what is 'pagan'? (Earth, tradition, church, theist, pagans)

[The Black Whirlwind]

I've been on this forum for five months now, and through all this time i have discussed and debated with many people, many of which have listed their religion as 'pagan'. I have no idea what there actual religion is, because pagan is scuh a broad generalization, with, as i understand it, has many denominations. So this is a question for all pagans and non-pagans; to you, what is paganism?

[Jaymes]

To me, paganism is any religion based on earth-worship. Gods and goddesses may or may not be applicable.

[Scott1]

I don't know how good it is.. (maybe our members can help) but you can read the overview:
Paganism Overview

[michel]

Strangely enough, I thought the overview that Rex provided from http://en.wikipedia.org a good one, but I thought I would look it up on the 'Etymology dictionary' - which points to a 'strange' (IMO) derivation for the word 'Pagan' ie :c.1375, from L.L. paganus "pagan," in classical L. "villager, rustic, civilian," from pagus "rural district," originally "district limited by markers," thus related to pangere "to fix, fasten," from PIE base *pag- "to fix" (see pact). Religious sense is often said to derive from conservative rural adherence to the old gods after the Christianization of Roman towns and cities; but the word in this sense predates that period in Church history, and it is more likely derived from the use of paganus in Roman military jargon for "civilian, incompetent soldier," which Christians (Tertullian, c.202; Augustine) picked up with the military imagery of the early Church (e.g. milites "soldier of Christ," etc.). Applied to modern pantheists and nature-worshippers from 1908. Paganism is attested from 1433. An amusing thought...............

[Mike182]

i think that paganism and wicca are sometimes used as interchangable words

wicca is witchcraft, pagansim does not neccerserily have to involve this

but you are right, it is a very general term

i think that paganism is very umlike christianity and other major religions, because even though there are different denomination of christianity (catholic, lutheran, evangelical) they all believe in one central thing - christ

paganism on the other hand, is a very personalised religion, and one pagan's belief is completely different to the next pagan's belief - i guess what im trying to say is that its not a collectivfely organised religion, yet its structured and orderly

does my post make sense? i think ive confused myself

C_P

[michel]

Originally Posted by corrupt_preist

i think that paganism and wicca are sometimes used as interchangable words

wicca is witchcraft, pagansim does not neccerserily have to involve this

but you are right, it is a very general term

i think that paganism is very umlike christianity and other major religions, because even though there are different denomination of christianity (catholic, lutheran, evangelical) they all believe in one central thing - christ

paganism on the other hand, is a very personalised religion, and one pagan's belief is completely different to the next pagan's belief - i guess what im trying to say is that its not a collectivfely organised religion, yet its structured and orderly

does my post make sense? i think ive confused myself

C_P

Well, it made sense to me, I think you are quite right. Perhaps, the reason being that Pagans would have developed their ideas each in their 'group' or geographical location, at a time when travel wasn't really an option to the ordinary folk. I think it would be more surprising had pagans from all over the world ended up believing in Identical ideas.

Hey, now I'm the one confused; does that make sense?

[Mike182]

Originally Posted by michel

Well, it made sense to me, I think you are quite right. Perhaps, the reason being that Pagans would have developed their ideas each in their 'group' or geographical location, at a time when travel wasn't really an option to the ordinary folk. I think it would be more surprising had pagans from all over the world ended up believing in Identical ideas.

Hey, now I'm the one confused; does that make sense?

paganism has its roots thousands of years before christ - so travel was deffinately limited at the start - so yes the 'local' groups were very important - still are im many cases today

[DreamQuickBook]

Originally Posted by TheJedi

I've been on this forum for five months now, and through all this time i have discussed and debated with many people, many of which have listed their religion as 'pagan'. I have no idea what there actual religion is, because pagan is scuh a broad generalization, with, as i understand it, has many denominations. So this is a question for all pagans and non-pagans; to you, what is paganism?

Paganism is a broad generalization; but not everyone belongs to a "tradition"; for them, they are just pagan, or heathen.

[Mike182]

heathen? OH, sorry, i just confused heathen for heretic - my bad

[DreamQuickBook]

Heathen refers to the pagans of the Old North or Norse cultures. They are indo-European and resemble Hinduism more than Greek/Roman Paganism.