what is a pagan?

Question

i have always heard that a pagan was a witch? is this true? is there a difference between a good witch and a bad witch? what is their purpose? does God disapprove of pagan's? what do pagan's believe?

Answer 1

Wow a lot of questions here.

A pagan is someone who doesn't follow one of the 3 Abrahamic faiths-Judaism,Christianity and Islam-so technically the term covers major world faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism as well as other faiths.There are hundreds if not thousands of Pagan faiths.

Some Pagans are witch's some aren't.

There is good (white) and bad (black) magic.Black magic causes harm to others either directly or by taking away their free will in some way etc.

The purpose of Pagans is to practice their religion I suppose.

If you mean the Abrahamic God that Jews and Christians and Muslims worship he does seem to dislike us yes-if the Bible and Qu'ran are to be believed-but only he knows for sure.

Because there are so many Pagan religions I couldn't begin to tell you what they all believe.Some such as myself follow pre-Christian religions-in my case Celtic Paganism.Others follow newer faiths like Wicca etc.

Answer 2

Pagan is a blanket term used to describe a wide variety of beliefs, Witches do fall under this term but they are not the only definition. There is no difference between a good witch and a bad witch. The only thing that makes a witch good or bad is the intent they have in practicing their craft. God doesn't disapprove of Witches. Maybe in the Christian bible, but that could be up for debate, which I will not go into. My God and Goddess do not disapprove of my choice of path (and yes I do believe in both a God and Goddess). As I said, Paganism is used to describe many paths. It is difficult to say what a Pagan believes because of the different paths under it. It's an individual thing. A pagan could believe in just about anything. Mostly a great respect for nature and all that dwells within.

Answer 3

See, now, this is a much better question!

'Pagan' is a term that has several uses. Some use it to describe anyone not of the three major monothesitic religions. A more specific use is to describe someone who participates in religion based on ancient concepts and reverence of nature. There are many of these, and witches are one type of pagan.

The difference between a good witch and bad witch is the difference between a good person and a bad person. Their purpose is generally whatever they believe it to be.

You didn't specifiy the deity in question but assuming it is the Christian deity, he disapproves strongly of paganism, most likely because it was a competing religion at the time that part of the Bible was written.

Pagans have wide and varying beliefs. Some believe in deities, one or two or many, and some don't. They commonly revere nature and seek inner peace and wisdom. Individual practices and holidays vary by tradition.

Pagan Taoist

Answer 4

All witches are pagan. Not all pagans are witches.
Religioustolerance.org lists a host of meanings for pagan, but I view it as any religion that is not of "the Book," that is, not Judaism, Islam, Ba'hai, Satanism or Christianity. This would mean that Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Humanists, atheists, agnostics, etc., are pagan.
More commonly, pagans include Wiccan, Asatru (Norse), Druids (Celtic), Native American, animistic traditions, Hellenistic traditions, Egyptian, shamans, and many other beliefs.
Witches and Wiccans are not the same thing. Gerald Gardner started Wicca, neo-pagan witchcraft. Traditional witchcraft dates back to the old days, and you'll find some witches who claim a tradition back to the 1600s.
There's as much a difference between a good witch and a bad witch as between a good person and a bad person. There is something called "the left-hand path" that applies to some pagan religions. It was first used in respect to Hindu tantra, but more commonly is used to describe Satanism. BTW, Satanism is not considered a pagan religion. Since it is wholly derived from Christianity, it may well be considered one of the Judeo-Christian religions.
As for God disapproving of pagans, well, I'm sure the mean-spirited old guy in the Christian bible and the Muslim and Jewish god, which are all one and the same, do. However, most pagans don't believe in that god. Their god or gods or goddess or goddesses obviously do approve of their followers.
Pagans have such different belief systems that it'd probably be best to check out some of them on religioustolerance.org.

Answer 5

No not all Pagans are Witches. There really aren't good witches and bad witches. Those that will call themselves that only want to either be accepted or feared. I don't care what others say but I don't think that a deity would be so worried about what others religions were.

You can't really ask what Pagans believe and get a simple answer. Pagan is an umbrella term and there are many religions under Paganism.

Answer 6

A witch can be a Pagan, but not all Pagans are witches, and, honestly, not all witches are Pagan, either.

At a high level, anyone who's not Jewish, Christian, or Muslim is Pagan - but there's a number of other world religions (such as Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, etc) that don't consider themselves Pagan. For the most part, Paganism is referring to modern practices derived from or inspired by pre-Christian beliefs of ancient Europe. (There's other religions in there, of course, but that accounts for a large percentage.) Some of the more common Pagan religions are Wicca, Asatru, and Druidism.

There's a wide variety in beliefs among Pagans - sometimes it's hard to give beliefs among a single religion, let alone multiple religions. Purpose, I suppose, varies as well, but on the basic level, it's about connecting with the Divine, however the individual views that.

As to whether or not God disapproves of us? We're different tribes, so to speak, but I keep getting told that he's got a personal grudge against us. ::shrugs::

Answer 7

hi jenny. pagan is a blanket term that is currently used to describe anyone of a polytheistic religion (they believe in more than one god) a witch is a pagan, but not all pagans are witches. some are druids, some are asatru, some are wiccan. wiccan and witch are 2 different things. here is a great site that tell you all about every religion out there http://www.religioustolerance.org/

Answer 8

Not what, but who is a pagan.... yes?

In Roman times a pagus was the smallest unit of land in a country district; pagans were those who followed the beliefs and religions of the countryside rather than the officially recognized cults. When Christianity was adopted as the official religion in the Roman empire, pagans were those who continued local traditions and were thus represented as heathens.

Traditional designation of a practitioner of classical polytheisms. The early Christians often used the term to refer to non-Christians who worshiped multiple deities. Christian missionaries frequently sought to stamp out pagan practices by building churches on the sites of pagan shrines or by associating Christian holidays with pagan rituals (e.g., linking Christmas with the celebration of the winter solstice). The term pagan was also used to refer to non-Christian philosophers, and in the 20th century it was used to identify members of certain new religious movements. See Neo-paganism.

Answer 9

Not all pagans are witches, but all witches are pagans. Pagan means you serve the false god. Theres no such thing as a good witch and a bad witch. They're both witches and they both are messing with supernatural forces. A witches purpose is not really clear but they are on the side of the devil. the true Divine God, dissaproves of pagans. Pagans can believe a number of things, such as: athiesim, buddhism, hinduism, islam and polytheism. The simple fact is you won't find the true God unless you have had an life changing experience or if someone introduces you to HIm, or if He calls you. If you're thinking of being a witch, i strongly discourage you because of the fact is, you can have demonic action take you control and also you are messing with evil forces that cannot be seen. Just cause you can't see it doesn't mean that its not there. Take for example, oxygen. You can not see it, but you know it's there for the simple fact that your not dead, right? Also, it doesn't just affect you it affects your family, friends and everyone assosiated with you.

Answer 10

A distinction could be made that witches are Wiccans and pagans are those who follow one of the many pre-Christian pantheons (and follow their philosophy, rather than the Wiccan idea of a supreme mother and father). God is perfectly known through monotheism. Pagans focus on this single God in various aspects and dress them up as gods.