COMPARATIVE RELIGION PART IV: A Crash Course on More Religions from A-Z: Atheism, Agnosticism, Paganism, Neo-Paganism, Satanism, Secular Humanism, Wiccans and Zoroastrianism

In this series, we daringly delved into points of comparison amongst many religions, and considered that despite differences in our belief systems, people tend to investigate or practice religion for similar reasons—reasons that have to do with what makes us human and unique as such. And nearly everyone believes something; even if it’s merely a stance of ‘non-belief!’

Religion	World Pop.
Christianity	2.1 Billion
Islam	1.3 Billion
Secular/Agnostic/Atheist	1.1 Billion
Hinduism	900 Million
Chinese Traditional	394 Million
Buddhism	376 Million
Primal-Indigenous	300 Million
Juche	19 Million
Spiritism	15 Million
Judaism	14 Million
Baha’i	7 Million
Jainism	4.2 Million
Shinto	4 Million
Cao Dai	4 Million
Zoroastrianism	2.6 Million
Tenrikyo	2 Million
Neo-Paganism	1 Million
Unitarian Universalism	800 Thou.
Rastafarianism	600 Thou.

Consider the statistics on approximately how many people worldwide are involved with a particular religion. While Christianity might be the largest religion worldwide, Islam is currently growing the fastest. Likewise, 2.6 million Zoroastrianism adherents are nothing to scoff at; nor are the 1.5 billion people who consider themselves secular/agnostic/atheist. But the fact that a particular religion has more practitioners than another doesn’t make it more significant or “right.” Let’s take a look at some other religions, and how they viewed or currently view the world and humanity’s place in it.

Paganism/Neo-Paganism/Wicca- Is Paganism a religion? “Paganism” itself is a term that refers to a wide-ranging span of beliefs, rather than a specific religion, like Judaism or Christianity. Peter Occhiogrosso, in The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World’s Religious Traditions, explains that the term pagan was “a Christian coinage, deriving from the Latin paganus (‘country peasant’ or ‘civilian’) and implying anyone who wasn’t a soldier in Christ’s army against idolatry.” Originally, Paganism was Christianity’s name for the Roman Empire’s official religion, which involved worshipping many gods. Pagans were also deeply earth centered in their beliefs, holding deep reverence for Nature. Paganism can be traced back to the Neolithic era (latter half of the Stone Age) and up to the Middle Ages, when Christianity gained enough strength to repress it. In fact, many of the Christian holidays- like Easter and Christmas- have Pagan roots.

Neo-what? “Neo-Paganism” refers to the modern and contemporary resurgence of some pagan beliefs, but is differentiated from paganism in that it does not refer to the pre-Christian era. There are many different forms of neo-paganism, including astrau, neo-druidism, and Wicca. As with other religions, there is diversity amongst neo-paganism as well. Wicca’s may worship the god and goddess (‘huntress’ and ‘horned one’) while neo-Druids revere facets of nature such as the sun or river; but neo-paganism as a whole usually promotes ecological respect and concerns the worship of pre-Christian deities. It is also important to note that while Wicca’s practice magic, they are not ‘devil-worshippers;’ this was and often remains a misconception spread during and after the expansion of Christianity.

Satanism- What about the Satanists? Incidentally, Satanists aren’t devil worshippers either. The Church of Satan was formed in 1966 by Anton LaVey. It still exists today, and has never sought tax-exempt status. Official Church of Satan members promote doctrines such as (but not limited to) indulgence over abstinence, undefiled wisdom, responsibility only to those who are responsible, and vengeance instead of non-reactivity. According to the Church of Satan, “Satan” in the original Hebrew language of the Christian Bible did not actually stand for an entity or person. Religioustolerance.org confirms this, explaining that the Hebrew term “Satan” (root word “s’tn”) was actually derived from the original Hebrew verb “satan,” meaning “to oppose.” The Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek was used in the Christian Church; translating “satan” as “diabolic” from which the English derived the term “devil.” Official Church of Satan members consider themselves militant atheists, vehement opponents to the status quo, and supporters of the “adversary.” They believe in a non-dual natural world, in which humans are carnal beasts who should logically strive toward ecological responsibility, and are fastidious in disassociating themselves from imitators who don’t measure up to their elite standards.

