We’ve all seen these before, and I’m sure I’m missing quite a few that are out there. The photos above describe exactly what I will be talking about. The images that
state paganism has nothing to do with Christianity or the devil
state christians stole from pagans
state pagans are only connected to nature
state pagans are always peaceful and loving
state pagans never harm
and so on
I will be giving reasons why I (and you should too) hate these things with a passion of a thousand suns.
Reason 1: They are straight up wrong
They ignore the facts behind what they’re talking about. The images are pent up ignorance spreading across the internet. For example, the pentacle is used in so many different religions. This includes Christianity. Heck, its even used in non-religious ways too. A star in a circle is not contained to one belief system or practice. There is no universal pagan symbol.
Reason 2: they spread wrong information about what Paganism is
Paganism is an umbrella term. It covers a huge amount of different religions and spiritual beliefs. They’re all different, but should be treated with the respect they deserve.
Reason 3: they erase and ignore certain pagan beliefs and pagan religions
There is no one pagan belief. There is no one pagan religion. There is no one pagan way of life. These images ignore the existence of different pagans, and they help destroy what paganism really is. It is an umbrella term. When you erase and ignore (even demonize) other people’s beliefs only bad things will come from it.
Various beliefs (not all listed) that are erased because of these images
Satanism (if identifying as pagan)
Luciferism (if identifying as pagan)
Christopaganism
various Hellenic based paganism
various Norse based paganism
paganism that includes sacred hunts
and so on
Reason 4: They help promote hate, ignorance, and religious intolerance
These images help spread hate towards various other pagan beliefs like Christo-Paganism, pagan beliefs that have abrahamic influences, and a whole bunch of pagan beliefs that can include (but not limited to)
worshipping war deities
worshipping entities that aren’t all good or nature based
worshipping/honoring various non-deity entities like cities, faeries, landmarks, demons, angels, and so on
You’ve heard it before the “true pagan” or “true paganism”. These phrases are often used to put down other pagans with different beliefs from the “norm” dictated by the creators of these photos or those with similar thinking.
It doesn’t matter how you shape or phrase it. Religious intolerance is never ok (does not include appropriation). These images are religious intolerance bundled up in a horribly done internet pic.
Reason 5: The promote outright hatred and intolerance towards Christianity and various abrahamic beliefs.
These photos promote the image of “Bad Guy Christian” or “Intolerant Christian”. It paints Christianity as a murdering thief. Truthfully? These were born from the anger caused from the extreme minority.
We all probably think that its wrong to judge a majority based on its extreme minority. I bet some of you are thinking “Its bad to think all pagans are devil worshippers"
Well it goes the other way. Its bad to think all Christians are intolerant monsters.
I won’t deny that there are cruel Christians, and I won’t deny the bloody past of Christianity (but then again anything lasting that long is going to have a bloody past), but its foolish to think that there aren’t cruel Pagans. Its ignorant to think any one group is the exception of problems. Here is a secret, there are assholes everywhere. And its horrible to demonize a certain group because of the minority of extremists.
Reason 6: The misinformation about “Pagan Holidays” vs Christian Holidays
I could go on an entire rant about how wrong this is, but others have already talked about the subject (and honestly they are better writers than me)
Reason 7: Wrongful grouping of pagan beliefs (aka the one Pagan religion)
This probably connects with previously stated things about erasure and ignoring, but I feel it should also be talked about separately.
These images spread the misconception of the “One Pagan Religion/Belief"
People come into here to learn about paganism, and these images help spread the myth of there being one universal pagan religion/belief.
It paints paganism as a peaceful, magical, nature based religion, which can be true for some pagan beliefs and religions; however, its not true of paganism as a whole.
Paganism is all colors of the rainbow not just green.
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Welp, I think I covered the majority of what’s wrong with these images. If I missed something, reblog and add it in~
fair--y backup 