Homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

is, as in many other religions, a controversial topic with differing consensus over time.

Homosexuality in scripture

The most sacred scripture of

is called the

Avesta The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the lit ...

. The oldest portion of the Avesta are the writings of Zarathustra himself and called the

Gathas The Gathas ()"Gatha"
''

. The Gathas do not explicitly condemn homosexual acts, although the Südgar Nask commentary on the Gathas dislikes

sodomy Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''s ...

. Traditionalist Zoroastrians believe that the Vendidad, one of the books of the Avesta, is an inherent part of Zoroastrian oral tradition even though it was compiled far later than the other parts of the Avesta. This passage has been interpreted to mean that

homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...

is a form of demon worship, and thus sinful. Ancient commentary on this passage suggests that those engaging in

could be killed without permission from the Dastur, the

high priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rev ...

. Zoroastrianism has been said to have a "hatred of male anal intercourse" that is reflected in at least one mythological tale. When

Ahriman Angra Mainyu (; Avestan: 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 ''Aŋra Mainiiu'') is the Avestan-language name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the ...

, the "Spirit of Aridity and Death" and "Lord of Lies", sought to destroy the world, he engaged in self-sodomy. That caused an "explosion of evil power" and resulted in the birth of a host of evil minions.Long, p. 68 Apart from the Vendidad, the Pahlavi scriptures, later religious Persian books considered sacred by many Zoroastrians, also strongly forbid sodomy.

References

External links

AVESTA: Vendidad: FARGARD 8. Funerals and purification, unlawful sex

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051123215843/http://www.iranica.com/articles/v12f4/v12f4026a.html Iranica.com – Homosexuality {{DEFAULTSORT:Zoroastrianism LGBT and religion

Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

LGBT in Iran

Homosexuality in scripture

References

Further reading

External links