Zoroastrianism, or Parsis, the ancient religion founded by a man called Zoroaster, has many extraordinary elements that have been widely adopted by other religions. The elements of Zoroastrianism are found in many of today’s most popular religions. Several of its effects (or characteristics) can be seen in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. There are no elements of Zoroastrianism in my religion, for the fact is I have none. However, I do agree with one of the concepts of Zoroastrianism, Happiness. I also think that happiness can come into one’s life when one does things to make others happy. Just as an example, I work in a nursing home part-time not because of the money (which is not much, mind you) but because I can speak with the residents and perhaps brighten up their day. When I make one of them smile or laugh, it makes me feel happy. So, yes, I do agree with the Zoroastrian concept of “Make happy, be happy.” Also, Zoroastrianism does not diminish or violate my beliefs one bit. Therefore, in order to answer the question I shall base my answers upon the religion I was raised with: Roman Catholicism.
In Western Catholicism, there is a widely held belief that there is a God and a Satan, and there was also this same belief in the religion of Zoroastrianism before the Christians came to be. Other similarities include the following: humans having souls; the idea of there being a heaven and a hell; a Resurrection idea; et cetera (Chamberlain, page 77). Now, we know that in some ancient cultures, for example, in Ancient Egypt, people believed that the soul would go on to the afterlife after death. This may have been a widespread belief throughout parts of the world by the time Zoroastrianism got started.
The commonality that arises between Zoroastrianism and many other religions must be due to location. Zoroastrianism and Christianity were founded in the same general area; therefore, communalities between both should not be unexpected. Those who followed either faith were people who had seen the same things in life, worked as hard and thought that what was around them was basically all. Nonetheless, due to all the ways other religions have imitated Zoroastrianism, I have been convinced that it is much older than Christianity, Judaism and Islam. I think the idea that it was founded around 6,000 B.C.E. is a bit of a stretch. It seems a better idea that it was founded 2 to 3,000 years ago, in my opinion.
I do not think that Zoroastrianism diminishes any religion because it is what it is, and those who thought it correct, adopted it into their own religion. I find that too many religious people get easily offended when one mentions the fact that their religion adopted some or all the characteristics of another religion. Just the other day, I was speaking with a devout Christian and I stated the fact that Christian holidays were for the most part, set up on days that were holy days for pagans. Now, this Christian lady got extremely offended, “How dare you say that God’s holy days were originally created for those barbarians!” Which goes to show us that people still have no idea where their religions began or what the significance of the dates really meant in those times. I think that no religion can diminish another religion because a religion is just that. It is a belief system that like-minded people use to try to understand things in life.
I, for one, find it fascinating that different religions can be set up and carry some of the same elements of another with such similarity. I must admit that being in a predominantly Christian society, I had previously not known about Zoroastrianism. Even though it has a smaller following than Christianity- that does not make it inferior by any means, for it truly is an interesting religion to learn about.
