Is paganism on the rise in the West?

[Wootah]

Hi all,

I feel paganism is on the rise in the West. This would be in line with my expectation that, without a Christian foundation, superstition is the natural recourse for creatures such as us that are made to worship. If you don't worship God you will worship something.

Do any atheists find this trend towards superstition and paganism disturbing?

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andr ... _bolivian/

The UN considering a rock as living. Surely that is just old school paganism.

[Goat]

Hi all,

I feel paganism is on the rise in the West. This would be in line with my expectation that, without a Christian foundation, superstition is the natural recourse for creatures such as us that are made to worship. If you don't worship God you will worship something.

Do any atheists find this trend towards superstition and paganism disturbing?

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andr ... _bolivian/

The UN considering a rock as living. Surely that is just old school paganism.

Most of the Pagan's I know used to be Christian... and I find that comment 'without a Christian foundation, superstition is the natural recourse'.. I find much of Christianity to be superstition.

the link you provided leads to a blank page for me. I did have to track it down.

Frankly, this andrew bolt guy seems to be a loony from the rest of the things I scanned from him.

I don't find it disturbing in the U.S.... since pagans LEAVE ME ALONE, and don't try to legislate their morality onto me.

The Bolivian effort to respect 'mother earth' sounds more along the lines of using native traditions to respect the earth , rather than bow down to a religion introduced by conquerors.

[McCulloch]

The taxonomy of religion is a tricky thing, fraught with minefields. One approach is the egocentric one. Those religions closer to the One True Religion, otherwise known as our religion get classified one way and the further from this religion the subject gets, the more remote the label gets. Classifying non-Abrahamic religions as pagan, gentile, heathen or infidel is one such egocentric culturally insensitive approach.

Why is it superstition to believe in the concept of the divinity of Nature, a manifestation of the divine rather than a remote otherworldly Father God? Why is it pagan to have a handfasting but not to celebrate mass? Why is it superstition to cast spells for healing, protection, fertility, or to banish negative influences but it is not superstition to pray to the Christian God for the same?

To me the arguments by the various groups labeled as pagan, about divinity are as convincing as those made by the orthodox. The difference is that the pagans, as a rule, do not expect that the rest of society should adhere to their beliefs.

Do any atheists find this trend towards superstition and paganism disturbing?

I suppose that some atheists find this disturbing. It depends on where they are coming from. If they are abandoning evidence and science to embrace magic, I would look at it as a bad thing. However, if they are leaving the culturally accepted forms of superstition for various more diverse forms of faith, then it is a good thing. The history of monolithic uniform religions has not been a good one. The more diverse and varied faiths that are represented in society, the greater the chance for tolerance and harmony.


An 1883 map of the world divided into colors representing "Christians, Buddhists, Hindoos, Mohammedans, Fetichists".
From Error's chains: how forged and broken. A complete, graphic, and comparative history of the many strange beliefs, superstitious practices, domestic peculiarities, sacred writings, systems of philosophy, legends and traditions, customs and habits of mankind throughout the world, ancient and modern (1883) by Dobbins, Frank Stockton, 1855-1916; Williams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells), 1812-1884; Hall, Isaac Hollister, 1837-1896

[LiamOS]

I feel paganism is on the rise in the West.

Do you have any data to support this?
That would certainly be an interesting trend.

[Wootah]

I feel paganism is on the rise in the West.

Do you have any data to support this?
That would certainly be an interesting trend.

Anecdotal I'm afraid.

[Gunnarr]

Maybe the better question would be 'Is Christianity on the decline in the west?', this is not a point of debate or opinion by me as it really has no connection for me, but there does seem to be a lot of evidence such as,

http://www.christianpost.com/news/schol ... est-19971/

http://www.opc.org/os.html?article_id=4 ... ZD00NC4%3D

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/societ ... 1bvgs.html

My interaction with Christianity is via christians, and there overriding expressed opinion is the church is out of step in a modern world.

[TheBlackPhilosophy]

Hi all,

I feel paganism is on the rise in the West. This would be in line with my expectation that, without a Christian foundation, superstition is the natural recourse for creatures such as us that are made to worship. If you don't worship God you will worship something.

Do any atheists find this trend towards superstition and paganism disturbing?

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andr ... _bolivian/

The UN considering a rock as living. Surely that is just old school paganism.

I find literalist/fundamentalist MUCH MORE disturbing..in fact. I have no problem with normal Christians or moderate Christianity. It's just when people become radical, that's when I become disturbed and irritated.

Even some Atheists and Agnostics are quite rude/radical/extreme. So what really disturbs me most is radical religion/non-religion.

[Chase200mph]

Hi all,

I feel paganism is on the rise in the West. This would be in line with my expectation that, without a Christian foundation, superstition is the natural recourse for creatures such as us that are made to worship. If you don't worship God you will worship something.

Do any atheists find this trend towards superstition and paganism disturbing?

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andr ... _bolivian/

The UN considering a rock as living. Surely that is just old school paganism.

The short and simple is this, Christianity is paganism, and so are the beliefs of Judea. But as Christianity decided that if I persecuted those who it deemed Pagan, this persecution would purge the idea from its ranks….it didn’t work. So I guess I really don’t know how to answer your question without further clarification…. This is my first post and I am still acclimating to the rules and proto call here, and ironically my statement is what got me banned from “religious education forums.�

[Gunnarr]

"Christianity is paganism", can you please explain more, as I can not see it.

[Chase200mph]

"Christianity is paganism", can you please explain more, as I can not see it.

Answer: Then my friend, it because you have refused to….pick something, anything. Post it, and then I will bring its Pagan/ism influences to light. Though I can honestly say that with so many Christian apologists addressing the issue, and for so long….. I find your response a little suspicious.