Issue 21 Spring/Summer 2008
Faiths and Nations
I n May the World Pantheist Movement’s board of directors
voted 12:0 (with one abstention) that the WPM should be-
come associated with Americans United for the Separation
of Church and State (AU - www.au.org).
We have already been involved with AU before, over the
Supreme Court case in which Michael Newdow objected to
schoolchildren being asked to recite the US pledge including
the words “one nation under God.” In that case we submitted
a friend of court brief.
Our association with AU does not imply any degree
of subordination. It’s basically an expression of solidarity
and shared goals - it means that we are aligned and allied as
far as our commitment to church-state separation goes. We
can draw upon their resources and speakers, and in return
we will circulate (via the WPM Action
list) their materials, and encourage
awareness of this issue as it exists in
the US and also in other countries.
The level of church-state separa-
tion that’s feasible is sometimes ex-
aggerated. For example, it’s probably
unrealistic to expect people to keep
their religious beliefs completely out
of politics. Religion relates to and
inspires people’s deepest values, and
these values are going to influence
what policies they favor, and what
politicians they will vote for. Panthe-
ists would be very likely to favor policies to protect nature,
just as strongly as some Christians favor policies to ban gay
marriage or to severely restrict abortions. However, a criti-
cal threshold is crossed when people use the state to impose
their beliefs on others, or to restrict the rights of people who
disagree with them.
Freedom of religion and separation of church and state
have been important for the World Pantheist Movement from
the beginning – as our belief statement says:
We uphold the separation of religion and state, and
the universal human right of freedom of religion.
The promotion of this value is important to our love of
nature and our respect for science. The theory of evolution is
central to our naturalistic view of the Universe and Nature,
not only because it fits the scientific facts best, but also be-
cause it describes how living things have come to harmonize
with the environment of living and non-living things that sur-
rounds them. When people who believe the literal creation
accounts in the Bible use political power to try to suppress
teaching of evolution or to introduce teaching of intelligent
design “theory,” they are using the state to spread the beliefs
of their church and putting obstacles in the way of science
teaching. That goes counter not only to the rights of Panthe-
ists and other non-Bible-based groups – it also infringes all
children’s rights to modern education (see Pan issue 14).
These issues are also closely linked to our commitment
to wider human rights. The right to religious freedom and
to non-discrimination on the basis of religion is
enshrined in key United Nations legal docu-
ments. The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948) states that:
§18. Everyone has the right to freedom
of thought, conscience and religion; this
right includes freedom to change his reli-
gion or belief, and freedom, either alone
or in community with others and in public
or private, to manifest his religion or belief
in teaching, practice, worship and observ-
ance.
Church-state links create problems for these
religious rights. They are most commonly sup-
pressed in countries with an official state religion. This is the
case in some Islamic countries with very restricted freedom
for religious minorities – and was the case in many commu-
nist countries where the official ideology was atheist, and all
religions faced some degree of restriction or harassment.
In theory, religious freedoms can be protected for minor-
ity beliefs even where there is no clear separation of church
and state – in countries with an established state church, like
Norway or England, people from other religions are free to
teach, practice, worship and observe.
However, established official religions usually enjoy
powers and privileges that are not shared by minority be-
liefs. Such discrimination in favour of one particular religion
Pan Magazine Sping/Summer 2008
is in direct conflict with the spirit of some other provisions
of the UN human rights instruments, which promote the
principle of non-discrimination. Most of these provisions are
modelled on this clause of the Universal Declaration of Hu-
man Rights:
§2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms
set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of
any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, reli-
gion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status.
Other rights relate, for example, to the right to stand for po-
litical office regardless of religious beliefs. The International
Covenant On Civil And Political Rights (1966) states:
§25. Every citizen shall have the right and the op-
portunity, without any . . . distinctions . . . and with-
out unreasonable restrictions: (a) To take part in the
conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely
chosen representatives; (b) To vote and to be elected
at genuine periodic elections which shall be by uni-
versal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret
ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will
of the electors; (c) To have access, on general terms
of equality, to public service in his country.
The UN Declaration On The Elimination Of All Forms
Of Intolerance And Of Discrimination Based On Religion
Or Belief (1981) proclaims that:
§2.1 No one shall be subject to discrimination by
any State, institution, group of persons, or person on
grounds of religion or other beliefs. §2.2. . . . The
expression “intolerance and discrimination based
on religion or belief” means any distinction, exclu-
sion, restriction or preference based on religion or
belief and having as its purpose or as its effect nul-
lification or impairment of the recognition, enjoy-
ment or exercise of human rights and fundamental
freedoms on an equal basis.
Religious restrictions on public office in the UK and
in Norway are clearly in conflict with the UN instruments:
some offices, such as the monarchy, are not available on an
“equal basis.”
Even where there are legal guarantees to prevent church
interference in the state, religions can infiltrate public insti-
tutions in many different ways.
In the USA, for example, the First Amendment to the
constitution decrees that “Congress shall make no law re-
specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof.” And yet the currency carries the slogan
“In God we trust,” and the Pledge of Allegiance contains the
words “One Nation under God.”
These measures have escaped being banned by the Su-
preme Court because they it has been ruled that they don’t
establish any one particular religion or sect – however, they
do establish monotheism as the belief system of the USA,
thereby favoring Abrahamic religions over polytheistic,
2
non-theistic or atheistic beliefs such as Buddhism, Panthe-
ism or Humanism. The effect is to make non-theists feel as if
in some way we do not “belong” or are excluded.
Some public services are available preferentially to people
of faith. Some of the most blatant examples of this are the
military chaplain services. US Air Force chaplains work un-
der the slogan “Glorifying God, Honoring Airmen, Serving
All.” US Army chaplains have the official mission “to bring
God to Soldiers and Soldiers to God” and they “serve both
God and country by bringing their unique gifts with which
they are endowed by God, to the Soldiers of our nation.”
These precepts lead to an ethos where it seems permissible
for Christian pastors to try to convert soldiers, or to criticize
Pantheist, Humanist, or Pagan beliefs. In some institutions
there have been instances of officers putting overt pressure
on soldiers to convert or to join in public Christian worship.
All these abuses demonstrate the continued determina-
tion of powerful religious groups to use the state to advance
the cause of their own religion, to impose their religion on
others, or to deny the full range of equal rights to minority
religions. That is why we need organizations like the AU
in America, or the National Secular Society in the UK, that
maintain vigilance to look out for abuses and to combat them
where they exist. That is why the WPM strongly backs these
organizations in their essential work.
Faithful to God, we’re serving
on the battlefield today.
Embracing the cause of righteousness,
we’re marching on our way!
Soldiers of God! We serve Him faithfully!
And march, in His Name, through thunder and flame,
wherever the call may be.
Trusting in God, His Strength we lean upon!
As into the fight, the Legions of Light,
the Soldiers of God march on!
We are there as the chaplains of the Nation
Everywhere with our fighting congregation!
Serving the LORD, and serving
the cause of humanity!
Onward we go, ‘til victory is won!
For justice and right, the Legions of Light,
the Soldiers of God...Soldiers of God...
Soldiers of God...March on!
[Official emblem and song of the US Army Chaplaincy]
 Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008

