Zoroastrianism in Iran

after the arabian invasion, it remains a minority of zoroastrian in Iran. Most of them are in India, more specialy Mumbay, and North america. But many consider that zoroastrian is the first minotheist religion( God, paradise/ evil, after life....).

I have read (can't remember where) that until the Safavids forced mass conversion to Shi'ism 20% of Iranians were still Zaroastrian, can anyone corroberate this?  Yazd is the main centre of Zaroastrians today, they number around 10-20,000.

Also it is said that in Pahveh and the surrounding area in Kermanshah they did not convert until 7-800 years after the Islamic conquests. 

Edited by Zagros

Here are the numbers from adherents. The number of Zoroastrians has been bumped up recently because is it believed that many have to hide their religion because of fear of presecution. Same thing with the number of Jews and Bahais

1. Christianity: 2.1 billion
   
2. Islam: 1.3 billion
   
3. Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
   
4. Hinduism: 900 million
   
5. Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
   
6. Buddhism: 376 million
   
7. primal-indigenous: 300 million
   
8. African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
   
9. Sikhism: 23 million
   
10. Juche: 19 million
    
11. Spiritism: 15 million
    
12. Judaism: 14 million
    
13. Baha'i: 7 million
    
14. Jainism: 4.2 million
    
15. Shinto: 4 million
    
16. Cao Dai: 4 million
    
17. Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
    
18. Tenrikyo: 2 million
    
19. Neo-Paganism: 1 million
    
20. Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
    
21. Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
    
22. Scientology: 500 thousand

Zoroastrianism: This religion is in every major comparative religion text book, yet during the 1990s and for a few years thereafter it was actually listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the "major religion nearest extinction." The Zoroastrians (or "Parsis") are sometimes credited with being the first monotheists and having had significant influence in the formation of current, larger world religions. To whatever degree that is true, some observers believed Zoroastrianism was in a precarious state and its position as a "major" contemporary world religion was tenuous. Prior to some increased reforms, most Zoroastrians did not believe in allowing conversion. They had even stricter rules than Jews about whether or not children of mixed marriages would be considered Zoroastrians. Until about 2002, most published estimates for the world total of Zoroastrians were 100 to 125 thousand. More recent publications of many major encyclopedias an world alamanacs include population estimates of 2 to 3.5 million. The government of India has actively encouraged the growth of its Zoroastrian population. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and subsequent U.S.-led intervention in the Middle East, the Parsees of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been receiving less persecution than before, and have been less reticent about identifying themselves, and there seems to be an increased respect for and interest in this classical Persian religion which was once one of the largest in the world. The current estimate posted on this page of millions of Zoroastrians in the world (rather than 100,000 to 150,000) is still under evaluation. The number does not represent an exponential explosion the number of actual Zoroastrians (although there has been some growth in numbers), but is a result of re-evaluation of the existing population. The majority of the world's Zoroastrians are Parsees who now thought to live in the Middle East. Years of suppression under Muslim-dominated cultures and governments has doubtless led to erosion in some aspects of their community, relative to their co-religionists in India and even among expatriate populations in places such as the United States and the United Kingdom - places with far greater levels of continuous religious freedom.

Really? So its gaining a foothold in Iran once more? How does the Iranian government view the religion?

A lot of Zoroastrians were forcebully converted by the Pashtuns when they invaded Iran.  However, it is true that many people (mainly Tajiks) in Central Asia have openly declared themselves to be Zoroastrian.  Uzbekistan has a Zoroastrian center that is a prominent influence in the modern Zoroastrian community: http://www.spentalouisville.com/zarathushtrian_a njoman_of_uz.htm

I've also read of a Moscow Anjuman made up primarily of ethnic Russian converts.

Originally posted by Zagros Threatened obviously, apostates have been brutally killed by government backed militia if they are somehow discovered.

Really... How about Iraq? Is there a significant population there?

Originally posted by Janissary Hey men, the last time I saw, it was equal Christianity and Islam

The number of Muslims is usually listed at between 900 mil to 1.4 billion. Since in many Islamic countries selecting ones religion is not an option the exact number is not really known, but I have never seen number equal to Christians from a reliable source

what are they then?

but what do they believe?

Thanks Miller