BTW, I "officially" asked for a Pagan and Heathen Answers forum. What do you think will happen?

Question

I gave several good reason along with the request.

Wounded Duck,
Those of Asatru call themselves Heathens and they are known for being rather straight forward.

Heathen: One who adheres to the religion of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. b. Such persons considered as a group; the unconverted.

I see the defintion as quite positive if you are not a Christian.

Woody B,
I won't say it is orchestrated, but my Questions on R&S are on page 3 in less than 10 minutes. I won't even go into what happens to answers, but its frustrating to take time and get a true and varified fact, type it in, and have it trumped by a Bible code like Matt:11.2.

Gramatically and technically Neither Pagan or Heathen are religions. Used in this context under their dictionary definition they cover thousands of belief structures. The structure they don't cover is the Bible/Koran three, who have defined themselves out by their definition of Pagan and Heathen.

Answer 1

I hope it works but I'm not gonna hold my breath Terry. I can't help wondering if the fundy trolls won't ruin it for the rest of us. Good Luck

Answer 2

I concur with cherl, that mostly agree but I am a pagan w/ a big dose of Wicca. But at the same time I like the Celtic, Greek ,Roman, Egyptian, and the north and South American tribes all of which have a pantheon of gods and goddesses. Some interest I think come from former lives. The one rule I live by "Harm None". I am very in tune with nature. I often ask a tree to lend me strength. What I really like about being a Pagan is it is not an "organized religion" i.e. Christianity and there are no rules, everybody can believe and practice their own way of which one feels is right. I pick and choose from all different areas and find what works for me. I also use the powers of stones to help me. Most of all it makes me feel free, and a part of the universe.

Answer 3

Most likely nothing. As others have noted, there already is a Religion and Spirituality forum. It may be possible to get a sub forum, but the headache that would cause Yahoo is not small. For example, if there were such a forum then would a question about Thor belong there (where the "Asatru" would be hanging out) or in the Mythology forum? If "pagans" received their own forum, why not Hindus, Mormons, Baptists, Muslims, Taoists, etc?

It would certainly be nice, however, if the mythology forum actually had questions concerned with mythology and answers based in mythology rather than "religion."

Answer 4

Whooooaaaaa
Who says we aren't Heathens?? I am Heathen. If you're offended by the word heathen, I hate to you clue you in, you ain't one.
Isn't family oriented? Good goddess it one of THE most important parts of Asatru!! Kin is everything! Its the center of home and hearth.
We do things the way they WERE done. We keep the CONTEXT and WORLDVIEW of our ancestors. We don't change to suite. It is a WAY OF LIFE. Unless of course you are Norse Wiccan *shudder*. Asatru was never stopped. I will accept the world revival. The old ways in many European countries never fully went away. I know in Lithuania they didn't and part of Poland. My great grandparents were "off the boat" so to speak.
People can think whatever they want about us. I assure you, we don't give a damn.

And to answer you question, probably nothing will happen. I'm not sure I want it to. We ARE a religion. That's why I post in R&S and not mythology.

Answer 5

"i myself worship the old Norse gods and that is a Reconstructionist path."

I am a heathen and I disagree, it was never "de-constructed" to begin with. I also find it suprising you consider heathen "negative", everyone I know is not only proud of the term, we encourage it. I suggest you go to northvegr.org and see what they have to say about it.

EDIT:"The Asatru are fine and good but when the Norse religeon was revived they had to make the religeon more family oriented one or many people wouldn't accept people sacrificing goats to the gods on certain days of the year"

really? then what of the heathens that DO blót according to the old ways? I personally know of some that still do it, not every time but at least a few times a year. And what do you mean by "family oriented"? You say you worship...odd choice of words...the norse gods, if you knew heathenry/asatru you would know that family/kinship is stressed as one of....if not THE... the most important aspects of our faith, we ARE family oriented, we practice ancestor worship for pete sakes as part of our beliefs, are you asatru/heathen or are you something else that likes to dabble? since you chose a Wikipedia link and not something from a reputable source I would say your a dabbler.

"so yes the Asatru are based on some Norse customes but not the ones that are thought of as brutal"

see above, and what exactly are the other "brutal ones"???

"because they want to have a friendly family oriented appearance, there are some people who follow the old ways very strictly."

Again, family is everyhting to heathens so insinuating that they are bastardizing heathenry to conform to some "family friendly PG Disney mentality" is ridiculous


"Probably nothing. I moderate a yahoo group for academic minded pagans and we got moved to adult romance once."

Ouch......................

Answer 6

I really hope you get it! I don't think it'd take much for Yahoo! A to put one up.

And about the word "heathen" yes it does have negative connotations but so did pagan a few years back now it's a a legitimate type of person.

Answer 7

Probably nothing. I moderate a yahoo group for academic minded pagans and we got moved to adult romance once.

That said, it's a great idea. I hate being relegated to "mythology and folklore" or asked what the heck i am doing in the religion and spirituality forum since I am not Christian.

Answer 8

Yes the word Heathen is a very negative word perhaps you should have called it Pagan & Reconstructionist Beliefs, i myself worship the old Norse gods and that is a Reconstructionist path.

The Asatru are fine and good but when the Norse religeon was revived they had to make the religeon more family oriented one or many people wouldn't accept people sacrificing goats to the gods on certain days of the year, so yes the Asatru are based on some Norse customes but not the ones that are thought of as brutal because they want to have a friendly family oriented appearance, there are some people who follow the old ways very strictly.

Answer 9

but there's already a "Religion & Spiritually" section. Just post in there with the other faiths and religions surely? Or am I missing something here?

Answer 10

I would love to see it included in the category section as it is, in my opinion, to vague right now classing things all together in "Mythology and Folklore".

Glad to see someone step up and try to make a change.

Answer 11

I'm kinda surprised it didn't work like a Christian magnet.

I don't think anyone can "Officially" request any type of answer. i guess you can try