An example of the extortion would be Zoroastrians. They were invaded during the Sassanian Period by the muslims and ended up having to pay tax to live in their own land.
I have not heard of this belief but it sounds like it would be influenced from the ideolistic views of the Sassanid Empire rather than an original belief of Zoroastrianism, as arguing that all scientific text ties back to Persian knowledge would be easily refutable.
By preach the gospel Rival did not mean that Jesus walked around with a bible and read from it, Jesus preached and after he did so it was written down.
AFAIK, a jew who converts to another belief will not be killed. So in my opinion Islam is more severe because if you convert away you can be killed, therefore I'd rather live under a Jewish legal system
I'm just gonna throw this in and bail out of the thread real quick. In older times sex with younger ages was not frowned upon as it is now, ethics change over time.
Awesome! Might I recommend the book called 'The teachings of Zoroaster', it is written by a Parsi but it is a very well rounded and informative text. You can find a copy on Google or on amazon I believe.
In my opinion anyone can claim to be a Zoroastrian but you only are one truly when you follow the teachings of Zoroaster and incorporate them into your life as much as possible. As to someone being a 'title only' Zoroastrian I would say that is someone who doesn't really believe entirely [in the...
And I can almost guarantee a huge majority of Christians have never heard of Zoroastrianism, it isn't as if they know of Zoroastrianism and choose to lay claim to beliefs as if Christianity came up with them.