The Neo-Zoroastrian religiosity of converts has often been described as different from traditional Zoroastrian practices, but changes are also being observed among those who are Zoroastrian by birth. In a new issue of Entangled Religions (August) on “Religious Conversion in a Religiously Plural World,” Benedikt Römer (Bundeswehr University, Munich) reports that aspects of coalescence can be observed “between the religious practice and self-image of Neo-Zoroastrians and reform-minded, urban Iranian Zoroastrians.” A traditionally endogamous religion of about 130,000 members, Zoroastrianism counts 23,000 followers in Iran, the majority of whom now live in Tehran, while the largest number of Zoroastrians are Indian Parsis, and a significant number form a diaspora around the world. But while Zoroastrianism does not accept converts, there are also people without Zoroastrian roots who are attracted to the religion. In the Middle East such people are found especially among Kurds and Iranians, with Zoroastrianism exalted as the original Iranian culture and Kurdish Neo-Zoroastrians claiming that it was the original Kurdish religion. This allows such converts to claim that they are not so much converting as reverting to their ancient heritage, which also goes along with dissociation from Islam due to negative experiences with it and with Islamism. Today, some Zoroastrians are open to conversions, while others (especially in India) are not.
Source: http://kouroshziabari.com/2020/10/zoroastrians-irans-forgotten-minority/
Reform-minded urban Zoroastrians in Iran want to adapt their religion to a modern environment, continuing a trend of religious adaptation that began in earlier decades of the 20th century. Rituals have been shortened, with emphasis placed instead on “belief in moral principles as the core of religiosity,” and “earlier religious conventions are gradually loosening up as a consequence of large-scale migration to the urban centre of Tehran.” In Iran, there is little and cautious contact between ethnic Zoroastrian and Neo-Zoroastrian communities, and the latter can only express their religious views openly outside the country. But both reform-minded Zoroastrians and Neo-Zoroastrians are “moving towards an ideal of religion that is normatively shaped by a liberal Protestant template.” Römer concludes that if encounters between both groups become more frequent and strict endogamy is given up, the interest in Zoroastrianism “has the potential of becoming an opportunity for actual revival.”
(For the full issue of Entangled Religions: https://er.ceres.rub.de/index.php/ER/issue/view/358)
