Among the world's present-day religions, Zoroastrianism, founded more than 3,000 years ago, is one of the most ancient and historically influential. Yet even though its adherents maintain vibrant communities on four continents, they acknowledge their numbers are dauntingly small — perhaps 125,000 worldwide.
Starting Friday, about 1,200 attendees from 16 countries will be assessing their faith's prospects during the four-day World Zoroastrian Congress in New York City, the first one held in the United States since 2000. The agenda reflects a keen awareness of the challenges facing their religion. Prospects for growth are limited, given that Zoroastrians don't seek to convert outsiders and — in many cases — don't consider the children of mixed marriages to be members of the faith. Yet there's also some cause for optimism.
“Have we ever been in a time like this?” wondered Arzan Sam Wadia, a Mumbai-born, New York-based architect who is co-chair of the congress.
“Should we all despair and give up — We can't do anything, let's just die peacefully' — or do we have hope for the future?” he told The Associated Press.
