Paganism
Paganism is an umbrella term referring to all religions that originated as the indigenous ancestral religion of a culture or group of people before their exposure to Yahwism. Commonly known examples of pagan religions include Germanic or Norse paganism, Hellenic (Greek) paganism, Roman paganism, and Kemetic (Egyptian) paganism.
Definition
The definition of paganism is widely debated and covers many different religions that are completely unrelated to each other. Despite having originated in the ancient and ancestral Vedic traditions of the Indian region, modern Hinduism is not usually considered to be a pagan religion and is more commonly classified with other Dharmic religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Some definitions also exclude the indigenous religions of the Americas, including North American indigenous tribal beliefs and ancient Mesoamerican religion, from the pagan classification.
While there is a common misconception that all pagan religions are polytheistic or that polytheism is part of the definition of paganism, this is not necessarily true. Some pagan religions have a monotheistic, pantheistic, or other non-polytheistic model of divinity. However, the majority of religions commonly designated as pagan are polytheistic.
Neopaganism
Eclectic neopaganism
Secular paganism
In recent years, a quasi-religious movement called secular paganism or atheopaganism has recontextualized pagan deities and practices into an atheistic context, similarly to atheistic satanism. Secular pagans view deities as symbolic literary figures representing certain archetypes, believing that the effects of practices like prayer, offering, or meditation with deities are purely psychological rather than spiritual. The validity of secular paganism as a label is debated, and some modern pagans (especially source-faithful reconstructionists) view the movement as disrespectful or sacrilegious.