I read one of you guys talking about how it's possible to be pagan and atheist at the same time. I'm very curious about that, being an atheist myself, and finding paganism, wicca, etc, really interesting. If you could explain to me how it works, what are the differences between practicing atheist paganism and normal paganism and stuff?
Can someone be an atheist and practicing pagan as well? Do you have examples/blogs that relate to this conundrum?
Pagan rituals are actually growing in popularity in some parts of the atheist community, particularly seasonal celebrations based on the "wheel of the year", since those are tied not to any particular mythic cycle but on the observable universe.
I actually think there are a lot of atheist pagans out there - including ones who invoke gods but understand those gods as simply a way of understanding impersonal natural forces, or nice but fictional stories created by other humans.
On top of that, often atheists find pagan or wiccan definitions of deity (where the Goddess is talked about as the creative force of the Universe, for example) to be different enough from the ideas of deity they find objectionable, and can accept that definition as a metaphor that runs beneath the seasonal cycles, and the experience of awe and transcendence in the world.
Naturalistic Paganism is one relevant blog.
I strongly disreccomend atheist blogs, they tend to be 1. laser-focused on fighting monotheism and 2. often hostile and rude. There seems to be quite a bit of material about atheism on pagan blogs, though.
