Bad Words

Growing up Christian, the terms Pagan and Heathen have a slightly different meaning than they do to someone who is a Pagan or a Heathen. No one actually told me what they meant, but I gleaned over the years that they described someone that wasn't Christian. And therefore, by comparison, not as good. Christians sometimes have this "if you're not with us, you're against us" mentality. But that's just part of the Christian faith. Christians believe that they are following the one true path to God, and that if you don't follow that same path then you must be unenlightened (or hell bound).

I'm not trying to say anything against Christianity. Many religions believe they are the one true path to God, whichever god that might be. It just irks me a little that Christianity, whether consciously or not, vilified certain terms, that in antiquity, meant something else entirely.

If you were to look at the word's Latin roots you would find that Pagan and Heathen mean nothing more than "country dweller." Here's what Dictionary.com says about the origins of the word pagan:

Origin: 
1325–75; Middle English  < Medieval Latin, Late Latin pāgānus worshiper of false gods, orig. civilian (i.e., not a soldier of Christ), Latin:  peasant, noun use of pāgānus  rural, civilian, derivative of pāgus  village, rural district (akin to pangere  to fix, make fast);

So those are the origins. Let's take a look at what Dictionary.com defines the word pagan as:

pa·gan

   [pey-guhn]  Show IPA

noun

1.

one of a people or community observing a polytheistic religion, as the ancient Romans and Greeks.

2.

a person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim.

3.

an irreligious or hedonistic person.

We'll tackle the polytheism in a second. Colloquially the term has come to mean "not Christian," or to expand that further "not part of the Abrahamic traditions" (Christianity, Judaism, Islam). By this definition we can include most eastern traditions: Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Shintoism, indigenous religions of Austrailia, Africa, and the Americas. That's a lot of pagans. Most pagans, however, do not use the term that broadly. The term Pagan as a modern day term tends to signify religions based around earth worship or those based on the indigenous religions of western Europe.

It's this last definition that makes me a little mad. The term Pagan, whether used broadly or as a term for Neo-Pagans, encompasses many people of many different faiths who are deeply religious and selfless. (For those unaware, the term hedonist refers to a person whose life is devoted to self gratification.)

When I was growing up the term heathen and the word heretic were interchangeable, but I've learned that they are slightly different. A heathen as we've learned is a person outside of the Abrahamic tradition. A Heathen can also be a term to describe a person who follows the religion of the ancient-germanic peoples, most notably the Norse religion. A heretic on the other hand, is a person within the faith who goes against the church's teachings.

I also thought that the terms pagan and polytheist were interchangeable. Which they kind of are, but not exactly. The Abrahamic traditions are the three major religions that are based in monotheism. That's not to say that they're the only monotheistic faiths, they just happen to be the most notable. So, by that logic you could say that all other religions (aka Pagan religions) must be polytheistic. And for the most part they are, but that doesn't mean they have to be. You could be a monotheistic pagan if you wanted to. Heck, you could be an atheist and still be Pagan.

Confused yet?

Today you've learned what the words mean. Stay tuned, because I hope to shed some light onto what the names Pagan and Heathen mean in terms of religion and spirituality.

As always, Blessid Be!