Heathen, another name for a Pagan

Heathen

Heathen or Heathens may refer to:

Religion

• Heathen, another name for a Pagan
• Heathen, an adherent of Heathenry (new religious movement)

Music

• Heathen (band), a North American thrash metal band
• Heathen (David Bowie album) (2002)
• Heathen (Thou album) (2014)
• Heathen, an album by Wyrd
• "Heathens" (song), a song by Twenty One Pilots for the Suicide Squad film
• "The Heathen", a song by Bob Marley from Exodus

Film

• Heathen (film), a film by Ross Shepherd

Literature

• "The Heathen", a short story by Jack London

See also

• Heathenry (disambiguation)
• Neo-Pagan (disambiguation)
• Pagan (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with "Heathen"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathen

Paganism is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christianity for populations of the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population or because they were not milites Christi (soldiers of Christ).^[2][3] Alternate terms in Christian texts for the same group were hellene and gentile.^[4]

Pagan and paganism were pejorative terms for the same polytheistic group, implying its inferiority.^[4] Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry",^[4] and for much of its history was a derogatory term.^[5] Both during and after the Middle Ages, paganism was a pejorative term that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, and the term presumed a belief in false god(s).^[6][7]

There has been much scholarly debate as to the origin of the term paganism.^[8] In the 19th century, paganism was adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. In the 20th century, it came to be applied as a self-description by practitioners of Modern Paganism or neopagan movements who incorporate beliefs or practices, such as nature worship, that were different from those in the main world religions.^[9][10]

Contemporary knowledge of old pagan religions comes from several sources, including anthropological field research records, the evidence of archaeological artifacts, and the historical accounts of ancient writers regarding cultures known to classical antiquity. Forms of these religions, influenced by various historical pagan beliefs of premodern Europe, exist today and are known as contemporary or modern paganism, also referred to as neopaganism.^[11][12]

While most pagan religions express a world view that is pantheistic, polytheistic or animistic, there are some monotheistic pagans.^[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism