I'm not saying pagans are mean spirited, just have heard other people suggest so.
2007-01-04 08:39:25 · 25 answers · asked by Moon Goddess 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Wicca is just one of the many pagan religions. Pagans in general, are peaceful and do not proselitize. We believe all spiritual paths lead to diety.
Christian churches have been responsibilie for the many misconceptions about pagans. They feel they have to demonize us to make sure their members are not inticed by our beleifs.
Satan and demons are the creation of christianity and we neither acknowledge their existance nor do we worship them.
I have been pagan 6 years, 3 of those in Wicca and over 30 in christianity. I have seen more mean spirited people in Christianity than in paganism.
2007-01-04 08:56:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Wiccans are Pagans... but not all Pagans are Wiccans. And I can be meanspirited... depends on how I am treated and why I'm being treated that way. For the most part, you will find mean people in any group you run across... it's just part of life. So I would say Pagans are just like any other group of people.
Reconstructionist Pagan
2007-01-04 08:58:31 · answer #2 · answered by Kithy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You have two questions here.
Pagan is a term used to reference all cultures and/or religions/spirituality's that consider themselves "earth based" but does not include those religions that have self defined themselves, such as Hindus, Buddhists or Native American Spirituality's etc. While the "Christian Church" wants to define "pagan" as anything not of the "big three" religions (Christian, Jewish or Muslim), pagans respect the rights of a culture or religion to self definition, and honor them for their individuality.
Wicca, however, is a specific religion. Usually it is included under the pagan heading, but it is an official 501c3 religion, as are some Druidic Groves and Asatru Churches.
Now, about pagans being mean spirited - that would be an individual issue, just as there are mean spirited Christians, Moslem's and Jews, as well as a few atheists and such. That is a social problem with the individual and is not confined to a specific culture, religion or spirituality.
Does this help?
2007-01-04 08:57:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
PEOPLE are mean spirited... it's not the fault of the religion necessarily.
Pagans are similar in a lot of ways to Wiccans, except that Wiccans work with the natural world to work spells, divinations, etc. in ritual. Pagans just sort of worship without manipulating the natural world to make things happen. Hope this helps some.
_()_
2007-01-04 08:46:39 · answer #4 · answered by vinslave 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pagan originally meant a country dweller. Early Christians used the word to denote someone who had not converted to their new religion. Today, there are those who are reviving some of the beliefs, deities and practices that were once practiced by those the Christians labeled as "pagan". To make things clearer, many people use the term "neo-pagan" to distinguish themselves from the ancient peoples because our worldviews and practices are different. Neo- simply means new. There are many different neo-pagan religions:
Wicca, Neo-Wicca, Thelema, Shamanism, Druidry, Satanism, Hellenismos, Kemeticism, Asatru, Celtic Reconstructionism, Religio Romana, and many more that I don't know about as well as many different metaphysical paths.
There are also many different kinds of magical systems:
The Golden Dawn, chaos magic, voodoo, kitchen witchery, etc.
Rhiamon: Pagan really just means non-Christian. They may or may not worship deities. The second meaning for Pagan is polytheist, meaning that they believe in/worship many deities. Most people who use the word Pagan to describe themselves mean neo-pagan, or polytheist and they worship more than one deity.
2007-01-04 09:18:32 · answer #5 · answered by Witchy 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wicca is a more specific form of Paganism, like being Baptist is a specific form of Christianity (though I'd rather not compare us to Christianity, since we're nothing alike). That's not an exact analogy, but it's the closest I can think of right now. True Pagans will absolutely not be mean spirited. You might be dealing with teenagers who just call themselves Pagan or Wiccan to rebel, or because it's cool.
)O(
2007-01-04 08:42:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I found a site that wrote a bit about the difference between the two, a bit more into depth.
Instead of copy/pasting I'll just leave the link:
http://experts.about.com/q/Pagan-Wiccan-Religion-3207/Pagan-vs-Wiccan-1.htm
2007-01-04 08:47:32 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most Christians would tell you that Wicca is a pagan religion.
Paganism isn’t just one religion. It is a term that describes many religions. Some people would say Hinduism and Buddhism are pagan religions. The ancient Greek religion was a pagan religion.
Of course, pagans aren’t just mean spirited. That would be like saying “all black people are stupid.” Its just ignorant.
2007-01-04 08:43:20 · answer #8 · answered by A 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Pagan is a general term, Wiccan is specific. Hence all Wiccans are Pagans but not all Pagans are Wiccans.
2007-01-04 08:41:12 · answer #9 · answered by mzJakes 7 · 6⤊ 1⤋
All Wiccans are Pagan, not all Pagans are Wiccan. Wicca is a branch of paganism that deals mainly with the Goddess. Pagans can be from Norse, Greek, Native American or any other branch (or combinations there of).
2007-01-04 08:41:06 · answer #10 · answered by sister steph 6 · 7⤊ 2⤋