Paganisim is a revitalized version of the numberous ancient and often forgotten or misrepresented Religions that were once predominant throughout the world. These each break down into specific sects or pantheons of gods and beliefs, but all have the following vital similarities:1) All pagans believe in a multiplicity of beings refered to as Gods or spirits or deities or Higher life forms or Entities, not the single god of the Judeo-Christian religion.
2) All pagans have a high respect for nature and natural ways, and a dislike for anything that ultimately disrupts the biosphere for any length of time.
3) No pagan worships the Devil, Satan, Lucifer or any other Christian or Jewish demon/devil figure. These are concepts of other religions and their subdivisions (Satanists are Christians with a diffrent viewpoint on who exactly is the power behind the reality). No pagan would worship a destructive force outside of nature, as the power inherant in nature is far too obvious (take a look at a hurricane, earthquake or tornado sometime!) We might not all be what Christians would consider morally perfect people, but we are careful to keep ourselves attuned to how nature works and avoid self-destructing thru improper use of power and knowledge (it can corrupt but those that become corrupted fall by the wayside in the pagan community, unlike those within goverment or other religions who simply cause more harm as they grow in power).
4) Although we are hardly unified in our thoughts or beliefs, pagans are a living breathing community that tries to help its members pull themselves up by their own bootstraps thru various activities, we band together as needed and drop our in-squabbling when one of us is in danger from those outside the community. Pagans, in other words, will guard each others backs!
5) Pagans are open minded to others, so long as those same others are tolerant to them. We don't claim our ways or ideas are for everyone, but ask that we not be attacked or insulted for our openess in belief and need for certain factors in our lives. We are not perfect, we are trying to overcome a feeling of being the down-trodden that is hundreds of years old - dating back to the times when Christians burned everyone for heresey in their dogmatic closed minds, some of us fully resent the past and refuse to deal civilally with Christians while others of us say 'you believe what you want and let me believe in what I want'. We do ask that you at least do the intelligent thing and study all sides of the equation before claiming to know the one solution...most equations contain complex variables, and philosophy is no excuse.
6) We believe in 'magic' that is, we believe in forces and natural laws to the universe that science has not yet discovered. The universe is a big place and mankind is a young race. Magic is the easiest term for the extra laws that scientific theory has yet to explore. If you can understand science and physics you have the potential to become a pagan without even trying.
