RAMAPO, NEW YORK, April 4, 2016 (Religion News): The new home for followers of one of the world’s oldest religion has opened to serve as a meeting place and sanctuary for some 1,000 followers of Zoroastrian faith from across the New York region. The Dar-e-Mehr Zoroastrian Temple, or DMZT, a gleaming square building with an impressive colonnaded portico opened at the start of Nowruz, the Persian new year — a beacon of optimism and hope in the next generation
Zoroastrianism is believed to be one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, dating back some 4,000 years to Persia, modern-day Iran. Before there were Christians and Muslims and Jews, there were Zarathushtis, as its followers are called, after their prophet Zarathustra. Today, there are fewer than 200,000 Zarathushtis worldwide, and their numbers are shrinking.
About 1,400 years ago, when Persia was invaded by Muslims, some Zarathushtis fled to India, where their faith took root. They are called Parsis, while those who stayed in Persia are called Iranian Zoroastrians.
The $4.5 million temple and community center was built on the site of the former temple, which had been a synagogue before it was purchased in 2001. “Dar-e-Mehr,” sometimes seen as “Darbe-Mehr,” translates to “Door of Peace” or “Door of Justice.”