In contemporary usage, Heathen is sometimes confused with Atheist or Pagan, when someone who is Christian
wishes to indicate someone else is not, or is "godless" (see below). But its generally accepted meaning differs from both of
those terms.
A modern Heathen is a Pagan or Neo-Pagan person who believes in the Germanic and /or Scandinavian Gods and Godesses, and thus differs from a Wiccan who believe in the Celtic and/or Greco-Roman Deities. Historically, Classical Pagans such as Druids, Romans, and Greeks, believed in pantheons of ancient gods such as Jupiter or Zeus. This term is counterposed with Neo-Pagan which only siginifies that there was a part of one's ancestral history where one's ancestors were not Pagan, thus a direct link to the past is broken.
An Atheist is a person who rejects belief in a deity.
The term Heathen is a Northern European word derived from the Old English hǣthen and sometimes currently treated erroneously as a synonym for Pagan. See Paganism for etymology and selective history of the term. It is close to Paganism both in etymology and in usage, as both terms deride people who live "in the hills" or "on the heaths" for adhering to their older beliefs, rather than the more fashionable, newer Christianity.
Other uses:
- For the North American thrash metal band, see Heathen (band).
- For the David Bowie album, see Heathen (album).
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