Paganism is a broad term that refers to religious traditions and practices that are rooted in nature worship and polytheism (worship of multiple gods). The word “pagan” comes from the Latin word “paganus” meaning “country dweller” or “rustic.” In ancient times, Christianity and Judaism were the dominant religions in cities and towns, while people in rural areas tended to practice indigenous nature religions. Over time, “pagan” became a pejorative term used by Christians and Jews to refer to adherents of non-Abrahamic polytheistic religions.
Some key characteristics of pagan religions and spiritual practices:
– Reverence for nature and honoring the cycles of the natural world. Many pagan traditions follow the Wheel of the Year with celebrations aligned to solstices, equinoxes, and other astronomical events.
– Polytheism and worship of multiple gods and goddesses, such as those from ancient Greek, Roman, Celtic, Norse, Egyptian, and other pantheons.
– Belief in animism – the idea that all things in nature, even rocks, trees, and rivers have a spirit or soul. Everything in nature is interconnected.
– Use of magic and ritual practices to achieve altered states of consciousness in order to interact with the spirit world. Common pagan rituals include meditation, chanting, dance, offerings, and sacrifices.
– Lack of formal doctrine or hierarchical leadership structure. Most pagan paths are decentralized with practitioners following their own spiritual intuition and relationship with the divine.
– Rejection of or indifference to Christianity as well as other Abrahamic faiths like Judaism and Islam.
Pagan traditions have taken many shapes over the centuries. Here are some of the major branches:
– Wicca – A modern pagan religion founded in Britain in the 1940s that focuses on witchcraft and nature worship. Wiccans typically worship a horned male God and female Triple Goddess.
– Druidry – Modern followers of ancient Celtic pagan priests known as Druids. Druidic practices involve worship of land spirits and celebration of seasonal festivals.
– Asatru – Norse/Germanic neopaganism focused on reviving worship of Norse gods like Odin, Thor, and Freya. It has ties to ancient Norse religion and culture.
– Hellenism – Revival of ancient Greek religion centered around pantheon of gods like Zeus, Athena, Apollo, and Aphrodite.
– Kemeticism – Revitalization of ancient Egyptian religion focused on gods like Ra, Isis, Osiris, and Anubis.
– Shinto – Indigenous Japanese animistic practices with worship of kami or spirits found in nature. Not always considered pagan but has similar nature worship elements.
– Eclectic paganism – Practitioners blend ideas and rituals from multiple pagan paths rather than following one particular tradition.
– Traditional witchcraft – Form of folk magic and divination practiced in rural parts of Europe that predates modern Wicca. There is no set doctrine and witches pass down knowledge.
– Neo-shamanism – Modern adaptation of indigenous shamanic practices involving journeying into non-ordinary states of consciousness to interact with the spirit world.
– Goddess spirituality – Primary focus on female archetypes of divinity and the role of the goddess. Followers worship the metaphysical Divine Feminine force.
– Radical faeries – Modern pagan movement among LGBTQ+ individuals focused on earth-based spirituality and nature worship. Goddess and queer spiritualities play a role.
– Heathenry – Revitalization of pre-Christian Germanic paganism based on surviving historical records and archeological evidence. Worship of Norse gods and Old English deities.
– Slavic Native Faith/Rodnovery – Contemporary reconstruction of ancient Slavic pagan religions from Eastern Europe and Russia. Worship of Slavic gods like Perun and Veles.
– Romuva – Baltic form of paganism trying to reconstruct ancient Prussian and Lithuanian polytheistic religions. Veneration of fire, forests, water and ancestral spirits.
– Hellenismos – Greek polytheistic reconstructionism focused on accurately practicing ancient Greek religious rituals and worship today. Followers worship the 12 main Olympian gods.
– Religio Romana – Similar effort in Roman polytheistic reconstructionism and revival of ancient Roman religious practices dedicated to Roman gods and goddesses.
This covers many of the major pagan branches active today, but there are countless more regional pagan movements across the globe reviving localized indigenous religions and following new eclectic paths. The umbrella of contemporary paganism encompasses a very diverse spectrum of polytheistic, pantheistic, and panentheistic traditions. Most forms emphasize reverence for nature, goddess worship, practice of ritual magic, and personal gnosis or spiritual discovery over adherence to fixed doctrines.
