This is far better than Islam.
Wasn't this also the major religion of Persia (Iran) before the Muslim took over (by the sword)?
Beliefs along this vein will usually get along far better with Christians, though the fire part is weird.
Yes.
“Wasn’t this also the major religion of Persia (Iran) before the Muslim took over (by the sword)?”
Yes - the religion of the three wise men (Magis) who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.
Kurds (whose language is close to Persian) still have some Zoroastrian practices. The biggest holiday of the year is Newroz (New Year), which they celebrate with bonfires.
Yes it was.
The prophet Zoroaster is supposed to have lived either 1700 BC or 700 BC (the dates are conflicting) in what is now Tajikistan-Uzbekistan (all of Central Asia was part of the iranic cultural and ethnic space before the Turkic invasions of the middle ages.
Zoroastrianism was the religion of Cyrus the Great (Khorush) who freed the Jews and set up the great empire ever - ruling over an estimated 40% of mankind - with the majority of them welcoming his rule.
It was the major religion of Iran before the Arabs took over in the 7th century. Note that Persia/Fars is a small area of south-eastern Iran, colocated with what was Elam. Iran is the older name for the wider area of what is now iran.
The Zoroastrians with the specific denomination of Zurvanism (closer to monotheism than the dualism of earlier Zoroastrianism) was the religion of the Sassanid Empire (c 200 AD to the Arab times) but the secondary important religion was Christianity - specifically Assyrian/Chaldean christianity, which we incorrectly called Nestorian Christianity.
it is guessed that a large minority were Christians and even some of the ruling family.
Islam came and was exceptionally harsh on Zoroastrianism as they are not “people of the Book”
“Wasn’t this also the major religion of Persia?”
Yes, the religion of Cyrus the Great, who freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem.
Zoroastrianism is centered around the struggle between good and evil, light and darkness (hence the fires, symbolizing the light and the good). They view the struggle to take place in the universe as a whole, but also within each person, which is a focus of their practice - cultivating good and avoiding evil.
Yes.
Zoroastrianism was a great moral monotheistic faith before the Muslim pigs from Arabia snuffed it out - virtually.
Yes it was and had a close historical relationship with Judaism.
Some traditions have the Magi (the 3 Kings) being Zoroastrian.
The Iranians whom I have met say that they are not muslim but Zoroastrians and they HATE islam.
Yes it was.
Apologists for Islam like to point to the great works of "Arab" scholars and philosophers during the Middle Ages as proof that Islam and advanced civilization are not incompatible. Most of these "Arabs" (e.g. Avicenna, etc) were actually Persians, and their scholarly tradition dates back to their pre-Islamic cultural heritage. Islam simply hadn't yet completely stamped out traditional Persian culture during the 10th and 11th centuries - it took several centuries of entrenchment and increasing fanaticism for that to happen.
Imagine what the Middle East would be like today if Iran were Zoroastrian Persia and if Arab countries and Turkey were Christian.