Atheology
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On Authenticity
Many religious people and paths—including many Pagans and Pagan traditions—place a great premium on claims of authenticity: that their mythologies, traditions and practices are, for want of a better word, “real”. “Real” ancient lore or rites. “Real” narratives about god/desses. “Real” translations of “real” ancient texts. “Real” rituals, real traditions, real teachers, real magic. “Real Paganism”. There are those who will go on about this at great length, opining about what they believe is authentic…and, as often as not, why you’re not it. But here’s the thing about authenticity: it has nothing to do with any of those things. Authenticity in relationships has to do with what is in your…
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Atheopaganism on the Placebo Magic Podcast!
Had a great conversation with Gary at the Placebo Magic Podcast. Listen at https://www.farmcodegary.com/post/s02e06-atheopaganism-with-mark-green/
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Old Ways, New Days
It is midnight on the 29th of December. I have just returned from the Sebastopol Wassail, which is conducted annually by the Apple Tree Morris dancing team in my local area. Wassailing is an old English tradition. Poor people going from house to house begging became conflated with people going from tree to tree in the apple orchards, making offerings in the deep winter in the hopes of bountiful harvests in the coming year. There are many songs, many dances, many traditions. And we hope you prove kind with your cakes and strong ale Or we’ll come no more nigh you until the next year Tonight, I sang the songs,…
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Atheopagan “Saints”
They are Honored Dead, at the very least. Giordano Bruno. Galileo Galilei. Copernicus. Isaac Newton. Aldo Leopold. Marie Curie. Albert Einstein. Richard Feynman. Rachel Carson. Carl Sagan. Ursula K. LeGuin. Stephen Hawking. Mary Oliver. And there will be more, when they go: Jane Goodall. Richard Attenborough. Bill Nye. Wendell Berry. The work of these people is so powerful that it persists into today. It resonates across the centuries. It inspires us to seek the truth, to honor reality, to celebrate the great circle of blessed Being. I—only half joking—call them the Atheopagan saints. St. Carl. St. Isaac. St. Rachel. St. Ursula. And yes, we can all have a chuckle about…
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The Big Questions
We had a great conversation in the Atheopaganism U. video conference today, in which it arose that for many participants, there simply hasn’t been a place in their lives for asking Big Questions like, what is my highest vision for my life? What makes me happiest? They are the very sorts of questions I pondered when I was first conceptualizing what became Atheopaganism, and at the time, I didn’t really have opportunity in my life to mull them over much, either. But circumstances forced them upon me; I had left the Pagan community over issues of unethical behavior and nonsensical cosmologies, and found my life barren without the rituals and…
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The Problem of Suffering
It’s a big conundrum for many theists, particularly monotheists like Christians, Jews and Muslims: if God is good, why is there suffering in the world? Such folk will go through incredible gyrations to try to resolve this dilemma. Thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of pages have been written in attempts to address it. Everything from blaming a demigod “devil” to chalking it up to bad choices made through human free will has been put forward as an explanation for tragedy and hardship. Polytheists may not think their gods are necessarily “good”, which solves the suffering problem but raises another: then why worship them? As Atheopagans, we have a much easier and more sensible approach:…