The AU outlines its major issues

Church Politicking to be married in a house of worship, marriage itself is ultimately
As tax-exempt entities, houses of worship may address political a civil institution; access to it should not be defined or limited
and social issues, but federal tax law bars most non-profit groups because of religious strictures.
from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office. Pulpit- Religion In Public School
based electioneering not only violates federal law, many believe it Because public schools serve children from different religious
corrupts the true mission of our faith communities. and philosophical backgrounds, the classroom is an inappropriate
It is not the job of religious leaders to tell people which candidates place for school-sponsored worship. School officials should not
to vote for or not vote for. prescribe prayers or teach religious doctrines, such as creationism,
Defending the courts in the classroom.
Majority vote determines the course of most of our public affairs, Parents are the proper agents to determine what religion, if any,
but some fundamental freedoms, like religious liberty and the their children are exposed to. Public schools have no right to
rights to speak freely and to vote, are never subject to majority usurp parental authority by imposing religion on schoolchildren.
vote because political majorities can deny minorities’ equal rights. Mandatory prayer, Bible reading or other religious activities
Courts are especially important in protecting religious minorities sponsored by public schools are fundamental violations of the
from politically powerful religious majorities. In order to protect right of conscience. Public school students have the right to pray
this sacred liberty, however, judges and justices must respect on their own in a non-disruptive fashion, and schools may teach
church-state separation. AU works to make sure judicial nominees about religion as a part of objective instruction, but public schools
will uphold this principle before they are appointed to the bench. must not sponsor religious worship. That job belongs to America’s
Lawmakers who disagree with some church-state decisions have houses of worship.
tried to pass laws barring cases on the Pledge of Allegiance and Aggressive religious pressure groups are pushing school boards
government-sponsored religion from going to federal court. AU nationwide to change the curriculum to conform to their doctrines.
works to protect a citizen’s right to stop government transgressions Backed by national Religious Right organizations, proponents
in court if necessary. of “intelligent design” seek to drive evolution from the science
Faith based initiatives. classroom and replace it with their interpretation of the Bible. If
The so-called “faith-based” initiative is a euphemism for taxpayer- they succeed, church-state separation and sound science education
supported religion. The initiative funnels taxpayer dollars to may be irreparably harmed.
religious social service providers without adequate safeguards to Religious School Vouchers
prevent proselytism. Americans have the right to support only the religious groups of
Americans in need of social services, such as welfare support, job their choosing. Vouchers and other forms of government aid to
training, emergency shelter and food/clothing supplies, should be religious schools usurp this privilege by forcing all taxpayers to
able to get the help they need without being pressured to take part subsidize indoctrination. Often, religious schools promote sectarian
in religious activities. dogma and take controversial stands on issues such as gay rights,
In addition, these groups try to discriminate in hiring based on the role of women in society and reproductive freedom.
religion even though their programs are publicly funded. In those Taxpayers should not be required to subsidize the spread of
cases where religious groups want to take tax aid to provide relief, religious/moral opinions they may strongly disagree with. Religious
they should first agree to run secular programs and drop all forms organizations are free to sponsor schools, but they should pay for
of religiously based discrimination from their hiring policies. their upkeep. Americans must be free to contribute only to the
In 2006, Americans United challenged the Iowa Corrections religious groups of their choosing.
Department’s support for Charles Colson’s Inner Change, a prison
program that trains inmates in evangelical Christianity. From the AU website: www.au.orgs
Marriage And Sexuality
Opponents of church-state separation, led by the
Religious Right, extol the “traditional” family US views on church-state relations
of a married couple with children. While many Should political leaders rely on religion when making
American families fit this mold, others do not. All decisions?
loving families, regardless of their composition, Yes No
deserve support from government and society. Republicans 62 35
The government should respect American diversity Democrats 27 65
by not imposing one tradition’s narrow view of
marriage and sexuality on the entire country. Should religious leaders try to influence politicians?
The government must not deny adoption, child Yes No
custody and other fundamental rights to families Republicans 48 50
labeled “non-traditional” because of religious bias Democrats 28 71
or narrow interpretations of holy books held by
certain religious believers. The government must 2004-05 data. Source: American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips
also recognize that while many couples choose
3
Pan Magazine Sping/Summer 2008

