Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

postmoderns is quite similar, and thus easily united.
There are many neo-pagans who are
monotheists, polytheists or duo theists.
Many regard the gods as real, not simply as
aspects of a male or female deity. Hence, the
gods are worshipped as themselves. Some
groups, such as the Church of All Worlds,
acknowledge one another as manifestations
of deity, addressing each other in ritual as
“Thou art God, Thou art Goddess.” Not all
groups worship all gods. Some may only
worship the Norse pantheon or the Greek.
Others may only worship specific gods, alone
or in combination with gods from the same
or different pantheons. In some groups each
person has their own deities, while the group
may have tutelary deities (Hadden).
For some Neo-Pagans, and most animists, there is a relationship between the divine
and human, the sacred and profane, the holy and secular. People believe spirits influence
what happens in the seen world, and people consequently live in constant fear of these
spirits. There is also a belief that animals, plants, mountains and other inanimate things
have spirits. “Animists impute human attributes to the world…” (R.J. Priest, in Moreau,
2000:63). Missiologist Gailyn Van Rheenen believes Neo-Pagans are closer to other
animists than many Neo-pagans like to admit, and adds:
Animism... is not merely the religion of tribal
societies. Animism is prevalent in every
continent and is part of every culture, although
it is more formative in some than others. In
Western contexts animistic customs include
channelling and magical use of crystals in the
New Age movement, ritual practices of the
occult, and the readings of the horoscopes to
perceive how the alignment of heavenly bodies
affect the living. Spiritism in Brazil, Santeria
in Cuba, voodoo in Haiti, ancestral veneration
among the Chinese, Shintoism in Japan, and
cargo cult in Melanesia are all types of
animistic systems... There are also animistic
undercurrents to all major religions
as they are practiced around the world. For
example, spiritism is an ideology followed by
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University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa