Thoughts From Fjordman
Recently, I made a comparison between the reaction of Spartan King Leonidas to the Persian invasion of Greece 2500 years ago and the total lack of reaction against the Muslim invasion of Europe in the 21st century. This does not in any way indicate that I believe the two invasions were identical.
The founder of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great, was remarkably tolerant for his time. He announced that under his rule, “everyone is free to choose a religion,” and made no attempt to impose Zoroastrianism, which became a popular religion in his empire, on others.
After the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., Cyrus announced that the Jews were free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians a few years earlier, thus ending the Babylonian Captivity. Judaism was influenced by Zoroastrian ideas during this Exile. The founder of this religious tradition, Zarathustra, was a fellow monotheist who believed in “one true God.” The depiction of the Devil, among other things, in Christianity later is in some ways similar to ideas found in Zoroastrianism.
The Iranians had a proud history before the advent of Islam. Maybe some day they can follow the example of former Muslims such as Ali Sina and Parvin Darabi and lead the Islamic world away from sharia and Jihad.
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