World body

Recently a lot has been said and written about the need to form a world Zoroastrian body which was vehemently opposed by the World Zoroastrian Orga-nisation (WZO) in 1997.

I being one of the founder members of the WZO in the UK — who was involved in the formation of the original WZO constitu­tion — can, safely say that the current setup of the WZO cannot honestly be described as even a poor imitation of the original formation of the WZO or its aims, objects and purpose.

The WZO perhaps does not remotely represent one percent of the world Zoroastrian community who may be considered as truly Zoroastrians. It cannot be accepted as a Zoroastrian organization by virtue of its non-Zoroastrian membership. At best and in truth, it can only be considered as an Anglo-Zoroastrian organi­zation or an Indo-Zoroastrian organization. It is said that the majority of its membership consists of those who are inter-married and their progeny.

Their (WZO) aims and objects as far as one could see or understand, seem to promote, propagate and enhance the cause of intermarriages and conversion, both of which are totally against the Zoroastrian precepts, tenets and the fundamental belief of the Mazdayasni Zarathushti faith.

Beyond doubt one needs a proper, genuine world federation of traditional Mazdayasni Zarathushtis; totally independent and separate from the WZO to safeguard the original precepts, tenets, doctrines, scriptures, customs and traditions of this most pro­found and wonderful Aryan religion. Ervad DARIUS N. SETHNA

UK

WZO chairman Rumi Sethna and WZO president Rustam Dubash reply

Over the past few months much has been written about the WZO, some of which has been in the realms of fantasy.

WZO was formed in 1980, mainly at that time to assist Irani­an Zoroastrians who were being persecuted by the regime in Iran to seek refuge in the West and in particular, the UK and US. Over the past 23 years WZO has been successful in assisting such Zoroastrians and it is proud of its record. For the safety of these people, WZO has never publicized this part of its activity until quite recently.

The membership issue of WZO creates frenzy without equal, but this is done without understanding the qualification for membership. The following can become members of the Association subject to election as hereinafter provided:

•persons born into and confirmed into the Zoroastrian faith; or

•non-Zoroastrian spouses married to Zoroastrians; and/or

•children of marriages described above.

It is crystal clear from the above that for a person to become a member under Clause 4a), not only has that person to be born into, but must also be confirmed into the Zoroastrian reli­gion. This clearly illustrates that a born non-Zoroastrian who has had his navjote performed even by a recognized priest, cannot become a member of the WZO.

The only category of non-Zoroastrian members is that of spouses married to non-Zoroastrians and since this clause was brought in some eight or nine years ago, only a handful of spous­es have become members.

Allowing non-Zoroastrian spouses as members is nothing new and in fact, our understanding is that a substantial number of organizations in the US have similar clauses. It does nothing more than bring families together, create a Zoroastrian way of life — of good thoughts, good words and good deeds. A very simple philosophy but one which is hard to practice.

Someone recently wrote that the majority of WZO’s membership consists of persons who are intermarried and their progeny. This is a totally inaccurate statement, made simply to flame the fires without having any evidence to backup such a statement.

It has also been said that the aims and objectives of the WZO appear to "promote, propagate and enhance the cause of inter-marriages and conversion,” again, another wild statement. In fact, the constitution of both the WZO and the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe Inc (ZTFE) are very similar. If one were to make that statement about WZO, then it would apply equally to ZTFE, but we do not see anybody making such wild accusations about that particular organization.

WZO has also been criticized that it does not represent the entire Zoroastrian community and that its membership is fairly small. What people seem to forget is that WZO assists thousands of Zoroastrians and has never asked them whether or not they are members of the WZO. WZO is there for the community. WZO has been here for the past 23 years assisting Zoroastrians in the best possible way that they can with the funds provided to them by generous donors.

It has over the past years provided stimulating seminars on Zoroastrian religion and culture, without imposing on any indi­vidual either a liberal or a traditional view. Zoroaster gave his people the wisdom to hear, think and choose wisely. WZO believes that religion is for the individual; it is for them to decide whether they wish to live their lives according to the religion given to them by Zoroaster, but as in any democracy, WZO allows free discussion on the burning issues of the day.

WZO has been in fruitful discussions with the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India, the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North Ame-rica and the ZTFE to see how best these federations/associations could work with WZO to form a body which could better represent Zoroastrians throughout the world. It would not be fair to any of us to say anything more at the mo­ment, but simply that there is an abundance of goodwill on all sides and with the grace of Ahura Mazda, there should be a sig­nificant development in this respect fairly soon.