# Did you convert to or do you know a convert to Zoroastrianism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055 "2005-01-28T04:31:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/1 "2005-01-28T04:31:15Z")
Have you converted to Zoroastrianism or do you know someone who has? Why did you/he/she person convert? How was the conversion received by others? From what religion did you/he/she convert? Are you/he/she still Zoroastrian? Are you/he/she active religiously? Were there any hindrances in the conversion process? How were you/was he/she received by the Zoroastrian community? Thanks! WRS - “_Ashem vohû vahishtem astî, ushtâ astî ushtâ ahmâi, hyat ashâi vahishtâi ashem_.” From the _Khorda Avesta_ on [Avesta.org](http://www.avesta.org/ka/ka_part1.htm#ashem). ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/2 "2005-01-28T14:32:43Z")
AFAIK Zoroastianism does not seek converts. They may not even accept them. They believe that you should be a faithful follower of the religion in which you were raised. The only exception that I know of: during the 3rd century AD, Zoroastrianism went through a militant phase in connection with the Sassanid Persian kings, who revived the Persian Empire and forcibly converted those they conquered. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/3 "2005-01-28T14:34:53Z")
As I recall, this is true. You cannot convert to Zoroastrianism, you have to be born into it. If you are born to a Zoroastrian parent, either mother or father, you are a member. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/4 "2005-01-28T15:54:28Z")
FWIW, the parents of the protagonist in Heinlein’s SF young-adult novel _Tunnel in the Sky_ are members of a faith that spread from the Middle East in the future and which vaguely resembles Mazdism (“Zoroastrianism” is a solecism of the same sort as “Mohammedanism”), though it’s sort of a throwaway gimmick in the story and doesn’t play a major part in the plot. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/5 "2005-01-28T15:57:57Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > As I recall, this is true. You cannot convert to Zoroastrianism, you have to be born into it. If you are born to a Zoroastrian parent, either mother or father, you are a member. > > Haj Actaully, it’s even difficult for people who have only one Zoroastrian parent to be accepted. I used to know a guy who’s father was Zoroastrian (Parsi) but his mother was Mexican-Catholic. He was raised in the Zoroastrian faith but wasn’t accepted by many… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/6 "2005-01-28T15:59:10Z")
**Gaudere** used to have a set of signatures celebrating Mithrasmas, parodying Christmas carols. Maybe she can be convinced to re-post some of them? ---
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/7 "2005-01-28T20:49:45Z")
You _can_ convert to Zoroastrianism, as long as it is not the Parsi faction. If it is a non-Parsi (probably Iranian) group, they’ll accept converts. A group of Zoroastrians left Pars during the Islamic conquest of Iran and sailed to Gujarat. The rajah there let them settle but with a few conditions; one of these conditions was not to seek or permit conversion. So Parsis - that is, Zoroastrians who are descendants of the group that fled Pars - do not accept conversion. Other Zoroastrians do. WRS ---
**Author:** ![Mithril](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mithril/32/3517_2.png) [@Mithril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithril)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/8 "2005-01-28T21:42:13Z")
I had a professor whose parents are Zoroastrian. She could not be included in the religion because she was adopted. Perhaps her family was from one of the sects that doesn’t accept converts, but I talked to her about it and she never mentioned that there was another alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/9 "2005-01-29T03:42:56Z")
Apparently there’s a great debate about conversion going on within the Zoroastrian religion, see [this website.](http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions/iranian/Zarathushtrian/conversion_in_zoroastrianism.htm) ---
**Author:** ![WeRSauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/10 "2005-01-29T04:16:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Q: What about the talk that Zoroastrians do not accept converts? > > A: It is only the “Traditionalist” Parsis who do not believe in conversion and acceptance. For them, only a person born of Zoroastrian parents is “Zoroastrian” because they believe that religion is pre-destined by God. Some of them now accept a child born of Zoroastrian father and non-Zoroastrian mother. Some reformists accept a child born of Zoroastrian mother and non-Zoroastrian father. Others accept converts from any religion or belief. However, none of the reformist schools are active missionaries. > > The Zarathushtrian Assembly follows the Good Religion of Zarathushtra, the first and foremost missionary religion on historical record. The Good Religion spread only through convincing words of mouth and not through force, allurement, solicitation, and/or seduction over 2,000 years to become the major religion of its time. It has dwindled to a minute minority because of the lack of its inherent missionary zeal. > > The Good Religion is the only religion which advocates a fair knowledge of comparative studies and advocates Free Will to choose the religion one considers the best. The Good Religion is for all mankind and the Zarathushtrian Assembly faithfully follows this principle in peacefully practicing, preaching and teaching the ever-fresh, ever-modern Message of Zarathushtra to all mankind. From [The Zarathushtrian Assembly’s FAQ](http://www.zoroastrian.org/other/faq.htm). From what research I had done before, traditional Zoroastrians, especially Parsis, are unaware of the possibility of conversion: this is partly because Parsis are very adamant in keeping this historical tenet of their group’s faith. However, the restriction on conversion came only after the refugees from Pars reached Gujarat, and so does not affect (and does not apply) to other Zoroastrians. For what it’s worth, the Parsis, I believe, make up the majority of the Zoroastrians, as they had been able to develop and thrive without hindrance in Gujarat (which continues to this day) whereas Irani Zoroastrians would have had to undergo persecution and limitations when Persia became Muslim. WRS ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-convert-to-or-do-you-know-a-convert-to-zoroastrianism/287055/11 "2005-01-29T05:59:20Z")
I wonder if Mr. Jujiro Matsuda, founder of Mazda, was a convert or just an admirer of the religion. [This site](http://www.triplezoom.com/news/publish/printer_56.shtml) gives some info but not enough.