Is Paganism good or evil?

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Is a Knife good or evil?
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All any religion is, is a tool that one can use to better ones life. Any tool can be used for a good perpose just as readily as it can be used for an evil purpose. Paganism is not inherantly more evil than any other religion. Historically Christians have done evil things. A lot of people who call themselves Muslims are currently doing evil things. -- Does that make the metapackage of those belief systems inherantly evil?

Well that main point behind this thread was to get to know the dark and bright sides of Paganism. Sorry if the question seemed one sided.

Well, things have kind of spiraled out of control on this thread, and my attempts to help people be nicer didn't seem to work.

No need to be sorry, I was just pointing out that that belief systems are like any other tool, they can be used for either good or bad purposes.

And like any machine, it has its quirks, qualities and imperfections. Choosing which religion is like choosing between an Android phone or an Apple device.

Or you could just be radical like me and take all of your favourite parts from different religions and mix them up into something unique and wholly your own.

Yes, I like that idea. Not surprisingly, that's what most Neo-Pagans did.

I really think, if anything, paganism bears a significant benefit due to it's modularity and one's ability to really treat it like a DIY psychological or spiritual pharmacy.

From that standpoint a particular monotheism is like a psychiatrist who tells people they have the cure-all for depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD, seaonal effective, bipolar, and the only thing they give out in all cases is Prozac. A pagan, at least in this day and age without cultural binding being an issue, can pick and chose the gods and goddesses that speak to them, make their own rosaries and prayer beads as they'd deem most suitable, and they have all kinds of both recovered/restored mystery systems to choose from these days as well as plenty that are still under development. It puts you in a place where your own pantheon has your strengths and weaknesses in mind and can in many cases help you much more effectively in picking yourself up by your bootstraps than a particularly encrusted/dogmatic theology would be able to.

That's hardly true, and parents from strict, usually monotheistic religions (but to be fair, many Buddhist families also don't participate in Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc) have their own ways. Just because parents don't believe in the pagan underpinnings of modern holidays and therefore don't celebrate them, it does not mean their children don't get parties, outings, or presents throughout the year with no need for a forced cultural holiday in order to do so. They just do so for no reason whatsoever except to make their kids happy. Also if parents are affiliated with several Buddhist traditions, they have their own celebrations and occasions which are enjoyable and cause for excitement among children. Just because people behave in different ways does not mean their children are underprivileged, or missing out.

Keep up the good work

True, although some people will regard this as "buffet religion" and look down on it as disrespectful and not genuine, even among pagan paths. I have definitely had dealings with people who play the pure, unbroken-since-the-caveman, genuine and unsullied hereditary line of pagan lineage card, and therefore look on anything else as religious appropriation. It's nonsense, but it's out there.

Was just gonna say that.

Treating religion like a buffet seems quite natural to me, but doing that is far more offensive to the conventionally religious than even atheism!

You gotta eat only the same entrée they are having. Or eat nuthin' at all!