Models of church-state relations

range from state religions and state churches, to concordats and secular states. It has proved
difficult to find a balance between human rights, non-discrimination and full religious freedoms.

Under Islam, religion and state are closely

linked. Since the time of Mohammed the Islamic community and
the state were considered one and the same – the political ruler was
also the prime spiritual leader.
Islam was relatively tolerant - at least when compared to Chris-
tendom in the Middle Ages. Jews and Christians - “People of the
Book” - were permitted to observe their religions as long as they
paid a special tax, although they were not allowed to proselytize.
Followers of other beliefs – pagans and polytheists – were required
to convert to Islam. Muslims were not allowed to convert away
from Islam, and the punishment for conversion was death.
Today, 27 countries have Islam as their official state religion.
Five of these call themselves Islamic states, in which all laws must
conform with Islamic beliefs. A few countries such as Saudi Ara-
bia – and the Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan - still have
religious police or vigilantes who enforce Islamic dress and behav-
ior codes. In a number of Islamic countries today, observance of
non-Islamic religions is permitted in private, but not in public, so
churches, synagogues and other temples are not tolerated.
In Saudi Arabia, Islam is the official religion, and all citizens
must be Muslims. Religious freedom is not recognized or protect-
ed, and basic religious freedoms are denied to all but the state-
sanctioned version of Sunni Islam. Citizens are denied the freedom
to choose or change their religion, and many non-citizens, includ-
ing Muslims, practice their beliefs under severe restrictions. The E church at Easter or Christmas.
Government limits the practice of all but the officially sanctioned Since 1532-34, when Henry VIII broke off relations with the
version of Islam and prohibits the public practice of other religions. Vatican and established the Church of England, the British mon-
In Iran, members of religious minorities, excluding Sunni arch has been titular head of the church and must be a member
Muslims, are prevented from serving in the judiciary and se- of the church. No-one can succeed to the throne if they have ever
curity services, from being elected to representative bodies been a Roman Catholic, or have ever been married to one.
(except for 5 of the 290 seats in Parliament) or from hold- Church-state connections remain extensive in the UK. Coins
ing hold senior government or military positions. Adherents still carry the motto “Fid. Def.” - defender of the faith. Prince
of religious groups not recognized by the Constitution, such Charles stirred some controversy when he declared his goal, as
as the Bahá’ís, do not have freedom to practice their beliefs. future monarch, to be “defender of faiths” not just of one faith.
The Prime Minister still has the power to appoint Church of
Britain is a post-religious society where most
England bishops. Some 26 of the principal bishops have seats in
the legislature as “Lords Spiritual” – making up about 3 per cent
people have their own idiosyncratic spiritual beliefs, outside the
of the 750 lords but probably a higher share of the average attend-
sphere of organized religion. Only 4 percent of people attend
ance and votes.
church on a weekly basis, compared to over 40 percent in the USA.
Faith schools are allowed, and are generously subsidized by
The right to religious freedoms is guaranteed in the European Con-
the State. In fact religious schools make up about one third of all
vention of Human Rights,
schools and account for one quarter of all school places.
which has the force of law O Lord our God arise, Perhaps the most invasive example of church-state interference
in the UK. Scatter her enemies in England and Wales is the obligation (introduced in 1988) for a
It is a surprising anom- And make them fall; “daily act of collective worship” in schools. This must be “wholly
aly that England has an of-
Confound their politics, or mainly of a broadly Christian character.” Heads who feel this
ficially established church,
Frustrate their knavish tricks, is inappropriate for their mix of pupils – for example if they have
the Church of England
(Anglican – the US branch On Thee our hopes we fix, a high proportion of Muslims - have to apply for an exemption. In
God save us all! practice many heads ignore the “broadly Christian” requirement
is known as Episcopa-
and hold multifaith or generically spiritual or ethics-related as-
lian). The C of E is quite a
semblies.
small minority sect – only [From the British
Apart from the National Secular Society and the British Human-
around one million people National Anthem] ist Association, there is very little public protest about the church-
take communion in a C of
state situation. It’s puzzling why this situation has persisted in
4
 Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008

