Paganism majority?

Question

Are pagans cults? what's the majority of the people in the world who are and how did it start?

Don't they also do these weird spiritual practices?

Answer 1

Technically, all religions are a cult by defintion. Look it up in the dictionary. LOL
No we don't do "weird" spiritual practices. Good goddess where you ya'll get your info?
Pagans are everywhere. Teachers, mothers, fathers, EMT's...they do everything everyone else does. You'll know us by our tolerance.

Answer 2

If you are thinking like Jim Jones or something like that then, no. (Actually he started out as a Christian Seventh Day Adventist I think.) Paganism isn't about trying to control other peoples will really. At least it isn't for most Pagans anyway.

The word Pagan means people of the earth and that is what we are. Paganism began in the earliest expression of human spiritual awarness and was born out of our dependance on Nature to survive. Our food, clothing, shelter, medicine all came from the earth in the form of plants and animals and the materials made from them. Early humans (and still some of us today) looked upon the Earth as a sacred being who is a nurturing being. She is the Great Mother because all life sprang from Her. That is the essence of what it is to be Pagan.

I suppose any spiritual practice that is different from what you are familiar with could be considered "weird". I'm not sure what you mean by weird. I personally, as practitioner of the Wiccan faith, do not partice animal (or human) sacrifice because it is our mandate that we may "do as we will so long as we harm none". Our rituals and practices are generally no "weirder" than a Chatholic Mass. We sing and chant and sit in circle together. We have our own kind of communion also with bread and wine.

How many Pagans are there out there? Probably hundreds of thousands if not more. Pagan is a very broad term and encompasses many different beliefs around the world. All are very different from one another and each has different rules governing their practices. So it wouldn't be fair to lump us all together under one catagory or hold us all under one judgment.

Answer 3

Pagans are not cults. Pagans are anyone not belonging to the Big 3 Monothesitic religions. Besides nature-based religions, this also includes Buddhists, Hindus, Shintos, Taoists, etc etc. Pagans include people who practice solitary spiritual paths and follow no leader (or deity for that matter).

What would you call a 'weird' spiritual practice? Eating crackers and pretending it's flesh? Worshiping an implement of torture? Taking orders from people who wander off in the desert and heard voices in their heads? It's all in how you look at it :-)

Answer 4

All religions are cults. Seriously, check the dictionary. if you're asking if paganism is a dangerous cult, generally not. They generally do not demand unquestioning obedience to a mortal leader, demand large sums of money, inflict physical injury on followers, separate members from previous friends and family, etc.

Out of 6 billion people in the world, roughly 2.1 billion are Christian, 1.7 billion are Muslim, and about 40 million are Jewish. That makes everyone else a pagan i.e. a non-Judeo Christian, which is all "paganism" means in common usage. As such, it's not useful to discuss what pagans believe or when it started. Every religion outside of Christianity, Judaism and Islam is pagan by the fact that they are not Christianity, Judaism or Islam. Every pagan religion has its own beliefs, cosmology, deities, ethics, etc.

Answer 5

Greetings!

"Paganii" is a Roman/Latin word to describe Folk who do not subscribe to the "Popular Religions" which dominated the Cities.

Pagans, or "country Folk" would Worship as they pleased, with no Tithes, Taxes, or fat lazy Priests. They would give to the Ancestors, Spirits of Place(Rivers, Springs, the Moon..), instead of Humanised Gods like Jupiter(Zeus), Mars(Ares),Mercury(Hermes), which had large Temples in the Cities, and were a source of revenue, tourism, and control, rather than any Spiritual benefit.

Pagans nowadays tend toward Natural Spiritual Belief, as in the Earth Mother, and the processes of the Seasons.

"Wierd" exists in all Cults, as some people have a need for it-Santeria, Snake Charmers, Shakers, all exist within the Christian"umbrella"-Pagans tend to "clean their own house".

/!\

Answer 6

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

but seriously, your question could be phrased a little clearer.
any religion is susceptible to having cults.
pagan is just an umbrella term for any religious path that does not follow the abrahamic traditions (christianity, judaism, islam)
you could say,the pagan religions were what existed before judaism.
what is generally called paganism in the western world are the nature based religions or those that worship a god or goddess.
our spiritual practices are no more wierd than taking wine or grape juice as the blood of christ and the wafer or bread as the body of christ. they are no wierder than seeing someone talk in tongues (i've seen it), seeing someone slain in the spirit (seen it), or seen someone so filled with the spirit that all they can do is run and shout praise (seen it too.) our practices are no more wierd than getting all dressed up for church, sitting there for 2 hours, milling about socializing, and then going about life as if nothing happened.

Answer 7

Paganism to me is a spiritual path. I'm not sure how it first started, I just know it's way older that Christianity. As far as weird spiritual practices - looking back on my time as a Christian, that's weird to me now. My definition of a cult is 1.) Do I have to do something special to get in? 2.) Do I have to change my behavior to stay in? and 3.) Will members make it difficult for me if I decide to leave? If you answer yes, most likely that's a cult.

Answer 8

Hail Eris!

What, like symbolic cannibalism and blood-drinking? Or do you mean the "speaking in tongues"? Anyway, all religions are cults. Not all cult leaders will try to convince you to commit suicide on a vague promise, mind you.

Snarky

Answer 9

Pagans, by various definitions are:
Any non Judeo-Christian-Muslim religion.
Any polytheistic religion.

In any case, Pagans can include Hindus, Wiccans, Neo-Pagans, Native Americans, other aboriginal religions, etc.

Many, when they say Pagan refer to neo-paganism and wicca, but it is not exclusively so.

If your definition is the first, then we Pagans are quite a majority.

Answer 10

Pagan was a term coined by Christians to label non Christians. Christians invented it and used it to identify those they would demonize and destroy.
Some groups now have taken the word and adopted it to identify themselves.