LJ Idol - Topic 5 - Old Timey Religion

[aggienaut]

   "Let's get back to the city, the religious nuts out here kind of freak me out" says the girl, grasping the boy's arm.

   "Oh, they're just, you know, old timey" reassures the lad, as if this explains it. "They mean well, really"

   "They're so damn conservative though, lord knows what I might accidentally do and have them accusing me of sorcery." Coming upon the edge of town she was relieved to look up and see the city itself not too far off.

   "Haha no one's going to be burning anyone at the stake" says the lad, giving her a playful bump sideways as they walked, "they're just, you know, farmers, and things are slow to change out here."

   "Just as long as the religious nuts don't get control of the government again!" exclaims the girl, feeling more at ease to speak freely now that they were away from the nearest houses.

   "I don't think that could happen again," speculates the lad, recalling a recent leader who had started an unsuccessful war in the Middle East.. and died there. "Valentinian's got a handle on things, I don't think it will ever happen again" notes the boy.

   "Damn pagans," grumbles the girl, adjusting her tunic. "How much further to Rome?"

---

   I don't understand people who call themselves "Pagans." The word "pagan" comes from latin "pagus," meaning literally "peasants." The modern day "pagans" wouldn't be the new agey hippies of Santa Cruz with their vague supplications to "the Goddess," it would be the "rednecks" and "hillbillies" of the deep Christian backwaters. "Pagan" means simply "the religion of the backwaters."

   Or at best, it is not a specific religion. Saying you're "a pagan" is like a Christian describing himself as an infidel because that's what an intolerant Muslim might call him.

   Yet still you see people, including many here in LJ Idol (at least last year) who will go on seriously about how their religion is "Pagan." THIS IS NOT A RELIGION. You can be wiccan or norse or believe in Celtic or Gaulish druidism, or one of hundreds of other things that have been called pagan throughout history, or you can be something new agey you're making up as you go along based on whims as they come to you, but I feel like if you call yourself Pagan you are probably keeping alive an insult that the original believers of the religion you're trying to follow would not have appreciated at all.


   In other news, a few years after the above narrative takes place, Valentinian ("the Last Great Roman Emperor") dies and his son Valentinian II has his power usurped by a "pagan" chief of the military. And around it goes.


Picture of the Day

Winged Athena
Roman ruins of Ephesus, near Selcuk, Turkey

And here's a kitten

(and in a continuing series of animals in ruins, a (emo?) snail, a (electric!) hornet, and a zombie.)

***EDIT: NOW WITH A SEQUEL!

Comments

[shadowwolf13]

To quote from religioustolerence.org:

There is general agreement that the word "Pagan" comes from the Latin word "paganus." Unfortunately, there is no consensus on the precise meaning of the word in the fifth century CE and before. There are three main interpretations. None has won general acceptance:

Most modern Pagan sources interpret the word to have meant "rustic," "hick," or "country bumpkin" -- a pejorative term. The implication was that Christians used the term to ridicule country folk who tenaciously held on to what the Christians considered old-fashioned, outmoded Pagan beliefs. Those in the country were much slower in adopting the new religion of Christianity than were the city folks. They still followed the Greek state religion, Roman state religion, Mithraism, various mystery religions, etc., long after those in urban areas had converted.

Some believe that in the early Roman Empire, "paganus" came to mean "civilian" as opposed to "military." Christians often called themselves "miles Christi" (Soldiers of Christ). The non-Christians became "pagani" -- non-soldiers or civilians. No denigration would be implied.

C. Mohrmann suggests that the general meaning was any "outsider," -- a neutral term -- and that the other meanings, "civilian" and "hick," were merely specialized uses of the term.

By the third century CE, its meaning evolved to include all non-Christians. Eventually, it became an evil term that implied the possibility of Satan worship. The latter two meanings are still in widespread use today.

That last bit is most relevant at this point as you're stating that we've only recently twisted the meaning of the word ... but the way we use it has been in use since the 3rd century.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I don't know it looks like most of what it says there is in line with what I was saying. Also I'd be extremely interested to know what backs up the "some believe" statement regarding civilian. If that were true it would seem the word took an unexpected detour that it later lost. I would need to see some good support for that argument as it doesn't seem to fit with everything else.

[shadowwolf13]

I'd have to do a lot of looking and such that I really can't do at the moment.

But, what you're saying, how I'm reading it, is that the term Pagan is an insult ... where as since the 3rd century it's been used to describe non-Christians, not necessarily as an insult, just a characteristic of being. Kind of like saying that some people are short and some people are tall.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Well we have "Most modern Pagan sources interpret the word to have meant "rustic," "hick," or "country bumpkin" -- a pejorative term." (ie "most" sources, even Pagan ones, consider it to have been a pejorative, ie insulting, term)

"Some believe..." which as noted I find unsupported

and "By the third century CE, its meaning evolved to include all non-Christians. Eventually, it became an evil term that implied the possibility of Satan worship. The latter two meanings are still in widespread use today."

So yes, there is among all the references to it being an insult also a reference to that it can refer to all non-christians. I submit that it is BOTH, it is a pejorative term for all non-christians.