1992/01/01 by Shahin Bekhradnia, Bekhradnia, Shahin
Social Sciences · #Eurasian Exchange Networks #Islamic Studies and History #Religion and Society Interactions
paper · doi:10.5287/ora-4jwawj6xe
openalex publication_date 1992/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
IT might reasonably be assumed that clergy play an important role in maintaining the traditions of a religion and, therefore, that a decline in their numbers would be accompanied by a corresponding decline in the strength of the religion. The case of the Iranian Zoroastrians, l however, seemingly refutes such an assumption. In the early years of this century, a sharp decline in the number of the clergy was accompanied by the opening of Zoroastrian schools, migration to the capital, Tehran, and an increase in the number of well-educated Iranian Zoroastrians. A period of relative security and prosperity between the 1950s and 1970s lulled the community into believing that religious toleration in Iran was irreversible. Responsibility for the transmission of community history and religious knowledge was then relegated to teachers, whereas in the recent past this teaching had been