Research Project--- Survey time my helpful friends ^___^

[Hiei_no_miko]

I need some advice on what to do for my research project. The reason I'm asking here is that I want to do it on Paganism. I'm thinking something like What people think about paganism, from within and without. The part of it where I would ask non-pagans is because my professor said that paganism fits the definition of a cult and I want the oportunity to argue against that. What do you guys think I could/should do with my project?

Edit: So, I settled on the topid of why people become pagans, because I wanted to see what you guys would say so if you could answer a few questions for me I would really appreciate it.

Age:
How old were you when you became pagan?
What made your realize that you were?
Anything else you would like to say?

Thanks for your help, if anybody has any advice on how to make the survey a little better please let me know.  

[saint dreya]

Hiei_no_miko

I need some advice on what to do for my research project. The reason I'm asking here is that I want to do it on Paganism. I'm thinking something like What people think about paganism, from within and without. The part of it where I would ask non-pagans is because my professor said that paganism fits the definition of a cult and I want the oportunity to argue against that. What do you guys think I could/should do with my project?

Dictionary.com

cult
n.

1. a. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
b. The followers of such a religion or sect.
2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
3. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
4. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
5. a. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
b. The object of such devotion.
6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.

every religion is a cult by all the definitions except 1a and 1b.

paganism is not a religion. it is unifying term based on what people are not (not christian, not jewish, not muslim).

under any of these definitions, i don't see paganism fitting in as a cult.  

[Something to Replace]

Maybe you could make a point by bringing up the behavours and lifestyles of the majority of cults.


I believe the KKK is a cult...You could use that as an example?  

[MST3Kakalina]

I would suggest perhaps focusing specifically on Wicca and dispelling myths like "it worships a Goddess* and it's whatever you want it to be" as a much more worthwhile endeavour. Once you slap your professor in the face with the proper definition of a cult.

What's the assignment specifically, if you don't mind my asking? Perhaps you can do something tangentially related to paganism.


*I mean to say that it seems to be trendy to ignore the God figure in most pop-Wicca sources and that bugs me; Dianic covens are excempt from this idea off being faddish and "mainstream," though they still bug me.  

[AingealOreiad]

Or, to play off of MST3Kakalina's idea, you could go into the fact that, despite popular opinion, not all 'pagan' religions follow the same formula (ie: worship a god and goddess and follow the cycles of nature by celebrating the 8 sabbats, etc). Research into the various forms of Wicca and neo-wicca, and branch off from there to Recon religions. All of these in some way fall under the pagan umbrella, yet are all EXTREMELY different, more so than the various Christian or Jewish sects are from each other.  

[saint dreya]

AingealOreiad

Or, to play off of MST3Kakalina's idea, you could go into the fact that, despite popular opinion, not all 'pagan' religions follow the same formula (ie: worship a god and goddess and follow the cycles of nature by celebrating the 8 sabbats, etc). Research into the various forms of Wicca and neo-wicca, and branch off from there to Recon religions. All of these in some way fall under the pagan umbrella, yet are all EXTREMELY different, more so than the various Christian or Jewish sects are from each other.

um, what pray tell is the difference between wicca and neo-wicca?  

[AingealOreiad]

phoenix_shadowwolf

um, what pray tell is the difference between wicca and neo-wicca?

My appologies, I slipped up--my friends know what I mean by the terms, and I forget sometimes to be more presice in my terminology. I means BTW and it's offshoots (Alexandrian, etc) and the general wicca that is found in books and is not lineaged. Again, I apologize for not being more clear.  

[saint dreya]

AingealOreiad

phoenix_shadowwolf

um, what pray tell is the difference between wicca and neo-wicca?

