Mike Perez

Christians Use Many Pagan Christians Use Many Pagan SymbolsSymbols

Symbols which have no apparent similarities

Symbols that, while lacking strong

similarities, are still clearly Pagan in origin

Symbols that have the same or very similar meanings

Why Christians Use Pagan Why Christians Use Pagan SymbolsSymbols

•Fusion of Cultures

•Evasion of Persecution

Fusion of CulturesFusion of Cultures

Prevalence of Religion:

Paganism:

Ancient times-Conversion of Constantine (4th century)

Christianity:

Birth of Christ-Present day

Fusion of Cultures (cont)

Paganism

Christianity

From the death of Christ until The conversion of the Roman Empire, there was an overlapping of the prevalence of the two religions.

The overlapping of these religions caused Christians to assimilate many pagan symbols into Christianity.

Dan Brown claims:Dan Brown claims:

“As part of the Vatican's campaign to eradicate pagan religions and convert the masses to Christianity, the Church launched a smear campaign against the pagan gods and goddesses, recasting their divine symbols as evil.”

“A newly emerging power will take over the existing symbols and degrade them over time in an attempt to erase their meaning. In the battle between the pagan symbols and Christian symbols, the pagans lost.”

Pagan Symbols Used By Christians Pagan Symbols Used By Christians Due to the Fusion of CulturesDue to the Fusion of Cultures

The Rose

The Serpent

The Pentacle

The RoseThe Rose

Paganism:

•Symbol of Venus (Aphrodite)

•Came to stand for secrecy

•Found on ceilings in affluent Roman households.

Christianity:

•Symbol for the five wounds of Christ

•Symbol for Virgin Mary

Christian uses of the Rose as a Symbol

It is clear that Christians in no way used the symbol of the rose to attach a negative connotation to this aspect of paganism.

The SerpentThe Serpent

Paganism:Paganism: Used to represent evil Used to represent evil

God Set(hen)God Set(hen)

Christianity:Christianity: Used to represent the Used to represent the

devildevil

Used to represent Used to represent Christ himselfChrist himself

It is unlikely that Christians would have used the serpent to represent

Christ if their intentions were to smear paganism.

The PentacleThe Pentacle

Paganism:Paganism: Used to represent Used to represent

humanityhumanity

Used sometimes, Used sometimes, however infrequently to however infrequently to represent the Goddess represent the Goddess VenusVenus

ChristianityChristianity Used to represent Used to represent

ChristChrist

Morning starMorning star

Twelve apostlesTwelve apostles

MisconceptionsMisconceptionsBrown claims the Brown claims the

pentacle is used to pentacle is used to represent Venus, the represent Venus, the devil, and war. devil, and war. However:However:

It is the eight pointed star It is the eight pointed star that is used to represent that is used to represent VenusVenus

The pentacle was not used to The pentacle was not used to represent evil or the devil represent evil or the devil until the Nordics adopted this until the Nordics adopted this alternate meaning in the alternate meaning in the Middle AgesMiddle Ages

Military stars are hollow Military stars are hollow bodied.bodied.

Evasion of Persecution

Before Christianity dominated Paganism, Paganism dominated Christianity.

Paganism

Christianity

Therefore, Christians were severely persecuted by Pagans before the official

conversion of the Roman Empire.

Pagans were not persecuted until Chrisitianity dominated the Roman

Empire. By then, most Christian symbols were in place.

Evasion of Persecution

It became necessary for Christians to disguise their symbols in existing Pagan symbols to avoid

persecution.

Among these symbols are:

•The fish

•The gammadion

•The equilateral cross

The Fish

Paganism:

•Represents God Baal-Itaan

•Represents animal and human fertility

Christianity

•Represents Christ

•Represents Christianity

•Used as a secret code for Christians due to its prevalence in paganism.

IHCOYC

XPICTOC

QHON

YIOC

CWTHP

“Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”

Modern Uses

The fish is used today in a variety of places. It appears in churches everywhere, but most frequently can be found out of the church, on bumper

stickers, jewelry etc.

Clearly, Christians have not manipulated this symbol in any

way to attach a negative connotation to paganism.

The Gammadion and Equilateral Cross

Christians were able to disguise the symbol of the cross in the gammadion and the equilateral cross due to the ubiquitous nature of these two symbols in Paganism.

Gammadion and Equilateral CrossGammadion and Equilateral Cross

Paganism:

•Represents the earth

•Represents the movement of the sun

•Represents the movement of the moon

Christianity:

•Used as first from of the cross

Since Hitler’s use of the Gammadion, this symbol has not been used in Christianity. However the

equilateral cross is still omnipresent and remains the official emblem of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Trident

Another symbol used to disguise the cross is the trident.

Dan Brown claims that the trident was a divine symbol stolen from the Pagans and given to the devil by Christians. However, he fails to mention:

•The trident is the tool used by all pagan Gods responsible for governing storms.

•The trident was also used by Christianity to represent the cross

These facts make it improbable that Christians intended to slight Pagans through the manipulation of this symbol.

Now You Know

•Christians assimilated Pagan symbols in order to disguise their own and avoid persecution

•The fusion of Christianity and Paganism is also responsible for the assimilation of Pagan symbols into Christianity.

Christians did not manipulate Pagan symbols.

Christian symbols borrowed from Paganism can be divided into three categories:

•Symbols which carry very similar meanings and therefore were subject to no manipulation

•Symbols which have a few similarities in meaning, but still were not morphed for the purpose of manipulating Paganism

•Symbols which have virtually no similarities in meaning and thus cannot be reasonably compared to each other.

Dan Brown is off base in implying that the Vatican attempted to eradicate Paganism through the manipulation of their symbols.

The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction.

These are just a few of the examples that prove that

Christians did not intend to manipulate Paganism when the adopted their symbols.

For more information and bibliography, see “The Relevance of Pagan Symbols” in it’s

printable form.