Contemporary Paganism spans a wide array of traditions, new and old, each of which presents questions and challenges that only the gospel can answer.
1. Paganism is an umbrella term for several religious movements that share a similar worldview.
Paganism is best understood as a collective term for diverse religious movements that emphasize spiritual connections with the natural world, ritual practices, and self-defined authority and morality. Contemporary Pagans are not simply “all those who are not Christians.” Instead, Paganism represents a distinct set of worldviews that guide how adherents understand spiritual, physical, ethical, and practical matters. While branches share important similarities, each branch retains an individual set of practices and beliefs. Often, adherents of one branch recognize other branches as fellow expressions of an original, global religion—Paganism—which predates the development of creedal, organized religions, namely the Abrahamic traditions.
2. Geography, culture, and globalization influence the different branches of Paganism.
Many branches of Paganism present themselves as revivals of particular historical religions tied to specific regions and cultures. Examples of this include Druidry (Celtic), Heathenry (Germanic/Norse), Hellenism (Greek), Kemetism (Egyptian), and Neo-Mesopotamian and Canaanite (Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Levantine) reconstruction claims. Yoruba-based traditions from Africa, influential in Santería and Vodou, Native American religious revivals, and others share commonalities with Paganism, but their practitioners do not self-identify as Pagan.
Other branches, such as Wicca and witchcraft, are more synthetic. They emphasize individual practice and innovation while gathering for communal practice as well. These practitioners often borrow from multiple traditions. They often claim ancient continuity but are distinctly modern and adaptable.
3. Pagans typically revere the natural world and regard it as divine.
For Pagans, deep reverence for nature shapes both worldview and worship. They often see both the animate and inanimate aspects of nature as expressions of divinity worthy of worship. Festivals and rituals are commonly planned to coincide with seasonal changes, solstices, equinoxes, and lunar phases. Sacred geography—including mountains, bodies of water, and forests—serves as both symbols and settings for worship. Pagans commonly use these natural features in ritual attempts to access supernatural intervention through divination (the practice of discerning the future) and magic (the manipulation of physical reality through supernatural means). Pagans rightly sense the divine signature in the natural world but misdirect their worship towards the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:18-25).
Pagans rightly sense the divine signature in the natural world but misdirect their worship towards the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:18-25).
4. Pagans are likely polytheistic or pantheistic, and many emphasize a feminine divinity.
Many Pagan traditions embrace polytheism, worshiping a group of gods and goddesses often tied to natural forces (ex. lightning, oceans, seasonal changes) and human concerns (ex. love, war, fertility). Some focus their worship on a single deity while still acknowledging the existence of other divinities, a view known as henotheism. Others would be better understood as pantheists, seeing divinity as present in all the natural world but perhaps not personified in specific, named figures.
In addition, many Pagan traditions highlight feminine expressions of divinity alongside, or even above, masculine expressions. Many traditions revere a primary female form of divinity known as “the Goddess” or “the Mother.” This figure is frequently attributed with roles in the creation of the natural world, fertility, compassion, and maternal qualities. This figure is sometimes presented as a favorable alternative to deities represented as masculine, such as the God of the Bible.
5. Contemporary Paganism emphasizes the individual as the ultimate arbiter of moral truth.
Pagans generally affirm the validity of numerous spiritual paths and promote tolerance for others’ beliefs. There is no sense of rigid doctrine or authoritative scripture in Paganism. Typically, they argue that individuals should determine their own moral code and should not accept the imposition of an external code. Guiding principles in Wicca and witchcraft summarize this view in the Old English adage, “an it harm none, do what ye will.” Relatedly, many Pagans affirm karma-like concepts of cosmic reciprocity, believing that one’s actions, good or bad, return to the individual, sometimes multiplied by three.[1]
6. Most Pagan groups deny Satanic worship or influence.
Pagans are often characterized as worshipers of Satan, but most traditions explicitly distance themselves from Satanism, arguing that Satan is a figure from the Abrahamic faiths, not Paganism. Conflating Paganism and Satanism may lead to offense or misunderstanding. However, the Christian worldview does explicitly recognize the demonic nature of the idolatry expressed in Paganism (1 Corinthians 10:20).
7. Christians should be wary of both dismissal of and fascination with the demonic.
In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis uses a series of letters between a teacher and an apprentice demon as a literary device to cause readers to consider how they may be influenced by the demonic without realizing it. In the preface, Lewis warns:
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.[2]
To Lewis’ credit, he correctly observed that Western culture has frequently either denied the presence of demonic influence or, as we will see in point 8, become fascinated with it.
8. Contemporary Paganism may claim a relatively small number of adherents, but its influence is significant.
Contemporary Paganism remains a minority religious tradition, often categorized under “Other Religions” in surveys, making it difficult to track its population size. Yet Western pop culture produces a steady stream of content fascinated with Pagan themes. Beyond content production and consumption, surveys show that about 30 percent of US adults consult astrology, tarot readings, or other forms of divination at least once a year, and 14 percent do so monthly.[3] Likewise, “manifestation,” or the use of mental rituals believed to shape real-world outcomes, was named Cambridge Dictionary’s 2024 Word of the Year after a surge in popularity on social media.[4] Manifestation, sometimes referred to as “magic,” is well documented in several branches of Paganism. These practitioners may not view themselves or their practices of divination and manifestation as Pagan, but they are connected to Paganism.
9. Many find Contemporary Paganism appealing because of the autonomy, community, and power it claims to offer.
Paganism does not grow by door-to-door witnessing. Instead, it grows as individuals become fascinated with what it promises and promote it to others. It advertises spiritual connection without submission to external authority, community for those who feel that more organized forms of religion are oppressive or unwelcoming, and access to hidden knowledge and spiritual powers through practices like divination, manifestation, and rituals.
10. We should approach sharing the gospel with Pagan friends with understanding, compassion, and confidence.
Christians should seek to understand the particular beliefs of Pagan friends, realizing that there are numerous nuanced forms of Paganism. While Paganism is certainly influenced by the demonic, suggesting too quickly that practitioners worship Satan will likely be perceived as rude and will prematurely end the conversation.
We should also understand that our Pagan friends have followed their own deceitful hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, worshiping the creation in place of the Creator (Romans 1:18-25). Rather than responding with rejection or judgment, we should recall that our state before Christ was once no different. We should feel great compassion for image bearers who have been deceived. We have the joy and privilege of introducing them to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father (John 14:6).
Finally, Christians should be humble, yet confident, when sharing with Pagan friends. Remember that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). We have already been transferred from darkness into Christ’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13), and God continues to deliver people from darkness today through the good news of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
[1] Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, rev. and expanded ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1986),20; Scott Cunningham, Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1993), Kindle edition, 17, 83.
[2] C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: HarperCollins, 1961), preface.
[3] Pew Research Center, “3 in 10 Americans Consult Astrology, Tarot Cards, or Fortune Tellers,” May 21, 2025, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/05/21/3-in-10-americans-consult-astrology-
tarot-cards-or-fortune-tellers.
[4] Cambridge University Press & Assessment, “‘Manifest’ Is Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2024,” November 20, 2024, https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/word-of-the-year-2024.
