what classifies somebody as a pagan?

Question

Is being pagan a religion? or are there other types of religions that are considered pagan religions? what's the point of being pagan? what do you do as a pagan?

Answer 1

Your question is not a simple one to answer. There are so many belief systems in the world that it would be impossible to answer what a pagan does. Mainly, being pagan means having beliefs which are not exclusively Jewish, Christian or Muslim. These 3 all have a base in the Old Testament. One of the things that I find interesting about this is that each of the 3 that I mentioned believe the other 2 to be pagan. However, the pagan community believes that anyone other than those 3 are pagan.

Being a pagan can be a religion. Wicca, Shamanism, Druidism and Native American beliefs (and many others) are religions. Within these are also many different sects. Many others, who consider themselves pagan, are not of any particular religion. They combine portions of many religions to form a belief system of their own. Most, but not all, are earth based religions. That does not mean that they worship trees or animals but that they understand the importance of everything to everything else.

As to the point of being a pagan. What is the point of any belief system? It is what you feel to be true. It is what you believe in. It is a part of who you are. This is true of all belief systems, not just being pagan.

Answer 2

A pagan is somebody who does not belong to one of the three "big" monotheistic religions. Obviously this is a very ethno-centric notion.
So for Christians, everybody except Jews and Muslims are pagans.
For Jews, it's all but Christians and Muslims and for the latter only Christians and Jews are not pagans.
It makes you wonder whom pagans consider "pagans".

Answer 3

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "a country dweller" or "civilian") is a blanket term which has come to connote a broad set of western spiritual or religious beliefs and practices of natural or polytheistic religions, as opposed to the Abrahamic monotheistic religions. "Pagan" is the usual translation of the Islamic term mushrik, which refers to 'one who worships something other than God'. Ethnologists do not use the term for these beliefs, which are not necessarily compatible with each other: more useful categories are shamanism, polytheism or animism. Often, the term has pejorative connotations, comparable to heathen, infidel and kafir (كافر) in Islam.

Answer 4

Pagans are basically people who do not belong to one of the "big three" religions (Judaism, Christian, or Islam).

The term is often used in a derogatory fashion by members of the "big three" towards others ... as it is sinful to be anything other than their religion.

Answer 5

Being pagan is having faith in the old religions;

Answer 6

Being pagan is the same thing as calling someone a christian. It covers a wide base of sub-religions, like Wicca or Shamanism, just like Christian covers sub-religions like Baptist and Methodist.

Answer 7

Pagan is a fairly generic term. It can mean someone who follows gods in old traditions or someone who believes in nature as a god of sorts. There are other meanings as well. See the source below for more information.

Answer 8

Pagan is actually a religion based mainly on nature. However, Christian scholars misuse the word to mean all non-traditional religions (Judaism, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist).

Answer 9

Pagans are those who associate Deity with One God.

Answer 10

A belief in a non-Judeo-Christianty deity makes one a pagan.

Paganism can be a religion.

As to what the point is and what they do, you'd have to ask a pagan, which you are apparently trying to do.