Can a person be both pagan and Christian at the same time?

[Tom Kitten]

just wondering...

[FreedomAngel82]

1. I've heard of it

It's a bit out of the norm but once I found a yahoogroup and it was for people who were both. :shrug:

[DisneyVixen]

2. No I don't think so. But I have a question -- what do you call someone

who believes in God but not Jesus -- and is neither Muslim or Jewish?

[Rowdyboy]

3. A Theist maybe?

[Tom Kitten]

8. or a Deist maybe...

whatever!

[Rowdyboy]

19. Perfect.....Much better description of what the poster asked for....

[LostinVA]

39. A deist -- like T. Jefferson & Geo. Washington n/t

[Ravenseye]

35. A Unitarian Universalist?

[liberal43110]

4. Funny you ask...

Because I took the test at beliefnet.com today, and my top 2 religions were Unitarian Universalist (where I actually attend rarely) and Neo-Pagan.

Some of the information on paganism there, and some of the posts of pagans, indicated that it is indeed possible to be both Christian and pagan. Paganism, it seems, does not prohibit one from finding meaning or truth in other religions. Not sure what Christians would say...

[knight_of_the_star]

9. Paganism doesn't

Most pagans don't though and it depends on the pagan. That and there are several verses in the Bible prohibiting worship of other Gods.

Personally I feel both are mutually exclusive, but I have a very polytheistic outlook as opposed to a pantheistic one. The first one, which I believe, posits that there is more than one divinity out there and each one is a seperate and distinct being with a distinct personality and powers. In that view, the Christian God Jehovah is just another God out of many. The other, pantheism, states that the divine is inherit in all things and that different Gods are just different perceptions of something that cannot really be quantified.

I prefer polytheism simply because it makes sense to me and I have a hard time seeing the divine inherit in blatant stupidity. I do believe there is something greater than the Gods out there, but it doesn't really have anything resembling a personality or will of its own, it is just sort of there, kind of like the Force in Star Wars but there is no dark or light, there just is.

[LostinVA]

40. I am a Unitarian Pagan

Seriously -- many UU Churches have Pagan groups. Our group has many traditions of Wicca, Native American Pagans, etc.

[knight_of_the_star]

5. There are some who feel they can be

I personally don't think so being a Pagan myself because of one very simple little rule that Christians have:

"Thou shalt have no other god before me"

That and pagan implies one follows the Gods of ancient Europe or North Africa, Voudon practitioners and Native Americans consider being called pagan to be insulting since they believe that pagans are usually Europeans, and considering most people who call themselves pagans follow some kind of European or Near Eastern pantheon, there is a lot of truth to that.

[FreedomAngel82]

23. To me

I think that verse is saying that you can believe in other god's but you can't worship other god's before God. :shrug: Just me I guess. I don't find anything wrong to believe in other god's and goddesses out there and ask them for help.

[Skidmore]

33. And to me,

there are many paths to God and many names for him, only one if which is the Christian path, even though that way is a divided way also. I am was born and raised a Christian, but as I grow older, I understand that the cultural manifestations of our spirituality address universal needs and issues. Therefore, the teachings of Jesus, Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, Zoroaster--to name a few, as well as the pagan traditions (many of which are found int he practice of the monotheistic religions) all speak to the essence of being human. They address the fears of being small and alone in a vast universe and loomingly large in the center of the universe. I believe you can adhere to all for their essential truths.

[toddaa]

31. Pantheism = All is One (not All is Divine)

Certainly there are pantheists that believe that all is divine, but I certainly don't believe this. I am a Taoist Pantheist who views all creation as the One unified by the Tao. For me, the words god and divine have no meaning. Just clarifying.

[patrice]

6. Christians will say no.

But if you look at mythologies from around the world (Sir J.G Frazer's The Golden Bough is a good source), you'll see strong similarities between pagan and christian beliefs, with the exception of the meaning of the life of Christ.

I think you can be anything that suits you. It is not for others to say what you are.

[knight_of_the_star]

11. Depends on the paganism

You should see the stuff believed and practiced by the Cult of Kali for example. That and I know that the Asatru would take exception to that, they have several holidays aside from the Big Eight devoted to martyrs made by the Christianization of Scandinavia.

