The Truth about Paganism

A "pagan" wedding ceremony.

Here's a nice article from The Atlantic debunking modern “paganism” and “goddess worship.” A few choice quotes:

“The evidence is overwhelming that Wicca is a distinctly new religion, a 1950s concoction.”

 Contrary to the common claim, it bears no relation to any religion that preceded Christianity.

“…[S]cholars generally agree that there is no indication, either archaeological or in the written record, that any ancient people ever worshipped a single, archetypal goddess.” 

Wiccan altar.

Feminists, of course, believe that all pre-literate societies worshipped “The Goddess.” Conveniently, these are also all the societies for which we have no written records.

“Hutton effectively demolished the notion, held by Wiccans and others, that fundamentally pagan ancient customs existed beneath medieval Christian practices. His research reveals that outside of a handful of traditions, such as decorating with greenery at Yuletide and celebrating May Day with flowers, no pagan practices—much less the veneration of pagan gods—have survived from antiquity. Hutton found that nearly all the rural seasonal pastimes that folklorists once viewed as ‘timeless’ fertility rituals, including the Maypole dance, actually date from the Middle Ages or even the eighteenth century. There is now widespread consensus among historians that Catholicism thoroughly permeated the mental world of medieval Europe, introducing a robust popular culture of saints' shrines, devotions, and even charms and spells. The idea that medieval revels were pagan in origin is a legacy of the Protestant Reformation.”

Hear that? No, Hallowe’en, for example, is not a pagan festival. It is All Soul’s Night. It is purely Catholic, as are Mardi Gras and St. Valentine’s Day. I used to buy all that stuff about pagan survivals myself, only a few years ago. I think most people still do.

Witch burning; from The Hammer of Witches.

Witch trials were not a feature of medieval Europe, or of Catholicism, but appeared with Protestantism, and only in parts of Europe affected by it. It was also a fairly rare phenomenon.

“…[M]ost of them took place during a relatively short period, 1550 to 1630, and were largely confined to parts of present-day France, Switzerland, and Germany that were already racked by the religious and political turmoil of the Reformation.”

The Salem witch trials.

Total casualties were something like 40,000, no more.

“…[N]one of the accused witches who were found guilty and put to death had been charged specifically with practicing a pagan religion”

In other words, this was not a persecution of pagans. It was a trial for the crime of sorcery, as still occurs in non-Christian parts of Africa or in the Muslim world today. If you believe that sorcery works, you logically must prosecute it as a crime.