Here's a lovely article on the growth of Paganism in the UK. It completely manages to avoid the usual "they don't even really worship devils!" schtick, while employing a bit of humor. Interesting discussion of the role of pop culture in the growth of Paganism. I always wonder which is chicken and which is egg. The interesting popularity of Morris Dancing among young Brits seems a long way from watching Harry Potter movies.
Paganism is casting its spell over more people now than ever before in the modern age. There are said to be a quarter of a million practising pagans in this country, double the number of a decade ago.
That would make them more numerous than Buddhists (of which there are 144,500, according to the 2001 census) and almost as numerous as Jews (259,000) - and it doesn't even allow for the growing tribe of unofficial, instinctive pagans such as my friend Cath, who planned to celebrate the summer solstice in the early hours yesterday by "going out into the garden at dawn and just tuning in". At Stonehenge at least 30,000 people were expected to watch the sun rise in the company of the druids who see themselves as practising the ancient faith of pre-Christian Britain.
Hat tip: Moonbotica.
Picture found here.
It's good to see the growth of Paganism, and an almost more serious mention of it in the media - minus the devil worship and broomsticks fallacies. Even Hinduism could be considered Pagan, due to the Polytheistic outlook of putting many faces on the one source, and aptitude for acting in sympathy with seasonal changes. Basically anything outside of the Judaic-Christian-Islamic theology could be considered Paganism, I think. :)
ReplyDeleteObscuriaGothicShop, I'm curious about your classification. Would you consider the following to be Pagan or not?:
ReplyDeleteConfucianism
Taoism
Buddhism
Shintoism
Zoroastrianism
Ba'hai
Muskogee group religion (basically monotheistic)
Scientology
UFO cults
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Church of the Subgenius