Zoroastrianism as a religion of the chosen (blood) and Zoroastrianism as the state religion of a world superpower controlling land and people of more than half the civilized world for two millennia are two separate entities.
I belong to the former. As do the Persian Zoroastrians still in Iran.
The Kurds lay claim to that too, because many sources claim that Zarathushtra was a Kurd.
Some claim that Zarathushtra was born in the mountains of present day north-western Afghanistan.
Azeris too, as Azerbaijan is actually called the Land of Fire.
But when you talk about the larger Persian Empire, expanding north south east and west, you see people who have lived with Zoroastrianism as the state religion for centuries, millennia even. Who have practiced Zoroastrianism as cultural Zoroastrians and still retain the cultural vestiges as largely Muslim (in some rare cases, Christian) people today.
If and when these revert, Zoroastrianism would be once more a major world religion, not unlike the top 4 in numbers. And land.
Even if not (or until they do or might), the movement has already begun among those who were Zoroastrian by blood. The Persians and the Kurds. And it is interesting to note that while the Persians are Shia, the Kurds are largely hardcore Sunni.
The political and theological influence that Iran is trying to exert all around in the Middle East and our friendly neighbor (and pretty successfully) based on their pretty radical Velayat e Faqih doctrine is not just sectarian but hugely racial and blood driven. Old equations being reasserted, in modern times.
Zoroastrianism did not get ousted from that land and those people without a fight then.
It will not reassert itself there to a position of preeminence without a fight now. The mullas are not simply going to bend over.
I see two hugely promising fights developing in the region individually at the current point in time.
The movement for Greater Kurdistan that involves soil and peoples of northern Iraq, western Iran, eastern Turkey and north eastern Syria, extending to parts of Jordan. No one currently knows how it is going to look when the dust finally settles. But Zoroastrianism has already taken root there. And the fight is ongoing in full earnest and ferocity.
The other is for the heart of Iran. Two Persian springs in 5 years. The Shah moving close to nationalist Pan Persianism before the overthrow. Increasing disenchantment with Islam and the mullocracy among the youth and seniors alike. And the state forces and proxies spread thin across the middle east.
Things look ripe for a revolution. Zoroastrian style.
Now some time in the future, does this mean a majority of Iran or only a significant but powerful minority, I do not know. But if it is a majority, then Islam will eventually die off if not driven out from Iran. And there could well be joining of forces with the pan Kurds.
The possibilities following on from there are endless.
No wonder the Arabs are already shitting sand bricks.
Cheers, Doc
