What precisely do "Pegans" believe?

Question

I have read a little but not much, I suppose I want personal answers from Pegans.

I've read and know from other sources that the word pagan (sorry misspelled before) means only non-christian, but people are going around saying that they are pagan as a religion and it is confusing me, can some of these people answer and tell me what they mean?

Answer 1

Yes, according to the dictionary, pagan is a non-Christian (or non-Abrahamic based religion). In the times of old, pagan was a derogatory term. Anyone not Christian was considered a barbarian - almost in-human - pagan. Now, today, those of us that follow those old religions or new religions based on the old religions, consider ourselves Pagan in order to place distinction between ourselves and the Abrahamic religions. But like the Abrahamic religions, the Pagan religious trunk has many branches each with many leaves. They are each very different from the others, but what connects us Pagans is that we tend to believe in many gods and goddesses - or at least aspects of such (as some Pagans do). We are also nature based. This doesn't necessarily mean they worship nature, but they revere it and consider us humans apart of it. We are not above nature.

Besides this, different Pagan beliefs are so different that you'll have to research them as individuals. Every mythological group has a present day religion, and I can't pretend to know what the modern terms are for them. There are Egyptian, Greek, Celtic, Roman, Native American, Norse/Germanic (Asatru or Heathenism), and many more! Wicca tends to worship one or a combo of different pantheons in a more modern way. Other Pagans try to worship their gods as our ancestors did.

Answer 2

Interesting stereotype notadummyrat's, 'cause I am Pagan (not a pegan) and I've never done drugs in my life, except for maybe the occasional antibiotic given to me by my doctor when I'm sick. Why is it everybody has to be put into some stereotypical classification when we don't understand or agree with their differences? I'm sure that there are those who claim to be Pagan that do drugs, but that doesn't mean the rest of us do. There are plenty of Pagans out there who live true to their beliefs.

I have to wonder where some people get their definitions from. I see someone got the very basic meaning of the word correct, which is "country dweller".

In the spiritual sense, Pagan is not a religion in and of itself, but rather an umbrella term for many different religions/spiritual systems that share similar beliefs, such as Wicca, Buddhism, Shamanism, to name a few. Much like Christianity has different divisions covered by the term "Christian", such as Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, etc.

According to Ronald Hutton, noted religious historian, the three core beliefs associated with contemporary Paganism are: A love and kinship with Nature, the Divine Masculine and Feminine (God and Goddess), and a code of ethics (such as the Wiccan Rede or some comparable code). I have to agree with this based on my knowledge about most Pagan religions, including my own.

Answer 3

Do you mean "pagans"? lol.
Go wikipedia it!

Well basically the word is often used to encompass all sorts of beliefs outside of the monothesiastic Abrahamic religions (that's Christianity, Judaism and Islam) but mos often it implies a belief system such as a folk religion and is often heavily concerned with nature and the environment, spirits from the earth.

I don't know too much about individual pagan beliefs except I once attended a Druid fertility ritual which to be honest I found a bit weird. It involved heavy symbolism with a knife and a chalice of wine.

Hope that helps. If not seriously just go on Wikipedia.

Answer 4

It's a word with multiple meanings - it does in fact mean any religion that is not one of the big 3 monotheistic religions, but many people also use it to mean more specifically a belief system based on nature or the natural world.

I actually fit both definitions - my spiritual philosophy is Taoist, which is pagan by itself, but I also celebrate the old Celtic pagan holidays and practice a small amount of witchcraft, which qualifies me for the more specific pagan idea also.

Basically I love to celebrate life. I believe in my experiences and in the continuity and cyclical nature of life. I believe in practicality of spiritualism and in the power of my own will over my life.

Answer 5

Pagan is a very broad, general term. There are probably as many beliefs as there are Pagans.

Personally, I believe in a God and a Goddess that show themselves in different aspects; like the Goddess as a Maiden, Mother, or Crone (old wise woman). I feel an affinity for Celtic Gods and Goddesses. I believe that there must be balance in all things; the universe, the world, life itself. There's a lot more but it would take forever to type & for you to read.

You really should read and research some more.

Answer 6

i do no longer believe it is inconsistent with your view of Christianity. The universe is increasing and hence replaced into at one element, no pun meant, a singularity! This singularity replaced into an immensely dense element which exploded. the assumption of that as a great Bang, isn't inconsistent with your view. the problem isn't the Bang, in line with se, however the thought the bang got here from no longer something, that's supremely irrational, or that it replaced into uncaused! Why ought to God no longer have completed it in this form? some might say because of the fact he did no longer point out it, yet he in no way mentions abortion the two, and that they have no problem asserting that he has a stance on that! regrettably, an incredible style of Christians are actually not consistent in what they suspect they could believe consistent with what the Bible says. i might ask them to start thinking an incredible style of what they see interior the church and recommend and ask them to justify there strikes by using quoting at once from the textual content textile. they'll quickly locate that they, themselves, do the very element they are against! i'm a Christian by using the way.

Answer 7

LOL.. I think you mean pagans. By the dictionary, anyone not Christian or Jewish is a pagan. However, I think you mean what is generally meant by someone when they self identify as a pagan. Generally that means that they worship nature, or nature spirits, or may worship one or more gods and goddesses from any one of a number of ancient religions (Druidism, Wicca etc.) Also, some people who refer to themselves as pagan aren't really in a religion so much as they mean that they make a variety of so-called occult practices part of their daily experience.

Answer 8

Ok you'll have to be more specific.
Kemetic pagan? Hellenistic Pagans? Asatru Pagans? Wiccan pagans? Romano? Sumerian?
The one thing we share is believing in multiple gods, but even that can vary. Pagan covers all of these things. Much like Christianity covers Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, LDS, Morman, etc

edit: And many of us have no affiliation with the Druids what so EVER. I am Heathen. There is nothing freaking Druid about it
edit#2 Oh so when the Christian god went through and killed the first born child, that was different? Hey you can't change the story of the book right? TheBible is SOAKED in blood. Get over yourself. At least pagans acknowledge our history.

Answer 9

Paganism is an umbrella term for a wide variety of earth/nature based religions such as Wicca and Witchcraft, Asatru, Hellenic Polytheism, Native American Spirituality, Shamanism, and African syncretic religions.

Answer 10

it depends on the Pagan. the term pagan is something the Christians came up with to group everyone that didn't believe what they believed.
Generally it's any multi-god religion, and includes many mythologies, Greek, Noris, Roman, as well as Wicca, and many others.