Zoroastrianism: Zoroaster, not Zathura! Like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Zoroastrianism originated in the Middle East. It spread to India, where Zoroastrians were (and still currently are) known as Parsis, additionally developing small communities in other parts of the world. Zoroastrianism was founded by a prophet known within the tradition as Zarathustra, and by the Latinized name of Zoroaster. Recent scholarship places his birth somewhere between 1500 and 1000 B.C.E; although his traditional date of birth is 4000 B.C.E. At age 20, Zoroaster left his family to go on a spiritual quest. Ten years later, he had a series of visions; in the first of which the head of angels appeared to him, told him there was only one God, and that he was to be the messenger of that God on earth. At first, he was condemned as a heretic, and did not have a following. But Zoroaster was persistent, and traveled to east Iran where he served in the court of an Aryan ruler named Vishtaspa for several years. Consequently, Aryans began to embrace this new faith and it spread. The sacred text of Zoroastrianism is The Avesta, which means “basic text,” and contains prayers, hymns, and instructions for worship and moral behavior. The Gathas are considered the most important texts within the Avesta, as they give the specific teachings of Zoroaster which include: 1.) The forces of good and evil exist in competition; both are necessary and exist in balance, but humans face the problem of avoiding evil; 2.) Humans have free will and are accountable for the path they choose in this life; 3.) Time is linear—we move from creation to culmination, and our choices in the real world determine our eternal consequence; 4.) The soul remains with the body for three days, then goes to a place of judgment on the fourth day in which his or her good and bad deeds are ‘weighed,’ and whichever deeds weigh the most determines the fate of the soul in heaven or hell; 5.) practicing good thought, good word, and good deed help Zoroastrians lead lives free of ethical impurity and pollution.

Secular/Agnostic/Atheist: A-what? “A” is a Greek root that means ‘without.’ If we know this, and also that gnosis in Greek means knowledge, and that theism refers to belief in God, we can deduce agnosticism as meaning without belief in spiritual knowing or knowledge, and atheism, as without belief in God or deity. Agnosticism is more of an epistemological claim (epistemology= the study of knowledge in philosophy), while Atheism a religious claim. Agnostics do not necessarily believe that spiritual certainties don’t exist at all; they just don’t think we can have knowledge of such certainties. An agnostic might say, “I believe that an all powerful force is out there, but I don’t believe that humans can ever know what it is.” An Atheist might say, “There is no God.”

“Secular” generally refers to anything ‘non-religious,’ while ‘secularism’ refers to the belief that public affairs should not be governed by religion. Philosophically and culturally speaking, ‘secularism’ asserts that ethics and reasoning should take precedence over the appeal to deities in one’s life.

Despite whether or not one decides to apply ethics and reasoning and, or appeal to one God or several gods and goddesses, religions possess tremendous positive potential to help people relate to the world and questions about human existence such as origin and destination. As with any major force or organization, negative potential exists as well. We must always remember that people give religion its power—people like you and me. Therefore, it is worthwhile for us to be respectful toward one another and our beliefs. It is worthwhile for us to bring peace to the world instead of hostility. And it is worthwhile for us to see unity in diversity, instead of disparity in perceived dissimilarity.

Exploring Comparative Religion can be fun and informative. An excellent reference for this purpose is Peter Occhigrosso’s Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World’s Religious Traditions. Peter’s website (www.joyofsects.com) also includes a discussion forum in which you can discuss religion. www.tolerance.org and www.adherents.com are also excellent resources for exploration. Additional sources utilized for this article: Ygraine Mitchell: Florida Priestess, Church of Satan; Peter Gilmore: High Priest, Church of Satan. ---