I dont understand. What is an atheist pagan?

Question

I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I don't understand. It sounds like a paradox. I'm curious as to what other religions are like. Please explain what the atheist pagans believe in (or dont believe)

)o(
{like i said, not trying to offend others}

i agree with the two people who said atheist pagan is an oxymoron. Is anyone here an atheist pagan? i would really like to know your beliefs and thoughts. I am aware all pagans are different, but i would just like a general idea.

Answer 1

LOL Ok two people have it right. I have two atheist pagans on my contacts that will hopefully explain this for you from thier point.
Mainly, from the answers I have read from them, is that they believe the gods and goddesses to be simply symbols or archetypes. They see ritual and magic as a psycholigical tool to look into themselves and figure things out, not as a force of super natural.

Answer 2

It means believing that lightning is a natural phenomenon and doesn't need to be given a name, like for example "Thor", to be properly respected and honoured.
It's kinda close to pantheism. It means honouring the nature, reveling in little changes, all the aspects, honouring the phenomenons and natural occurrences while still recognizing them merely as physical and chemical processes.

Or so I understand it.

This being said, I don't agree with it. I think it's mightily illogical and I agree with you the phrase is an oxymoron.

Answer 3

Technically, there's no such thing as an atheist pagan.

Pagans are polytheists, either soft or hard.

Even if they see the deities as aspects of a singular meta-deity, they still see it as a deity.

Answer 4

That would be a pagan who views the gods and goddesses as personifications of natural forces.

To me that is a more accurate representation of the myriad forces of nature than a single god.

:)

Answer 5

Atheistic and agnostic Paganism


There seem to be two versions of atheistic Paganism that I have observed. One is "behaving as though the gods exist even though you don't believe in them". This is probably intellectually dishonest, and often looks like cultural appropriation (in the sense of taking something out of its original context and using it in a different way than was originally intended).



There are sometimes also agnostic Pagans who are not sure if the gods exist, but find their life works better if they behave as though they do. I don't have a problem with that. It's worth remembering that Parmenides said (or at least implied) that something exists if we can conceive of it (in other words, it exists as an idea at the very least).



The other form of atheist Paganism is not believing in the gods and therefore not including them in rituals - I know a couple of people who are sincere Pagans but just do not connect with gods at all. One of them doesn't interact with them at all, the other believes they don't have personalities. Then there's all those pantheists out there... Again, this is intellectually honest and perfectly reasonable.



Personally, I believe that the gods exist as distinct identities, but I'm not sure what they are. (Are they non-incarnate consciousness? very big wights or spirits of place? identities within the collective unconscious? - I prefer the first two options, but I still have no idea how they work.)




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
contemporary pagan atheisms in the USA ...
from Margot Adler'sDrawing down the moon: witches, druids, goddess-worshippers,
and other pagans in America today, revised and expanded
(Beacon: Boston 1986) atheism 258, 259, 288, 336


[re. the Sabaean Religious Order, Temple of the Moon, Chicago]
The Am'n [deity/ies] are also used to represent five aspects of philosophy -- logic, aesthetics, ethics, politics, and metaphysics -- and five aspects of theology -- atheism, pantheism, polytheism, monotheism, and henotheism. The Sabaean Religious Order adheres to henotheism as the most inclusive. A henotheist is [a] person who worships one god without excluding the existence of others." ... "Atheism seems to relate to logic (the idea that this is this and that is that). At the point when a person realizes that there is a form and a movement to things, this brings about a sense of aesthetics and leads a person to pantheism (the feeling of a tree, of a flower, of the wind). ...
"Odun [aka Frederic de Arechaga] said that one could be an atheist and still be a Sabaean, although, later, an atheist woman told me that she had left the order because she felt that her views were too far removed from the general conceptions of the priesthood. 258-9

