Do pagans worship the devil?

The Devil is a Christian entity. Though there are many “scary” and “bad” entities in every religion, the devil is not usually considered a “pagan” entity. Here are some scenarios:

1. 1. 1. Some pagans worship no deities or entities, which means they definitely don’t worship the devil.
      2. Some pagans worship deities of other faiths, meaning they don’t worship the devil either, they worship their own gods.
      3. Some pagans work with the Goetia, which is a collection of entities that are called demons by some. Like any other pantheon, there are dark and light beings within it.

Following either of the first two definitions of pagan from our “What is Pagan” question, people who call themselves Satanists are also pagans. The terms Satanist however includes 2 different complete groups. One is a group of atheists who believe faith and religion is nonsense, another who works with actual deities – each of those different from each other as well on which deities they work with.

Where did the idea that all pagans worship the devil come from?

The Christian church believes that any deity that is not their god is a manifestation of their devil – since there are no other gods in their minds. Therefore anyone who worships any deity other than their god, is worshiping the devil using their definition. To convince them you are not “worshiping the devil” is to convince them that other deities exist – which is completely opposite of their “one true god” belief. Some Christians do not follow this, and are more open minded, but this a core belief of Christianity – that there is only one true god.