Can you be a Pagan and an atheist, or a Pagan and an agnostic, in your opinion?

Question

I ask this out of curiosity, in light of a quesiton posted by bad tim regarding whether Pagans and atheists could get along if the monotheists were out of the picture....

I am curious bc I beleive you can be a Pagan, and of course not be Wiccan, but also not be a theist. I am a Pagan in my reverence for Mother Earth as a very real planet, with the notion of Her as A Goddess being symbolic more than literal.

I welcome your thoughts.

Answer 1

The answer is yes. You sound like a naturalistic pantheist.

I'm a naturalistic pantheist which means that "I believe in God/dess but spell it N-A-T-U-R-E." It is sort of like a nontheistic and rational "pagan". It's paganism for the 21st century and is even more earth-centered than "mainstream" paganism which focuses on magic. It is very eco-centered and Green in focus.

Knowing of the interdependence of nature (food cycle, etc.) as well as the interdependence of actions (ancestors' past actions affect my current circumstances and my actions will affect the circumstances of my descendents) fills me with a sense of gratefulness which I demonstrate both through my actions as well as concrete actions of respect and honor.

We celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. Some of us even do rituals - for myself I have developed offeratory rituals to honor Nature and the ancestors, Sacred Meal ritual, and chanting and meditation practices. These are available in the files section of the public pantheist groups here on Yahoo and on Beliefnet.

Check the links below for more information on pantheism:

Answer 2

Atheist? I don't know. Agnostic - definitely.

Even if you aren't sure whether there's a deity or not, acting as if the Goddess is real can still make you a better person to be around. It makes you more respectful of others, yourself, and the planet. Thinking that what you do will come back to you is a good way to live. You'd be less likely to pollute, to hurt people, to abuse your gifts and abilities.

A lot of Pagans see the Goddess(es) and/or god(s) as powerful archetypes or images but not literal deities. I'm not one of them, but a lot of people do it.

I believe that the Universe (the macrocosm) is quite literally a parthenogenic female being with consciousness, and that the Earth (one of many, many microcosms) is a living Goddess whose consciousness is returning after a long slumber when we weren't paying attention. She's about to get our attention, big time, whether we like it or not. You don't have to agree with that to live in harmony with Her, though. Just imagine the possibility and act accordingly.

Blessings~

ETA: I believe Atheists and Pagans should be natural allies. We have elements in common and certainly have common political and social interests. My experience has been that Pagans are open to dealing with atheists, but atheists are very disrespectful of our beliefs, though I also find they rarely have an accurate idea of what our beliefs really are. That's a shame, because in the eyes of radical Christians, we're the same. It would benefit us to band together to ensure we all get to believe or not as we choose.

Answer 3

Well, an atheist is someone who believes there are no deities, and that the world is determined by how we ourselves act.

A pagan, is technically anything that isn't Christian. To a muslim, anyone who isn't muslim is an Infidel (Someone who does not follow Muhammad; I probably botched the spelling).

An agnostic is someone who really doesn't know if God exists, so they believe that there could be a God, even though they have very little proof to back up that there is one; in fact all any religion really has is a book (a really, really, old one at that).

MY ANSWER: Of course you can believe in spiritualism and not be theists (look at Buddhism), in fact they support the idea that to transcend the self is the only way to achieve nirvana. In essence, a religion is a system of shared beliefs, so if you and at least another person believe it; it can be classified as a religion (kind of a funny thought isn't it?). By those standards, Nationalism could be considered a religion; as well as science, socialism, and any other shared system of beliefs.

I sure hope my answer helps.

Answer 4

I...don't think so. Atheist means that you strictly do NOT believe in any higher power, including Mother Earth. As far as being agnostic, I'm sure you could, because when you're agnostic you're just not sure. You could swing both ways, and you could believe many different things.
And I see no reason why an atheist couldn't get along with a Pagan, and vice versa. It all depends on the person, not their religion. I for one, get along with anybody who is nice to me.

EDIT: I did check out that Pantheist site though, and I'm very interested in it. I've always been a big fan of Albert Einstein, and reading saying's from him on there was very inspiring.

Answer 5

Sure. We have an atheistic pagan on the boards here.
My sister-in-law is atheistic/agnostic pagan. She's said if she met a god, she would change her mind, but she hasn't. So they could be there, they couldn't. But she enjoys paganism and all that it offers even outside of the gods.
Pantheism, in my mind, is a form of agnostic or atheism. It's the belief in nature and the spirituality of it all. Not exactly a higher being or even as a "mother" but simply the energy and power in it.
So yes you can be.

Answer 6

Yep. I know several agnostic and atheistic witches, and apparently witches are pagan - so I've been told too many times now.

Pagan is any belief set or practice not part of Abrahamic teachings- so it is possible.

Besides, some pagans are ALSO monothesists - methinks someone is equating monotheism and Abrahamic based beliefs - not the same at all - Christians, Jews and Muslimes are indeed monotheistic, but they aren't the only ones about.

Answer 7

I consider myself agnostic, I believe there's something out there, but I don't believe ant one group got it exactly right, or wrong. So, I question what the Gods should be called, when it comes down to it.
I know there's a chance they are not really there, but I chose to believe that there is more than life than we know. With the things I have been through, I very simply could say we are alone and have reason to back that up, I don't. Something inside of me can't.
)o( Blessed Be!

Answer 8

Merriam-Webster defines the term "pagan" as 1: heathen; especially: a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient Rome); 2: one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods : an irreligious or hedonistic person; 3: neo-pagan

Heathen is defined as 1 : an unconverted member of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of the Bible; 2 : an uncivilized or irreligious person

So I'd have to say "Yep."

Answer 9

Why not? I feel anyone who falls easily into one label has not fully explored thier beliefs. I consider myself both equally Pagan and Christian. I take what I feel is of value regardless the source, believing that no one way is all right or all wrong. - Of course I take a lot of crap for that too.

Answer 10

I would say you can be Pagan and not believe in deities. I think what defines Paganism is its being nature-based, not its usually being polytheistic. So long as you at least respect nature and honor its spirit, you can be considered Pagan.