What is a Pagan?

[Jen]

ncregister.com/site/article/8121/

Discuss.............

[watershield]

What a bigoted point of view:
"Pre-Christian paganism was (for the most part) an attempt to find God. It was (as we shall see in our next discussion) often alloyed with all sorts of error and hampered by original sin. But the fundamental goal was a search for God. As such, it was ordered toward reality, though much hampered in the pursuit by the effects of sin."

Excuss me....pre chistian pagans already had god/s and goddesses. Gosh, I wonder if Merlin was searching for the God of Abraham while he was teaching Arthur to be King.
And I have no doubt that Boadecia was looking for Jesus amonst the Roman ranks.

And what's with this line...
"hampered by original sin"
Take some time and read a Bible. Look for the line "Original Sin", you won't find it. That whole concept is an interpritation of man. For that matter the bible is quite the fairy tale. Recently Deepak Chopra wrote that according to his research, the bible has been written by 54 people and revised not less than 13 times.

Ok....Pagan.....What is it? I really don't know!
The Romans used the term to discribe anyone who did not believe in the Gods of Rome.
Christians use it to discribe anyone who does not follow the God of Abraham.
Neo Pagans use it to discribe what they concieve themselves as not being.
I guess it totally depends on who uses the term.
Me.....I'm an Animist.

[WulfcwenStar]

Today the term Pagan covers such a lot. Christians term Pagans as anyone not beleiving in their branch of Christianity this is a broad spectrum of beleifs.
Pagan also encompasses Wicca.

The Bible was writen by men and when you get down to it you will find a lot of things that have been taken from other beleifs and altered to suit the thoughts of their day.

Am I a Pagan? If you mean I am not a Christian then Yes I am. If you mean I follow a Wicca Path Yes
Am I an Animist Yes
So I am complex but that is me and I will never apologise for being me no matter what other religions think I should or should not be.

[autumnraven]

What gets me most is the arrogance with which he writes that, I'm about as far from christian as you can get and I would never think to talk down on someone elses path.
I found another definition on www.wikipedia.org, just type pagan in the search bar. This is an excerpt:
"Characteristic of pagan traditions is the absence of proselytism and the presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice."

[oshun11]

This is an arrogant author, to be sure. But is this really surprising? Well to me it isn't. Paganism has been described, many times, as an umbrella term. It encompasses many paths, faiths, religions, non-religions...etc. To me, Paganism means that I have a reverance and respect for all life. I see the spirit in all things as being alive. From the dust bunnies in space down to the dirt underneath our feet, I feel that everything and everyone is connected and part of one massive being, just as our cells are seemingly seperate, yet they create the whole human being. I also choose to work with, speak with, and consult with any energies that I wish to learn about or seek help from. Also, a big thing to me is the acceptance that others may communicate with the Divine, if you will, in the best and most pleasing way to them.

Deep down inside, I'm not mad at Christians at all, I just don't like the modern-day persecution that seems to come from so many of the people who believe in the Christian system. At it's root, Christians were closer to Pagans than many of their practitioners/leaders realize or would like to even acknowledge today. It is truly a positive religion that was mainly based on love. As you can imagine, that message was greatly skewed along the way to becoming the great book of gospels and such that it is today. But I digress, this question was about Paganism and who and what Pagans are. I think to put it simply, we are people of the earth who do not separate ourselves from the earth, the spirits, and each other. We see and believe that everything is a connected whole. This is just my belief however.

This was also a really good question to bring up. I love how many thought provoking questions are asked here at The Coven.

[scorn]

I just wrote a blog on this topic. lol. Let me find it and I'll just post that.
Found it!!

DEFINING PAGANISM

Alright, I have been hearing alot of people on other networks speaking of paganism as if all pagans follow a wicca based path. I would simply like to set the record straight here.

DEFINITIONS OF PAGANISM AS FOUND ON THE WEB

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller, rustic") is a term which, from a Western perspective, has modern connotations of spiritual practices or beliefs of any folk religion, and of historical and contemporary polytheistic religions in particular.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism

any of various religions other than Christianity or Judaism or Islamism
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Local religions practiced before the introduction of Christianity; A class of religions often associated with nature rituals.
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paganism

a term traditionally used to refer generally to all religions other than Christianity.
www.godswordforyou.com/glossary/glossary/p.html

An umbrella term referring to a collective group of spiritualities, religions and traditions which all celebrate the experience of Life and the inspiration of Nature and its diversity.
www.members.optusnet.com.au/wildwoodcoven/glossary.htm


Ok, so based on these definitions given by many sources paganism covers anything non-christian. This would include such things as satanism, wicca, buddhism, shamanism, and many many other paths.

This means that not all pagans are wiccan, because wicca is only one of many paths to chose from when looking at paganism. This also means that not all pagans are going to follow the wiccan rede of "An ye harm none, do what ye will". There are so many different paths of paganism that I think Im going to start working on a list to help define most the different pagan paths.

Anyways, so next time someone says something you feel doesnt fit with your paths laws, remember that that doenst make them non-pagan, that just means that they arent following your path. We are here to learn from each other, not to throw around accusations.

Brightest Blessings,
Scorn

[muladzh]

A very good point, Scorn, thank you. I am not Wiccan - the path I follow is 1000 years older than that one, and I do find that some inexperienced Wicca wannabes tend to think they are right, I am wrong. I feel that we are all here to honor the Goddess in whatever way we think right.

[scorn]

I am not wiccan either. I am an eclectic pagan inspired by many pagan paths.

[muladzh]

I am lucky in my Path - I do not have the imagination, or the intelligence to figure my own path out from all the ones out there. Every part of my understanding past lovingly by any one of the women in my Clan.

[watershield]

I bwlieve that we can affect our own destiny
I believe that some greater power exists and that power is aware of our efforts but does not directly interact with us.
I believe that we live the lives we create, but we don't have total control in that. Our children and spuoses also affect that out come. At best it's a crap shoot.
I believe in a great many other things that the term PAGAN does not begin to cover and doubt that pagan is a sufficiant term.

I am an animyst, but even that fails to dicribe who i am. I am not a pagan other than I am not a believer in the teachings of the word of Abraham.

I am a Mage, a magician,a person skilled in the mysterious and hidden art of magic, the ability to attain objectives, acquire knowledge, or perform works of wonder using supernatural or nonrational means.