Atheopaganism: An Earth-honoring path rooted in science

by Mark Alexander Green, John Halstead (Foreword)

Every human culture has evolved religious practices. Clearly, there is something inherent in humanity about it must fulfill certain needs that evolved with us as our modern brains developed.

ATHEOPAGANISM explores how the evolution of proceeding brain systems contributed to the belief systems, value sets and religious practices that characterize cultures all over the world. And then it implements this understanding of the nature of religion in a science-consistent religious practice that fulfills the human need for meaning, connectedness, inspiration and purpose.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Paganism, Religion, Atheism, Science

235 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I find listening to Mark Green's podcast and reading his blog posts compelling, I struggled to connect with the writing style of this book. Besides the numerous spelling and editorial errors, I found the slow, methodical groundwork for the reasoning behind atheopaganism tedious - and the dismissive, mildly sarcastic tone that others who hold different views than the author are written about in the book made it difficult for me to take the first half of the book seriously. I wish that this book had been written as building an argument for the justification for atheopaganism instead of a guided, hand-holding list of reasons why it's the only logical thing to believe.

HOWEVER, those issues notwithstanding, I fould the second part of the book, with the practical atheopagan tenants, practices, and useful suggestions in it, to be very useful to me. It's style was more engaging and is the reason I'm hanging on to the book. Mark has included some lovely ideas for rituals and verbiage that I think will greatly enrich the practice of anyone open to the atheopagan path.

[Angy · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a nutshell, I consider myself a non-theist who believes in the reverence of nature and mother Earth without having to deify anything, and I've been a hardcore atheist in my younger years. I had high hopes that "Atheopaganism" would resonate with me, but its presentation in this book bothered me quite a lot.

First of all, I found it rather bothersome the way Mark A. Green spoke of pagans as a majority in this book based on his experiences. Even as an atheist, I've had worse experience with fellow atheists than with pagans, most of whom have been incredibly open-minded despite having their own deities to worship, even though I would not do the same. I am sorry for him that he had to deal with showy "pagans" and even what seems like a cult, but that is not an issue with paganism itself, and I see him making a lot of judgments about that group even though he himself expresses that paganism varies greatly.

I respect the idea of "truth mattering" because it does to me too. I will always hold scientific evidence above my own personal experiences with how I may perceive the divine, let alone anyone else's even though I validate what they have to say. However, I find that Green speaks poorly about worship, and even about "altars," yet he seems to partake in worship himself. I do not like the principles that he lays out and I would much prefer a religion that is more free, even if I do want to honor the Earth and partake in what's true to science.

Also, he really needs an editor. The poor formatting and many typos of this book was rather distracting, even though I consider Green to be intelligent and a good writer.

[Rachel S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected tbh. Virtually all of the info could be found for free on the blog, and the book added very little extra value. Also, there were typos, missing or duplicated words, and typesetting issues on almost *every other page*. I get that this was self published, but the printing seemed pretty sloppy.

I enjoyed the start of the book more, with the reasoning and explanation for Atheopaganism. But the second half was all very familiar to me, having already spent time on the website.

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

May lose a few points for brevity, and for the blog-style formatting. Much of the information can be gleaned from their website, and their Facebook group. However, it is nice to have a source to refer to, so I don't regret picking it up. This is an introduction to what it says: a largely neo-pagan practice that's based on science and honesty, and separating metaphors from reality. I really appreciate the focus on the fact that science, and philosophical atheism, don't give people what they need emotionally and psychologically, so they need vehicles for expressing their awe at the natural world and other abstractions, but in a healthy way. I look forward to more, maybe more in-depth writing on the subject, but it needs to start somewhere!

[Emily Witkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, life-changing. I would, however, suggest a new/the addition of an editor for future works--typos here and there.

[Rakeela Windrider · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author treats religious people as inherently superstitious. They're not. He treats the world as declining into a dark age of ill reason. It's not. He claims to value inclusivity, but treats religious people as flawed and inferior. They're not. I don't think he's the salvation of the world from ill reason. I think that the attitude that society is decaying and a set of scriptures must be embraced to save it is rather conservative.

When I got into the rituals section of the book... I hated it. I'm glad I don't need to do such things in my life. It sounds primitive and meaningless. The rituals remind me of social experiences that hurt, where I was pushed into positions where I didn't know how not to be rude. I don't have those social skills and I don't even want them.

I skimmed quickly through the section of songs at the back of the book. Songs to science. I guess that's novel.

It's said that the only books you truly own are the ones that you have read, and on that idea I pushed myself through this book just to have it done. I read it quickly so as not to linger on it. I come away feeling like I don't feel like I need someone to tell me how to be an atheist.

