Do you ever feel as if you may not be the sharpest pencil in the box?

I' pretty sure I'm not as a matter of fact!

How ever did you know.

Your question shows that you are indeed one of the sharper pencils in the box. The truly wise person will know where their knowledge stops and seeks to expand those borders.

Pagan is an interesting term as like heathen and infidel, it at its simplest meaning is religions other than your own, or commonly any religion that is not Christian.

I would tend to classify Wiccans, Spiritualists, Asatrus, and Deists as separate belief systems that may have some overlaps but do not overlap as much as denominations.

The Chinese/Eastern "belief systems" or philosophies often tend to be a "mix and match" sort of thing were some of this and some of that are used depending on personnal preference.

Zoroastrianism may be practiced today, but is is unlikely to be the same as the original religion of that name. The original was the first recorded monotheistic religion and is no longer practiced.

Similarly, modern pagans are not actually practicing what the pagans originally practiced but an interpretation of many different pagan beliefs all rolled up in to a religion that almost but not completely unlike the originals.

I've NEVER thought I was the smartest person around. (Or the best educated, or the most well informed, or ... you get the idea. But answers are there to be found, if you look for them.)

What makes most people Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, etc., is that their parents were. What makes most atheists atheists is that they arrived at the conclusion that there's no god to believe in. (Some theists chose the religion they subscribe to, and some atheists were just never indoctrinated into any religion. [All people are born nominal atheists - no one is born believing in any god.])

Pagans are "non-Abrahamics". It refers to anyone not a Jew, Christian or Muslim, who IS a member of a religion. Atheists are not Pagans.

Wiccans fall into two classes: Ancient (most likely none exist today), and a religion based on ancient Wicca that's in existence today. Deism is belief in a god who created everything. Period. Like he created it then he left. Spiritualists? The fakers who claim to speak with the dead? Or do you mean people who are spiritual (whatever that means - there's no coherent definition that theists would accept). The Latin "spiritus" means "breath" so, in that meaning, we're all spiritualists from our first breath to our last - breathers.

What defines one as a member of a group is the person so defined, and any requirements the group has for membership. you can call yourself, say, a Baptist, but if you don't get baptized, accept (or claim to) Jesus as your savior, etc., you're not accepted as a Baptist.

Taoism is a belief, not a religion. (There are "spirits", but no creator-god, and "religion" is belief in a creator.) Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Zoroaster. Neither is a subset of any religion.

None of these are subsects of others. Zoroastrianism, Taoism, etc are their own ideologies, and thanks to Alexander the Great among others, lots of ideas were borrowed or incorporated into each other's belief system. His conquering escapade exposed more cultures to one another than anything else except maybe the internet.

Many times there is an overlap of ideologies. One may rely upon Buddhism for spiritual guidance and go to a Christian church for worship. I call myself a Buddhist/Taoist. The beliefs are close and at times may overlap. The Buddhist part for me is the spiritual well being in practice and the Taoism is an explanation of the universe and of God for me. This is called syncretism. Ultimately, the individual is the deciding factor if one finds it necessary to be boxed in or labeled a certain religious affiliation, but many do not feel the need to compartmentalize. They take what they believe from whatever religion, or their own ideas, and label themselves "spiritual".

I can tell you more about those obscure religions if you like. Shoot me an email. But I won't be able to answer it today, I have to go to school.

heh - There is only a "kind of" generally accepted definition of Paganism within the Pagan community. So I wouldn't feel bad about being confused on all of this. I get confused too and I fit under this Pagan Umbrella.

It's accepted that Pagan refers to religions that are non Abrahamic. So they are not Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. But, there are several non Abrahamic religions that don't identify as Pagan, such as Buddhism. So we also generally include the caveat that these religions also identify as Pagan.

Wicca and Asatru are Pagan religions. Spiritualists? It depends on what kind. Deism is a philosophy instead of a religion, so there very likely would be people who identified as deist who were Pagan.

Taoism and Zoroastianism are both a bit more complex and I admit that I don't know enough about the individual religions to really comment fully on them.

But as far as the Pagan religions such as Wicca, Asatru (and the other Recon religions), Druidry, and things like that - for the most part what defines a person as one and not the other is a person's intention to be one and not the other. And that their practices bear this out.

For example -

I am Wiccan, but I honor Celtic gods. The way I honor them and some of my practices are very similar to Celtic Reconstructionism (another Pagan religion). But my religious beliefs and practices are Wiccan. I am also initiated in a Wiccan tradition (but I could still be Wiccan without that). My intent is to be Wiccan, not Celtic Recon. If I stopped doing things in a Wiccan format and started doing things (setting up my altar, ritual format, offerings, holidays) according to the Celtic Recon way and I intended to be Celtic Recon, I could say I had converted.

But it can be a big, bag of worms. We're confused too sometimes. I don't know if this helped or made things more confusing.

To the answerer who said True Wiccans saw deity as "one" and the God and Goddess as faces or sides (or whatever terminology was used) - that is absolutely not true. There are a few Wiccans that see deity that way, but most Wiccans are polytheistic. And I don't know who "true Wiccans" are supposed to be, but Gardner certainly didn't see deity like that.

There is a website called religious tolerance that does define thse things.

For example, Wicca, Spiritualism, Asatrus, Paganism, etc. fall into the category "Neopaganism".

Taoism is its own religion, Zoroastrianism as well.

Deism falls under Christianity.

as you research religion, it's far more important to go with what the religion teaches than what the religion is labeled--you'll find similarities and differences between all of them.

I know what you mean sweetie. My goodness there are a lot of different belief systems out there. It is amazing and extremely arrogant to claim to be the only right one. If you actually believe there is only one way than you would not be the sharpest pencil in the box.

As a deist, I do not consider myself to be Pagan. I believe in a Creator but he/she has no name. God is as good a label as any but I don't want the God I think exists to be confused with the biblical monster. My personal beliefs also include gnosticism and spiritualism. Like Pangel, there is no label for what I think in regards to spirituality.

pagan is a lable created by the catholic church for anything that wasnt it or wasnt a different form of abrahamic faith.

Taoism is a philosophy, not a religion.

Zoroastrianism was started by Zoroaster in the middle east sometime around 1000BCE and was and still is somewhat common in iran and iraq

all religions have subsects based all the way down to individual churches.

wiccans, spiritualists, asatrus, and deists all have their own way of seeing the world and generally they are not bound by names or boundries like many other religions.

and dont forget about Sikhs and Bah'ais :)

it is possible to be many of these religions while practicing or believing aspects of others.

basically, there are very few hard lines in religion. there is blending all over the place

Spiritualists arent technically Pagan no ...

as they have broken from Christianity ... although their beliefs have changed over the years and they would be more likened to Pagans now

Wiccans , Asatrua ...are reconstruction Pagan beliefs ( old beliefs brought to life again under a new name )

Deists describe those that dont have a personal God and perhaps see God in all ( which is why now spiritualists may be likened more to Pagans )

All I can tell is that the Pagans prefer to have the word capitalized, like Jew or Christian. Taoism and Zorastrianism are their own religions. I'll let the other people you asked about answer for themselves; maybe a star will help catch their attention. :)

Wiccan is a subset of the larger Paganism, like Catholic is one for Christian. True wiccans believe in one deity that has 2 sides: male and female. They are also closely tied to nature. Another subset of Neopaganism (as it's now called) is Druidism. There's another for the Native American worship of animals, but I'm unsure of the name. I want to say animism, but...

so that much I can attest for, on the broad list of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu...add Neopaganism.