Are Pagans Pagan?

[vulcanlogician]

Imagine lecturing a Pagan on how to define Paganism and then misspelling it "paganism."

Sigh.

Sorry. I probably should have began with the fact that I am mostly just spitballing all of the time. When I say stuff.

I'm not convinced that my last post was a total fail. But if I was lecturing a pagan on how to define paganism that's pretty much bull****, and I concur that no one ought to take it seriously.

 

[Quintessence]

Sorry. I probably should have began with the fact that I am mostly just spitballing all of the time. When I say stuff.

I'm not convinced that my last post was a total fail. But if I was lecturing a pagan on how to define paganism that's pretty much bull****, and I concur that no one ought to take it seriously.

Nah, don't worry about it. I just get seriously annoyed at the routine failure to capitalize Paganism when talking about religious movements. Because it should be capitalized. Like every other religion or religious movement. Something as basic as capitalizing our religious demographic has been a ongoing battle for contemporary Pagans. It's ridiculous. No other religious demographic has this problem. So basically, whenever someone fails to capitalize Paganism I'll assume they're NOT talking about religion, they're talking about outsiders and people to hate.

Because.
Religions.
Are.
Capitalized.

 

[vulcanlogician]

Because.
Religions.
Are.
Capitalized.

Yeah. Capitalization is a serious issue I have with religion. I capitalize "God" out of respect but what about pronouns? Should I be capitalizing "He" and stuff like that? I refuse. I will never capitalize a pronoun. And is it needful that I do? I say no.

 

[Quintessence]

Yeah. Capitalization is a serious issue I have with religion. I capitalize "God" out of respect but what about pronouns? Should I be capitalizing "He" and stuff like that? I refuse. I will never capitalize a pronoun. And is it needful that I do? I say no.

I'll capitalize pronouns where I'm specifically referencing a proper noun after referencing said proper noun earlier in the writing. Usually not, though - most of the gods I worship don't have gendered pronouns and I'll just restate one of the many countless names for that god/spirit instead. I've seen some other polytheists do it though, sometimes. It is a way of paying respects and showing devotion. Certainly not needful for the non-devoted though I suppose it shows respect for the cultural traditions of others to follow their conventions. It's an easy thing to do but often forgotten, sometimes by myself too.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Nah, don't worry about it. I just get seriously annoyed at the routine failure to capitalize Paganism when talking about religious movements. Because it should be capitalized. Like every other religion or religious movement. Something as basic as capitalizing our religious demographic has been a ongoing battle for contemporary Pagans. It's ridiculous. No other religious demographic has this problem. So basically, whenever someone fails to capitalize Paganism I'll assume they're NOT talking about religion, they're talking about outsiders and people to hate.

Because.
Religions.
Are.
Capitalized.

The problem lies in the fact that there is an application for the word that describes non-Abrahamic beliefs, and in that application, it is lower case.

For example, I am a Hindu, and Hinduism is a pagan religion, but it is not contemporary Paganism, so in the case of describing Hinduism, pagan is not capitalized.

In my experience, people conflate the two terms more often than not. Even Pagans.

Yeah. Capitalization is a serious issue I have with religion. I capitalize "God" out of respect but what about pronouns? Should I be capitalizing "He" and stuff like that? I refuse. I will never capitalize a pronoun. And is it needful that I do? I say no.

There is a similar case with gods. The God of Abraham, for example, is capitalized, because it's a name...a proper noun, but when talking about gods in general, it is a common nouns. For example, Shiva is a god. For Shaivites he is God.

When using pronouns for the God of Abraham, when speaking to Abrahamics, I do capitalize He and His, as my audience does. Doing so is respectful to my audience and makes for more impeccable communication.

 

[Viker]

For a long time, the medieval period, pagan meant anything not Christian or Jewish. So, just about anything goes I guess.

 

[Quintessence]

The problem lies in the fact that there is an application for the word that describes non-Abrahamic beliefs, and in that application, it is lower case.

Yes, that's what I was trying to explain earlier. I think the point was missed. It happens.

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

You do realize that we've adapted and modernized with the times right? No religion is precisely the same as it was thousands of years ago. Or even 100 years ago.

That's like saying that modern Rome isn't really Rome unless it's ruled by emperors, with a miltary society, and gladiators fighting to the death. It's just silly.

I really don't see the point of telling us we're not really a religion and are just making it up. We also have history and mytholgy to help give us a foundation point. Especially considering that mytholgy and history is prevalent as teaching stories and a glimpse into the past of every faith.

And to the posters who said, we only treat our deities as abstract ideas, please speak strictly for yourselves. A lot of us do believe in our Gods as actual divine beings.