blatant political interference by Pius XII, who appealed to Italians

the UK. Certainly, official traditions have a peculiar hold on the
British psyche, long after they have lost their original meaning.
Also, the bodies that want to keep the status quo are better organ-
ized and better funded to put political pressure on government.
It may also be that politicians consider Anglicans as a clear in-
terest group of voters, who would be much more deeply offended
if church privileges were removed, than the irreligious majority
would be pleased. Paul Harrison
In Italy, the Bishop of Rome , the Pope, is the
head of the Catholic Church, and also the head of state of the Vati-
can City, located in the heart of Rome.
For many centuries, the Pope was the temporal ruler of Rome
and the Papal States, which were absorbed into Italy in 1870. In
1929, under Mussolini, the Lateran treaties regularized relations
between Italy and the
not to vote Communist, and excommunicated all Italian Catholics
who were Communist candidates.
From 1948 to 1992, as Italy became increasingly secular, the
Catholic Church was unable to prevent the introduction of divorce
in 1970 and of abortion in 1978, both of which were confirmed by
popular referenda.
The Concordat was revised in 1984. The Catholic Church was
disestablished as the only religion of the state. In 1989, the Consti-
tutional Court pronounced that the state is secular (laico).
Taxpayers pay 0.8 percent of their income tax deductions to
the Catholic Church or other religious or charitable bodies. There
are seven choices including the Lutheran Church and the Jewish
Community, but the Catholic church gets 87 percent of the ap-
proximately Euro 1 billion assessed each year. Half of this pays the
salaries of 39,000 priests, while the rest supports building mainte-
nance, charitable work, etc.
The new Concordat provides for optional religious instruction
in public primary and secondary schools. The salaries of 22,000
teachers of religion are paid by the Italian state and amount to
about Euro 650 million annually. An additional Euro 750 million
per annum are spent on support to Church-run schools and hospi-
tals. It is estimated that the Catholic Church costs Italian taxpayers
some Euro 4 billion annually.
The Catholic Church is also very prominent in broadcasting, with
religious affairs being reported in the news on the state-owned tel-
evision channels on a scale second only to politics. TV broadcasts
of Papal masses enjoy immense audiences, and television plays
based on the lives of religious personalities are frequently shown.
There is little criticism of the Catholic Church on the part
of Italian politicians, who bend over backwards to accommodate
the Church’s views on social issues, including same-sex marriage,
euthanasia and stem-cell research. Catholic symbols such as cru-
cifixes and images of the Virgin Mary are omnipresent in schools,
hospitals, law courts and other public places. The majority of na-
tional public holidays are religious holidays, not to mention local
celebrations of the patron saints of every town and village.
Few Italians believe that the State is truly secular when the
Catholic Church exercises such influence over politics, education,
the media and the everyday lives of citizens. Tor Myrvang

