What Is Paganism?

When comparing Wicca to Christianity there can be found a few similarities and many differences. To give a better understanding into the comparison of Wicca and Christianity this paper will focus on how the practitioners of each religion create order and meaning within their belief systems; their central beliefs and deities; their ritual practices and ethical views; and other differences and/or similarities between the two.

Catholics are strictly monotheists, the belief that is only one true God (“Basic Tenets of Catholicism”). Catholics believe their god created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh. Pagans are polytheists, the belief that there are multiple Gods (“Pagan Beliefs”). Pagans have a god representing each day of the week, such as Tiu for Tuesday

The second theme I explored was the nature of the religious world. This theme includes non-human actors, religious communities, and religious landscapes. Pagans believe in all sorts of different non-human actors. A non-human actor is something that’s not human, but you still believe in or talk too. Pagans believe in polytheism, meaning they believe in multiple gods or goddesses. These gods and goddesses are considered non-human actors. However, “there is no single deity or set of dieties whom they worship” (Magliocco 97). Another non-human actor they believe in are ancestral spirits. They believe their ancestors come back as spirits. They honor these ancestral spirits by worshipping them in their domestic worship practice. Religious communities are a big part of Paganism mainly because the religion is made up of different communities. Some of these communities include Wiccans and other religious groups. However, not every group focuses on the same beliefs, but they do share some commonalities. These religious communities are

One of the youngest amongst the major world religions, is a monotheistic religion that originated in South Asia (sub-continental India) during the 15th century. Founded by by the first guru Nanuk

Witchcraft is a religion. Wicca is one type of Witchcraft, but the term "Wicca" is occasionally applied to Witchcraft in overall. In the United States, most people who practice this religion call themselves Witches or Wiccans. It is an earth-based religion and in some ways is similar to Native American spirituality. Wicca (sometimes called Wicce, The Craft, or The Old Religion) is based on an ancient religion of love for life and nature. The religion of Witchcraft or Wicca is recognized by most state governments, the federal government, and the United States Armed Forces. The courts have recognized the right of even prisoners to practice this religion on an equal basis with other religions. In ancient times, people appreciated the great forces of Nature and celebrated the seasons’ cycles and the moon. They saw spirituality in the sun and moon and in the Earth Herself. Basically, in all life.

A Religion where spells are acceptable, the earth is celebrated and nature is a basic mold of the major concepts, paganism. The word "pagan" originates from the Latin term paganus which is defined as country dweller, at one point any person not being an active Christian was considered to be a pagan. Pagan followers have a different view on life, such as they believe in the natural forces of the earth, and consciously try to live with it. Another example illustrating how unique this religion is the fact that pagans are polytheistic, but have the one chief god that rules over the others, it's contradicting that a pagan can also have no belief in any one god. An interesting concept about this religion is that you are not told a certain way,

     Wicca and Pagan are two religions, which have many similarities as well as many differences within each area. Wicca is a sect of Pagan in which each has their own variations on the religion. A good way to put it; all Wiccans are Pagan, but not all Pagans are Wiccan. Witch is a term used for any practitioner of Wicca. The Webster's II Dictionary defines witch as 1. A woman who practices sorcery or is believed to have dealings with the devil, 2. An ugly, vicious old woman; hag. Wicca is described by the American Heritage Dictionary as the cult of witchcraft. Pagan is the religion under which many different religions are practiced. Webster's II Dictionary defines pagan as one who does not

When people hear about the Wiccan religion they think of potions, magic spells, and pointy hats. Wiccans have suffered through many tortures of non-pagan religions for thousands of years. Yet they never gave up on their rituals and beliefs. Wiccans are often depicted as atrocious beings who only wish to harm people. It is important for people with such prejudice beliefs to know about all of the common misconceptions, the origin, and the beliefs of Wiccans.

Prior to the work of St. Boniface in central Germany from 716 to 754 A.D., the local Hessian and Thuringian people worshiped pagan gods and honored living things essential to daily life, such as the oak trees of the surrounding forests, which provided everything from building materials to nuts for food. Though Christianity had been introduced to this area, the current practice was actually heresy because people practiced a blend of Christian and pagan beliefs and rituals. St. Boniface not only returned Catholicism to Germany, but kept heresy, the Church’s main challenge during this time period, out of central Germany.

You had brought up an excellent point that all religions are very similar to each other. Many traditions in Christianity today come from Pagan origins. This is not surprising as "... Pagans as a religious group collapsed under the pressure of the ever growing Christian community" (Norris, 1996, p. 9). Some Pagan traditions include, cutting pieces of trees in December usually evergreens (Robinson, 2015). This was in recognition of the winter solstice which is the shortest day of the year, many had believed that the sun may never appear again and the evergreens contained powers because they stayed green all year around (Norris, 2015). "The ancient Pagan Romans decorated their 'trees with bits of metal and replicas of their god, Bacchus [a

Wica is the basic belief where individuals have the ability to follow their own inspiration and vision while seeking faith. In order to fully grasp wicca, the understanding of the Pagan religion is highly recommend. Pagan religion are characterized by the importance of nature to its followers. It is also important to note that's pagans worship any Gods, so classifying

The following paper will talk about Wicca and Paganism as a religion within the United States. Wicca is a diverse community as a religion, but is not yet considered by any Supreme court case but some aspects such as traditions are recognized by the federal and state courts. This will be further touched upon further later on.

Asatru is a religion that has close ties with Norse mythology. The name of the religion, Asatru, is a twofold word that gets it’s meaning from Old Norse. The first half of the word, Asa, means Gods and Goddesses and the second half Tru, means to have faith or belief in. Altogether Asatru means to have faith in the gods. Asatru can be considered part of the Neo-pagan family of religion since it has to do with Norse Heathenism.

The Pagan religion has been around for forever and is thought to originate from Europe. Paganisms traditions place an importance or homage for nature. Most Pagan groups can trace their roots to around the 1960s. Paganism is not a traditional religion because it does not have any official ideology, but it does have some familiar traits. Growth in the Pagan religion is thought to be based off of the cycles of the earth and the earth’s ecological status.

This is known as Druidy. Druid beliefs is to be which to be free of dogma and doesn't have a fixed set of practice or beliefs. For this way it manages a way of avoids any problems with intolerance’s and sectarianism that it established any religions that it has encountered and a way of manages to offer a spiritual path. The etymologically term "Druid" terms comes from the Celtic compound 'dru-wid' which refers to the phrase "they who know the oak", it was translated through Latin, French, Gaulish and the finally in to English it is the term that we finally use practitioners of Druidry.