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

[thalassa]

We all know that one of the frequent topics for discussion among Pagans* is "What is Paganism" because (as the joke goes) if you ask 10, you'll get 20 answers... I've come across many many many opinions on this over the years (most of which can be boiled down to several broad categories), and figured (since I rediscovered the fun of the poll featre) I'd go for an unscientific survey of our members.

(feel free to discuss, if you want)


*Including around here...where its been discussed in a variety of ways, from time to time

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?4132-How-do-you-define/

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?21-Pagan-101 (I'm totally gonna update this page one of these days...)

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?5413-Modern-pagan-beliefs

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?4346-Is-Modern-Paganism-reflective-of-past-Paganism-Your-opinions/

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?535-Defining-quot-Pagan-quot

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?4132-How-do-you-define&highlight=define+paganism

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?770-Paganism-vs-Wicca-and-New-Age-Thought-Q-amp-A

http://www.paganforum.com/showthread.php?3422-What-is-Paganism

[MaskedOne]

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

Paganism: Huge number of disparate beliefs with sometimes non-existent common ground that like using the same name.

Because, you really should've predicted a variation on my flippant answer.

[thalassa]

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

Paganism: Huge number of disparate beliefs with sometimes non-existent common ground that like using the same name.

Because, you really should've predicted a variation on my flippant answer.

Doest that count as "other criteria" or "definitions are meaningless"?

[MaskedOne]

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

Other

I like definitions perfectly fine. I've yet too see one that I consider useful for Paganism.

[thalassa]

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

Other

I like definitions perfectly fine. I've yet too see one that I consider useful for Paganism.

I think the problem is that people have monothetic minds...

[MaskedOne]

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

I think the problem is that people have monothetic minds...

Well that or I just like being flippant and I'm not looking hard. Possibly both...

[Ophidia]

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

I know it when I see it.

I'm one of those boring people who define Paganism by what it is not:

Not Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Zoroastrian, or Muslim. I'm not sure if Zoroastrianism qualifies as Abrahamic, but it's not Pagan.

[Smokerider]

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

When I think of pagans I think of people who have a spiritual reverence for nature. This 'practice' may or may not involve spell casting. :-) That's a hard definition, anyway and I don't really like hard and fast definitions. Paganism could also include a variety of magickal practices not necessarily connected with nature. Now is a ceremonial magician a pagan? Defining paganism is fun. :-)

[LunarHarvest]

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

Paganism for me is a religious or spiritual belief which adheres to the belief in many deities, and also tend to view nature as being connected to the divine in some way, and generally haven a deep respect, if not reverence of nature. Ultimately I selected "polytheistic AND/OR earth-centered/nature-based", as I see polytheism as a crucial element to paganism.

[LuciaStar]

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

I selected polytheistic AND/OR earth-centered/nature based. Paganism certainly can be non-Abrahamic but I feel when one uses it as the sole definition of Pagan, it ends up lumping practitioners of other non-Abrahamic religions into a label they may not want to be associated with in the first place. This isn't to say a practitioner of those other non-Abrahamic religions can call themselves Pagan, though. They can! It's just I believe it should be respected when other practitioners don't want to be associated with the term Pagan.

So, to me, it's more of a religion or spiritual belief that can be or mostly is polytheistic and/or earth-centered/nature based. It can be non-Abrahamic but isn't always, so I don't include it into my definition much.

[Rae'ya]

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

I'm one of the few people who thinks you can be pagan within an Abrahamic context. Putting aside the historical definition of pagan (because let's face it, the historical definition is now largely irrelevant) I think paganism is an umbrella term covering a number of different paths that are generally non-monotheistic (polytheistic, pantheist et al) and generally non-transcendant.

[Heka]

I got stuck. I know Abrahamic pagans, monotheistic pagans, and pagans who are not nature focused.

Maybe you're just pagan if you chose the term pagan?

[Riothamus12]

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

Any religion derived from the pre-Abrahamic traditions of Europe, the near east, and Egypt either in reconstructionist form or new religious movements such as Wicca. These entail the literal belief in at least one Deity, a certain respect for the natural world that takes on a spiritual dimension, and literal belief in many spirits. Those are my criteria.

Other spiritual traditions have similar elements, but have a very different "feel" to them if you understand what I mean. Perhaps the only exceptions are Dharmic religions which are outgrowths of the ancient Vedic tradition.

[Orecha]

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

From an anthropological view, "paganism" is nearly synonymous to "folk religion" and stands as a category opposite "world religion."
Therefore, there are many "paganisms" or "pagan religions" whose only common ground is simply that they aren't "world religions," i.e. religions with a number of adherents which make up a significant percentage of the world population.

Personally, I prefer that definition. I'm a pagan -- there's no question there -- but I am not a polytheist and, while nature-based, it could be argued that my religion is "Abrahamic" (though we don't see it that way). I share very little in common practice-wise with most pagans I know (or most I've met on the internet), and as a practitioner of a revivalist (reconstructionist) ethnic paganism, I don't even use the same vocabulary as most pagans I know 90% of the time. As such, I find many of the colloquial definitions for "pagan" don't fit me. So even though I identify myself as pagan, I feel that paganism is a loose identification at best. Like many revivalists, reconstructionists, and ethnic pagans I've met, I tend to identify myself by my specific religion first and as a pagan second, depending on with whom I am speaking.

Edit:
I might add that anthropologists generally aren't all that concerned with how people classify themselves. To a person who says they aren't pagan but fits the anthropological definition, an anthropologist will just record their protest all the while recording them according to the definition that fits.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not sure if Zoroastrianism qualifies as Abrahamic, but it's not Pagan.

Out of curiosity, why do you not consider Zoroastrianism as a pagan religion?

[Louisvillian]

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

I tentatively go with "nature based" as per the poll, but my criteria is a bit broader than that. I tend to put "polytheism" and "paganism" into separately-defined but typically-overlapping bubbles. The latter being characterized by a generally spiritual or religious focus on one's habitat or bioregion--nature is only one part of that, and it's not all there is to it. With my definition, I'm taking into account that there are pagans that aren't polytheistic, polytheists that aren't pagan, and pagans that are Abrahamic, just as much as there are polytheistic pagans.

PS)
"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.