Changes

In current usage, "heathen" usually means one of four things:

In current usage, "heathen" usually means one of four things:

1) A person who does not follow of one of the [[Abrahamic religion]]s: Judaism, Christianity, or [[Islam]].

# A person who does not follow of one of the [[Abrahamic religion]]s: Judaism, Christianity, or [[Islam]].

 

# A person who has no religion, often with an implication of immorality thrown in.

2) A person who has no religion, often with an implication of immorality thrown in.

# A person who follows the pre-Christian religion of Northern Europe, based on [[Norse]] or "[[Viking]]" mythology. This ancient [[religion]] has modern adherents, who use "Asatru" as the formal name for their religion. [[Asatru]] heathens object to Meaning (1), above, as too general, and to Meaning (2) as simply wrong. Asatru is a [[government]]-recognized religion in some of the Scandinavian countries. Estimates of the number of people who follow this religion vary widely, but "several thousand" is a good guess in the [[U.S]].

 

3) A person who follows the pre-Christian religion of Northern Europe, based on [[Norse]] or "[[Viking]]" mythology. This ancient [[religion]] has modern adherents, who use "Asatru" as the formal name for their religion. [[Asatru]] heathens object to Meaning (1), above, as too general, and to Meaning (2) as simply wrong. Asatru is a [[government]]-recognized religion in some of the Scandinavian countries. Estimates of the number of people who follow this religion vary widely, but "several thousand" is a good guess in the [[U.S]].

[[Category:Religion]]

[[Category:Religion]]