Atheist and Pagan?

Page 1 of 1 [ 8 posts ]

Joined: 22 Oct 2010
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,160
Location: in an open field west of a white house

07 Apr 2011, 5:17 am

I have a friend who claims to be an atheist and a pagan.

She'll listen to this non-stop all day, everyday and get into what looks like a prayer pose while listening to it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K_g-5FEKLU[/youtube]

Just wondering how someone could claim to be atheist and have a polytheistic beliefs. Contradict much?

_________________
That is my spot, in an ever changing world, it is a single point of consistency. If my life were expressed as a function on a four dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, that spot, from the moment I first sat on it, would be 0-0-0-0.

ryan93
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 15 Apr 2009
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,315
Location: Galway, Ireland

07 Apr 2011, 7:46 am

MasterJedi wrote:

Completely contradictory. Unless his paganism is just sexed-up pantheism.

_________________
The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists - Erwin Schrodinger

Member of the WP Strident Atheists

MCalavera
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 15 Dec 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,442

07 Apr 2011, 7:53 am

Didn't watch the video but she probably means that she doesn't believe in an ultimate Creator.

YippySkippy
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Age: 45
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,986

07 Apr 2011, 10:08 am

What's her definition of a pagan?
I'm guessing it means something different to her than it does to you.
The definition of "atheist" is pretty universal, but people have different ideas about what constitutes paganism.
She may just mean she likes nature a lot, and uses the music as an aide for contemplating the natural world.
(I didn't listen to the track)

Vigilans
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 19 Jun 2008
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,181
Location: Montreal

07 Apr 2011, 2:34 pm

MasterJedi wrote:

By Zeus' beard! That song is... yeah

I guess you could reject the idea of deities but still believe in spirituality? I don't know. It all sounds like a spectacular waste of time to me

_________________
Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many -Machiavelli
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do

heylelshalem
Raven
Raven

Joined: 11 Jun 2007
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 101
Location: spokane washington

07 Apr 2011, 3:31 pm

a lot of paganism is about reverence to nature. Anyone who is above literalism can realize that "gods" maybe a human invention but often they are set up to represent certain forces in nature. I myself sort of follow the same way of thinking. I dont believe in the "gods of man" but I do believe that nature has a bit of a intelligence behind it. I'm getting a bit perturbed by how dogmatic athiesm is getting lol

_________________
VERITAS LVX MEA

mox
Sea Gull

Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Age: 47
Gender: Female
Posts: 224
Location: Theory. Because everything's better there.

11 Apr 2011, 1:10 am

I am no expert, but I thought Wicca was the nature/earth religion, and Paganism was the polytheistic one. So I'm not sure about your friend.

However, spiritualism does not necessarily equal religion, and I know many atheists who are, in their own way, spiritual.

_________________
Your Aspie Score: 138 of 200. Your NT score: 72 of 200. You are very likely an Aspie.
AQ score: 35.
There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. ? Oscar Levant

Master_Pedant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 14 Mar 2009
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,903

11 Apr 2011, 1:46 am

MasterJedi wrote:

What the hell do you or they mean by "pagan"? Unless they explicitly said "polytheism", I think it's pretty foolish to assume that's what they meant. Paganism is really a useless, overly broad, catch all anti-concept used to describe everything from Norse Mythology to Native American Spirituality to Mithraism. Many modern, pro-feminist, very liberal religious movements that aspire for a more "back to nature" ethos also take the moiker of (neo) paganism. I've read that some Wiccans, for instance, don't in a God and instead just "worship" nature, for instance.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_intr.htm

religious tolerance wrote:

About deities:
Depending upon one's point of view, Wicca can be considered a monotheistic, duotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, or atheistic religion, Hang onto your hat; this gets a bit complicated:

Wicca is monotheistic (belief in a single deity): Some Wiccans recognize a single supreme being, sometimes called "The All" or "The One." The Goddess and God are viewed as the female and male aspects of this single deity.
Wicca is duotheistic (belief in two deities; a.k.a. rarely as bitheistic): Wiccans often worship a female Goddess and a male God., often called the Lady and Lord.
Wicca is polytheistic (belief in many deities): Many Wiccans recognize the existence of many ancient Gods and Goddesses, including but certainly not limited to: Aphrodite, Artemis, Briget, Diana, Dionysius, Fergus, Hecate, Isis, Pan, Thor, etc.
Wicca is henotheistic (belief in a single main deity among many): Many Wiccans view the many ancient deities as being aspects of the Lady and Lord, and view the latter as the male and female aspects of "The One."
Wicca is atheistic (no belief in a deity or deities): Some Wiccans view the God and Goddess as symbols, not as living entities. Depending upon which definition of the term "Atheist" that you adopt, these Wiccans may be considered Atheists.

_________________
http://www.voterocky.org/

Page 1 of 1 [ 8 posts ]

Jump to:

Atheist and Pagan? Post Reply New Topic

Atheist and Pagan?