No matter what people think about the pagan religion its followers are on the rise. I find the word pagan to be an interesting problem. I have read many discussions about it meaning but it remains in use. The irony of the word and why some polytheists do not like the word is evidently from its origin. From what I have found the original word meant rustic or rural. This would contrast the people from the advance cities, most of whom had adopted Christianity by the time this word show up in extensive use, from the rural dwellers who still followed the Greek state religion, Roman state religion, Mithraism, various mystery religions, Celtic and Germanic religions. There was a paper that mentioned some literature from the time meaning of paganus was used to mean civilian or non-militant as opposed to solders of Christ who represented Christians. So non-Christians would be pagani. Another source compared the use of the word gentile to the word pagan to help understand its meaning. No matter of its origin the Christians in the 5th century and then on clearly meant it as a negative term for non-Christians. So why would it be one of the terms of choice in our modern revival of pagan beliefs? I know that groups of people take what was a derogatory name and change it into a positive movement with pride. By creating a new image of the word pagan with a positive spin you could influence how people familiar with the new meaning could re-look at the use in the past from a more positive perspective. But no matter what the term meant it seems to be taking on new meaning today.