France and Turkey are both secular

Holy See. They remain in
force today. They estab-
lished the Vatican State,
financial compensation
for the loss of the Papal
States, and a Concordat
For God has made her
which confirmed Catholi-
cism as the state-support-
ed religion of Italy.
A struggle began in
1948 between the Catho-
lic Church and the Com-
munist Party of Italy, with
Brothers of Italy,
Italy has awoken . .
Where is Victory?
Let her bow down,
Rome’s slave.
[From the Italian
National Anthem]
repub-
lics and have constitutions which state this explicitly.
Both countries have enforced bans on the wearing of religious
symbols or apparel in public institutions (including schools and
universities.) In France a law of 2004 bans the wearing of Islamic
hijabs, Sikh turbans, conspicuous Christian crosses and Jewish
Stars of David in public schools. In Turkey headscarves may not
be worn in schools and universities.
These policies are controversial since they go beyond the state
refraining from endorsing any particular religion – some people
regard them as infringing the individual right to public expression
of religious beliefs. P.H.
5
Pan Magazine Sping/Summer 2008
Exclusion and inclusion
Members discuss their experiences and views of church-state interaction
M y daughter played basketball for public high school, and
one of the parents (who was a Baptist minister) would say
the Lord’s Prayer with the team in the huddle before each game
in the high school gym.
Although I wasn’t a pantheist back then, and wasn’t really
anything in terms of a religious label, that whole thing bothered
me and made me uncomfortable. I knew it wasn’t right, that he
didn’t speak for everyone in that gym, that it was a sporting event
not a religious one, but I let it slide, never said anything. I would
have been in the definite minority in my small southern town in
thinking that way. To be honest, I was a coward. I didn’t want to
face the masses and take an unpopular stand.
I am a different person now, with a different focus and
perspective. Defining myself as a pantheist and finding other
pantheists to share with has fired more passion in me about all of
the inhabitants of this planet, made me more aware. Being part
of the WPM has given me personally more strength and courage
to stand up for issues - even when I’m the lone ranger within my
community or family.
I’m so glad the WPM has affiliated with the Americans United
for the Separation of Church and State and am proud to be part
of a group that will take a stand and lend its name to causes that
not only support the environment but also give people choices. I
have to decide which issues to put my time and energy into but I
feel now that my decision comes from a place of knowledge and
strength and not fear. Even seemingly small issues in a gym in
Sylva, NC, can be important.
After seeing what has been done in the name of religion, both
globally and in my own backyard, the idea of a state-mandated
religion, any state-mandated religion (even my own), really
scares me. Sharon Wells
I have been where Sharon was at the ball games many times.
It is a very difficult place to find oneself in. In the USA most
of the time a Pantheist will find they are the minority, and the
majority usually dictates the religious overtones during many
non-religious events. I have on occasion voiced my opinion,
but this usually resulted in a fight which there was no way of
winning. The resulting argument from their stand is that they
have the freedom of speech, the right to express their faith, and
the freedom from suppression. I have argued that I have the same
rights, but you do not see me forcing others to be subjected to my
beliefs. But that is where the real, underlying core of the issue
comes out.
Mandating the separation of church and state really will
not solve anything. In a semi-heated debate with a devoted
Baptist minister a few years back it was explained to me that
not only was it his god-given call to force his faith on others, it
was the calling of the ‘whole body of Christ’ to take control of
government by either their vote or by their physical presence.
6
This viewpoint is not limited to just the Baptists – it is imbedded
in most of Christendom and some other religions too.
What is the real purpose here? When the final layers are
stripped from most of the religions the final intent is control. The
desire for control is what drives them to enforce their beliefs and
dogmas on the collective bodies they are a part of. We are not
dealing with a group of people who want to just live beside others
peacefully. They seriously want to change others around them by
any means necessary, either by pressuring them to believe their
doctrines or by forcing mandates by which others have no choice.
This reminds me of a small exchange between myself and
another devoted man of faith sometime back regarding the
presence of other places of worship near their church. They did
not like the thought of another church moving in down the street.
I stated that, in the USA, a satanic church had the right to move
in down the street. He stated that if such a church were to attempt
to open down the street they would find it hard to keep their
doors open for their evil services. I was truly taken back by the
harshness of the comment, but I was not surprised.
I live in the Bible belt. I have dealt with many situations where
the Christian faith dictates things in my place of work. I work for
the local city government. We have a small city of 24,000 people,
but there are over 65 active churches (that is one church for every
370 people). The majority of people around me are devoted, hard
core Christians. I have been out to lunch with colleagues from
work to discuss work matters and have had to sit through bowing
of heads and giving thanks for the meal. Not a simple dropping of
the head for a moment of silence to themselves, no we are talking
the holding of hands, standing about the table, openly and loudly
giving thanks so everyone can hear it.
I am constantly questioned on my church of choice or my
faith of convictions, by people who are my higher ups. The
government positions are filled with people who feel that it is
their calling to be there and make this city a godly place where
people want to live and work. I recently heard this a recently
hired director state this: “I am here because god has a purpose
for me here. I feel his calling on my heart to make this a great
place where people want to work for god.” This individual makes
decisions that affect the growth and direction of the city.
How do you solve this? The only way I can see to approach
this level of infestation is to educate the masses that there are
other forms of non-aggressive religion which are not controlling.
Show them that they do not have to subscribe to the faith of their
parents just because they feel trapped in traditions. As sad as it is,
I do not see it possible to bring positive change otherwise.
T. Staggs
T his was not “state”, but a related situation for me. One
Thanksgiving. I volunteered to say a Grace, and the one I
chose was DELIBERATELY non-denominational, and introduced

as such. When I finished, a gentleman next to me added a loud
“In Jesus’ name, Amen!!” I need to see this as being “inclusive”
rather than “having his religion forced upon me and everyone in
the room.” It’s a struggle. Linda Kerby
I ‘m very glad to live in a nation where the founders, at least,
had a clear idea of how to provide religious freedom. So I
wonder why this aspect of the US constitution has not been more
widely emulated? France and Turkey seem to be the closest to
our constitution at present. Tom Moore
S eparation of Church and State is an appealing political
solution for a country whose population is not homogeneous
in terms of religion, specifically one where compromise between
different religious groups is required for a Federalist solution to
work.
In countries which do not have a sufficiently religiously
heterogeneous population, the temptation of the dominant group
is to enforce its beliefs and practices on less powerful religious
(or non-religious) minorities. Why do they do it? Because they
can get away with it. No political group or powerful religious
group is likely to voluntarily relinquish the power to force others
to act (or worship) as it feels the others should do.
The problem of religious coercion is particularly severe in the
case of proselytizing monotheistic religions (particularly many
sects of Christianity and of Islam) which believe that others who
believe differently are eternally damned. Such a belief is easily
used in the service of the will to power with the rationale that “we
have a sacred duty to persecute the heretics lest their pernicious
beliefs will spread and damn many souls to hell.” Walt Mandell
Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008
W hen I was in high school in SC in the mid 1940s, we began
every morning in Home Room with a brief student-led
“devotional.” When my turn came, I usually read from /The
Prophet/ by Kahlil Gibran. This wasn’t a problem. Pete Tolleson
I lived in Canada when my oldest daughter was in primary
grades, in the 1970s. Her first grade teacher - in a non-sectarian
public school - began the day with a group prayer, which was
quite legal. I objected to that, so the teacher said that there was
only one way that she would allow Liz to be exempt from the
prayer - she had to go out into the hall during the prayer. The
teacher said that she simply couldn’t have children disobeying
her when she told them to pray.
We tried that for a bit, but Liz said that the teacher would not
call her back in when the prayer was finished and left her out
there for maybe an hour. I reported that to the principle and it
stopped. The teacher retired after that year. I was really relieved
to find that things here had changed by the time I moved back a
few years later.
I remember when they added “under god” to the US Pledge
of Allegiance. I was attending Sunday School and church
enthusiastically at that point, but I thought it wasn’t right to put
god into the Pledge. I never said it again; I’d stand, but wouldn’t
say a word or even pretend to. Other people said that it was OK
because we might all have different religions but we nearly all
believed in god. But that wasn’t the point, even if it were true.
Frankly, I’m dismayed by the prevalence of religiosity in politics
these days. Religion ought to be private, as long as it doesn’t
include anything illegal. J. M.
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Pan Magazine Sping/Summer 2008