[manic expression]

32. What do you know

about the "Cult of Kali"? Anything specific? Please, make sure you back up such statements.

(on edit) I'm just trying to make sure your perception of Kali is not what you may have seen in Indiana Jones.

[me b zola]

24. I grew up Catholic, even went to Catholic school

but even as a child saw the similarities of ALL faiths, and always respected all. When I began reading, as an adult, on some pagan paths, I did not see them as necessarily in opposition to Christian beliefs.

The life of Christ, for me, was always about teaching us to meditate, and obtain Christ Consciencenous---Nirvana if you are Buddhist.

A few of the ritualistic symbols used in both Christianity & some pagan paths: incense, a ring tone, & chanting. I always loved High Mass as a child for these reasons, even if (maybe because) I couldn't understand what was being said because it was in Latin.


BTW, this year for Lent I gave up the Catholic Church...I think for good. As a child & younger woman I choked down the official church opinion that birth control & abortion were sins..whatever. It became much more difficult for me to walk into a church once the scandals of child sexual abuse broke knowing that the Church had covered-up & hence enabling the abusers to continue. Then American Catholic priests, during the last election, began with their political horse shit of denying or threatening to deny communion to politicians who were pro-choice. Now they are gay-bashing. That's it, stick a fork in me, I'm done.

[knitter4democracy]

43. Lent's always hard for me, too.

We have all these services I often can't get to (and then feel personally guilty about), and I always end up having something happen to make it that much harder. This year, it's pain. :(

No church is perfect, as we are all hypocrites on some level, and I hope that your path is made straighter and God reveals where He wants you to go during this time of reflection and prayer.

I know that I need my church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, to help me get through and that it's not perfect. Yes, we have homophobes--but we also have people who are loving and have open arms. We are against birth control and abortion--but not really, as many priests encourage their parishioners to use them if they're needed. We have had our own scandals, but we're working on cleaning them up. At least we still have the Mysteries and the Faith. The rest will work out eventually, if we all come at it in prayer and love.

[H2O Man]

42. As a Christian, I say Yes.

There is no contradiction between Jesus and "pagan" religions.

[BurtWorm]

7. There's a book that argues that Christianity began as Jewish paganism.

It's called The Jesus Mysteries: Was the Original Jesus a Pagan God? A very interesting look at the Greek (pagan) roots of the religion in the Jewish diaspora of the first century, especially in Alexandria. The authors say they are pagan-style Christians who don't believe in the historical Jesus. They think the Roman Jesus is a betrayal of the original religion, which was basically a Jewish adaptation of a Pythagorean-style mystery cult.

http://www.jesusmysteries.demon.co.uk/home.html

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Paul ruined it. n/t

[BurtWorm]

18. These neo-Gnostic pagans argue that Paul has been misread and

made to say things he didn't say. They argue that Paul was originally a gnostic like them.

It's a very interesting book. I highly recommend it to everyone interested in decoding the early church and trying to sort out how it became what it became.

[Blue_In_AK]

27. I guess I should read the book and give old Paul

one more chance. I always thought of him as the one who, through his evangelizing and missionary trips, created the whole "cult of personality" around Jesus, while the teachings kind of got lost in the shuffle. I could be wrong, though. I wasn't there.

[BurtWorm]

28. A lot is fishy with the Christian documents.

There's quite a bit of forgery by the orthodoxy to ensure that the "correct" message is transmitted. It's the Roman (Imperial) church that did most of the screwing around.

[mike_c]

10. there are lots of cultures that have blended paganism and christianity...

eom

[knight_of_the_star]

12. For example

Santeria and Voudon.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Perhaps not Christian in the usual sense...

...but I think a person can follow the teachings of Jesus and still be a Pagan, at least it would seem so from the results of my Belief-O-Matic test. :) It's all in the interpretation. I have a great book called "The Gospel of Jesus," by John Davidson, which relies not only on the traditional Gospels but the various Gnostic texts, Dead Sea Scrolls and so on, which theorizes that Jesus' teachings were far more mystical and meditation-oriented than traditional Christianity, more along the lines of Taoism or Buddhism.

So it's all in the interpretation.

