"Rebirth" of Paganism

I think that neo-Paganism and Pagan Reconstructionism of any kind is sort of cool, in its dedication to bring the ancient polytheisms of Europe back to life. Today, the neo-Pagan movement is confined to groups so small that the average person never heard of such a movement, from the most hardcore reconstructionist ones to the most eclectic ones (mainstream Wicca's on this side of the spectrum, while Nordic and Baltic reconstructionism is on the other, despite the fact that even the most purist neo-Pagans have their divisions). Your challenge is to make "revived" forms of Paganism at least well-known religious minorities in Abrahamic countries, kind of like Jehowah's Witnesses or Buddhists are OTL. If i had to say the most favourable times for Paganism to rise again, they would be the Renaissance (probably Venice, they burned less people there) and the Romantic era...
 
I have serious doubts about any attempted pagan revival in the pre-modern era. The Church was too powerful and still is to a certain degree. IMO, the only way to get it well-known is through the media. So it would have to be featured in a popular book series, movie, tv show or just have a celebrity practitioner (ala Kabbalah).

So, while it would be interesting Pre-1900 I just think it would have to be limited to Post-1900. Unless a group like the Lithuanians refused to convert and then went on a giant conquering spree forcing people to adopt their views. Even then, it's not too likely.
 
I think you have a chance in the 19th century. Those romantics were seriuously crazy about national chartacter and ancestral virtue. Keep it alive a little longer mid-century, maybe undermine the religious revival of the middle classes, and being a druid could be just as respectable as being a Unitarian.
 

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If we were talking about the future: I think the traditional (Germanic-Celtic) religions might return. The other candidates (in case that western Europe is still settled by humans in the future) are Catholic Christianity and Islam. Note the absence of atheism.
 
Well their were really two great periods for any sort of revival, that being the Renaissance period with the love of the Greo-Roman culture or the 19th Century where the more Mystical aspects of older Paganism got redone with Oriental Aspects such as the Hermatic Order of the Golden Dawn.
 
Even though the Renaissance period was "in love" with Classical mythology and themes, I don't think it would have worked. If you look at art and literature, even where pagan deities are freely depicted, there is still a large Christian influence and undertone. The Church was generally too powerful, I think, and it's important to remember that in some countries the effects of the Renaissance were felt much later than in Italy, so there would be somewhat of a gap. Religion and politics often went hand in hand, so it's entirely possible that a mass change of religion would bring about many changes in diplomacy and society that people might have wanted to avoid.

Romanticism might have been a slightly better time. Intellectually, there was the right amount of freethinking and mysticism going about that could have allowed people to question Christianity and convert to Pagan religions, especially those of their homelands. However, this may have undoubtedly have been easier for intellectuals and artists - some elites would have had something to gain from keeping things as they were and avoiding any chances, and people with less access to education or in whome a distaste for any naysaying of Christian doctrines was imbued would have probably not gone for it, making it harder to actually spread it. I think that intellectual elites along with some niches in rural areas could have been a start, but I think there's probably a reason why it didn't happen.
 
The best way I think would be to have the Christianization process not due as well, leaving large, Pagan minorities in the Baltics, British Isles, Norden and/or Northern Germany, which neither want to convert and, while being minorities, are to large, to dug-in and to powerful to convert by force later on.

In addition, to aide in the above, having the Church falter and basically lose any influence outside of Italia and its bordering areas would help keep minorities in the most places.
 
Iori is correct here, this best way to have paganism become common is to shut down it's competitors. Perhaps not confining them to Italy but you can have some limit, perhaps no inquisition?
 
Iori is correct here, this best way to have paganism become common is to shut down it's competitors. Perhaps not confining them to Italy but you can have some limit, perhaps no inquisition?

Sad irony - paganism inquisitions, like the japanese trials of the images...
 
Sad irony - paganism inquisitions, like the japanese trials of the images...

Japan did'nt really have inquisitions, those being religiously based, rather Japan suppressed Christinaity because they saw it as a threat to the country and a way for Euorpe to subvert its independence.
 
Japan did'nt really have inquisitions, those being religiously based, rather Japan suppressed Christinaity because they saw it as a threat to the country and a way for Euorpe to subvert its independence.

The so-called INquisition, you should realise, used religion as an excuse at times... I bet some peoples ended tasked in due to being too... problematic. Secular reasons under religious excuse.

And what happened in Japan was one, kinda, pushed by buddhists and the neoconfuscianists thinkers probably.
 
The so-called INquisition, you should realise, used religion as an excuse at times... I bet some peoples ended tasked in due to being too... problematic. Secular reasons under religious excuse.

And what happened in Japan was one, kinda, pushed by buddhists and the neoconfuscianists thinkers probably.

An Inquisition is based on a religion and goes after those that oppose it/believe differently regardless, what Japan did was target a specific group, who happened to be a religion, that is considered a threat.

Japan, even then was not a particularly religious country, they did'nt really give a damn what you did or did'nt believe so long as you were loyal and lived a quiet life in accordance with the then societal system.
 