[readthescars · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an Atheopagan myself, I found that most of this was stuff I already knew, but it was wonderful to feel connected to this and realize there are others out there who share my beliefs and experiences so closely. I do thing it is a great place to start for those getting into Atheopaganism, or for those interested in learning about it. There were some example prayers and songs and things of the sort included which did not appeal to me personally, but I am very picky about language being someone who closely links my poetry to the religion. At the very least, it's a book that brings validation and a hope for community among Atheopagans

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good in parts. I liked the exploration of what it is about religions that we atheists crave, and the outline of the pillars and principles. But the group rituals and songs/ poems didn’t connect with me at all, and I was left feeling like this was maybe not for me. I have done further research and am finding ways to do individual practice but this was not really touched on in the book, it was more group rituals with fire pits, dancing, bells and robes - which all seems quite cringeworthy to me right now! But an interesting read all the same, despite the numerous typos and formatting errors …. I can recommend a good proofreader for future books :)

[Booksandcats · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see what he is trying to do, but it is rather lacking in the ineffable things he's trying to describe.

[Gabriel Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who left Christianity in the bible belt some years ago, I've slowly grown and learned more about humanity and behavior. I personally believe the idea of shared story, or maybe belief in something greater than ourselves, is one of the uniquely unifying traits of humans as a species. I stumbled upon this recommendation admittedly from a YouTube Channel called "Andrewism". He summarized some of the concepts in the book and I decided to buy a copy from Thriftbooks.

There is some preamble you should be aware of before picking up this book. While Mark Green doesn't present himself as a philosopher, Atheopaganism has a slight philosophy angle to it, though not through dissertation. He is trying to provide a framework of how we humans can find meaning in a meaningless world, in that, the book has an absurdist perspective. This also means that the book isn't an exhilarating read, though he tries to throw some jokes and sarcasm in the mix. The expectation you should have coming into this book is only one way of how you may develop a methodology for creating meaning in your own life. This is a philosopher living his philosophy. This philosophy does come with the idea of religion, something he tries to break down and could be a deal-breaker for some folks. I think the Atheist community is hit-and-miss on being receptive to the idea of adopting a religion, let alone creating one.

Reading the actual book is quite easy, Mark doesn't use complicated language or sentence structure. I personally believe he falls into some old explanations when discussing the Lizard brain and Mammal brain that are not true. I don't know if that was an artifact of the time it was written or facts he never thought to amend. Additionally, there are some spelling errors. I'm not really concerned about that, I'm really more interested in the framework being described.

Something I really appreciated were the resources in the back of the book, hymns and poems. There were ideas on how to perform certain rituals, ideas on time of year celebrations. I think these are good references for how to create and adopt a new practice, one that is both unique and ancient. It is good these materials are being shared in a book and for free on a website, they provide different means of accessing the information. This is exactly what you want if you had the goal of creating and sharing a framework for others to build their ideas off of.

Overall, it's a good book. You need to see it for what it is and possibly be in a specific state of mind. If you're seeking meaning in your life, which I believe many are right now, this could support a change in how you're feeling. If you are of little means, look up his website and get resources from there. Some reviewers have already mentioned it, most of what you can learn from the book exist in the world for free by the power of the internet.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book as an Atheopagan already, however a few typos and the book noticeably felt like some parts were copy/pasted blog posts without editing.
Some repetition in the beginning to really highlight the moving away from organized religions. Excited for the next book.

[Sawyer Whitley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed this and resonated with a lot of it. I would have liked more individual rituals to practice myself

[Leora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. While reading it, something clicked and I could finally reconcile rationality and critical thinking with symbolic thought and the search for meaning/oneness.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think there are some great takeaways from the concepts in this book—it’s a practical approach to religion that doesn’t require any blind faith. It offers sensible and beneficial practices, minus the dogma and abusive power structures of other organized religions.

That being said, I have some major issues with the tone of this book. I almost didn’t even finish it after the first chapter. Alienating atheopagans by absolutely shitting on other pagans in the first chapter wasn’t a great start in my opinion. I found the agenda to separate atheopagans from the larger pagan community off-putting and in direct conflict with the author’s own principle of inclusivity.

I also took issue with the author preaching humility while simultaneously declaring himself to be the “founder” of atheopaganism… as if it is a new concept. He might or might not have coined the term “atheopagan”, but the concept and principles are not new nor unique.

Lastly, his closing call to action was aggressive and downright preachy. He claims that atheopaganism is political in nature and that simply is not the truth for so many people who have turned to paganism as a self-focused practice and a quiet space of healing. The tone of this whole book gave me a POV-of-privileged-white-man-having-some-very-basic-spiritual-realizations-and-declaring-himself-a-newage-guru vibe.

[Izabella Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful framework for those who are spiritual but non believers. Highly recommend to those who respect nature and science and are looking for a spiritual path.

[Mir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resonated! This is now a reference book for me. I was shocked to come across a book about a religion that made me feel so seen and heard. What a feeling.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got some good stuff out of the book but it still leaned too far into woo for me. I wish there had been more citations - it felt less academic than I was expecting/hoping.