[Ready4Change]

14. Dates of Christmas and Easter based on Pagan celebrations.

During the rise of christian religion it faced resistance from many who enjoy the several big pagan celebrations. There's ample evidence that Christmas and Easter were set on the days they were to take advantage of those revelries.

So, when you celebrate Christmas or Easter, you're actually celebrating a little paganism in disguise.

[kimchi]

15. Sure, why not?

We humans are pretty good at harmonizing two seemingly contradicting views. It is actually a good exercise for solving problems-to find the common denominator and start there.

It is hard, growing up in America, to NOT be influenced by Christianity, because it is the main religion. In that sense, I am a former Christian and now Pagan, and cannot change that. And because I recognized the extent to which my brief explanation of the holiday last week was modelled after a fiery Baptist "Altar call"(even if their rites of rebirth and renewal are modelled after paganism); on my computer it is named "Ostara Sermon".

So, yeah. I totally get that. I bet there were lots of 'em around in the first century. We've been borrowing ideas from each other for as long as religion has existed. Just ask Inanna. I mean Ishtar.

[Tom Kitten]

16. I really appreciate your thoughts, thank you!

I do think about religion and spirituality a lot mainly because I still do not know my place but I do not consider myself deserving of this place called hell...

[MetaTrope]

20. Check out the syncretization of native belief with Christian belief

in Central and South America...it's been going on for over half a century.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. Depends on your definitions...

of both of them.

There have always been mystical Christian sects that didn't accept the common creeds, and many were somewhat pantheistic.

When the missionaries hit the Americas and Asia, many of the residents picked and chose the bits and pieces of Christianity that they liked and incorporated them into their existing beliefs.

At its heart, Christianity simpy means accepting Christ as the master. Even as a teacher or prophet will do, as with Buddha or Confucious. One does not necessarily have to believe in Christ's divinity, although the major churches make a big point of it. One does not even have to believe in God the Father, or the Trinity, as the only God, although that one gets you in really big trouble with most churches.

Paganism, is... well, it seems it can be a lot of things. If it is some sort of unity with nature, then there is nothing at all un-Christian about it. If it involves those woodland gods, goddesses, and stuff, then it can get a bit dicey.

[Tsiyu]

22. Honey, you can be whatever you want to be

I belong to the Temple of the Latter Day Voodooists of the Four Winds of the Sacred Juju of the Full Gospel Feminists.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. Well, when I was in grad school, I knew an Episcopalian who

hung out with the local pagan community. His was a true polytheist, but he believed that the Christian god was the supreme one and the various pagan gods existed but weren't as powerful.

[TrustingDog]

26. I think so.

kinda close to that myself, the combo. It's not so strange.

[seabeyond]

29. i am a christian and fundamentalist think i am pagan

i guess it is in the eye of the beholder. i will be whatever you want to create me to be. that i have no control over

[Bridget Burke]

30. The sterner Puritans regarded the Roman Catholic Church as pagan...

Because the Church adapted many European & Middle Eastern pagan beliefs. And the syncretization has continued in the New World. As previously mentioned, practitioners of Voudon & Santeria are also Catholic.

Of course, most clergy might disagree. So their pagan-leaning parishioners don't bother them with the details.

[Walt Starr]

34. I've known Christo-Pagans

They generally represent The God as Jesus and the Goddess as Mary. Mary Magdelene comes into play as consort of Jesus is some Christo-Pagan traditions.

I, as is the case with many Pagans, consider Christianity to be just another in a long line of Pagan religions.

[LeftHander]

36. You already are.....

Christianity usurped most of the pagan rituals anyway,...

Easter (spring) and Christmas (Solstice) were all seasonal pagan celebrations that were convienently placed to co-opt the celebrationals ready taking place.

Easter eggs, lights in the longest night, trees in the house, yule...

very pagan....

[Bouncy Ball]

37. Sure, why not?

:D

[Mr.Green93]

38. Yes

they are called catholics.

[MsTryska]

41. yes - it's called being Catholic. nt

nt

[Silverhair]

44. People can call themselves anything they want, but a strict reading...

of the Bible gives a solid, "No". Remember also that Christianity is an outgrowth of Judaism, and they were and are very strict that you can't mix in other religions.

That said, a Christian can certainly be tolerant of, indeed be friends with, those who practice other religions, or none.