Cultivating
Reverence
In her new book Standing in the Light:
My Life as a Pantheist (Basic Books,
$25) WPM member Sharman Apt
Russell offers a spiritual autobiography,
an enlightening exploration of her
thoughts and feelings about Pantheism,
and a personal introduction to many of
the major Pantheist thinkers. In these
exclusive extracts she explores the
tension within her pantheism between
emotion and reason, and talks about her
special relationship with Walt Whitman.

This Saturday morning I am waiting

by the Gila River to meet with biologist friends Mike and Carol and their three-year old son Dominic. Every spring and summer, Mike
and Carol run a bird-banding station at the Gila River, part of a national program with over 500 stations trying to assess what bird species
are breeding where. I am part of this banding crew, which makes me feel absurdly important.
For ten Sundays from May to August, we will set up ten nets and catch birds. We band the birds and write down their species, age, and
sex. We blow on their chests to reveal their sexual parts and brood patch. We weigh them and measure their wings. Mike and Carol do
most of this work, with Carol the go-to person for molt wear, which feathers are missing and which feathers are coming in. This May, we
will also take two tail feathers that researchers elsewhere can check for isotopes, as well as genital swabs so researchers elsewhere can
look for avian flu. I’ve been tagging along for two seasons now and am still only a net-runner, anxiously untangling a Bewick’s Wren,
waiting for Mike to get the Blue Grosbeak with its vicious bite. When all the data is collected from thousands of birds in the Southwest
and thousands more across North America, patterns will begin to emerge: who is surviving, who is not.
Every year we put the long banding table in the same place, under
a large cottonwood tree by a glistening bend of the Gila River. We
meet here today, trying to decide where to put the nets this spring.
According to protocol, all ten nets should be in the same positions
each year. But after last winter’s flood, half the original net sites
are the river. We need new sites, and we talk about that. We feel
anticipatory. These March days will get warmer, the trees will leaf
© Steve Shoup, Big Stock Photo

out, the birds will sing, and we will be at the banding table again.
I am especially anticipatory. Bird-banding mornings are my own
little nature study, trying to identify the call of a flycatcher, tramping
from net to net on the changing river bottom, noting which trees
have finally fallen down, the print of a mountain lion, and the new
patch of four o’clock with its magenta flowers opening clocklike
in the late afternoon. Is the beaver back? Is that a sphinx moth - a
hallucinatory blur in the air, then a focused image pink and white
and black, banded and checkered like an Escher print? The moth
poises before an evening primrose, its heavy body miraculously

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 Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008

aloft, its tongue uncurling - impossibly long, like a magician’s scarf.

I marvel at the sphinx moth. I marvel at the Four O’clock (Mirabilis multiflora) whose parts can be made into a tea to treat colic and
eye infection. I marvel, too, that all the plants around me are connected to the human body. Yarrow clots blood. Cottonwood and willow
reduce pain. The tone of my bladder is related to mullein root. My body reflects the chemistry of willow.
I marvel at the complexity. But is all this holy? Does it form a web of life we can call sacred? Or are these things just very interesting?
The tongue of a sphinx moth is half the length of its body. Its abdomen circulates hot blood like a radiator cooling an engine. Great
factoids! Very neat.
I ask Mike and Carol what they think. This is a little delicate. We have been friends for a few years, and now we are neighbors in the
Gila Valley. We laugh and talk easily. We exchange books and tools. But there are gaps in what we know about each other. Our spiritual
beliefs lie within one of those gaps.
Carol surprises me. Before she became a biologist, she studied music and as a young adult once spoke in tongues in a Pentecostal
church, loving God and the warmth of that community. Now she has the same emotions - love and awe and warmth - as strongly and
as wonderfully in nature, in the divinity of the universe. Her image of God has shifted. Her experiences have not. On a recent walk, she
says, she found herself confronted with a great-horned owl who stared at her eye-level, predatory, and somehow numinous. The feeling
was so strong she had to look away. In humility, she had to look away.
Mike claims he is less
emotional than his wife. It is
just his nature, he says. He is
impressed by the scientific ideas
of deep time and evolution and
by the fact that life came out of
matter. He gestures at his son
Dominic, who is leaning against
Carol’s leg and begging to go
home. “Isn’t it amazing,” Mike
asks, “that love itself came out
of matter?”
Mike is a big fan of the nature
writer Thoreau and can quote
passages verbatim. Once as we
walked together along the bird-
banding trail to Net Nine, Mike
quoted this one:
What is it to be
admitted to a museum, to
see a myriad of particular
things, compared with
being shown some star’s
surface, some hard
matter in its home! Talk
of mysteries! Think of our
life in nature - daily to be
shown matter, to come
into contact with it - rocks,
trees, wind on our cheeks!
the solid earth! the actual
world! the common sense!
Contact! Contact!
I look at Mike now, so clearly
© Joe Burgess, Wikimedia Commons

