Zoroaster, Christ and Mohammed

Nushin Namazi from Persia has sent be a long piece about religions, from which is excerpted what she writes about Zoroaster: Zoroaster's family raised cattle and horses and belonged to an Indo-European people who called themselves Aryans, meaning "noble." They were polytheists and believed in superstitions and magic. The greedy priests during his time put on a good show of bloody sacrifices, instant intoxicants, and loud chants to please the gods and exploit the simple laity. The people were also exploited by their ruling princes. Zardosht looked at the Aryan cult with doubt at the tender age of seven. His doubts increased when the priests could not satisfy him with their dubious answers. They, in their frustration, shunned him. He left them to discover the truth by himself. His questioning search into the contrast between social disorder and natural order led him to discover the Being whose supreme wisdom created the order which prevails throughout the universe. His communion with the "Being of Supreme Intellect" Ahura Mazda, gave him a message he conveyed to others. He publicly  proclaimed his divine message at the age of thirty with the sole aim of leading the entire human society to an ever-fresh spiritual and material existence. Zardosht renounced and discarded the old cults and practices. He eliminated every rite and ritual that was performed to appease false gods, enrich priests, and exploit the people. He cleansed minds of superstitions. His doctrine was based on the "Primal Principles of Life". The priests and princes, realizmg the threat to their vested interests, vehemently opposed him, and forced him and his few friends to leave home. Zardosht went to the court of Vishtaspa, the leading ruler in the region. They had a two-year long discussion, and Zardosth converted the king and his companions, who became fervent preachers of the new religion, and it spread fast, far and wide. This is excerpted from Ali Akbar Jafarey,The Good Religion of Zardosht".

RH: "Christ was illiterate and could not write. His disciples wrote the Bible for him and deified him. There is
controversy among Christians as to whether Christ ever saw himself as god or simply a messenger"  I assume this too came from Jafarey's book. Where did he get the idea that Christ was illiterate? Our expert if comparative religion, Jon Huyck, could throw some light on this.  Incidentally, he has just gone to, where he will join the clergy of the American Cathedral in Paris.

This is what Nushin says about Mohammed: "Salman Farsi, a zoroasterian prince and a magician, was a revolutionary
man who also was disturbed by his times and was eventually banished from the Sassanian court. His story is documented by Arab and Iranian scholars (Shojaedin Shafa). It is even written in the Koran that Mohammad was illiterate and could not write. Salman Farsi who was intimately familiar with his own native country and Christianity, weaved a new religion together that provided a set of specific laws for the barbaric Arabs. However, Salmon Farsi's ultimate goal was to seize the crown of his motherland. It is a known fact in the history of Iran and it is well  documented that conversion to Islam was through force and persecution".

RH: Nushin opposes the rule of the Mullahs in Iran. Presumably devout Persian Muslims and Arab specialists like Ed Jajko give a quite different version. Surprisingly San Francisco is now the center for the propagation of Zoroastrianism in English, French, German, Italian -Spanish and Portuguese: "Welcome to TheParsiChronicle.com- My name is Ader Gandi and I live in San Francisco, California, USA. My email address is Ader@Gandi.com .... my AIM name iandi .... my MSN Messenger is AderGandi.  I started TheParsiChronicle.com on December 1st. 2003. My idea behind the TheParsiChronicle.com is simple: keep a chronicle of Parsi-Zoroastrians mentioned in the news. Consider it a living history of our community.I welcome your comments and suggestions. You can subscribe to future news about Parsis and Zoroastrians by emailing Ader@Gandi.com with the word subscribe in the subject lineª. RH:  This seems to refer to Indian rather than Persian Zoroastrians. Do Parsis accept converts?  Originally all were converts, so it is hard to understand their alleged refusal.  I suspect that it may be racial.  The Persians viewed themselves as Aryans and therefore superior to the surrounding ethnic groups.  Since we know so little about these matters, clarification from experts including Ed Jajko would be appreciated. Incidentally, why did Nietzsche become interested in Zoroaster? Was it just part of German interest in oriental religions?