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The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism, a painting by Gustave Doré (1899). Paganism is commonly used to refer to various religions that existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, such as the Greco-Roman religions of the Roman Empire, including the Roman imperial cult, the various mystery religions, religious philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, and more localized ethnic ...
[3] [9] [10] Some Christians who convert to neopaganism are hesitant to entirely give up their original faiths, and become Christo-Pagans. [11] Some Christo-Pagans use rosaries and prayer beads, [2] and pray to non-Christian deities, such as Persephone. [7] [8] Some may also practice ceremonial magic or magick.
Initially they were shunned by Christians, perhaps because of their pagan associations, but also because their shape did not suit Christian requirements: "To the early Church, only one sort of building seemed suitable for christianization: the basilica", which had previously always been a secular type of building.
Christians generally regard Easter as the most important festival of the ecclesiastical calendar. It is also the oldest feast of Christianity, and connected to the Jewish Passover. Many terms relating to Easter, such as paschal are derived from the Hebrew term for passover. In many non-English speaking countries the feast is called by some ...
A marble statue of Jupiter, king of the Roman gods. Paganism (from Latin pāgānus 'rural', 'rustic', later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, [1] or ethnic religions other than Judaism.
Many pagans believe adoption of a polytheistic world-view would be beneficial for western society – replacing the dominant monotheism they see as innately repressive. [65] In fact, many American modern pagans first came to their adopted faiths because it allowed a greater freedom, diversity, and tolerance of worship among the community. [66]
As Jacques Lafaye wrote in Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe, "as the Christians built their first churches with the rubble and the columns of the ancient pagan temples, so they often borrowed pagan customs for their own cult purposes". [33] Such Virgins appeared in most of the other evangelized countries, mixing Catholicism with the local customs:
Commonwealth of Pagan Communities of Siberia–Siberian Veche (2015) Ivanovism (1930s) Tezaurus Spiritual Union (1984) Russian Public Movement "Course of Truth and Unity" (Concept of Public Security "Dead Water") (1985) Bazhovism (1992) Kandybaism or Russian Religion (1992) Ringing Cedars' Anastasianism (1997)