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A Paganism is an umbrella term for a variety of religions, both historical and contemporary. The vast majority of these religions (but not all) are polytheistic to some degree. They also tend toward being orthopraxic rather than orthodoxic -- that is, they place more emphasis on correct action (performing rituals, etc.) than they do on correct belief (most forms of Paganism leave room for a variety of actual beliefs about the divine). Modern Paganreligions are best understood as those which revive, reconstruct, in addition make reference to , and/or are inspired by the above definitionnon-Jewish, pre-Christian, and pre-Muslim religions of Europe and the Middle East. ("Paganism," due to both its broadness and strongly European connotation, is also not a follower good term for Eastern religions such as Hinduism or Shinto; likewise, followers of African polytheims prefer the terms "African Traditional Religions" or "African Diaspora Religions," as it gets the point across without shoving these systems into European paradigms.) Some examples of any modern EarthPagan religions include Wicca, other religious witchcraft systems, Neo-Druidry, Asatru, Hellenic polytheism, Religio Romana, Kemeticism (Egyptian Paganism), Celtic revivalism/reconstruction, Romuva, Slavic reconstructionism, and many others. There is a persistent meme in the modern Pagan community that "all Pagan religions are earth-based religion," but this is untrue. A good The civic religions of ancient Athens or Rome (and modern reconstructions of these), for example would be a , are no more earth-based than Christianity. The prominence of the modern Pagan religion such as of Wicca, -- a genuinely earth-based tradition formally of religious witchcraft founded in England in the 1950s 1940s by Gerald Gardner-- has, unfortunately, led to the belief that all Pagan religions are just variations on Wicca, (which was is incorrect. Pagan religions such as Hellenic revivalism/reconstructionism followed very different historical paths of development, and have very different focuses. It also diminishes the usefulness of the term "earth-based on older rural English traditions), or Neo-Druidism" which is best reserved for religions like Wicca, Druidry, consisting and several others for which reverence for nature is a central defining feature of paths the religion; while most religions that have been reconstructed carefully from ancient practices, yet are tailored existed prior to the modern-day practitioner Industrial Revolution (including Christianity) had prayers and are centred around a reverence festivals for good harvests, etc., not all of these religions conceptualized the natural world as the Earth and a stewardship primary focus of their religious energy. For further discussion of definitions of Paganism, see the Earth [http://www.ecauldron.net/newpagan.php Pagan Primer] at the useful, and her creaturesmulti-faith, Pagan site [http://www.ecauldron.net/ The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum].
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