Defining Paganism

Paganism has (at least) three general features that distinguish it from other forms of religion:

1. Polytheism - Ultimacy is plural rather than singular (monotheism) or dual (Zoroastrianism).
2. Immanence - Ultimate reality is found in this world rather than in a transcendent world to which this world is subordinate.
3. Praxis - Human response to ultimacy is seen primarily through action rather than words, hence a lesser reliance on scriptures and allegation of their inerrancy.

Virtually all religious expressions of those who call themselves Pagans have these features. And I'm willing to say those who don't aren't Pagan, even if they may have a wonderful religion.

Some folks look at word derivations for insight. "Pagan" has two possible derivations, from Christian (and earlier) authors. One contrasts "pagani" versus "civilis", meaning country-person versus city-person, with the city-dwellers seen as more likely Christian (and may even have an earlier meaning of hearth-religion versus city-religion such as emperor-worship). The other usage contrasts "pagani" versus "milites" meaning a civilian from the countryside versus a member of the "army of God". But in either case, the terms had different meanings long before Christianity redefined them.

Some folks never quite left Christianity behind when they think they became Pagan, so they still believe whatever the Church tells them to, including using the Roman Catholic definition of Paganism:

"Paganism, in the broadest sense includes all religions other than the true one revealed by God, and, in a narrower sense, all except Christianity, Judaism, and Mohammedanism" -- Catholic Encyclopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11388a.htm

I would define Paganism based on its expression prior to the arising of non-Pagan religions. Most of what we refer to as "the world's ten (or however many) Great Religions" all arose after 500BC, and they define non-Paganism, the sea change from Pagan to Monotheistic religion. And when I look at religions prior to 500BC the three features listed above are what I see.

Implications of my definition:

• Eastern religions: Eastern religions have two strands, the Way of the Monk, and the Way of the Householder. The Way of the Householder is Paleo-Paganism, surviving and thriving for many thousands of years. The Way of the Monk is Monotheism or Monism (but non-Christian) (and hence not Pagan). The religions taken as a whole could be called Hybrid-Paganism.
• Newage: New Age may be Pagan-Friendly, but it is not Pagan. It is the (somewhat pablumized) modern version of the Perennial Philosophy of Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Hermeticism and such, that started after the change to monotheism. It is monist or dualist rather than polytheist. It posits a transcendent realm of perfect existence, of which our material world is an imperfect expression. It sees intellectual insight rather than actions in the world as the way to transcend the material. Many self-proclaimed Pagans are actually NewAgers when they begin to "think seriously" and conclude, "those Pagans over there actually believe the gods are all different,a but I in my wisdom realize they are all merely different expressions of The One".
• Satanism (Black Sheep and Scapegoats): Satanism looks clearly Neo-Pagan to me. It is polytheistic (every ego is its own god), immanent (ain't no transcending reality or god out there), and practical rather than dogmatic. But it makes people "uncomfortable". So it goes, I have relatives who make me damned uncomfortable, but however much I may wish disowning them would prevent them from ever having been a blood relation, that don't work. For all too many of us, if the Devil didn't exist then we would have to invent one so we could have a scapegoat to attack to divert attention away from our own shadow side.
• Wicca: I tend to see Wicca as Hybrid-Pagan, because it has been developing an as yet unspoken elitist strain of the Way of the Priestesse versus the Way of the Novice, where the novices are expected to actually believe in polytheism, while the advanced, elite priesthood have achieved the higher, more superior status of realizing that the gods are merely aspects of the All-Transcending One. This is usually accompanied with allied dogmas such as Christianized views of Karma and reincarnation which have little in common with their Eastern counterparts. It will be interesting to see if it moves into Paganism or New Age.

For me, Paganism is the modern attempt to find a way to cope with diversity in the world by accepting diversity and pluralism rather than by trying to exterminate it in the atempt to create a vast, cosmic, homogeneous, plain-vanilla One. The Christian Church tried to deal with diversity through extermination. Parts of Islam have been devoutly following the same path. Wonder how long it will take us to abandon our ancient, pluralist roots and follow them in their One True Way-ism.