Some of the most prominent philosophers of the late pagan era of ancient history were also the composers of beautiful hymns, devotional poetry to the old Greek and Roman gods. This tradition of pagan hymn-writing goes back to the earliest times, and we even have a collection of hymns supposedly written by the poet Homer himself. Other hymns were said to have been composed by the legendary Orpheus, but were probably actually written for use by the Orphic religious sect.

Agora is a new movie about the pagan philosopher and martyr Hypatia, who was murdered by a mob of Christians in the latter days of the Roman Empire. Hypatia is sometimes taken as a martyr of science and thus a hero for atheists, but in reality she was a deeply religious person. Specifically, she was a Neoplatonist, which was a powerful late pagan philosophical and mystical movement. None of her writings have survived, but she was universally considered to be an important philosopher.

Some neopagans would prefer to believe that human sacrifice was never a part of ancient paganism, but of course it actually was. The archeological, historical and literary records provide far too much evidence of this for any reasonable person to doubt it. Some cultures practiced human sacrifice as an occasional ritual act of great power, an exchange between humanity and the world of the divine in which a thing of great value (a human life) is offered up in anticipation of a great reward. Other cultures practiced human sacrifice on a massive scale, slaughtering hundreds of victims at a single ceremony. These acts are repugnant to us today, and with good reason.

Anyone who has ever been part of a small group knows that such groups are often vulnerable to being derailed by people with issues. This applies to every type of small group, from political activist organizations to pagan circles. It may even be more common among pagans, though, because the nature of pagan religion is such that it is more likely to appeal to people that see themselves as outsiders. That isn't a bad thing, but while some people are outsiders because of their unorthodox opinions, other people are outsiders because they just plain can't get along with other people.

Adonism was an early neopagan religion. It was created in 1925 by a German occultist named Franz Sattler, but (setting a precedent Gerald Gardner and many others would follow) Sattler claimed it to be an ancient religion. Adonism was polytheistic, but mostly centered around the worship of Adonis. The other four Adonist deities included Belus, Bilitis, Molchos and Dido.