...similar concept of a Satan-like character.
Yes - as you say, similar; nowhere near identical; and the Christian devil is endowed with traits that his 'predecessors' (so to speak) never had. I've lost count of how many times I've heard the question "don't Pagans worship the Devil?"
"The Devil" is a specifically Christian concept, and practically no one outside of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam recognizes him at all. Indeed the very notion of a supreme God of Evil is entirely peculiar to Jahvistic monotheism, and utterly alien to most Pagan theology (though it is largely derived from the dualism of Persian Zoroastrianism, wherein Ahura-Mazda, the Lord of Light, is opposed to Ahriman, the Lord of Darkness).
The popular confusion arose as a result of the 1486 publication of the Malleus Malificarum, or "Hammer of Witches" by Dominicans Kramer and Sprenger, wherein they gave the first physical description of the Devil as he is commonly depicted today, based on a demonization of the Greek horned God, Pan. As Pan and other horned Gods, such as the stag-horned Cernunos and Herne, were popular deities of the hung and the animal kingdom, and widely worshipped by European Pagans, Kramer and Sprenger's equation of that imagery with the Christian's Satan was able to be used to justify the centuries of persecution inflicted by the Church upon those who clung faithfully to their worship of the old gods.
"Satan" of the Old Testament was never deceived by such imagery, but was rather referred to as a fallen angel, a serpent, or a dragon. The word Satan is merely Hebrew for "adversary," and is related to the Egyptian Set and the Roman Saturn. The word "devil," interestingly enough, is Sanskrit in origin and means "little god." The root word devil, is also the root of our words "divine" and "divinity." During the Witchcraft persecution of the late Middle Ages, and on through the 17th century, whenever the defendant spoke of the Horned God being present at the Sabbats (which he was in the person of the High Priest, who contumed himself appropriately and assumed the role) the court recorder would substitute the word "Satan" or "Devil," to have written the word "God" as spoken by the accused would have been considered blasphemous.
The most universal deity worshipped by Pagans worldwide is not a God, but a Goddess: Mother Earth. She is called by many names in many cultures, such as Hertha, Terra, Pachamama, and the familiar Greek name, Gaia. In a greater expansion of Her identity, She is Mother Nature, the All-Mother, the Great Mother, and we, the animals and plants, and the Gods themselves, are all Her children.
Just for the record, I went to church affiliated schools myself for many years (all C of E), chose to be baptised as a child, and am godmother to both my baby nieces. I learned a lot about Paganism during my late teens and very early 20s.
I think it is impossible to be 100% objective when it comes to matters of faith: unswerving belief in miracles and salvation, although beautiful and steeped in mystery, is neither logical nor rational. I do feel to look at our Christian figureof 'Satan' and compare it to our Pagan idea of Pan as a deity, in a sensible way.
