An article by John Beckett titled "Evangelicals Claim Paganism Isn’t Really Pagan" caught my eye recently especially with how recently The Wild Hunt released the editorial "Spiritual warfare rhetoric and anti-Pagan sentiment is reaching contagion". I recommend reading both articles as a contrast in evangelicals believing paganism both isn’t really pagan but at the same time is running rampant and destroying our society.
John’s article is a rebuttal of evangelical Christians claiming that modern day neopagans simply aren’t pagan because of the false claim that all the good in modern paganism is taken from Christianity. Though he just replies to a single article, it’s a sentiment I’ve seen floating around the internet for a long time. In the minds of the authors and similar thinkers, even people who disavow Christianity aren’t really doing so. They’re still trapped enacting Christian values for the most part but with pagan trappings which, as John proves, is just wrong.
The Wild Hunt editorial focuses on anti-pagan sentiment rising with more calls against people being “infested” by new age practices such as reiki, yoga, tarot, etc. Calls for exorcism are up, and rants about “pagan schools” emerge (I would have loved to go to pagan school rather than Catholic school btw). Many of the claims here are people making false equivalences with left leaning people and paganism, a no true Scotsman fallacy that one can’t both be Christian and support left leaning politics.
Where do these perceptions leave us as modern neo-pagans? Are we pagans or aren’t we?
What’s The Difference Between Pagans and Neo-pagans?
Pagan and neo-pagan often mean the same thing in modern conversation. Some say pagan to specifically mean the ancient peoples practicing pre-Christian religions while the term neo-pagan is used for the European reconstructionist religions that became more popular in the 20th century. The term pagan itself comes from the Latin paganus meaning “rural”.
Some try to use this slight semantic difference to quibble on technicalities and say that modern neo-pagan aren’t really pagans. While we may not have the same exact practices and temples as our ancient forebears, many are attempting to reclaim these aspects in their practices from reading ancient tales like the Mabinogi to practicing the spells out of the PGM. Saying neo-pagans aren’t pagan because of lost and suppressed lineage and primary sources is often an intellectually dishonest way to hurt and try to invalidate core identities.
Unbroken Pagan Lineages?
Some early influencers in the modern neo-pagan movement put forth influential but now widely disproven ideas implying witchcraft was more widespread in the past than it is now and has an unbroken lineage into the past. Margaret Murray propagated the idea of a witch-cult existing into Renaissance times. Iolo Morganwg forged documents that build a false history of Druidic lore. Many have bandied around the claim that 9 million witches died in “the Burning Times”, a figure now estimated to at highest 60,000.
The reality is that the vast, vast majority of modern paganism is new or attempted reconstructions of old traditions with no unbroken line to the past. A temptation arises to find an air of legitimacy in the ancient when comparing ourselves to the culturally dominant Abrahamic religions of the last 2000 years and to quash the argument of whether or not we’re really pagan. There’s also something empowering about the idea of the undying flame of an old religion burning bright against being drowned out by Christianity. However, we don’t need lies of unbroken lineages or false scholarly evidence to be pagan. We can mingle ancient sources along with living tradition to create and form a religion that fits us here in the 20th century.
Refusal To Be Defined By Non-Pagans
Begin a pagan or neopagan is a matter of self-identification in a larger movement. Some primarily identify with nature-based worship, others don’t find any resonance or purpose in nature and prefer man-made environments. Some worship deities and work with spirits, others shun this completely and mistrust in deities or await a call. Some work with magic, others find the act impious or not worth the hassle in an overall good life. For every item that makes someone says pagans do, you’ll find people of examples of individual saying “Not me!” in the comments section.
Other may also shun the title of pagan. Some choose to identify with their specific title only such as Wiccan, Heathen, Hellenic, Druid, etc and don’t see themselves as part of a large pagan movement or find being lumped together with disparate beliefs in the larger idea of paganism crass and incorrect. This is similar to the distaste many Christians and Muslims have being lumped together under the umbrella of Abrahamic religions.
No matter the seeming confusion above, plenty of people still identify with being pagan or neo-pagan. Plenty of CUUPs groups are active, and Pagan Pride Days across the country continue to spring up. And just as Christians may refuse to identify as Abrahamic, we can refuse to be identified by derogatory terms such as “devil worshippers” or be told that we’re somehow practicing Christianity in disguise. Again, we reserve the right to define ourselves even if the mainstream culture misunderstands or deliberately misconstrues who we are.