My appologies, I slipped up--my friends know what I mean by the terms, and I forget sometimes to be more presice in my terminology. I means BTW and it's offshoots (Alexandrian, etc) and the general wicca that is found in books and is not lineaged. Again, I apologize for not being more clear.

i'm still having trouble i guess. i'm of the persuasion that anything not lineaged really isn't wiccan.

not to say that anything lineaged is, but that it's a needed quality to start to establish the validity.

as for BTW (i assume you mean british traditional wicca) and offshoots, they're still considered wiccan. granted, that's if you're excluding dianic.  

[TeaDidikai]

Phoenix had the right idea- just the wrong dictionary. (Dictionary.com is not compiled by professionals and is inaccurate and biased)

Merriam Webster

Cult
1 : formal religious veneration : WORSHIP
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

All Theistic religions are Cults.

As for what I think you should do with your project- I suggest you start by narrowing down your thesis. Paganism is an umbrella term and covers way too much ground.

Look over the forums, and come up with more specific concept for your paper.  

[Hiei_no_miko]

Thanks for all your help. My paper just has to be a sociological look at anything, which is what through me off. The only thing that it has to have is at least three interviews and two book sources.  

[TeaDidikai]

Hiei_no_miko

Thanks for all your help. My paper just has to be a sociological look at anything, which is what through me off. The only thing that it has to have is at least three interviews and two book sources.

I wonder about a sociology Prof who uses words so carelessly as to address all of Paganism as a "cult" without acknowledging Christendom, Judaism and Islam do as well.  

[Something to Replace]

Hiei_no_miko

Edit: So, I settled on the topid of why people become pagans, because I wanted to see what you guys would say so if you could answer a few questions for me I would really appreciate it.

Age:
How old were you when you became pagan?
What made your realize that you were?
Anything else you would like to say?

Thanks for your help, if anybody has any advice on how to make the survey a little better please let me know.

I was about 9 or 10 when I became pagan. I started studying Paganism and stuck with it, without really realizing it was for me; it just seemed natural.  

[Alarias]

Hiei_no_miko

Age:
How old were you when you became pagan?
What made your realize that you were?
Anything else you would like to say?

i was 14 when i became pagan.
i felt drawn to many different aspects of paganism and i began to research it...there wasnt any one thing in particular that made me realize it. i went through a gradual process.
ive learned that i could spend a lifetime studying just one specific path or religion and still have much more to learn about it. i have been humbled by all the knowledge i have yet to gain.  

[LadyEladrin]

Age: 21 (close to 22)
How old were you when you became pagan? 16
What made your realize that you were?: I was researching different religions when I stumbled on Paganism by accident. I read a lot about it and realized that Id' finally found the word that described what I already thought and felt about the world around me. It was very humbling, but at the same time, liberating. I finally knew where to really start studying!
Anything else you would like to say?: Pagan is technically just an umbrella term for anything or anyone that doesnt' fit under the Jewish/Muslim/Christian label. I've found better definitions of it, however, that are much more up to date. There's more to calling yourself Pagan nowadays than just saying that, or "I live in the country." If you check www.paganpride.org I think they have a pretty good definition there. It needs a bit of tweaking, yes xp but it's the best one I've found.  

[MST3Kakalina]

Age: 19; 20 by the end of June
How old were you when you became pagan? I guess about 13 or 14. By the age of 12 I had more or less fallen out with Christianity (so the "non-Judeo-Christian person" use of the word there) and I started reading about Wicca when I was 13 and celebrated the sabbats rather consistently. By the time I was 16 I had settled quite nicely on the term "pagan," and I learned the truth at 17 the next year I bought a copy of The Satanic Bible and ever since then I've been "casually Satanic" (my own term meaning I subscribe to the philosophy and things like the Satanic Rules of the Earth and so on, though I am much less inclined to the ceremonial stuff that other Satanists seem to dig).
What made your realize that you were? Erm? What an odd question. I guess when I realized that Christianity as I had been taught had too many poorly answered/completely unanswered questions made me realize that it wasn't for me. And then reading the Satanic Bible sort of cemented it for me.
Anything else you would like to say? Nope, not really. biggrin