Arguably, one of society's bigger issues was the transformation from 'paganism' (paganus is a Latin word roughly equivalent to "hillbilly" that has been perverted) to our current system.
The book I picked this up from, which is well worth taking the time to sit down and read, was Pagans by O'Donnell. In it, he also describes the term 'pagan' as a bit like the Roman equivalent of being on a military base and being called a 'civilian' as well: you're just kind of out of place. The militaristic choice of language also could be read as hinting at Christians having taken power and being involved in creating a universal church by stamping out heresies such as the groups we now consider Gnostic. Fun fact on that: 'catholic' means universal, so at the time they were working to make a 'catholic' church and it was only after being established that it earned its capitals and became the Catholic Church.
This is not to say that there weren't assholes back in the ancient, pre-Christian world: look at Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great just off the top of my head; the same probably could be said for a good chunk of the names we know from antiquity. An ancient Greece professor I had used to joke that Hesiod's Works and Days can be (more crudely put by me) described as sort of, 'If I'm writing, it means I'm the one who will be believed in the future... hey, my brother's a real asshole who ripped me off in the inheritance.' New World and Eastern influences also show that humanity's darker, more atavistic side remains despite our best efforts. Technology and times change, but human nature remains the same and we are wrestling with the same internal struggles today we were thousands of years ago.
Nevertheless, there was more tolerance and acceptance in a world where you could worship Zeus, your neighbor might prefer Zalmoxis, the couple behind you are big into Neptune or Venus, and the guy across the street might be a member of a cult of Isis or Mithras (note: cult in this sense is not used in the same sense as a modern, say, Cult of Scientology, but as a devotee to a particular god or goddess in a pantheon. Isis, the Egyptian goddess not the terrorists, is an example of this and taught me a fun new word this week: henotheism, which acknowledges many gods but worships one and uplifts that one above the others; many thanks to a wonderful Religion for Breakfast video for that tidbit).
Under Christian colonization, for instance, we see things like slaves and the defeated being forced into converting (which could often be superficial, as with Vodou's syncretism); Jewish communities would not give token sacrifices to Roman gods, which stirred up a lot of trouble; and even the old Muslim jizya taxes that were levied on non-believers can be argued are a lingering trace of non-believers as the Other.
In ancient Rome (and this is by necessity reductive), for comparison, new gods would be incorporated into the preexisting belief structure or tied in via shared traits. For example, Zeus/Jupiter/Odin have distinctions, especially with Odin, but share the traits of being wily sky gods who are the heads of their pantheon. Ancient Romans saw different beliefs and practices as different interpretations of similar beliefs—similarities, rather than differences, were focused on. For a real rather than a hypothetical example, Apollo was directly adopted from the Greeks, thus why in the Greek—>Roman shift, you have Zeus—>Jupiter, Hera—>Juno, Apollo—>Apollo. This is also why different holy sites can be dedicated to different 'aspects' of a deity.
Again, this is reductive as this is a handful of paragraphs on a blog, not a well-researched essay or book or something, I'm just some guy who's about to get stoned and walk the dog. I digress, as ever. Back when, a cult could be something as simple as some initiation rites, ceremonial clothing, and possibly a nice little dose of a hallucinogen to fuck with your perception, a bit like a Halloween fun house where you stick your hand in a bag of spaghetti noodles and are told they're guts. Things could be a lot more relaxed on the religion and spirituality front.
According to Bowden's Mystery Cults, it's entirely possible and even likely (if memory serves) that upper class members of society kinda made a game out of joining as many cults as possible, a bit like visiting all the baseball stadiums in the US or something similarly goofy. But at the end of the day, living around such a multiplicity of cultures forced people to be more tolerant on this level instead of running around on Crusades or stamping out heretics and witches or running Indian boarding schools or forcing assimilation or etc., etc.
Most 'pagans' were just people trying to adjust to changing times: one instance of a 'pagan uprising' that had to be put down was more or less an annual village festival, adjusted to include this Jesus fella, and when the priests decided they were doing other things that weren't allowed (but were tradition) people rose up and rioted. Bit like a small town parade with idiosyncratic practices or those irksome stories in the news about kids getting penalized for selling lemonade without a license: why cause a problem when you can live and let live?
Christianity can be a beautiful thing, just like any religion or faith. So I personally am a big fan of the early Gnostics or Manichaeans. The groups that, y'know, weren't in power and weren't trying to stamp everyone else out—they ended up being the ones that got stamped.
Given the state of the world today, it's hard not to think we could use a lot more compassion, understanding, and open-mindedness to new beliefs and attitudes, akin to those demonized ancient hillbilly pagans, but that's just my two cents. Thank you for taking the time to read my—to borrow a phrase from someone who read an earlier draft of this—"perverse gobbledegook."
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