What is a pagan? Are a number of Native Americans pagans?

Answer 1

Pagan is any pre Christian faith
it is an umbrella term that covers them all
so technically ..they could fall under that catagory I would imagine
although I feel it refers more to the Roman/Greek/Egyptian faiths of that era

the NA would perhaps fall under the catagory of indigenous ... along with Shaman , Aboriginal etc

edit
Kallan has corrected me , she knows best on this subject xx

Answer 2

Small clarification to this. According to most religious scholars, Paganism is a classification of various primarily earth-centered theisitic religions and beliefs that are not Abrahamic, Dharmic, or Taotic in origin or basis. Thus, Pagan religions are not Christian, Judaic, Islamic, Hindu, Taoism, Shinto, etc. Many but not all pagan religions are polythiestic, some are even monthiestic or panthiestic, and many but not all pagan religions have ancient pre-christian origins. Some Pagan religions, also known as neo-pagan, are reconstructions of ancient religion, or in the case of beliefs such as Wicca are relatively new religions. Wicca originated in the 1930's, and though it is a newwer religion, it is no less spiritual than any other religion.

Blessed Be,
Lord AmonRaHa

Answer 3

By dictionary definition, Pagan is any non-Abrahamic religion. However, by most common usage, it's more narrow than that, dealing primarily with pre-Christian European religions, post-Christian reconstructions of those, and newly emerging religions.

The NA religions can be classified as Pagan, to some extent - but I wouldn't. In general, the NA religions don't self-identify as Pagan, which is typically a defining characteristic of modern Pagan religions. Also, the NA religions have had some problems with neo-Pagans misappropriating their items/ceremonies/sacred sites, which gets under some folks' skins.

Answer 4

Paganism is a broad umbrella term that polytheistic and non-christian faiths fall under.
If Native Americans practice the old ways or beliefs then yes they would be considered pagan.

Blessed Be

Answer 5

The term "pagan" really just means "country dweller," as opposed to city folk. But it has come to mean a non-Christian religion which is polytheistic. Therefore, most Native American tribal religions would be classified as pagan by those who use that term. It's generally a very generic term.

Answer 6

Yes.

Indigenous non/pre-xian religions and folkways are generally classified as pagan; modern versions as *neo*pagan.

However, most "Red Road" spirituality is heavily christianized . . . the Lakota, Dine, and Hopi have probably been the most successful at preserving their native traditions; the Tsilagi the least so.

Answer 7

Paganism is a large umbrella that covers many pre-christian indigenous faiths.. it would most definitely include those of the indigenous American nations.

Answer 8

Anyone that follows pagan customs like Christmas, Easter, valentines day and so on and so forth.

You can't make a religion out of something that already existed and give it another name.

A rose by any other name is still a rose.

Answer 9

Some have similiar to pagan beliefs and some similiar to wiccan.

Answer 10

A motorcycle group in my area that buys toys for tots at Christmas( for real)
I know you mean the other kind (you already have good answers here) couldn't resist.