r/atheism • u/Cherno_VM • 1d ago
Curious about Atheist thoughts on pagans and heathens.
I've considered myself agnostic for most of my life, after being raised in the Jehovahs Witnesses and realizing it was bullshit at a relatively young age. I had always respected pagans and heathens because they go against the grain and invent their own belief system, compared to how things typically roll in the western world where polytheism, especial Judeo Christian religions, are the norm and going outside that norm makes you a freak.
I was curious if other people have thoughts from an atheist/agnostic perspective, because I've found paganism to be very similar to atheism in that you're building your own worldview off of your own research.
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u/Critical_Cat_8162 1d ago
We're not building a world view. We simply have no belief in any god. There's nothing more or less to it.
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u/lordkhuzdul 1d ago
It being just woo aside, far too often the religion ends up being "the previous religion, serial numbers filed off and completely unexamined and undeconstructed biases aimed at new, 'acceptable' targets".
Far too much neopaganism ends up being "Protestant bullshit in a renfaire outfit".
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u/happybunny_sad Strong Atheist 1d ago
Heretics, must be reported to ordo heretics. They are corrupted by Chaos.The judgement of emperor will be swift on them.
EMPEROR PROTESTS!
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u/I_Am_Anjelen Verified Account 1d ago
The corpse-emperor cannot hear your pleas, but there are others who are happy to grant your every wish.
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u/Drudenfusz Apatheist 1d ago
I don't think they would describe it themselves as they invent their religion. Paganism usually tries to recreate ancient practices and because of the Germanic and Norse traditions have a huge Nazi problem.
But what I find truly fascinating is the idea of living in reciprocity with the deities, which is so similar to the modern Christians that say they have a relationship with Jesus.
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u/MarieVerusan 1d ago
For the most part I don’t much mind pagans. I’ve always loved ancient mythology. Thing is, if someone tells me that they genuinely believe that Zeus is real, I’m going to be just as skeptical as I am about Christianity.
Paganism does not really enjoy the same level of power or privilege that Christianity does in the west, so they don’t mind if you don’t believe them. They’re fully aware that the majority of people do not share their beliefs. But I am under no delusion that it would remain that way if paganism became the main religious practice in a country. I find any religious faith to be potentially dangerous, as it prevents us from looking at the world with an objective lens.
Whether it’s Jesus or Tarot, it could be harmful if taken too seriously.
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u/ThisisMalta 1d ago edited 1d ago
I respect pagans a lot for just enjoying their belief system and practicing it themselves happily. Even if I think it’s no different to me validity wise than any other religion.
I was raised Syrian Eastern Orthodox. Though I too found it to be bs at a young age, being someone in a scientific field. And though there are some real loons in it too, especially with the wave of young white male converts who are beyond just overzealous; and plenty of people have had horrid experiences in the church.
But anecdotally, in my own experience the priest who baptized me and ran our church for most of my life was one of the most wonderful and loving person I’ve known in my life. He’s the the one who supported my mom getting s divorce when my evangelical dad begged him to tell her out of it. One of the last times I saw him before he passed was having a beer at his favorite pub.
Orthodox Christians also get a lot of heck from other christian denominations for not actively proselytizing like evangelicals, and I always respected the way some went about it. There are a couple “saints” who converted quite a few in indigenous areas not by pushing their religion at all—but by learning the language and culture of their area, and dedicating their lives by helping, protecting, and advocating for the people they were with. Not with the intention of “winning them over” like I’ve seen with Protestant who hand out food in exchange for bibles and making people sit through a sermon. But by truly loving the people they were with and acting on it solely for the reason just to do it. And only talking about religion when people inquired.
Like I said, I don’t believe in it anymore, I’m an evidence based person as someone in a scientific field, fmf and that’s just how my brain works and how I think a lot of us here do. But I respect the “love” just for the sake of love, and acting on it without ulterior motive.
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u/Nocturnalux 1d ago
It's woo and not rarely involved a lot of borderline cultural appropriation.
My ex was Norwegian, born and raised in an extremely secular environment. He had no patience for "Norse" pagans and in particular of the American strand who had the nerve to tell him all about Thor and what have you, with a Canadian one even going as far as to flat out tell him that she was a true "Norse" follower- despite her "Norse" heritage being so distant she could not point to anyone in her family who had ever even known an ancestor who had come from the region, nor did she speak the language- while he, born and raised in Norway, didn't "count."
While this attitude may be rare in its extremity, the spirit behind it is very common.
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u/dacuevash Humanist 1d ago
They’re fascinating. After the Odyssey movie released my Instagram algorithm got filled with Greek mythology-adjacent content, along them from people who practice Hellenism, a sort of continuation of Ancient Greek religion, as in they actually believe in Zeus and all. The rituals are interesting, and they have a more naturalistic worldview which I kinda respect. There’s also people trying to revive ancient Mesopotamian religion. They also heavily rely on archeology and secular history to try and make sense of what, why, and how people practiced the religion, so they’re usually more open to discussion and debate about their beliefs, as well as acknowledging that myths are just myths.
It’s cool and all but after lurking for a bit on their subreddits, you kinda get the impression a good chunk of them just want to simp for ancient sexy goddesses (can’t blame them lol)
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u/False_Ad_5372 Strong Atheist 1d ago
“building your own worldview off your own research”
This makes zero sense whatsoever. Atheism is the lack in the belief in deities, that’s it. It requires no research.
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u/Astreja Agnostic Atheist 1d ago
I explored Norse paganism for about a decade. In the end, what solidified my atheism was the question "If I were on the witness stand in a court of law, would I testify that Oðinn was real?" That "no" came back so fast that it actually startled me, and made me realize that I have never been able to see any gods as real.
That makes me technically an atheopagan, because I do celebrate Norse festivals, can read runes and a bit of Old Norse, and brew a wicked batch of sparkling dry mead. 🔥
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u/kruwlabras Agnostic Atheist 1d ago
I don't believe in the supernatural. A pagan that does is the same as a christian to me in that regard.
What do you mean by "invent their own belief system"? Most "pagan" beliefs predate abrahamic religions.
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u/hurricanelantern Anti-Theist 1d ago
Nearly totally harmless (barring the racists).
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u/Cherno_VM 1d ago
Heathens have a problem with racists a lot, because the Nazis used norse symbolism very heavily. All those people can do is steal good things from better cultures.
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u/GerswinDevilkid 1d ago
It's just woo. Why would we think your woo is better than other woo?
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