Pagan Religions in Five Minutes - Suzanne Owen
51. What Explains the Enduring Bias against Pagans?
Pagan Religions in Five Minutes - Suzanne Owen
Franz Winter [+]
Vienna University
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Franz Winter has received Ph.D.s in Classical Studies (1999) and Religious Studies (2005) from the University of Vienna, and a Habilitation in Religious Studies (2010) from the same university, after having studied and done research at the Universities of Graz, Salzburg, Vienna, in Rome, at Boston University (Fulbright), and in Tokyo and Kyoto. He currently teaches at the University of Vienna and works at the Austrian Bundesstelle für Sektenfragen in Vienna. Among his major areas of interest are the history of contact between Europe and Asia from antiquity to modern times, new religious movements in East and West, history of Buddhism, Western Esotericism, religion and the media.
Description
The enduring bias against Pagans stems from early Christian use of "pagan" to demean non-Christians. Though Pagan movements have reclaimed terms like "witch," they remain misunderstood as the "other" possessing exclusive, secret knowledge. Gender dynamics and female sexuality have fuelled an overemphasis on sexual aspects. Stereotypes around sacrifices, devil worship and Occultism persist. While the religious landscape evolves, reluctance to fully accept Pagans continues, with a recent focus on alleged right-wing politics in Paganism.