define heathen (no wiki-cheating, please)?

Answer 1

Doesnt it mean a country dweller, someone who lives out in the heaths.

I'm Pagan so I kind read up on this stuff ages ago. I think thats about right from what I remember!
EDIT: obviously I mean the original meaning when taken literally, wea ll know that religous types use it as a derogatory term!

Answer 2

Being a Wiccan, I don't need to "wiki-cheat" to answer this question, having had the word thrown at me many times! When that sort of thing happens, you eventually seek out its meaning.

Historically, the word was defined to mean anyone who is not a Christian. It also spoke to the uneducated and unenlightened. So the word had not only a religious connotation, but an ignorance/educated meaning as well.

During the Crusades, this meant Jews and Muslims were fair game for any Christian with a weapon. In fact, the Jews regard the Crusades with equal horror to the Muslims because most Christians never made it to the Holy Land. Not having a Muslim to kill, they turned their righteous anger against the Jews.

Today the word has morphed into meaning anyone who is not a member of what I call, "The Big Three," meaning, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. If you are not a member of one of these religions, you are categorized as a heathen. The word has kept its ignorance/educated thrust but limits it to simply being enlightened or not.

I believe the word, historically and currently, is an ugly one. It negates the possibility that someone has found the means to spiritual enlightenment, let alone secular education, through a different means. It also, by its very nature, elevates the members of The Big Three to a falsely superior position such that, just like in the past, anyone who is not a follower or member of these three monotheistic constructs is fair game for any kind of humiliation. Taken to its ultimate negative purpose, it can and has been the justification for murder.

I think this word should be expunged from the language. It is hateful - and - just like anyone with half a brain and an ounce of compassion would never use the word "***.ger," heathen creates similar negative connotations through false superiority, plus it makes room for the user to perpetrate any number of horrible acts.

Let's leave this word in the past along with the people who used it to justify murderous behavior. Its use should be dead along with the Dodo and the Latin language.

Answer 3

Too easy.

"Heathen" originally referred to people who lived on the heath (people who lived in the wild upcountry areas). This word only acquired religious meanings because those people who lived apart from the cities were reluctant to give up their old religious celelbrations and practices, and thus resisted being Christianized.

More specifically, it referred to people from the northern european area - Germanic tribes and such - who stayed in the countryside and practiced their old religious ways..

The word has a similar original meaning of pagan, from the Latin pagani.

This is why some current followers of old Germanic religious traditions call themselves "Heathens" rather than "Pagans"

Answer 4

Technically a heathen is a person who has never heard the word of 'God'. An infidel is someone who has heard the word and rejects it. I think both terms could be applied to me. ;-)

Answer 5

Someone who does not worship your particular God (generally either the god of the Bible or Quran) and is considered ill-behaved, uncivilized and barbaric.

Answer 6

Non-Christians. The Islamic equivalent would be "infidels".

Answer 7

Anyone who does not know the God of Creation...ie Jesus Christ

Answer 8

Anyone with a brain

Answer 9

Any one you don't happen to like. It really is that different.

Answer 10

I believe it is someone or something ungodly.