Zoroastrians remain in the U.S. They are…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/09\/will-the-theme-to-2001-a-space-odyssey-soon-be-all-thats-left-of-zoroastrianism","og_site_name":"Beliefnet 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