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Secular paganism, alternately callednaturalistic paganism orhumanistic paganism, is an outlook upholding virtues and principles associated withpaganism while maintaining asecular worldview. Approaches to secular paganism vary, but typically include the respect for living creatures and the Earth itself, while rejecting belief in deities. Secular pagans may recognize goddesses/gods as useful metaphors for different cycles of life, or reframemagic as a purely psychological practice. The specific path ofatheopaganism developed in the twenty-first century.[1]
As Europe was Christianized, theChurch Fathers regularly secularized pagan deities and myths througheuhemerism, a practice where the deities are interpreted as historical figures who at some point had become worshipped as gods.[2]Clement of Alexandria summarized the approach inCohortatio ad gentes, addressing the pagans: "Those to whom you bow were once men like yourselves."[3]
The 18th century produced a considerable body of works that sought to "unveil" concepts from the ancient world, including the pagan gods.[4] This gave birth torationalist andatheist interpretations of ancient mythological concepts, and ancient texts were sometimes read as if they were written by contemporaries to theEnlightenment philosophers, discussing the same topics from the samehumanist perspective.[5]
Some adherents ofmodern Paganism have developedhumanistic orsecular approaches, where important aspects of a pagan worldview are embraced, but deities are not revered as real or supernatural beings. These approaches take on a variety of different forms.
In the 19th century, the French writerLouis Ménard used the term "mystical paganism" for his attempt to create a substitute for organized religion, in which he used a humanistic approach to recognize the importance of symbols and the irrational. The concept had significant influence on the poetLeconte de Lisle and theParnassian movement.[6]
Some pagan revivalists are inspired byCarl Jung's theories aboutarchetypes and thecollective unconscious. Jung handled esoteric and mythological subjects in a secular and scientific, yet not dismissive manner.[7]
The biologistAndreas Weber promotes what he calls "poetic ecology" and "poetic materialism". This has been a source of inspiration for people such as Henrik Hallgren of theSwedish Forn Sed Assembly.[8]
In the context ofpolitical theology, the philosopherOdo Marquard has argued that theseparation of powers is a "disenchanted return of polytheism";[9] his 1979 essay "In Praise of Polytheism" provoked controversy among German scholars.[9] Contrary to Marquard, the philosopherJacob Taubes—who defended a secularized version of apocalypticeschatology—argued that the secularized, political version of paganism istotalitarianism.[10]
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