in love with the physical world.

The actual world! The solid
earth!
I look around me. Trees
askew, sandy arroyo, rocks
in the sand, plants growing.
A stretch of river bottom in
southwestern New Mexico.
I can call this sacred, or I can
not. Most religions have it
right: God cannot seem to exist
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 Pan Magazine Sping/Summer 2008

without us. We are made in His image, or

© Iris Abbott, Big Stock Photo

rather He is made in ours - our belief in

the divine defines the divine.
I am involved in a word choice. Sacred
means “holy” or “revered.” In some
dictionaries, the antonym is “unholy”
or “blasphemous.” For my purpose, the
antonym to sacred would be “ordinary”
or even “meaningless.” The middle
ground between sacred and secular is
“fascinating.” How do I want to describe
the world? How do I want to feel about
the world?
Just west of our bird-banding table is
a small archaeological site, a few rooms
once populated by the Salado people
around 1300 A.D. Up and down the Gila
Valley are more ancient sites dating from
the dawn of the first millennium to the
first Apache settlements in the sixteenth
century, a flow of people migrating,
hunting, farming, conquering, and being
conquered. Mostly they stayed by the
course of the river. Mostly their adobe and
rock homes are now bulldozed lumps and
troughs where pot-hunters have looked
too hard for buried treasure - something
old to sell for a good price. Potsherds still
litter these sites, especially after a storm when rivulets uncover new pieces of painted clay.
For much of my life, I have visited places like this, scouted for a sherd, and picked it up - a piece of cooking ware or the zigzag
design of black on white. I have felt something flow down through my body from head to heart to arm to earth. The woman who made
this pot links with me, some 200,000 years ago, when we were hominids together in Africa. The woman who stands here today traveled
through Europe and sailed to the New World as soon as she could build a boat, fished in New England, farmed in the Midwest, ranched
in Colorado, mined in Arizona. The woman who made this pot came by a different route. It is not really that we meet again but that we
have never truly been separate.
Once, visiting the Salado site, I had an experience that some people might call mystical. I felt that connection flow down through
a sherd of clay to soil where billions of bacteria live in one fertile ounce, where Grama Grass and Four O’clock convert sunlight into
energy, where the grasshopper mouse waits in his burrow anxious to come out and hunt pinacate beetles, scorpions, and lizards, throwing
back his head and howling his shrill wolf-like whistle-song.
I felt something flow down into the earth and then flow back up through my body with ten times as many cells as there are stars in the
Milky Way. Ninety percent of these cells are microbial, not human. I call this superorganism myself, six hundred bacterial species in my
mouth alone swimming the mountains and canyons of teeth.
I flowed out through the skull, accelerating faster. Sweat from my forehead evaporated, rose, joined with other molecules, and became
a cumulus cloud. Now I travelled east and south, following desire to tangle in the fur of a coatimundi I once met, a long-tailed, long-
snouted, white-masked relative of the raccoon. This particular bachelor male had been driven away from the matriarchal band where he
had mated with the females. Once they were pregnant, he had to leave, his tail straight up. He chittered and grumped. I left him, too, still
flowing eastward, to Texas, New York, around the globe, everywhere, everything.
How do we define a religious experience like this? People who have shared similar experiences speak of being outside themselves. They
touch something bigger, something more than being Sharman thinking about Sharman’s problems, dealing with Sharman’s insecurities
and Sharman’s vanities. They break through the limits of their life, those particular talents and faults, this father, that mother, this race,
that country, this gender, that body; the time they betrayed a friend; the ragged edge of a cuticle. Who would really want immortality as
yourself? It seems so little and so depressing.
People speak of relationship to the sacred. Perhaps they talk to Him, or Her, and they get an answer. Perhaps they spread out, connected
to everything, part of everyone. They speak to the bacteria and the grasshopper mouse. The important thing is that they are not alone.
People speak of feelings. Awe. Joy. Peace. They are uplifted. Perhaps they are afraid. Hormones cascade, neurons fire. The chest
hollows. The body gets involved.
Was my experience at the Salado site a religious one? Sometimes I think so. Not always. I believe, without doubt, in an interconnected
universe. But any faith I have in a sacred interconnected universe is hard-won. I have to search and struggle. I have to doubt. I have to
cultivate belief. I have to get up early and bird-band. I have to visit ancient sites, wait for floods, be with other believers, form the neural
pathways. I have to be on the alert for the numinous experience. I have to welcome reverence.
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 Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008

