I was curious as to why some people believe pagans to be satanic?

Question

Did some reading the last 2 wks & was just curious about this.

Ancient people lived close to the land/nature. During this time of year they gave thanks for their harvest/bounty. They got together & decided which animals needed to be killed for them to survive over the winter. This was a life & death matter for them. Bonfires – they would all put out their home fires & then light them all again from the main bonfire – therefore bonding the people/villages together. No dancing naked around bonfires or offering up sacrifices.

We celebrate Thanksgiving during the Fall to give thanks for out harvest/bounty that we have received over the year. Families and friends get together to give thanks and rebond with each other. (some only think of Thanksgiving as a time for football & pigging out though). What is the difference other than time & the way things are done?

A lot of churches today have Harvest Festivals at this time of year. I went to 4 myself this year. Why do they have them? To raise money. Why choose the wording Harvest Festival? Sounds pagan to me. (sarcasm here)

They also honored those who had died. They would set a place at the table for them & tell stories about them. We honor our dead by talking about them, telling stories about them. Look at our cemeteries with the elaborate headstones. People bring flowers & I’ve seen people talking to their loved ones while standing there. What’s the difference? What makes one satanic & one not?

The people of long ago seemed more sincere in their beliefs than some people today. It was a necessity & a way of life for them. Today, the reasons behind the seasons are lost & they have become very commercial. NOT in all households however.

Oh, I will disregard any smart alex answers. I'm looking for serious ones. I don't need scripture quoting either. If you cannot answer with logic & reason, please don't waste my time & that of others who can do so.

Answer 1

Look at it this way: Pagans worshipped a mother Goddess and a Horned God. When Christianity began to move into the Celtic regions, they pointed to the fact that the pagan God had horns as a way of aligning Him with the Christian Satan or Lucifer--the epitome of Christian evil. (One of the time-honored methods of conquest is to make your enemies seem evil. It works to this day.)

So, in the minds of Christians, Horned God=Satan. Now, any pagan knows that's not true, but the image persists. Then you have actual Satanists who tried to co-opt one of our most powerful symbols, the pentagram or pentacle. Like the swastika (originally a Buddist symbol corrupted by Hitler's Nazis) the five-pointed star is now firmly linked in people's minds with individuals like Crowly and LeVay.

Those are only two of the roadblocks faced by those of us who try to keep the old traditions and faiths. In fact, much of the old traditions and practices have been irretrievably lost; we are actually re-creating them, generation by generation. People like you, who ask such intelligent and thought provoking questions, make this task a little easier. Thank you.

Answer 2

When Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman empire, he did it for political reasons: the Roman empire was losing power and having large numbers of Christians who he could get to fight in "God's Name" made sense.
However, most of Rome were worshipping many gods at the time and all over the empire, paganism seemed to be the leading belief set.
So, to ease things in gently, the church appropriated many pagan festivals (Yule became Christmas, Eostre became Easter etc) and added many things that would seem familiar to pagans to Mass (altars, incense, chanting).
That done, the Church then tried to wipe out all notions that these practises had ever been anything other than Christian in origin - most likely to save themselves any embarrassment, but also to assume total power - and began to declare all pagans as heretics. This practise went on for hundreds of years, with thousands of innocent people dying as a result, and the remnants of it are probably why Paganism and Satanism are still seen as being the same thing with certain people.

Answer 3

In Britain a lot of ritual abuse is carried out by superstitious people of African descent who believe they are excorcising bad behaviour from their children. It is not Satanism but they belong to churches which combine Christianity with traditional African witchcraft. There was a case of a little girl killed by her family after social workers ignored the abuse, thinking it would be 'culturally insensitive' to interfere - the case brought wider public attention to the problem. You can read about the case through the link below. There is also a still-unsolved case of an African boy mutilated in a ritual in London. I must say I find the second poster's comments gratuitously offensive - and stupid. As for the people here defending Satanism as a misunderstood and unfairly maligned form of worship (I hardly think the 'Church of Satan' website is a reliable source!), there have been gruesome murders committed in Europe in recent years by Satanists, but the victims were not children.

Answer 4

it all goes back to early Rome. To everyone in the world at the time, the place to be was Rome. Pagan used to mean a country dweller. To be in the 'in' crowd of Roman society, a person wanted to be as close to the capital or the center of the city. Kind of like modern real estate values, closer to the capital the higher the cost of the property. To be 'in' meant living in the best place which was the center of the city. A country hick was looked down upon as being ignorant by those living where the action was. Pagans could not be controlled like those in the city so, the pagans were feared and a superstition developed. Over time, and as the christian church grew in power, pagan was a word used to describe all things not of the church which was Rome. Pagans could not be controlled by the church of Rome. We still are not.

Answer 5

People will always misinterpret what they are unfamiliar with ,its an education Dilemma.Satanism is an entirely different Deity to Paganism.The honoring of family members at festivals or celebrations is still performed.Wedding party members still commemorate a missing family member with a celebratory toast . Celebrations are often carried out on behalf of a member of the family who has passed over.

Answer 6

Don't bother. You'll drive yourself mad. These people are bound and determined to belive what THEY want to believe and make everyone else do the same. They have lied to themselves for so long about paganism that they don't even think they are lying anymore.
I'm enough at peace with my religion that I just pity them now. I feel sorry for them that they have to live in such a hateful world.
Sometimes I thinkt hey are just mad because attempting to kill the Old Gods didn't work after all. :)

Answer 7

Dr. What is most correct. The word Paganus literaly means "dirty." It was used to denote peasants and people who worked the country living in villages instead of cities.
"Heathen" (Old English hæðen) is a translation of paganus. The Germanic tribes were distributed over Eastern and Central Europe by the 5th century, and their dialects ceased to be mutually intelligible from around that time. Christianization of the Germanic peoples took place from the 4th (Goths) to the 6th (Anglo-Saxons, Alamanni) or 8th (Saxons) centuries on the continent, and from the 9th to 12th centuries in Iceland and Scandinavia.
Heathen is from Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish", (c.f. Old Norse heiðinn). Historically, the term was probably influenced by Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath", appearing as haiþno in Ulfilas' bible as "gentile woman," (translating the "Hellene" in Mark 7:26). This translation probably influenced by Latin paganus, "country dweller", or it was chosen because of its similarity to the Greek ethne, "gentile". It has even been suggested that Gothic haiþi is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian "hethanos", itself loaned from Greek "ethnos".

Answer 8

During the time of the reformation the christian world was falling apart and most people were reverting back to the Pagan ways. to stop this the church said that Pagans were the followers of the devil and so started burning, hanging, stoning and drowning Pagans. Paganism has nothing to do with the devil it was just the church trying to hold on to power and unfortunately it has followed us into this day and age.

Answer 9

Because of their own fears get in the way of what they can really see.
Lots and lots of people still live in the dark ages and are afraid of new things which they do not understand.
What they fear is always highlighted in their own lives but are blinded by their own ignorance and so believe that attack is the best form of defense.

Answer 10

Mostly ignorance. Since Pagans are not worshiping God, and the perform "rituals" then they must be worshiping Satan. Basically most people have no idea what Paganism is and assume that it is Satanic.