Why do people assume that all Pagan paths worship the Earth. It's really annoying!

yeah, it means something to do with the earth...and most (though obviously not all) pagan paths DO worship the earth. Myself included. But I know how annoying stereotype is.

My karma ran over my dogma

A ceremonial magician without a conscience? *gasp* lol

xXxBlessed BexXx

Historically, the word "paganus" referred to someone who lived in the country, as opposed to in the cities. In the Roman empire, after Christianity became the official religion, Christianity was more popular in the cities, while a mixture of traditional practices continued in the countryside. The Latin word "paganus" began to refer to these practices from about the 4th century C.E. The earliest English usage seems to emphasize their not being a part of the official religion. There was no association with "nature religion" at this time, because no one thought of "nature" as a state or an entity separate from "civilization" per se.

The Neo-Pagan movement in the early 20th century was not always associated with earth worship. There was a Romantic yearning for the pre-Christian past, sometimes tied with nationalism. But this yearning was not always tied to actual knowledge of these pre-Christian peoples or their religion. The rise of Neo-pagan ideas coincided with the rise of the environmental movement, and both movements related to the Romantic movements that preceded it, so it's not surprising there was some overlap. But the association between "pagan" and "nature religion" probably took place fairly late. The current Green movement dates to the late 1960s.

I'm thinking that the whole "All pagans are earth worshippers" comes more from the pagans than any where else. Since any diety is "the devil" if it's not the christian god according to our christian counterparts. I'm thinking the pagans saw that "earth worship" was the least agressive defence. So at least the american christians would think. "okay, they don't worship satan, they worship the earth... something like the Native Americans" It's much easier to deal with.
Since people often don't look deep enough to see there is no "devil" for the pagans they probibly don't look into the ancient word roots involved in the religion.

Sorry for going down this road butt...Will that hurt? having you flaming sword scorching the earth all it will do is get dirty and the earth has a lot of rocks... ;)

A flaming sword hot enough to scorch the ground would have to be pretty hot...forget Earth friendly, what about flesh-friendly?!

So this is what happens when demented people play with powerful toys.

paganus means forest-dweller... just like how heathen means one who lives in the heath... so there is some association, but as someone said before -- it was used more because christianity was weak in the rural areas.

--Pax vobiscum, mea familia
Numerology is like bingo - amusing and largely pointless.
Oh My Gods for the wynn. ^_^

I have met more followers of Scandanavian and Germanic Neo-Paganism than I have met of actual Wiccans. Most of them tend to be bikers or are at least muscle car fanatics as well. Not really one percenters on the biker ones, but a few have considered it. They also don't come across as eco-friendly types either. The prominent part of the spirituality is that life is harsh and death is inevitable. Enjoy the first as best you can and meet the last proudly.

Makes me wonder if in the next decade or two some of these more serious types will start REALLY demanding their funerals be wild wakes culminating with cremation atop their motorcycles.

But would they at least take the fuel out of teh bike....well considering who we are talking about, and the purpose of the wake...prolly not, eh?

Monkey, what monkey, i don't see no blasted monkey!