Is there a main book of Paganism? (Buddhist, Muslim, Israel)

[macmeal]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

Book of paganism? Actually, there are plenty of them, most notable names are Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler, among many others.

You beat me to it--- Good Point !!

[ADVentive]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

Book of paganism? Actually, there are plenty of them, most notable names are Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler, among many others.

Personally, I find this comment (and the other) rude and ignorant.

[macmeal]

Originally Posted by ADVentive

Personally, I find this comment (and the other) rude and ignorant.

Sorry, ADVentive--didn't mean to sound rude--I'll admit my sense of humor sometimes can "grate". But at the risk of annoying you still further, when I'm standing in the supermarket checkout line with my 13-year old daughter, and three feet away a magazine cover (at eye level) shouts "Sixteen Ways to get your guy to BEG FOR MORE !! Between-the-Sheets secrets !!)--then I find the PUBLISHERS to be rude and offensive....just my 2 cents worth.

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by macmeal

Sorry, ADVentive--didn't mean to sound rude--I'll admit my sense of humor sometimes can "grate". But at the risk of annoying you still further, when I'm standing in the supermarket checkout line with my 13-year old daughter, and three feet away a magazine cover (at eye level) shouts "Sixteen Ways to get your guy to BEG FOR MORE !! Between-the-Sheets secrets !!)--then I find the PUBLISHERS to be rude and offensive....just my 2 cents worth.

Well, I agree, but what in the world does that (or Hustler) have anything to do with Paganism??

[macmeal]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Well, I agree, but what in the world does that (or Hustler) have anything to do with Paganism??

I admit I've never gone into the finer-points of Paganism. The "pagans" as I understood it growing up, was simply the name given by Christian missionaries to the locals they encountered in their travels. If these groups were big enough, proper names were used (Muslims. Hindus, Buddhists, etc. etc.) But smaller, lesser known non-believers were simply lumped under the catch-all expression "pagan". "Pagans", of course, didn't refer to THEMSELVES as Pagans.
This is the meaning of how I understood the term. Building upon this, I suppose, the word gradually came to mean anyone professing to reject the morals or norms of Judeo-Christian thinking. I did not realize there was really a self-described Pagan community. (except an East Coast biker gang, which I'm sure you didn't mean)..

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Predos

I explained Keltic and Celtic, kind of like French and English.

You did? Where? Was it in another thread? I just looked back through this one and didn't see it. Am I just blind?

[Chadly]

Without having read all of the posts here, I would like to mention a couple of things, as a Pagan:

(1)one of the primary reasons so many Pagans aren't friendly towards Christians is because they were often forced into Christianity growing up, and have a knee-jerk reaction. Every religion has its stereotypes and it's fundies, and those are the Pagan fundies.

(2)That being said, many Pagans *do* work through their issues with CHristianity(and in specific the version of Christianity they were raised with that caused bitterness) and come to appreciate the good in the religion and respect its followers.

[Predos]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

You did? Where? Was it in another thread? I just looked back through this one and didn't see it. Am I just blind?

Sorry, I thought that it was in this topic/on this board. Must have been another one. I trust that the explaination I gave above answers your question.

[ADVentive]

Originally Posted by macmeal

Sorry, ADVentive--didn't mean to sound rude--I'll admit my sense of humor sometimes can "grate". But at the risk of annoying you still further, when I'm standing in the supermarket checkout line with my 13-year old daughter, and three feet away a magazine cover (at eye level) shouts "Sixteen Ways to get your guy to BEG FOR MORE !! Between-the-Sheets secrets !!)--then I find the PUBLISHERS to be rude and offensive....just my 2 cents worth.

But what does this have to do with the Pagan religion? I'm guessing (hoping) that we have a different in our definition of terms. When I speak of Pagans, I am referring to those who follow an earth-centered or a Goddess-centered religion, such as Wicca, Asatru, Druidism, etc. What makes you think that Pagans read such magazines or that these magazines are somehow specifically characteristic of Paganism?

[ADVentive]

Meanings of the terms Pagan and Paganism

This is a page specifically discussing the differences in meaning of the term "Pagan". Some interesting points that I think are relevant to our discussion:

First meaning: Pagans consist of Wiccans and other Neopagans:
We recommend that this should be the primary definition of "Pagan," for the simple reason that many Wiccans and other Neopagans embrace the term for themselves. "Paganism" in this sense refers to a range of spiritual paths which are Earth centered -- involving their members living in harmony with the Earth and observing its cycles. These are often Neopagan religions based on the deities, symbols, practices, seasonal days of celebration and other surviving components of ancient religions, which had been long suppressed. For example:
* The Druidic religion is based on the faith and practices of the ancient Celtic professional class;
* Followers of Asatru adhere to the ancient, pre-Christian Norse religion;
* Wiccans trace their roots back to the pre-Celtic era in Europe.
* Other Neo-pagans follow ancient Roman, Greek, Egyptian and other traditions.

Third meaning: Pagans are ancient polytheists:
The term "Pagan" is sometimes used to refer to ancient polytheistic religions. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines "pagan" as: "belonging to a religion which worships many gods, especially one which existed before the main world religions." 18

The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) contains many references to the societies surrounding the Israelites -- Babylonians, Canaanites, Philistines, etc. These are commonly referred to as Pagans

Fifth meaning: Pagans are followers of non-Abrahamic religions:
A rare use of "Pagan" is to describe a person who does not follow an main Abrahamic religion. That is, their faith does not recognize Abraham as a patriarch. The individual is neither Christian, Muslim, Baha'i nor Jew. This includes Agnostics, Atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, Humanists, Taoists, etc. About 45% of the people of the world are Pagans, by this definition.

Conclusions:
* Most Internet references to Paganism refer to Wiccans and other Neopagans.
* Conservative Christians generally use the term Pagan to refer to ancient Polytheistic religions that adversely affected Christianity.
* Other meanings of "Paganism" appear to be rarely used in contemporary literature.