What is Paganism

Paganism is a general term which is usually understood as denoting any religious act, practice or ceremony which is not Christian. Anyone practicing paganism is usually known as a pagan. The word pagan comes from the Latin word paganus which means a country dweller. As Christianity grew the term pagan took on a different definition and unsavory connotations. Gradually a pagan referred to anyone not being a Christian; and paganism came to mean a non-Christian belief or religion. The Christian Church has vigorously attempted to eradicate it by implying that pagans are unsophisticated, uneducated and worship false gods.

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "a country dweller" or "civilian") is a term which, from a western perspective, has come to connote a broad set of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices of natural or polytheistic religions. The term can be defined broadly, to encompass many or most of the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This group may include the Dharmic religions, which may be interpreted to incorporate pagan characteristics like nature-worship, polytheism and reverence of female deities, and are thus diametrically opposite to the Abrahamic faiths. "Pagan" is the usual translation of the Islamic term mushrik, which refers to 'one who worships something other than The God of Abraham'. Ethnologists avoid the term "paganism," with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as shamanism, polytheism or animism. The term is also used to describe earth-based Native American religions and mythologies, though few Native Americans call themselves or their cultures "pagan". Historically, the term "pagan" has usually had pejorative connotations among westerners, comparable to heathen, infidel and kafir (????) in Islam. In modern times, though, the words "pagan" or "paganism" have become widely and openly used by some practitioners of certain spiritual paths outside the Abrahamic and Dharmic religious mainstream to describe their beliefs, practices, and organized movements.