Your impressions of Paganism?

I had a strange train of thought this morning that led me to ask these questions. I'm genuinely curious.

What is your general impression of Paganism, either as a whole or individual sects (or both)? What kind of experiences have you had with Pagans? Have you met Pagans outside the internet, or is your only experience through websites or boards like this one? Have you ever had the desire to learn about (ancient or modern) Paganism, for any reason?
And, for those of you in religions that tend to be not so friendly towards Paganism, do you think there is a difference between the ancient Paganism that was condemned for fear of contamination of the tribe, and modern Paganism today?

:rainbow1:

MaddLlama said:

I had a strange train of thought this morning that led me to ask these questions. I'm genuinely curious.

What is your general impression of Paganism, either as a whole or individual sects (or both)? What kind of experiences have you had with Pagans? Have you met Pagans outside the internet, or is your only experience through websites or boards like this one? Have you ever had the desire to learn about (ancient or modern) Paganism, for any reason?
And, for those of you in religions that tend to be not so friendly towards Paganism, do you think there is a difference between the ancient Paganism that was condemned for fear of contamination of the tribe, and modern Paganism today?

:rainbow1:

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I relate more with paganism than any other spiritual culture. Most of my best friends are pagan. (And most consider me as one. )

The connection that paganism generally has with nature echoes my personal relationship with the forest I grew up in.

My general impression is that it's the most liberal religion I have ever come across.

I have known a few pagans in real life, and most of my experiences with them have been good. The only bad experiences with them were when people got made at me for hanging out with witches and anti christs.

I have never had the desire to learn about paganism.

MaddLlama said:

What is your general impression of Paganism, either as a whole or individual sects (or both)?

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Blessed be! You guys rock!

Wandered Off said:

I have to admit that my view of pagans was a bit negative before coming here. It wasn't paganism itself - since I had little clue about it - but that the few I had been around who called themselves that struck me as posers who wanted a fashionable way to rebel and shock their conservative parents. I know you run into this false impression all the time. You probably get as tired of hearing that as the Muslims do hearing about the ones who get the publicity.

I now realize that these are just the nuts that every religion has, and they don't represent the religion at all. I have very positive impressions of all the pagans here!

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It makes me glad to know that we make a difference here, actually.

Paganism to me, is a very loose set of beliefs, which I liken to mix and match. You find a diety with attributes you can identify with, and you hold those close to your heart. I like being a pagan because I have no dogma to follow. And it gives me sense of harmony with natural processes in the world. If pushed, I feel an empathy with the myths of Isis, Hathor and Aphrodite.

Melissa G

A very liberal, accepting umbrella of faiths. I have great respect for almost all Pagans.

I don't know very much about Pagans, I never actually never studied about like I have other beliefs. I have known a handful of Pagans in the past, and they always came across as kind and caring people.

The ones I have met on here are nice enough people when they are not talking about Christianity. I admire a few of the pagans intelligence on here and the way they conduct themselves, I prefer them to some of those whose religion is closer to my own.

There's some other questions in the OP other than the first one I'd like some feedback on, if anyone's willing

MaddLlama said:

And, for those of you in religions that tend to be not so friendly towards Paganism, do you think there is a difference between the ancient Paganism that was condemned for fear of contamination of the tribe, and modern Paganism today?
:rainbow1:

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What tribe do you mean ?

*Paul* said:

What tribe do you mean ?

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I'm referring to the progenitors of the three major monotheistic religion: is there a difference between indigenous people that surrounded the Jews, Christians and Muslims as those three religions developed and spread, and Pagans today? And, is there a difference between your personal view and your religion's view?

MaddLlama said:

I had a strange train of thought this morning that led me to ask these questions. I'm genuinely curious.

What is your general impression of Paganism, either as a whole or individual sects (or both)? What kind of experiences have you had with Pagans? Have you met Pagans outside the internet, or is your only experience through websites or boards like this one? Have you ever had the desire to learn about (ancient or modern) Paganism, for any reason?
And, for those of you in religions that tend to be not so friendly towards Paganism, do you think there is a difference between the ancient Paganism that was condemned for fear of contamination of the tribe, and modern Paganism today?

:rainbow1:

Click to expand...

I think Paganism is the Bomb I really would like to spend more time on the study of Celtic, Norse, and American Indian religions and history as a whole. My family tree is made up of all of these.

I read the PanGaia magazine just to get a sense of what Paganism is about. I have to say that with my judaeo-christian background, it is not for me. Everyone has their choice tho, and if paganism is it, then let it be so. Being Earth-centred is a wonderful thing, especially since our Mother Earth needs so much care in today's world.

I think Paganism is great! But I'm biased

*Paul* said:

I prefer them to some of those whose religion is closer to my own.

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No kidding? Me too!

Pagans are pretty nice people today, but some of the things I have read Arab Pagans do were really screwed up and I'm glad they're not around anymore. But pagans today are nice people although personally I never really enjoyed New Age stuff and found it kind of pretentious.

MaddLlama said:

I'm referring to the progenitors of the three major monotheistic religion: is there a difference between indigenous people that surrounded the Jews, Christians and Muslims as those three religions developed and spread, and Pagans today? And, is there a difference between your personal view and your religion's view?

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Huge difference! Modern Pagans live in and experience very different worlds to the people who would have been called Pagans historically. Modern Pagan religions are to the old Pagan religions as a computer is to an abacus.

For instance, I read a book recently that was a collection of recorded accounts of witch trials in the UK. Amongst both Pagans and Christians alike the power of superstitious fear, hysteria and the dark side of the irrational mind in general was overwhelming back then. We still struggle with those things in the UK now of course yet compared to earlier Britons our knowledge of the world and ourselves has liberated us in ways they could never have imagined.

If you plucked an average Pagan or Christian and put them in the kind of religious communities that represented their respective religions back in the time of the witch trials and earlier they'd likely be badly persecuted, exiled or even killed because they would evoke so many of the terrors that haunted people back then. If you did it the other way around, take someone from the old world to the modern world, they'd be unable to cope with the culture shock and demands of our society and would probably end up in a mental institution or otherwise living on state benefits. Another possibility could be they end up being looked after very well because of the insights they could offer us of our past.

Anyway, on another subject my personal feeling about Pagans and Paganism is mostly fondness and congeniality. One thing I especially like about Pagans is they are often so earthy and creative in ways that I'm not. I think its because there aren't that many of them and they are quite diverse in their beliefs, so they tend to practice in small geographically localised groups and are generally eclectic by nature. Also, without much in the way of centralised religious authorities they lack the kind of missionary ideals that can become a preoccupation with followers of world religions, i.e. they're very likely to adopt a live-and-let-live attitude to others because it wouldn't make much sense to do otherwise. Its a consequence of a polytheistic perspective too: many gods equates to many paths.

MaddLlama said:

I'm referring to the progenitors of the three major monotheistic religion: is there a difference between indigenous people that surrounded the Jews, Christians and Muslims as those three religions developed and spread, and Pagans today?

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There may well be a difference in the doctrines of those pagans and todays, if they can even be described as pagans that is. But in terms of the spiritual danger the teachings pose the end result is the same, they lead away from the One True God that we worship.

And, is there a difference between your personal view and your religion's view?

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I do not differentiate between the two, they are always the same.