“The plucky priestess”

I am glad that you have once again highlighted the services rendered by lady mobedyars ("The plucky priestess," Parsiana, July 21, 2013). They deserve the community’s gratitude as they render a noble service at a time when we are short of priests, globally. Six percent Indian Parsis are athornans, but only 0.1 percent of them are practicing priests, mentions a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, titled Parsis of Mumbai: A Socio-Demographic Profile which was commissioned by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet in 2000.

In Bombay, we have many rabid priests and members of the laity who condemn mobedyars. They render no service to the religion or to the community by being vocal in their prejudice. Let us also ignore the North American Mobeds Council and their ilk and march forward with our convictions. These people stand frozen in time and do nothing to preserve or enrich our religion by mouthing reactionary feelings. The Protestant Church of England has moved ahead and ordained female parsons.

Let Ervads Jehan Bagli and Jal Panthaky, Mobedyars Goolu Austin, Mahshad Khosraviani and their dedicated band ignore the reactionaries’ fatwas and continue their work. The bulk of the community is behind them. This was precisely how Zarathushtra rejuvenated our religion. Had he listened to the rabid reactionaries of his days Zoroastrianism would have vanished from Iran and we would all have remained Turanis (not Iranis).

We Parsis have the right to decide, collectively, about our destiny, and not leave it in the hands of the fossilized reactionaries. B. T. DASTUR

b744@comcast.net