I’m Mark Green. I’ve been a Pagan since 1987, and an atheist since I was born.
I revere the natural world. I find Sacred the fabric of life on Earth, the extraordinary details revealed by science. The beauty and the poetry of it. The fierceness and the grace. The magic of sun on soil, on leaf.
There are a lot of terms for what I am: naturalist Pagan. Humanist Pagan. Some even say scientific Pantheist, though I have a hard time seeing how you go from “no god” (a-theos) to “god everywhere” (pan-theos). But the particular path that I have crafted (and is now shared by others) is called Atheopaganism. You can learn more about it at http://atheopaganism.wordpress.com. I blog there primarily, as well as at http://humanisticpaganism.com.
The combination of atheism and Paganism was perfectly unremarkable, once upon a time. From the time I became a Pagan until about 2000, the subject frankly never came up. Conceptualization of gods as metaphors and archetypes rather than literal persons was commonplace, and arguably the rule, rather than the exception. At least, it was in the Northern California Pagan circles I moved in.
Things changed. Perhaps it was inevitable as the Pagan population and visibility grew. As converts from Abrahamic religions for whom “what is believed” is the most important question flooded into our ranks. Or perhaps for other reasons.
And because things changed, it has become necessary in recent years for naturalistic Pagans like me to speak up and claim our place in the community. To talk about how our paths work, what matters to us. How we see things.
Last year John Halstead edited and published Godless Paganism, the first anthology about nontheist Pagan practices and paths. My work appears in it, and I wrote the foreword. For a thorough exploration of the variety of ways nontheist Pagans view the world and practice our religions, I recommend it.
This blog will explore the developing explorations of an Atheopagan. For me, it’s a deep and meaningful path, rooted in the wonders of tangible reality, honoring the Sacred, practicing observances and rituals that celebrate, transform and heal.
I welcome you to come along!