This page groups religions by their current standing, from a thriving global faith to one with only a small surviving community. Wikipedia notes that the Mandaeans, for example, "are the last surviving Gnostics from antiquity," a status very different from a religion still actively converting new adherents. Browsing by status today lets a visitor tell a living, growing tradition apart from one that survives only as a small remnant.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingTwentieth- and twenty-first-century traditions that revive, reconstruct or reimagine pre-Christian religion, typically honouring many deities and marking a seasonal calendar. Some work from the historical record and say so; others are openly modern creations. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard category in the study of new religions. Pagan here is a self-designation the movements adopted for themselves, not the ancient usage, in which it was a word for other people. 3 Learn More
Modern Pagan religions
This group holds modern Pagan religions: contemporary movements, mostly of the twentieth century onward, that revive, reconstruct or reimagine pre-Christian and nature-centred spirituality. They are new religious movements, though many draw sincerely on older imagery and lore.
The browser will find traditions such as Wicca and the broader contemporary Pagan and nature-religion movements. The atlas presents these as modern religions, marking clearly where a practice is a recent creation and where it claims older roots.
Status Today
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft
3. Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives
Michael F. Strmiska (ed.), ABC-CLIO, 2005
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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