Quote:
Originally Posted by gandhara
Just curious.. I'll describe my beliefs if there are any more here.
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As Ayn's answer is the very first reply to a question from 13 years ago, I think we can assume the answer has been "No".
As for "pagan", I think it's a relative term like "foreigner", which is connected to where you are as a person, and is used to describe people in another cultural bubble. I imagine that technically, most of us here on MB could apply it to anyone outside that whole Middle-Eastern religious trilogy: Christian-Jewish-Muslim. But these days it's used as you suggest, TH and Ayn, for people with some minority faith like Druid. My guess is that's because of the word's lingering derogatory meaning, and because we are a little more respectful about the other big religions, preferring to calling Hindus Hindus and Buddhists Buddhists.
In the same way, TH, I would say that yes, an atheist could technically be called a pagan
*, but people try to be more polite, more specific, and call us what we are: atheists.
* or perhaps that scathing description, "godless" could be used more widely: AFAIK it only shows up in the rants of TV evangelists in the US at the moment.