OP I think you're a bit misguided here. Most estimates put Neopagan populations at around one million, and rapidly growing. To compare with that Jehovah's Witnesses have something like 7 million, and Buddhism constitutions some four-five hundred million people. Reaching the former's numbers is quite easy and likely will happen within the next half-century, reaching the latter's figures though would require a major, near-ASB, POD.
 
An Inquisition is based on a religion and goes after those that oppose it/believe differently regardless, what Japan did was target a specific group, who happened to be a religion, that is considered a threat.

Japan, even then was not a particularly religious country, they did'nt really give a damn what you did or did'nt believe so long as you were loyal and lived a quiet life in accordance with the then societal system.

In RL, things are often done using excuses as religions.
It was in Japan an inquisition of christians, and ironicaly as you implied it, using religious parts for secular goals finaly.

Japan was quite pious actually, but in different ways... There is a few famous buddhists critiques of Christianism of those days, by example.
 
OP I think you're a bit misguided here. Most estimates put Neopagan populations at around one million, and rapidly growing. To compare with that Jehovah's Witnesses have something like 7 million, and Buddhism constitutions some four-five hundred million people. Reaching the former's numbers is quite easy and likely will happen within the next half-century, reaching the latter's figures though would require a major, near-ASB, POD.

I didn't mean "reaching Buddhism's size of believers all over the world"... i was considering Buddhist denominations in Western/Abrahamic countries, that are fairly small in size, but have been heard about by the average Joe, and are composed largely (at least here in Italy) by local converts, who in some cases have had an influence over the nation in some way.
 
This is difficult, it takes time for new religions to get off the ground and become accepted, especially if they don't start as off shoots of existing religions. I do think neopaganism will continue to grow and could in time become the largest religious grouping, but that is centuries away. It should also be remembered that the term neopaganism covers a large group of different religions, much as the term monotheism does.

The well known minorities mentioned in the OP are interesting because they either represent off shoots of Christianity or are religions associated with a culture that has a large influence on certain groups
 
This is difficult, it takes time for new religions to get off the ground and become accepted, especially if they don't start as off shoots of existing religions.....

...The well known minorities mentioned in the OP are interesting because they either represent off shoots of Christianity or are religions associated with a culture that has a large influence on certain groups

I agree. Relatively small communities of Buddhists, Moslems, Hindus, etc in largely Christian or western secular countries gain credence and legitimacy because most people know they belong to major world religions that have millions of adherents in other nations. Relatively small offshoot sects of existing major religions gain credence because they are associated with the major religiosn in the popular mind. I think a real problem faced by neo-paganism is that there is a widespread impression that these are "failed" religions that lost out to monotheism. They are victims of the still common western notion of "progress" - in the progressive evolution of society they were replaced by more "modern" monotheistic religions like Christianity or Islam, which in turn are possibly going to be replaced by secular humanistic science, etc. I think for many people, there is sort of a cultural "been there done that" attitude about a return to pre-Christian paganism that limits the extent to which they will grow.
 
I think you have a chance in the 19th century. Those romantics were seriuously crazy about national chartacter and ancestral virtue. Keep it alive a little longer mid-century, maybe undermine the religious revival of the middle classes, and being a druid could be just as respectable as being a Unitarian.

Literally, in that Druids or whatever would be just as stodgy and churchy as Unitarians or any other church body.

Remember that if neo-paganism becomes more widespread in the 19th, it will have to be changed to appeal to more people and it will be changed by the needs of those people. So the same forces that made for Victorian Christianity will make for Victorian Paganism--preachy, prudish, bourgeouis, somewhat superficial and self-satisfied.

They might be even more so, because Christians and Pagans will be in a polemic with each other so whatever Christians main points of attacks are, the Pagans will be at pains to refute or to prove wrong by their own behavior. If one of the main Christian attacks is on Pagan immorality (likely), then the mainstream Pagan responses are probably efforts to show that they are even more moral than those Christians.
 
Yeah, I'd place the best bet as during the Romantic period as well, especially for Germanic, Greek and Roman polytheism, Celtic and Slavic less so.

Especially if politics were altered, say, if there was an Anglo-Scandinavian, Anglo-Prussian or Anglo-Dutch Union, a common Germanic faith may be hearkened back to, at least unofficially.

Or if the Catholic Church in Ireland was weakened, or if restrictions on Presbyterians hadn't been lifted as well, and Irish nationalists could adopt the old Gaelic faith as a badge of honor, or perhaps a Celtic-Germanic syncretism (Not quite what you were asking, but more my style).

Polish independence movement might be likewise, at least in Austria, where Polish Catholics weren't quite as repressed as they were in Prussia and Russia.

Romanian, German and Italian unifications could also play into something of this sort, and Greek independence if it isn't so closely tied to Orthodoxy.

I can see scenarios, but not so much how to follow through with them, alas.

(I'm a Norse-Gaelic syncretist, by the way)
 
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