Editing Modern paganism (section)

===Reappropriation of "paganism"===

Many scholars have favored the use of "neopaganism" to describe this phenomenon, with the prefix "neo-" serving to distinguish the modern religions from their ancient, pre-Christian forerunners.{{sfn|Simpson|Filip|2013|p=32}} Some pagan practitioners also prefer "neopaganism", believing that the prefix conveys the reformed nature of the religion, such as its rejection of practices such as [[animal sacrifice]].{{sfn|Simpson|Filip|2013|p=32}} Conversely, most pagans do not use the word ''neopagan'',{{sfn|Rountree|2015|p=8}} with some expressing disapproval of it, arguing that the term "neo" offensively disconnects them from what they perceive as their pre-Christian forebears.{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=9}} To avoid causing offense, many scholars in the English-speaking world have begun using the prefixes "modern" or "contemporary" rather than "neo".{{sfnm|1a1=Simpson|1a2=Filip|1y=2013|1p=32|2a1=Rountree|2y=2015|2p=8}} Several pagan studies scholars, such as [[Ronald Hutton]] and [[Sabina Magliocco]], have emphasized the use of the upper-case "Paganism" to distinguish the modern movement from the lower-case "paganism", a term commonly used for pre-Christian belief systems.{{sfnm|1a1=Hutton|1y=2003|1p=xiv|2a1=Magliocco|2y=2004|2p=19|3a1=Doyle White|3y=2016|3p=8}} In 2015, Rountree opined that this lower case/upper case division was "now [the] convention" in pagan studies.{{sfn|Rountree|2015|p=8}} Among the critics of the upper-case P are York and Andras Corban-Arthen, president of the ECER. Capitalizing the word, they argue, makes "Paganism" appear as the name of a cohesive religion rather than a generic religious category, and comes off as naive, dishonest or as an unwelcome attempt to disrupt the spontaneity and vernacular quality of the movement.{{sfn|York|2016|p=7}}

[[File:The Parthenon in Athens.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The [[Parthenon]], an ancient pre-Christian temple in [[Athens]] dedicated to the goddess [[Athena]]. Strmiska believed that modern pagans in part reappropriate the term "pagan" to honor the cultural achievements of Europe's pre-Christian societies.]]

The term "neo-pagan" was coined in the 19th century in reference to [[Italian Renaissance|Renaissance]] and [[Romanticist]] [[Hellenophile]] classical [[Revivalism (architecture)|revivalism]].{{efn|The very persons who would most writhe and wail at their surroundings if transported back into early Greece, would, I think, be the neo-pagans and Hellas worshipers of today." ([[William James|W. James]], letter of 5 April 1868, cited after OED); "The neopagan impulse of the classical revival". ([[John Addington Symonds|J. A. Symonds]], ''Renaissance in Italy'', 1877, iv. 193); "Pre-Raphaelitism [...] has got mixed up with æstheticism, neo-paganism, and other such fantasies." ([[Justin McCarthy (1830–1912)|J. McCarthy]], ''A History of Our Own Times'', 1880 iv. 542).}} By the mid-1930s "neopagan" was being applied to new religious movements like [[Jakob Wilhelm Hauer]]'s [[German Faith Movement]] and [[Jan Stachniuk]]'s Polish [[Zadruga (movement)|Zadruga]], usually by outsiders and often pejoratively.{{sfn|Simpson|Filip|2013|p=31}} Pagan as a self-designation appeared in 1964 and 1965, in the publications of the [[Witchcraft Research Association]]; at that time, the term was in use by Wiccans in the United States and the United Kingdom, but unconnected to the broader, [[counterculture]] pagan movement. The modern popularisation of the terms pagan and neopagan as they are currently understood is largely traced to [[Oberon Zell-Ravenheart]], co-founder of the 1st Neo-Pagan [[Church of All Worlds]] who, beginning in 1967 with the early issues of ''[[Green Egg]]'', used both terms for the growing movement. This usage has been common since the pagan revival in the 1970s.{{Sfn|Adler|2006}}

According to Strmiska, the [[reappropriation]] of the term "pagan" by modern pagans served as "a deliberate act of defiance" against "traditional, Christian-dominated society", allowing them to use it as a source of "pride and power".{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=9}} In this, he compared it to the [[gay liberation]] movement's reappropriation of the term "[[queer]]", which had formerly been used only as a term of [[homophobia|homophobic]] abuse.{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=9}} He suggests that part of the term's appeal lay in the fact that a large proportion of pagan converts were raised in Christian families, and that by embracing the term "pagan", a word long used for what was "rejected and reviled by Christian authorities", a convert summarizes "in a single word his or her definitive break" from Christianity.{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=7}} He further suggests that the term gained appeal through its depiction in [[Romanticism|romanticist]] and 19th-century European [[nationalism|nationalist]] literature, where it had been imbued with "a certain mystery and allure",{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|pp=7–8}} and that by embracing the word "pagan" modern pagans defy past religious intolerance to honor the pre-Christian peoples of Europe and emphasize those societies' cultural and artistic achievements.{{sfn|Strmiska|2005|p=8}}