Zorro and World Religion

During a casual dinner conversation, I asked a young friend who was attending a local college if she had decided on a major.

World Religion. I was glad it was me who asked her this question because that kind of response was bound to get blank stares. But not from me. I love learning about beliefs, especially when they differ from mine. So, genuinely curious, I asked her a follow-up question and was quite proud of what a great question this was. Her answer was even better.

Knowing she had a denominational affiliation I said, "Hypothetically, if your chosen denomination didn't exist, what religion would you align with?"

Cool question, right?

Her answer, "Oohhh, great question. No one has asked me that before."

I'm brilliant.

"Zoroastrianism."

Huh?

If her intention was to wow me with how successful her collegiate studies had been, she succeeded. "Sorry?" All I knew about Zorro-anything was that Antonio Banderas put Zorro on the map for me as a teenager and if there was a religion that had anything to do with that, I was happily willing to have a first discussion.

She acknowledged my ignorance and explained some basic tenets. Then, prompted by my follow up question of why it appealed to her, she shared her appreciation of the emphasis on good works and righteousness, care for the earth, and monotheism.

The student becomes the teacher. You can bet when I got home I did a deep dive on this. What a cool religion.

While there are ten thousand different basic spiritual beliefs in the world, in Christianity (my chosen alignment) there are around 45 thousand variations. What's interesting to me is that while we reach to spirituality for understanding, we have this human tendency to over-protect our affiliations - to defend them to the point of ostracization. One thing I know about fans is that they cheer for you even when they don't completely understand what you're doing.

But if a major benefit of religious affiliation is connection, it seems counter-intuitive to be so intentionally separate. I imagine instead a world where religion is put on a big lazy susan and all are invited to partake at the big buffet, choosing what they like and dismissing sans-judgement what they don't.

Have you heard of Zoroastrianism? What beliefs are you cheering for? Belief is beautiful and while I am fiercely devoted to mine, I'm happy for you in yours. And for Antonio Banderas.