Naturalistisk paganism: En netnografisk studie av naturalistiskt pagana individers erfarenheter och förhållningssätt till religiös praktik

Sammanfattning: Abstract: Based on a netnographic study, focusing on the Reddit group SASSWitches, the experiences and approaches of naturalistic pagans towards religious practice are examined. Data collected from 100 discussion threads is analysed from a perspective of lived religion, emphasizing the categories of spiritual dimensions, embodiment, emotions, and materiality. Lori Beaman's concept ”reclaiming enchantment”, which a) rejects the myth of disenchantment and b) argues for an expanded definition of the concept of enchantment, is utilized in the study to demonstrate how the participants’ negotiation between the categories of ”religion” and ”science” challenges socially constructed boundaries between them. The study argues that the participants grounding in a naturalistic concept of religion should be viewed in light of their feelings of reverence and wonder towards nature and science. The individuals’ locating of spiritual dimensions, such as imagination, in evolutionarily developed dispositions of the human brain is seen as a movement towards normalizing ”religion” within a ”non-religious” or ”secular” context. At the same time, individuals discipline this inherent disposition by cultivating an ability to navigate between a critical stance towards the world and a state that embraces and embodies imagination and creativity. The study argues that the use of mythological discourse and religious objects and concepts by naturalistic pagans should be seen as an attempt to redefine these, similar to previous new religious movements throughout history.