What is Pagan? Is it a religion?

Arie - posted on 11/09/2012

I would say that pagan was historically been a term meaning people who don't believe in Judeo-Christian religions but words change in linguistics. From the point of view of today, I would say we probably have to use a pagan-and-Pagan approach. Those who call themselves Pagan and practice an earth-based spirituality (often though perhaps not always having something to do with European ancestry) have given this word a capital P. From the research I have done, the most common aspect that all modern Pagans seem to share is the earth- or nature-based spirituality. (I, for instance, don't believe in a literal God or Goddess, although the names and symbols of Gods and Goddess used by my ancestors are spiritually powerful and I use them as sacred symbols of different aspects of spirit and I believe that spirit infuses everything and thus the Earth is a spiritual entity and so like a Goddess in many ways. This is perhaps how some Christians believe in the Bible but don't believe every word to be literally the word of some God with a long gray beard.) So, Paganism does have the characteristics of a branch of religion now, in that like Christianity there are people who are part of an organized group, people live their spiritual lives on their own and people who identify with it culturally but have no real spiritual practice and there are weird dark or judgmental groups. We can't escape from the urge toward fundamentalism and cults around the world anymore than anyone else, I suppose. So, I would call Pagan with a capital P a religion, as opposed to the general term meaning non-believer from the perspective of another religions. This is done with other words. My children for instance are Romani, otherwise known as Gypsies. They really are Gypsies. It is an ethnic group, not something you choose act out or a religion. (They're adopted so I am not a Gypsy, other than by being part of a part-Gypsy family.) Many people will still use the word gypsy with a small g to mean different things, lifestyles and so on but that isn't the same thing. Neither is Paganism as a religion the same thing as everything some one else referred to as pagan.

Sabrina - posted on 10/14/2011

Pagan is to religion what Christian is to religion. There are many people out there who are Christian by faith but have no religion, and many who belong to religions like Baptist or Catholic which are Christian religions... Pagans are the same way. There are many of us who are Pagan by faith, but live without the dogmatic restrictions of organized religion, and there are those who follow faiths like Wicca or Kematism which are Pagan Religions...

I have a more detailed answer on my blog -
http://witchywonderland.blogspot.com/201...

Denikka - posted on 09/23/2011

A pagan is anyone who does not believe in an Abrahamic faith system. An Abrahamic faith system is any branch of Christianity, Judaism, or the Muslim religion.



That is what a Pagan is. BUT there are as many different beliefs as there are pagans. There are hundreds of different branches of paganism, and each individual interprets their branch in their own way.



Some Pagans are solitary, some prefer covens.

In general, those that refer to themselves as Pagan generally believe in an Earth based system of religion.

Some believe in a single deity, either male or female in nature. Some believe in a male/female pair. And some believe in a pantheon of Gods/Goddesses, sometimes specific to a region (aka the old Greek/Roman/Norse Gods and Goddesses), sometimes a general amalgamation of different deities that have called to them (you can worship both Zeus AND Thor :P). Some believe in a whole pantheon but only worship one or a few.



Some pagans choose to practice the art of Magic (variety of spellings there, usually to differentiate it from street magic-David copperfield, Criss Angel, etc)

Magic (no matter how you choose to spell it) is a form of prayer. Some people use just meditation/visualization, some prefer more elaborate rituals.



Satanism is generally thought of as a branch of Paganism. There are many misconceptions about Satanism, but I won't even bother with most of them here. Just in general, Satanism is not about worshipping the Devil and doing evil things. It is more about embracing the basic human desires and being okay with them.



Like I mentioned before, there are as many different ideas about Paganism as there are people who call themselves Pagan. If you have any specific questions, I'd be more than happy to attempt to answer them :)





ETA:

Liz, not all Pagans have anything to do with the holidays, not all worship the sun or the moon, and actually a LOT of pagans don't use the elements, some only use them as representations when casting a circle, if that.

As for the Rede, that is purely a Wiccan thing. Other factions do not follow that. The same goes for the Rule of Three. Some in fact, are quite dark (not evil or deliberately doing bad things) and are okay with dishing out things like curses and negative energy to those they feel that deserve it.

Not all Pagans are love and light. And some DO sacrifice animals (although all the ones that I know of who do this on a regular basis, they use the slaughtering of a meat animal (aka, token sacrifice, then they eat the rest of the animal) as the sacrifice and the killing itself is done in a humane way).



I'm also an eclectic :) Nice to meet another one :) And I've been studying for over 10 years now :) I started out following the Wiccan path purely because I didn't know there was another way. I've been firmly eclectic for about 7 years now, and I'm always searching out new information. There's a couple of pagan forums I frequent (although I don't post much) if anyone would like me to send them in that direction, just PM me :)

Lizdoucette - posted on 09/23/2011

sorry thought id explain a bit...
pagans celebrate the seasons (solstices and equinoxes and the halfway points between each of them) giving us 8 yearly holidays called sabbats
we also honor the moon and her cycles at the esbats( full moons) each month.
we also honor the elements: fire, water, earth, air and spirit. these form the pentagram (5-point star with a circle around it... the circle reps. units or interconnectedness)


they do not worship satan because they dont believe in the christian devil. you cant worship something you dont belive in. we do not sacrifice animals or humans because our rede says harm none this includes oneself. i personally believe this extends to all sentient beings and for this reason i am vegan)

Lizdoucette - posted on 09/23/2011

paganism is and isnt a religion. it depends who you ask tec. buddists are pagan ( according to the dictionary: the disbelief in the judeo- christian God) but buddism is their religion, however many people identify paganism as their religion. paganism as a religion is really nature based. followers belive in a goddess and a god, sometimes many, and that everything is sacred. nature is to pagans what church is to christians. and there are many pagan faiths includind wicca, druid, heathen, astru, and many more. i personally identify as ecclectic pagan, taking from different faiths what i find to be relevant.

i hope that you get more responses to have more than just my p.o.v. because no one answer is the only answer
ask 10 witches what paganism is to them and youll get 13 different answers
hope this helps and that i didnt confuse you too much.