How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

[satanic witch]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

Personally I believe it means a folk religion.

[Orecha]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

"Folk religion" is a good descriptor, as well. Frankly, I'd rather see that replace "paganism" in academic and common parlance. "Pagan" is such a loaded yet diverse term, it's almost useless in practical discussion.

It is, to an extent, at least in the academic world. It tends to be seen as the "more correct" term.
In colloquial exchange, I seriously doubt it will ever fully catch on. It's much easier to say "Oh, I'm pagan" than "Well, I'm a folk-religionist" (or even worse "It just so happens that I'm a practitioner of/adherent to a reconstructionist ethnic folk religion," which is how we phrase it in the anthro world).

[Amunet]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

Coming from a Christian background into calling myself Pagan, I've come to define it (for my own understanding) as a belief system that is not Abrahamic and/or believes in more than one God type.

[Acorn]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

I selected "polytheistic and/or nature-based" with an emphasis on the "or" for me. I personally think one of those two criteria is enough to classify as paganism... I also like the folk religion definition, but outside of an anthropological context, I don't know if it's too broad. People generally have certain common ideas about what being "pagan" entails, and I think the word probably has different meanings in anthropological and common contexts...

[Orecha]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

People generally have certain common ideas about what being "pagan" entails

And it's these common ideas that often divide and alienate large segments of the community. With a strong syncretic/eclectic presence in the US, I know plenty of reconstructionists that have basically disavowed any relation to the term "pagan" just to stop having to explain how/why they aren't Wiccan...

[thalassa]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

And it's these common ideas that often divide and alienate large segments of the community. With a strong syncretic/eclectic presence in the US, I know plenty of reconstructionists that have basically disavowed any relation to the term "pagan" just to stop having to explain how/why they aren't Wiccan...

I have to explain how I'm not Wiccan all the time, and I'm not a recon. It seems intellectually lazy as a reason. And honestly, most people outside of the Pagan community don't care either way...they just wonder where you spend your Sunday morning and whether or not you might be able to work for them on a holiday. Heck, most self-identified Pagans don't care either.

The whole issue reminds me of my kids when they were smaller---I don't want to share my toy with you because I don't like how you want to play with it so I'll let mom take it away and we both can't have it... On one hand, I totally get it....but I also don't really care either way. It just strikes me as funny to spend all this time and energy insisting that you aren't Pagan anymore and when many of those same people (at least the ones on the internet) seem to spend just as much time insisting that Pagans are then doing it wrong. Either claim the name or don't...but if you don't, go form your own communities and stop whining like an ex-girlfriend.

[Orecha]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

I have to explain how I'm not Wiccan all the time, and I'm not a recon. It seems intellectually lazy as a reason. And honestly, most people outside of the Pagan community don't care either way...they just wonder where you spend your Sunday morning and whether or not you might be able to work for them on a holiday. Heck, most self-identified Pagans don't care either.

The whole issue reminds me of my kids when they were smaller---I don't want to share my toy with you because I don't like how you want to play with it so I'll let mom take it away and we both can't have it... On one hand, I totally get it....but I also don't really care either way. It just strikes me as funny to spend all this time and energy insisting that you aren't Pagan anymore and when many of those same people (at least the ones on the internet) seem to spend just as much time insisting that Pagans are then doing it wrong. Either claim the name or don't...but if you don't, go form your own communities and stop whining like an ex-girlfriend.

All of this is why I think we should rely on anthropological definitions. Self defining a community is great and all, but we should probably leave the "hard stuff" to the experts who have no personal stake in it and are disconnected enough to not let emotions get in the way.

A great example is Christianity. Within the Christian community, there's a great deal of debate as to who is and isn't Christian. Is a Methodist really a Christian? A Catholic? What about a Mormon? In the anthropology of religion, they're all Christian. Why? Because there's a set anthropological definition to Christianity, and they all fit the bill. Sure, they can argue and protest, but what do anthropologists do? They take data on the opinions, record the dissent, and keep trucking along with the same definition they started with. That's not to say the definitions don't change -- they do -- but they are not changed due to the wishes and whines of the practitioners.

On a side note, of the billion or so (anthropologically defined) pagans in the world, only about a million define themselves as members of a pagan religion, and fewer still as Pagan with a capital "P." So, yes, they DO have their own communities (and many have had such for centuries, some even millennia), and no, they don't "spend just as much time insisting that Pagans are then doing it wrong" because frankly, they don't see you as part of their religion (and by definition, you aren't -- there is no single Pagan Religion, anthropologically speaking, just many different pagan religions).

[thalassa]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

This is my position on the matter (though not written by me)

[GardenOfShadows]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

I voted that is it Non-Abrahamic and either polytheistic or earth/nature based. Whether one believes in many gods or just in nature is one thing, but the fact that it is non-Abrahamic is pretty much universal. Of course, one could argue that other world religions fall under this category as well, and that they may not want to be associated with the term "Pagan", but that is just how at least 2 of the 3 big faiths view them.

[AnMa]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

"Pagan" is a Christian word for non-Christian, so non-Abrahamic is the correct and/but Abrahamic definition. Meaning "hillbilly".
I prefer to regard it as a label for pre-Christian, European religions, which were mostly polytheistic. But as mentioned before the "poly-" not the point. The main differences between the known big monotheisms and polytheism is not really the number of gods - despite the prefix suggesting that.

[SleepingCompass]

Re: How do you define Paganism? (a poll, NOT a debate :P)

Pagan, to me, is a word of religious freedom; choosing your own path, whatever it may be.