What is Paganism?

Paginism, or more correctly Neo-paganism, is a broad term that refers to a wide variety of new religious movements, particularly those that preceded Islamic, Muslim, and Quranic Pagan religions. These movements are quite different. Many Neopagans practice a spirituality that is entirely modern in its rituals while others prefer to stay with the traditional religion, trying to reconstruct or revive historic Pagan belief systems. Neo-paganism may be referred to as a new religious movement that is post-Christian and is a fairly new phenomenon.

The term Neo-pagan is used by some to identify Pagan traditions that are reconstructed or revived while maintaining a modern origin. The term provides a way to identify between those wanting to stay within the traditional confines of the religion and those wanting to make the religion more suitable for modern times. Reconstructionists is a term that refers to those who want to practice modern forms of historic Pagan religion. Depending on their personal beliefs, they may avoid calling themselves Pagans or Neo-pagans. Instead, they will usually refer to themselves as a polytheist.

Neo-paganism focuses on the purity of Earth and nature. Neopagans often feel that their duty is to protect the Earth and will often take part in causes such as rain forest preservation, organic farming, and animal rights. The protection of animal rights is one way in which the modern belief system differs from the traditional one. In the traditional religion, the animal sacrifice was a huge part of the belief but that would be unheard of today in Neo-paganism. Not all Neopagans are vegetarian or vegan but many are as they see the killing of life for food or other purposes unheard of and do not wish to be a part of it.

Most Neo-pagan tradition constitutes worshipping one or more gods but today's modern religion system sees there only being one god or entity. This single god is considered the life force of the universe. Many Neo-pagan rituals include the occult or magical practices in their rituals. Other Neo-pagan beliefs may believe in the supernatural but there is much less focus on the magical elements. Most Neopagans celebrate the cycles and seasons of nature through events through a festival calendar that has the purpose of dictating these events.