5 Common Misconceptions About Pagan Beliefs

While there are many connotations to the word Pagan, it typically refers to people who follow ancient religious beliefs and practices. It is only in modern times that the word pagan has come to mean "not Christian." A good comparison is to look at Christianity, where Catholics and Protestants are both separate religions, but they are both Christian. Likewise, there are any number of ancient religions that are grouped together under the umbrella of Paganism. Druids, Wiccans, and Shamans are all followers of Paganism, or ancient belief systems. They are also considered to be "Earth religions" since their spiritual practices tend to reflect nature and the cycle of life. Modern day Pagans refer to themselves as "Neopaganists" which literally means "New Pagans."

Pagans are typically vilified for their beliefs, as though they are less important than modern day religious beliefs. The lack of understanding of Pagan beliefs has led to many misconceptions. Here is a look at a few of them:

1. Pagans are polytheists. That means that they believe in many gods, instead of one god. While the ancient Greeks were polytheists, that does not mean that all Pagans are polytheists. Many people consider the Christian faith to have adopted many Pagan beliefs, and to have based their practices on them. Many Pagans are monotheists or pantheists.

2. Pagans are witches, or Satan worshipers. While Wicca is considered to be a Pagan religion, Wiccans do not believe in Satan, so would hardly worship him. Most "Satan worship" is actually a myth.

3. Pagans are uneducated. This is actually a comical misconception, since the topic of religion was typically discussed in the realm of philosophy, which is one of the oldest areas of study in human history. Many of today's fields of science stemmed from philosophy, which was introduced to society by the Greeks, who were Pagans and Polytheists.

4. Pagans are immoral. Pagans are often thought of as immoral because they do not believe in the Bible. I don't have an explanation for that, although I don't think that there is a valid argument for it. The ancient Greeks and Romans had a complex social justice system, upon which ours is based.

5. Pagans believe in magic. Pagans base their religion on living in harmony with the earth. I am pretty sure that they don't believe in magic any more than followers of other religions do.

Those are just a few misconceptions about Pagan beliefs, but there are many more, about pagans as well as followers of other faiths. One thing that they all appear to teach is tolerance, so take that to heart, and let people follow the faith that they will.