{"id":594,"date":"2011-03-17T10:37:32","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T10:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/?p=594"},"modified":"2011-03-17T10:37:32","modified_gmt":"2011-03-17T10:37:32","slug":"dan-jensen-an-american-zarathushti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/dan-jensen-an-american-zarathushti.html","title":{"rendered":"Dan Jensen: An American Zarathushti"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve followed along,\u00a0you saw this coming. Conversion within the Zarathushti\u00a0Faith is a hotly contested issue and as we observed so far this month, not even I was able to escape its grip. In a nutshell, many (if not most) ethnic Zarathushtis\u00a0(Iranian and Parsi)\u00a0do not believe in nor recognize conversion to their religion. On the other side of the picket\u00a0line, many so-called “neo-Zarathushtis” have returned to that ol’ time religion by focusing on the Gathas, the words of Zarathushtra\u00a0himself, and found solace in the fact that he never limits conversion; in fact, he worked toward\u00a0growing the faithful.<\/p>\n

Today we will hear a personal story from Dan\u00a0Jensen, a new friend and American Zarathushti:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h4>\n

Happy Norooz! I\u2019m a Zarathushti, which means that I live according to the religion of\u00a0Zarathushtra;\"\"<\/a>\u00a0or perhaps I should clarify: I live according to my understanding of the religion of\u00a0Zarathushtra. Honestly, I\u2019m not certain that a man named Zarathushtra\u00a0ever lived, but the story that I have been told\u00a0is enough of a light for me to live by. It\u2019s just as well: I\u2019d rather not put my faith in a man. I was raised in a religion that puts great stock in the words of certain men, so I developed an aversion to that practice as a young adult.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right. I have not always been a Zarathushti, though my parents\u2019 religion recognizes Zarathushtra\u00a0as a \u201cManifestation of God,\u201d so I suppose I always have been a Zarathushti\u00a0of sorts. Be that as it may, I have undergone a profound conversion, for my religion is quite unlike the religion of\u00a0my upbringing. I was raised\u00a0to worship the Almighty, but lately I worship the Good. You might say there\u2019s no difference, but there is to me, and it\u2019s a crucial distinction: the difference between might and right. I cannot permit myself to worship God just because he\u2019s the boss. This, I believe, is why Zarathustra rebelled against the Gods (the Daevas).<\/p>\n

You may not agree with me about God or Zarathustra, but I think it\u2019s more likely you\u2019ll agree that I\u2019m a convert.<\/p>\n

No priest was involved\u00a0in my conversion. No priest was necessary. But don\u2019t get me wrong: a priest might be helpful. That\u2019s because I\u2019m a social animal and I recognize that there\u2019s a social dimension to religion. Also, I might visit Mumbai some day, in which case I\u2019d want to worship at the fire temples there. According to present regulations, that\u2019s not allowed, because I wasn\u2019t born a Parsee or an Iranian Zartushti. That\u2019s disappointing, but I\u2019m not upset about it, especially since my Zartushti neighbors let me worship at their fire temple here in San Jose, California. They might even give me a conversion ceremony if I asked for it, but the Parsees in Mumbai still wouldn\u2019t let me into the temple to worship before the ancient fire, because they\u2019d know I\u2019m an impostor by the color of my skin.<\/p>\n

I take no offense. It\u2019s the Parsees that I\u2019m worried for, because this restriction hurts them much more than it hurts me. It tells the world that their faith is fundamentally about race; it tells their children whom to marry, and it tells them that if they do not obey, their half-breed children may not be able to enter the temple. This is not good medicine for an ailing community, and I grieve for them. I wish they would look beyond their Parsee heritage to their more ancient, more open Iranian heritage, but I am not angry with them. I wish them the best.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thanks for sharing your story, Dan. I sent invitations to folks from the traditional side of the issue to share their opinions but alas, no one replied. So to strike balance to the issue I will play devil’s advocate tomorrow and present the traditionalist point of view on conversion. For more information on the reformist Zarathushti movement taking place here in the U.S., visit this site<\/a><\/strong>. Within you will find links to\u00a0related websites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’ve followed along,\u00a0you saw this coming. Conversion within the Zarathushti\u00a0Faith is a hotly contested issue and as we observed so far this month, not even I was able to escape its grip. In a nutshell, many (if not most) ethnic Zarathushtis\u00a0(Iranian and Parsi)\u00a0do not believe in nor recognize conversion to their religion. On the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16,66,233,280,791],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zarathushti","tag-andrew-bowen","tag-dan-jensen","tag-project-conversion","tag-social-issues","tag-zarathushti"],"yoast_head":"\nDan Jensen: An American Zarathushti - Project Conversion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/dan-jensen-an-american-zarathushti.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dan Jensen: An American Zarathushti - Project Conversion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you’ve followed along,\u00a0you saw this coming. Conversion within the Zarathushti\u00a0Faith is a hotly contested issue and as we observed so far this month, not even I was able to escape its grip. In a nutshell, many (if not most) ethnic Zarathushtis\u00a0(Iranian and Parsi)\u00a0do not believe in nor recognize conversion to their religion. 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Conversion within the Zarathushti\u00a0Faith is a hotly contested issue and as we observed so far this month, not even I was able to escape its grip. In a nutshell, many (if not most) ethnic Zarathushtis\u00a0(Iranian and Parsi)\u00a0do not believe in nor recognize conversion to their religion. 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