The Bible contains many verses that address pagan religions and prohibit certain pagan practices:
– Exodus 20:3 – “You shall have no other gods before me.” This verse from the Ten Commandments forbids worship of multiple gods, which is a defining aspect of pagan polytheism.
– Leviticus 19:31 – “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.” Consulting mediums and divination is prohibited.
– Deuteronomy 18:9-12 – “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” This passage denounces many pagan magical and ritual practices as abominations.
– 1 Corinthians 10:20 – “No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.” Paul implies pagan gods are actually demons in disguise.
– Galatians 5:19-21 – “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Sorcery and idolatry are listed alongside sins Christians must avoid.
– Ephesians 5:11 – “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Christians should not participate in pagan occult practices.
There are also many instances in the Old Testament where God commands the Israelites to avoid pagan practices and worshipping Canaanite idols when they reach the Promised Land:
– Exodus 34:12-14 – “Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, lest it become a snare among you. You shall tear down their altars, smash their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles (for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).”
– Numbers 33:50-53 – “When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.”
– Deuteronomy 7:5 – “This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.”
– Deuteronomy 12:2-3 – “Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.”
– Judges 2:11-15 – “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.”
– 1 Kings 14:22-24 – “Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.”
– 2 Kings 17:7-12, 16-18 – “All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God . . . They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations. . . They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger. . . They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal.”
Based on these and other Biblical passages, it is clear that paganism is viewed as an abomination and grave sin in the eyes of God. Pagan practices like idolatry, nature worship, divination, human sacrifice, temple prostitution, and sorcery are strictly forbidden. Christians are exhorted not to follow pagan ways or pay homage to foreign idols and gods. Whereas pagans believe in multiplicity of deities presiding over different realms of nature and human affairs, the Bible insists there is only one true God who alone is worthy of worship. Pagan rituals to manipulate supernatural forces are considered deceitful witchcraft and magic stemming from demonic powers. God repeatedly expresses a jealous anger when his chosen people stray after pagan gods or imitate pagan rites. In multiple episodes, He punishes them for adopting the customs of nearby polytheistic cultures. The overall Biblical perspective toward paganism is very antagonistic – casting it as a dangerous spiritual corruption that leads people astray from monotheistic covenantal faith in the one true living God.
While paganism represents a worldview almost diametrically opposed to Judeo-Christian theology and Scripture, the Bible suggests that not all pagan peoples are devoid of truth or virtue. In Romans 2:14-15, Paul writes that Gentiles without the Mosaic law demonstrate the law is written on their hearts, evidenced by their ability to follow their conscience and do “by nature things required by the law.” Acts 17 describes Paul’s famous sermon to the pagan philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens. He praises the Athenians for being “extremely religious” (v.22) and even cites the words of pagan poets Epimenides and Aratus to help connect with his pagan audience (v.28). However, he maintains that the pagan idols ultimately represent “ignorance” of the true God who now “commands all people everywhere to repent” (v.30). This passage illustrates how the Bible can respect certain limited truths latent in pagan cultures while insisting on the superiority of Biblical revelation. There are also instances in the Old Testament of righteous Gentiles like Melchizedek who worshipped the true God but were not part of the covenant nation of Israel.
At its core, the Bible asserts that paganism relies on human imagination and sinful desires that cloud people’s understanding. Pagans are trapped in spiritual darkness and ignorance that distort their perception of the divine. As Paul states in Romans 1:21-23, “Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened…they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” Only through faith in Christ and the Scriptures can this veil of ignorance be lifted to reveal the one true living God.
There is significant common ground in moral values between Christianity and paganism since both often promote virtues like justice, courage, wisdom, moderation, hospitality and reverence for life and nature. However, the theological chasm remains immense. Pagans perceive divinity immanent within nature and manifesting in myriad forms that can be manipulated through ritual, whereas Christians see a personal transcendent Supreme Being who sovereignly governs the cosmos and opposes magical manipulation. Pagans rely on subjective spiritual experiences while Christians look to revelation transmitted through prophets and Scripture. Pagans live according to diverse philosophical ideals while Christians attempt to conform themselves to the image of Christ. At its heart, the Bible interprets paganism as misplaced human creativity rather than divine inspiration – well-meaning but ultimately misguided attempts to make sense of the infinite spiritual realm that have become clouded by limited mortal perceptions and desires. It requires subjugation to biblical authority to properly orient the soul toward the worship of the one true living God.
