Happy Atheopagan Anniversary!
Today, August 5, is the 11-year anniversary of the launching of the Atheopagan community. The Facebook group was created on this day.
Although the essay (which became the book) dates back to 2005, this is the anniversary I celebrate. Because this is the day when one guy’s ideas started creating a movement that would be about so much more than just him.
11 years is a long time in Neopagan terms. A lot can change.
Consider, for example: the first legally-recognized Pagan church, the Church of All Worlds, was incorporated in 1968. 11 years later, Drawing Down the Moon and The Spiral Dance were published, two books that drove exponential growth in Paganism in the 1980s. That’s a huge growth curve in a short 11 year span.
Similarly with us. We’re 5,000 strong now, more or less, with a legally recognized nonprofit organization, mixers, a podcast, video resources, conferences and retreats, and more than 30 affinity groups. We have grown so much, and shared so much!
Who knows where we will be in another 11 years?
Mark Green
Author of ATHEOPAGANISM: An Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science, Mark Green is the initiator of the Atheopagan path and editor at the Atheopaganism blog. With co-host Yucca, he records the weekly podcast The Wonder: Science-Based Paganism, makes YouTube videos, and creates materials and resources for practicing Atheopagans. He volunteers as a staffer to the Atheopagan Council to support the growth of Atheopaganism throughout the world. In his home of Sonoma County, California, in the occupied ancestral lands of the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok peoples, he is best known as an activist and founder of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the largest environmental activism group by membership on the North Coast of California.
