Don Pagans worship the Devil?
Of course not. “The Devil” is a specifically Christian concept, and no one outside of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam recognizes him at all. Indeed the very notion of a supreme God of Evil is entirely peculiar to Jahvistic monotheism, and utterly alien to most Pagan theology (though it is largely derived fromt he dualism of Persian Zoroastrianism, wherein Ahura-Mazda, the Lord of Light, is opposed to Ahriman, the Lord of Darkness). The popular confusion arose as a result of the 1486 publication of the Malleus Malificarum, or “Hammer of Witches” by Dominicans Kramer and Sprenger, wherein they gave the first physical description of the Devil as he is commonly depicted today, based on a demonizatio of the Greek horned God, Pan. As Pan and other horned Gods, such as the stag-horned Cernunos and Herne, were popular deities of the hung and the animal kingdom, and widely worshipped by European Pagans, Kramer and Sprenger’s equation of that imagery with the Christian’s Satan was able to be use
Absolutely not! “The Devil” is a specifically Christian concept, and no one outside of Judaism, Christianity or Islam recognizes him at all, much less worships him. Modern Pagans abhor coercive and manipulative acts, such as those ascribed to Satanists in the popular imagination. Indeed, the very notion of a supreme “God of Evil” is entirely peculiar to Jahvistic monotheism, and utterly alien to most Pagan theology (though it is largely derived from the dualism of Persian Zoroastrianism, wherein Ahura-Mazda, the Lord of Light, was opposed to Ahriman, the Lord of Darkness). The popular confusion arose as a result of the 1486 publication of the Malleus Malificarum (“Hammer of the Witches”), by Dominicans Kramer and Sprenger, wherein they gave the first physical description of the Devil as he is commonly depicted today, based on a demonization of the Greek horned god, Pan. As Pan and other horned gods, such as the star-horned Cernunnos and Herne, were popular deities of the hunt and the a
Absolutely not! “The Devil” is a specifically Christian concept, and no one outside of Judaism, Christianity or Islam recognizes him at all, much less worships him. Modern Pagans abhor coercive and manipulative acts, such as those ascribed to Satanists in the popular imagination. Indeed, the very notion of a supreme “God of Evil” is entirely peculiar to Jahvistic monotheism, and utterly alien to most Pagan theology (though it is largely derived from the dualism of Persian Zoroastrianism, wherein Ahura-Mazda, the Lord of Light, was opposed to Ahriman, the Lord of Darkness). The popular confusion arose as a result of the 1486 publication of the Malleus Malificarum (“Hammer of the Witches”), by Dominicans Kramer and Sprenger, wherein they gave the first physical description of the Devil as he is commonly depicted today, based on a demonization of the Greek horned god, Pan. As Pan and other horned gods, such as the star-horned Cernunnos and Herne, were popular deities of the hunt and the a
