*Why Did the Christian Myth Have Such an Impact?*

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This is totally incorrect.

Based on interpretation. We should not attempt to dictate what others believe in my opinion. I did not say that this "is" the message. I say that it is a belief of the message. If anyone would like to share this belief, so be it. If not, that is another decision.

If the Gospels are any help, the intended message of Christianity was "don't dread God, don't be a slave to traditional laws and rituals, be honest and compassionate." As clear as that. It's a pity that Paul had to intervene and add a few weird doctrines of his own.

I for one, am Pagan (which has nothing to do with anything but Nature).

I believe that everything has a common thread and I believe that Native Americans probably had most things more right than any other religious myth--because they are ALL myths.

Isn't it all just to make us feel better about dying? Who gives a crap about it all in the end? I say practice and preach love, be kind and good to one another, take care of yourself and be responsible for your actions and intents, and who cares what you want to call it.

That's animism, not paganism.

UnkleAaron's animism does Not preclude paganism. The native americans have some very strange spiritual beliefs.

I see. Unfortunately I've done very little research on Native American faiths apart from a brief reading on the Aztec and Mayan faiths.

My belief is that worship of nature = animism.

Worship of idols (regardless of whether they represent a natural element or not) = paganism.

In Hinduism, particularily the Vedic religion, for example, there are many Gods which represent natural elements, such as Agni for fire, Vayu for wind, Prithvi for the Earth, Saraswati for rivers, etc. As far as I can recall, Saraswati is the only one frequently worshiped till date (my best friend worships her once a week or so), while Agni is worshiped only by the Shrautha who have preserved their Vedic traditions.

In the state of Meghalaya here in India, three Tibetan-Burman tribes are dominant. Most of them have been Christianised, however, some in the rural area maintain their animist religion, which has the same rites as Hinduism minus the idols. The same is prevalent in the states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh, which have small animist minorities due to most of them being Christianised.

Hence, I believe that lack of idols is pure animism. Paganism is a development over animism.