heathenism

plural heathenisms

1. countableuncountableThe state of being, or behavior and thought, of heathens.

   Near-synonym: paganism

   3 more examples

   A woman's love is essentially lonely and spiritual in its nature—feeding on fancy, rather than hope—or like that fairy flower of the East, which floats in, and lives upon, the air. Her attachment is the heathenism of the heart: she has herself created the glory and beauty with which the idol of her altar stands invested.

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 284

   Meanwhile the Christian Church from these speculations has kept itself severely apart - as of course representing a unique and divine revelation little concerned or interested in such heathenisms[.]

   1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 11

   […] they urge all followers of the Prophet to return to an authentic Islam, devoid of heathenism and innovations.

   2009, Adeline Masquelier, Women and Islamic Revival in a West African Town, Page 88

   Synonyms: heathenry, heathendom, heathenship, paganism