Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a collective term for new religious movements which are influenced by or derived from the various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern peoples. Although they share similarities, contemporary pagan religious movements are diverse, and as a result, they do not share a single set of beliefs, practices, or texts.* p=40
Due to its diversity, many criticisms of modern paganism are directed towards specific neopagan groups, and as a result, they are not directed towards all neopagan groups. Criticisms of specific neopagan groups range from criticisms of their belief in gender essentialism to criticisms of their belief in racial supremacy to criticisms of the worldly focuses of pagan organizations.
The analysis of Slavic and, in particular, Russian neopaganism from the standpoint of religious studies and ethnopolitics is carried out in the works of the religious scholar Alexei GaidukovГайдуков A. B. Реконструкция и возрождение дохристианских верований в современной России // Поиски исторической психологии. Сообщения и тезисы докладов Международной междисциплинарной научной конференции. — СПб. 21—22 мая 1997 г / Под набл. Т. В. Партаненко и В. И. Старцева. — СПб.: РГПУ имени А. И. Герцена, 1997.Gaidukov A. The Russian-Language Internet and Rodnoverie // Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe (англ.) / K. Aitamurto & S. Simpson (eds.). — Durham: Acumen, 2013. — P. 315–332. — x+358 p. — (Studies in Contemporary and Historical Paganism). and the historian Victor Schnirelmann.Shnirelman V. Russian Neopaganism: From Ethnic Religion to Racial Violence // Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe (англ.) / K. Aitamurto & S. Simpson (eds.). — Durham: Acumen, 2013. — P. 62–71. — x+358 p. — (Studies in Contemporary and Historical Paganism).
Criticism of its historicity Many pagan traditions have been criticized on the basis that they bear little resemblance to the historical practices of which they claim to be revivals.
Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, claimed that it is a continuation of an ancient persecuted Witch cult, a widely discredited notion.* p=362* p=154
Kemetic Orthodoxy has been criticized for being more based on contemporary revelation than historical continuity.Harrison, Paul (2018). Profane Egyptologists: The Modern Revival of Ancient Egyptian Religion. Taylor and Francis. Kemetism as a whole has been criticized over a lack of historical continuity, with most practices having little archaeological support or support from primary sources.
Romuva has been highly praised for maintaining historical continuity by contrast.* , pp. 279 & 292.* , pp. 245–246 & 258.
Neopagans have been repeatedly criticized for promoting pseudohistory, pseudoscience, pseudoarchaeology, and pseudolinguistics (see for example, The Veles Book).
Certain Russian scholars, such as O. V. Kutarev, believe that "old paganism in its fullness in Europe is essentially unknown, except the beliefs of Mari and Udmurts", and "the restoration of 'pure' paganism as it was in antiquity is impossible".
According to E. L. Moroz, Slavic neopaganism is a religion "in which the names of the ancient Slavic gods are combined with a vulgarized presentation of Hinduism and supplemented by all kinds of revelations about black and light energies and cosmic worlds.Мороз Е. Л. Борцы за «Святую Русь» и защитники «Советской Родины» // Национальная правая прежде и теперь : Историко-социологические очерки / Институт социологии РАН. — СПб., 1992. — Вып. 1. — С. 71—72.Мороз Е. Л. Ведизм и фашизм // Барьер: Антифашистский журнал. — Библиотека «Звезды», 1994. — No. 1. — С. 4—8.
According to Vladimir Borisovich Yashin, neopaganism is not so much an attempt to restore the real traditional pagan religions of the past as it is to establish an occult-esoteric worldview.Yashin V. B. "The Church of the Orthodox Old Believers-Ynglings" as an example of a neo-pagan cult // Neo-paganism in the vastness of Eurasia / Comp. Sat. V. A. Shnirelman. – M . : Biblical and Theological Institute of the Holy Apostle Andrew, 2001. – S. 56–67.
Russian archaeologist Leo Klejn, who devoted one of his books to the reconstruction of ancient Slavic paganism, negatively assessed the activities of Rodnovers, who (he asserts) are not really interested in "what their ancient ancestors prayed to and how they got on with their rites, what celebrations they celebrated and what they wore. Their present-day festive and ceremonial actions, devised in the style a la Russe, are a show, a spectacle, a buffoonery. And they themselves are skomorokhi."Клейн Л. С. Воскрешение Перуна. К реконструкции восточнославянского язычества. — М.: Евразия, 2004. — 480 с. — 3000 экз.