Zoroastrianism, au Parsi, dini ya kale iliyoanzishwa na mtu aitwaye Zoroaster, ina mambo mengi ya ajabu ambayo yamekubaliwa sana na dini nyingine. Sehemu za Dini ya Zoroastrian zinapatikana katika dini nyingi maarufu za leo. Athari zake kadhaa (au sifa zake) zaweza kuonekana katika Ukristo, Uislamu, na Dini ya Kiyahudi. Hakuna mambo ya Zoroastrianism katika dini yangu, kwa sababu ukweli ni kwamba sina yoyote. Hata hivyo, ninakubaliana na mojawapo ya dhana za Uzorotria, Furaha. Pia nadhani kwamba furaha inaweza kuja katika maisha ya mtu wakati mtu hufanya mambo ya kuwafanya wengine wawe na furaha. Kwa mfano, mimi hufanya kazi katika nyumba ya uuguzi kwa muda mfupi, si kwa sababu ya pesa (ambazo si nyingi, kumbuka) lakini kwa sababu ninaweza kuzungumza na wakazi na labda kuangaza siku yao. Ninapomfanya mmoja wao atabasame au kucheka, hilo hunifanya nijisikie mwenye furaha. "Kwa hiyo, ndiyo, ninakubaliana na dhana ya Zoroastrian ya ""Fanya furaha, uwe na furaha."" Pia, Zoroastrianism haipunguzi au kuvunja imani yangu hata kidogo." Kwa hiyo, ili kujibu swali hilo, nitaweka msingi wa majibu yangu juu ya dini niliyolelewa nayo: Ukatoliki wa Kiroma. Katika Ukatoliki wa Magharibi, kuna imani iliyoenea sana kwamba kuna Mungu na Shetani, na kulikuwa pia na imani hiyo hiyo katika dini ya Zoroastrianism kabla ya Wakristo kutokea. "Kama ilivyo katika kitabu cha ""The Secret of the Soul"" (Kutoka kwa Roho Mtakatifu) na ""The Secret of the Soul"" (Kutoka kwa Roho Mtakatifu) na ""The Secret of the Soul"" (Kutoka kwa Roho Mtakatifu) na ""The Secret of the Soul"" (Kutoka kwa Roho Mtakatifu) na ""The Secret of the Soul"" (Kutoka kwa Roho Mtakatifu) na ""The Secret of the Soul"" (Kutoka kwa Roho Mtakatifu)." Katika tamaduni za kale, kama vile Misri ya kale, watu waliamini kwamba roho ya mwanadamu ingeendelea kuishi baada ya kifo. Huenda hilo lilikuwa imani iliyoenea sana katika sehemu fulani za ulimwengu wakati Uzorotashtrianism ulipoanza. Ulinganifu unaotokea kati ya Dini ya Zoroastrian na dini nyingine nyingi lazima uwe kwa sababu ya eneo. Dini ya Zoroastrian na Ukristo zilianzishwa katika eneo moja; kwa hiyo, mambo yanayofanana kati ya dini hizo mbili hayapaswi kutarajiwa. Wale waliosoma vitabu hivyo walikuwa watu ambao walikuwa wameona mambo yaleyale maishani, walifanya kazi kwa bidii na walifikiri kwamba kile kilichokuwa karibu nao kilikuwa ni kila kitu. Hata hivyo, kwa sababu ya njia zote ambazo dini nyingine zimeiga Zoroastrianism, nimesadiki kwamba ni ya zamani zaidi kuliko Ukristo, Dini ya Kiyahudi na Uislamu. Inawezekana kwamba mji huo ulianzishwa karibu mwaka wa 6000 KK. ni kidogo ya kunyoosha. Inaonekana kuwa ni wazo bora kwamba ilianzishwa miaka 2,000 hadi 3,000 iliyopita, kwa maoni yangu. "Hakuna mtu yeyote anayedai kwamba Zoroastrianism inadharau dini yoyote kwa sababu ni dini ya kweli, na wale waliofikiri kwamba ni sahihi, waliipokea katika dini yao wenyewe.""" "Ninaona kwamba watu wengi sana wenye imani huudhika kwa urahisi mtu anapotaja ukweli kwamba dini yao imepokea baadhi au sifa zote za dini nyingine.""" Siku moja nilikuwa nikizungumza na Mkristo mmoja mwenye bidii, na nilimwambia kwamba sikukuu za Kikristo kwa sehemu kubwa ziliwekwa katika siku ambazo zilikuwa siku takatifu kwa wapagani. "Mwanamke huyu Mkristo alikasirika sana, ""Una ujasiri wa kusema kwamba siku takatifu za Mungu ziliundwa kwa ajili ya watu hao wa kimbari?"" ambayo inatuonyesha kwamba watu bado hawajui dini zao zilianza wapi au maana ya tarehe hizo zilimaanisha nini wakati huo." """Hakuna dini inayoweza kudharau dini nyingine kwa sababu dini ni hivyo." Ni mfumo wa imani ambao watu wenye mawazo kama yako hutumia kujaribu kuelewa mambo maishani. Mimi binafsi naona ni jambo la kushangaza kwamba dini tofauti-tofauti zinaweza kuanzishwa na kubeba baadhi ya mambo yaleyale ya nyingine kwa kufanana kama hivyo. Ni lazima nikiri kwamba kwa kuwa nilikuwa katika jamii yenye Wakristo wengi, hapo awali sikujua lolote kuhusu Dini ya Zoroaster. Hata ingawa ina wafuasi wachache kuliko Ukristo - hilo halimfanyi kuwa duni kwa njia yoyote, kwa sababu kwa kweli ni dini yenye kupendeza kujifunza juu yake.