Re: Responses to the "Paganism is Outdated" Argument
Christianity developed as an offshoot of Judaism. Judaism (a contemporary of ancient pagan religion) developed from another pagan religion. At best, all of contemporary Paganism (unless one is practicing one of the few surviving pagan religions) is about 70-80 years old. Even if one is a strict reconstructionist, the sheer fact of being a modern human being makes it a modern religion--you can't ever go back and recreate the ecological and cultural conditions that recreate the mindset of an original practitioner. So, being that historical pagan religions are contemporaries of both Christianity and the religions it evolved from AND contemporary Paganisms are as new (or old) as newer Christian denominations, I'd just look at them pityingly, shake my head, and tell them they don't know what they are talking about.
Christianity developed as an offshoot of Judaism. Judaism (a contemporary of ancient pagan religion) developed from another pagan religion. At best, all of contemporary Paganism (unless one is practicing one of the few surviving pagan religions) is about 70-80 years old. Even if one is a strict reconstructionist, the sheer fact of being a modern human being makes it a modern religion--you can't ever go back and recreate the ecological and cultural conditions that recreate the mindset of an original practitioner. So, being that historical pagan religions are contemporaries of both Christianity and the religions it evolved from AND contemporary Paganisms are as new (or old) as newer Christian denominations, I'd just look at them pityingly, shake my head, and tell them they don't know what they are talking about.
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