a pagan is an atheist?

Question

atheists don't even believe in spirits. Pagans worship spirits.

I don't think Pagans are atheists at all, it is more accurate to call them spiritists.

What do you think?

god and goddessses = spirits -_-

Biblically, a pagan is NOT someone who does not believe in God. But they worship spirits and not only God, whom they should've worshipped solely because He is the Creator of all. They're not atheists.

Answer 1

Some Pagans worship spirits. Some worship gods other than the Christian god... the ancient Greeks did not "worship spirits," and the modern religion Hellenismos that takes after them doesn't either.

The word "Pagan" is broad, these days; it doesn't have a specific, exact meaning, and there are many different religions that call themselves "Pagan." But most modern Pagans aren't atheists--the word came to mean atheist or non-religious slowly.

"Pagan" comes from the Latin word for "country dweller" or (roughly) farmer--meaning "those ignorant hicks who live out in the countryside and aren't civilized like the city folks." So the pre-Christian religious beliefs of the old Gods got called "Pagan religions". Later, Christian doctrine decided that since Christianity was the only "true" religion, there was no difference between a "false" religion and "no religion at all." So they lumped all other religions, and atheism, and Christian heresies, under the label "Pagan."

There's no way to know what kind of religion a "Pagan" has, unless you ask. Everyone's got a different definition.

My def of Pagan: a person of a religion with an immanent (non-transcendent) and/or polytheistic concept of divinity and rites & ceremonies based on or inspired by pre-Christian indigenous religions, Western occultism, feminist spirituality and/or nature-based spirituality.

Answer 2

Actually, some(very few) atheists do believe in spirits, as in ghosts and such. Atheists specifically don't believe in Gods however.

Pagans DO believe in Gods, for the most part. Those(very few) who don't, worship ancestral or nature spirits. Pagans will differentiate between Gods and spirits although it's true that Gods are spirits, they're a special sort. The definition you're giving is for Spiritists, which are are not necessarily Pagans either, as there are many Christian Spiritists.

So in answer to your question, a Pagan could be an atheist, if he or she were strictly and ancestor worshipper and/or animist. But there are very few of those. Most Pagans believe in Gods and are therefore, by definition, not Atheist.

Satanists are not Pagans, they are a descendant of Abrahamic belief system and closer to Christianity than to Paganism.

Answer 3

I am Pagan, and I worship both The Creator and Gaea (Mother Earth is what you call her) not spirits. To the ancient cultures of the world their gods and godesses were not spirits but Gods, and it is a little inappriate for some one (myself included) to presume to tell anyone who they should and should not worship. I cannot say the Christian God dose not exisit, because I truly do not know one way or another, and the reverse is also true. Just because you feel your God is real, dose not mean that some one else dose not feel as equaly strongly that their God or Goddess is real.

To answer your question, yes you are correct Pagans are not Atheists. Atheists do not believe in anything divine, while Pagans do believe in the Divine. A pangan in old times was some one who lived out in the country side, but in a modern context it is some one who dose not share ones personal/groups religious beliefs.

Answer 4

Worship spirits? Isn't the Christian God a Spirit???? So if you view gods as spirits, then yes. But otherwise, they are worshipping Gods and Goddess'.

Pagans are not atheists, in that sense. They just don't believe in the Christian God (though some do believe in the God of the Old Testament). But then, the Roman's used to call the Christians atheists because they didn't believe in Roman Gods... so maybe we've just come full circle. Kinda silly really.

Answer 5

The term pagan refers to a rural person in old latin. When Christianty was spreading, the heathens and pagans were the country folk who hadn't yet converted.
Pagan is a very loose term in modern usage: It wouldn't be prudent to make too many assumptions about what a pagan worships. There is a theme of following the earths patterns / moons. I've read the guidance that human is too small to get their mind around a whole concept of god; therefore it would be more effective to invoke an appropriate diety for the moment. Kinda like looking at one facet of a diamond.

Answer 6

The term pagan was once used for any that was not Jews/christians. All other religions and non-theists were called pagans.

So, yes. A long time ago Atheists were called pagans. Today if someone calles an atheist pagan they are just trying to be hurtful.

Answer 7

A "pagan" is an all encompassing for many multi-diety religion that was adopted by the Christian faith to refer to any religion not their own. The most commonly refered to "modern" religion is Wicca, which follows the God (commonly a horned god of hunting and all things male) and teh Goddess (often represented by the moon and all things female) and puts nautre above all else (as represented by teh god and goddess of course). Wicca is similiar to Druidism, and other older Celtic religions that probably didn't have a christianized name. While spirits are a large part of the Wiccan faith, it is also a large part of most faithes including Christiany and Catholicism. Pagans are not atheist, agonostic perhaps ( they believe when they see it, boiled down of course) but that could also be used for a good number of followers of any religions. People who follow be Hindu faith could also be considered pagans. So. It would be most accurate to call them what they are. Religious, but they follow an alternate less main stream religion.

Answer 8

It depends on your definition of the word Pagan. Many conservative churches use the word pagan to describe any non-Christian. Society in general however associates Pagans with Wicca, earth religions, Celtic and Norse Religions, as well as Greek Roman and Egyptian Mythology, etc. As in all language we are all free to modulate the use of words to mean something more specific or board of sense. It's your choice. Do you want the word Pagan to mean any non-christian, or only those who believe in other gods not associated with the People of the Book?

Answer 9

Biblically, a Pagan is anyone who doesnt believe in God. An atheist doesnt believe in God or Satan. So no Pagans are not atheists.

Answer 10

Pagans aren't atheists. Athiests do not believe in a supernatual power or god, Pagans belive in Gods. And there are many kinds of pagans. I myself am a Druid, but there are Wiccans and others.

Spiritists are something completely different