The Belarusian publicist, scholar, and former figure of the neopagan movement Alexei Dzermant provided a similar assessment of the Rodnovers' activity:Their calendar of holidays and pantheon of gods is usually made up of fragments characteristic not of a particular local tradition, but borrowed from various East and West Slavic, Indian, and Scandinavian sources, "cabinet" mythology; Folklore texts are usually ignored; forgeries like the "Veles Book" are worshipped as "holy writs"; traditional rites are replaced by invented rituals; ritualistic "prayers" are sung instead of ritual songs; and folk music is either completely absent or presented in a "balalaika" form, Tasteless stylizations of early medieval and folk attire are understood as "Slavic" clothing; signs and symbols are used in a completely unmotivated manner; texts of "Rodnovers"-ideologists are imbued with profane esotericism, para science, dubious historical "discoveries," and national megalomania.A different view is presented in the works of the Czech ethnologist, a specialist in the field of Czech ethnography and Rodnovery Jiří Machida. He acknowledged the reality of reconstructions of the Slavic pagan ceremonial complex by Rodnovers. At the same time, he noted that the basis for reconstructing the rites is not historical sources, but folklore and folk worldview.Mačuda J. Ideologie rodnověří v názorech a praxi jeho čelních představitelů (se zaměřením na genezi a proměny obřadu) : [чеш.] : Doktorska disertační práce. — Brno: Masarykova univerzita, filozofická fakulta, 2013.Мачуда Й. Чешская община «Родная вера» — возвращение к духовности предков // Colloquium heptaplomeres : Научный альманах / Научно-исследовательской лаборатория «Новые религиозные движения в современной России и странах Европы». Нижегородский государственный педагогический университет имени Козьмы Минина. — Н. Новгород: НГПУ, 2014. — No. 1. Язычество в XX—XXI веках: российский и европейский контекст. — С. 101—109.
Victor Schnirelmann distinguished two streams in the world of neopaganism: speculative neopaganism, widespread among the urban intelligentsia, who lost all connection with tradition and genuine popular culture, and the revival of folk religion in the village, where we can often trace a continuous line of continuity coming from the past. In his opinion, "the first certainly prevails among Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Latvians, and Armenians, where one can safely speak of the 'invention of tradition'". Similarly, Alexei Gaidukov and E. Skachkova distinguished modern paganism as an unbroken tradition, though changing in response to the challenges of our time (with the Mari, Udmurts, Ossetians, etc.), and the new paganism, or neopaganism (with peoples who have historically moved away from the pagan past, including the Slavic neopaganism), a tradition constructed on the basis of the authors' ideas. Historian, religious scholar, and ethnologist A. V. Gurko believed that the concept of "neo-paganism" "can be defined from the term 'paganism,' which refers to heterogeneous polytheistic religions, cults, beliefs, and the definition of new religious movements characterized by syncretism, active use of mass media, communications, apocalypticism, missionary".Гурко А. В. Неоязычество в Беларуси: предпосылки и условия возникновения, организационные формы, перспективы // . — 2001. — С. 68—79. However, according to M. A. Vasiliev, it is incorrect to apply the term "neo-paganism" (lit. "new paganism") to a movement that has long lost its connection with the traditional culture. In his opinion, it is preferable to call this artificial and eclectic intellectual construct pseudo-paganism, i.e. pseudo-paganism.
Those who oppose the Greek National Religion try to present as arbitrary its identification with the historical ancient Greek religion, arguing that there was no religion in ancient Greece. They argue that what they call ancient Greek religion is a set of beliefs, mythology, ritual practices, and ideological, philosophical, scientific, and political concepts much more diverse and less rigidly structured than any religion in the modern, Abrahamic sense. This whole developed over a period of more than 1500 years, half of it in eras without a script (which would have acted as a stabilizing factor), changed from period to period and from region to region and was subjected to foreign influences. The diversity and lack of coherence, according to them, is largely due to the fact that in Ancient Greece there was never a supreme religious authority imposing an "orthodox" version, nor were there Holy Scriptures with universal acceptance, such as the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Quran, or others.
Criticism of pagan communities and hierarchies The decentralized nature of many pagan communities has led many to demonstrate traits very different from traditional organized religions. Some scholars have argued that the lack of religious hierarchies leads to an increase in political extremism on both the right and left, or that it leads to members feeling lost and unable to find spiritual guidance.
Many pagans have expressed little interest or even opposition to the development of more robust organizational structures. Many express their paganism as a manifestation of a rejection of organized religion. This is especially true among more progressive pagan groups.
This is not a universal ideal, with many pagans citing disillusionment with Christian theology but a desire for a Christian-like organizational structure. This issue continues to be subject to much debate and self-criticism in pagan circles.
Rodnovery and Kemetic Orthodoxy have been relatively free of this criticism due to their more robust organizational structures.* Krogh, Marilyn. & Pillifant, Brooke Ashley. "Kemetic Orthodoxy: Ancient Egyptian Religion on the Internet: A Research Note." ''Sociology of Religion'' 65.2(2004): 171.
Racial issues
Slavic
Some forms of modern Slavic paganism have been assessed as extremist radical-nationalist by researchers.Неоязычники // Верховский А. М., Прибыловский В. В., Михайловская Е. Национализм и ксенофобия в российском обществе. — М.: Информационно-экспертная группа «Панорама», 1998. — С. 39—41.Мороз Е. Л. Неоязычество в России // Цена ненависти. Национализм в России и противодействие расистским преступлениям : сб. ст. / Сост. А. М. Верховский. — М.: ИАЦ «Сова», 2005. — С. 196—225. — Яшин В. Б. Русское неоязычество в контексте проблемы религиозно-политического экстремизма // Научный вестник Омской академии МВД России. — 2014. — No. 1 (52). — С. 37—40.