[re. the Church of All Worlds (CAW)] The novels of [Ayn] Rand were seeds that sprouted and bore many strange fruits, most of which must have horrified her. CAW is certainly such an example. It is a religion, and Rand has consistently been intensely atheist. ... CAW began in 1961 [in Missouri] when a young group of high-school friends, including Lance Christie, later a priest of CAW, began discussing the novels of Ayn Rand. 288

Another CAW priest, John McClimans, of the Chicago nest, also talked to me about the church's growth and evolution. He said, "When CAW was started, we used the word Pagan to mean non-Christian, even anti-Christian." But as the group spread out and came into contact with other groups, that changed. "The next thing I knew, i was a real Pagan instead of an anti-Christian type of Pagan. ... There was a change of attitude, a change of value. ..." 297

As McClimans observed, "Most of the people in Atl [a waterbrotherhood of CAW] were confirmed agnostics. They had no use for anyone who could even conceive of a theistic universe."
one function of primitive religions had been to provide refuge and relief; to lift temporarily the taboos of the society -- paraphrase of B.Z. Goldberg, the Sacred Fire, in M.A., DDtM, p 293-4 ... 298

[re. the Erisians, a "Non-prophet Irreligious Disorganization" that is "dedicated to an advanced understanding of the paraphysical manifestations of Everyday Chaos", founded by the Discordian Society, or POEE: the Paratheoanametamystikhood of Eris Esoteric] 331 Robert Anton Wilson, a leading Discordian (sometimes known as Mordecai the Foul), ... 328

Discordianism is an anarchist's paradise. ... Greg Hill [aka Malaclypse the Younger, a 1957 co-founder] has described himself as a "Transcendental Atheist" who has always been interested in absurdist religion and, discovering that the ancient Greeks had a goddess of confusion, decided it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. ...Wilson (Mordecai) has described himself as a "Transcendental Agnostic," although, he added whimsically, "There are many me's." He recently told an interviewer from a science fiction magazine: "I'm an initiated witch, an ordained minister in four churches (or cults) and have various other "credentials" to impress the gullible. My philosophy remains Transcendental Agnosticism. There are realities and intelligences greater than conditioned normal consciousness recognizes, but it is premature to dogmatize about them at this primitive stage of our evolution. We've hardly begun to crawl off the surface of the cradle-planet." 332

... an Erisian notice printed in Green Egg said that the Erisian path generally appealed to those who have "an affinity toward taoism, anarchy and clowning; who can feel comfortable in a Neo-pagan context; and who probably have a tendency toward iconoclasm."
And yet Erisianism should not be treated frivolously. Greg Hill told me his experiences with Eris had been quite profound. Although it started as an atheistic joke, his perceptions began to change.
"Eris is an authentic goddess. Furthermore, she is an old one. In the beginning I saw myself as a cosmic clown. I characterized myself as Malaclypse the Younger. But if you do this type of thing well enough, it starts to work. In due time the polarities between atheism and theism become absurd. The engagement was transcendent. And when you transcend one, you have to transcend the other. I started out with the idea that all gods are an illusion. By the end I had learned that it's up to you to decide whether gods exist ... Eris is a valid goddess is no far as gods are valid; and gods are valid when we choose them to be. The Christian tradition has become so totally alienated from reality in the Western world that people have had to start inventing their own damn gods. Some people [p 336] are doing it seriously and it is validly working. The Neo-Pagan phenomenon is an example. Another path would be transcendental atheism: using atheism as a spiritual path. The phenomenon of Eris is a hybrid between the two. ..." 333

Answer 6

I think they're Pagans who view the Deities as archetypes or symbols rather than as actual entities, but I could be wrong.

Answer 7

a pagan believes in multiple gods

an athiest doesn't believe in any gods.

an athies pagan is an oxymoron.

Answer 8

A pagan who doesn't worship any gods or goddesses.

Answer 9

An athiest does not beleive in any form of god.
A pagan believes in many gods and beings.
I don't think you can be both.

Answer 10

quite litterally- i think that means "naked one who worships no God"