heathenism
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈhiːθənɪzəm/
- Slur
- He wanted to publicize the work of the mission and perhaps to encourage potential supporters by providing them with evidence of the missionaries' progress in overcoming the forces of heathenism.
Examples
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Irish pupils thus benefited from a policy designed to protect their spiritual beliefs, whereas Indians endured a century-long assault on their supposedly worthless "heathenism."
Academic text (1999) -
Jane's story took on mythical proportions in the missionary literature as Pond attempted to prove to the board and potential donors that "grace" could save Indians like Jane from a life of savagery and heathenism.
Academic text (2000) -
"Similarly, African heathenism was a 'counter-image' of England's religion.
Academic text (1992) -
In fact, everything traditional healers did amounted to heathenism in the eyes of the missionaries and their converts.
Academic text (1999) -
We were, at the same time, learning more about the religions of the world, which began to look less and less like the undifferentiated heathenism that Christian missionaries were seeking to wipe out.
Academic text (2006) -
"It was a place of heathenism and superstitious rites, "to be inhabited by men nearer of kin to the rocks "and to the wild animals than we."
-
What follows is a call to action for those of us who care—a large enough number to criticize Albert's complicity in the widespread establishment of heathenism.
Blog text (21) -
In such claims, he also revealed his unabashedly Eurocentric bias, applauding Guadalupe as Spain's "assistant conqueror" and attesting that the "heathenism of the New World" was "conquered with her aid."
Academic text (2009) -
Historically, many viewed the traditional rituals of indigenous tribes as mere heathenism, failing to appreciate their cultural significance.
-
The missionaries often regarded local beliefs as heathenism, dismissing generations of spiritual practices as primitive.
Synonyms
8
7.9
Religious beliefs and practices that are not part of major world religions, often old or local traditions
1
7.2
A set of beliefs and actions that worship many gods or nature
1
9.9
Lands and people who do not follow Christianity
1
9.9
An old word for the religious beliefs of people who are not Jewish
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Heathenism comes from heathen, which once meant someone 'from the heath' or 'open land', and so the word was used for people who did not follow Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. So heathenism is the name for the beliefs and practices of those people.