© Michael Fogden, Bruce Coleman

Walt Whitman is the one I blame the most
for who I am. He brought together mysticism and scientific theory and fused them in a fiery circle. He would allow for no separation,
certainly not the separation of humanity from the natural world. He infected me when I was young and impressionable with his dreams
of democracy and his cries of celebration. His “barbaric yawp” proclaimed that this was our job - to celebrate and be joyous.
I read his long poem Song of Myself like the Book of Psalms. We were all meant to be Walt Whitman, children of the cosmos,
male and female, young and old, plantation owner and slave. Like him, our bodies are made of earth and sidewalk. We spread
sideways into nature. We burrow into people. Animals adorn us. Plants grow in our ears. We have lived a trillion summers and will
live a trillion more. Unlock the doors, unscrew the door jambs, take down the walls! We experience everything. We are everyone.
We go naked and undisguised to the river bank, mad to be in contact with the air which is for our mouth forever. Logic will never
convince. Sermons do not convince. The damp of the night drives deeper.
Walt Whitman urged me to connect with the world, and in 1975, a college student at Berkeley, I thought I could do it standing on a
street corner. I could see the papery trunks of the eucalyptus trees on campus, their sharp medicinal smell, the life of the mind, the life
of the senses, people jostling by. I could make contact, naked and undisguised.
I could do it easily through the cadence of Whitman’s poetry. I am the old artillerist. I am the mashed fireman. I am the captain on
deck. I am the mother of captains. The language was a little archaic, but still, it seemed that I was all those things. And that the bigger
questions about life were answered here or would be answered.

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,
Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.
Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then;
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass.

Today, re-reading Song of Myself, I am still struck by how well Whitman held the enormity of it in his mind and body, in his hand
and words. He saw God everyday. He understood God not at all. Does he contradict himself? Very well, he contradicts himself. We are
large and contain multitudes. Joy and pain are braided. With broken breast-bone, the mashed fireman lies on the cold earth. Elsewhere,
the judge proclaims the death sentence in a hushed voice. Elsewhere, stevedores shout heavy-e-yo and strong men laugh and homely
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 Pan Magazine Sping/Summer 2008

girls croon to babies. Agonies. Good

Matthew Brady, Library of Congress

times. The procreant urge.

Elsewhere - everywhere - birds,
wheat, whales, cows, and blackberries. A
leaf of grass, the egg of a wren. We are
staggered and triumphant. We are braided
into nature. We are reflected there.
Celebrate every part, mollusk and hat.

Dazzling and tremendous, how quick

the sunrise would kill me,
If I could not now and always send
sun-rise out of me.

In southwestern New Mexico,

we wait for the monsoon season, the
rains that fall in the months of July,
August, and September. Commonly, the
thunderclouds build up in the afternoon,
growing darker and heavier until they
drop their burden like a woman throwing
water from a saucepan, hard and focused
on a few choice spots, with flashes of
lightning to make the humans run to shut
down their computers. We hope to have
rain now in the Gila Valley every day for
some sixty days.
The skies are tremendous, the
clouds huge and masted flat-bottomed
ships. Fleet after fleet set out for
conquest. Majesty embodied. This is
true democracy, beauty for everyone.
You don’t have to be rich or successful
or good. You don’t have to live by the
ocean or in the middle of wilderness.
This is drop-dead gorgeous scenery, the
ephemeral version of prime real estate.
This could be your ticket to a mystical
experience, and the show runs through
the rest of summer, almost every day.
This is a grandeur that most of us, most
of the time, barely notice, looking up and
then away, intent on some errand.
I walk Sacaton Mesa surrounded by
cloud streets, cloud turrets, a small cloud
art museum, cloud doorways arched
and dissolving. It is architecture on the
move. A storm builds in the east. The cloud cliffs grow taller. The prow of a ship crashes into another. Already there is rain over the
Mogollon Mountains, the line clear between where water is falling and where it is not. Already I should turn back and hurry home if I
do not want to get soaking wet.
I feel a correspondence. This beauty is not a doorway into something better. This beauty is my other half. This sky, this majesty, is
my other self. I feel the yearning to reunite, join with the sky. In some way, we reflect each other. I am transparent, and the clouds pass
through me.
In his preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman prescribed what might have been an idealized biography of his own life:

This is what you shall do. Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches,
give alms to everyone who asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your
income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have
patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or
unknown, or to any man or number of men - go freely with powerful uneducated
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 Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008

persons, and with the young, and with the mothers of families - re-examine all
you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever
insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the
richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and
between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.

It is essential Whitman that we move in a long sentence from the earth and sun to the skin between eyelashes. The poet greatly
admired the human body, and although the release of Leaves of Grass in 1855 was first met with praise, critics were soon pointing
in disgust to those passages which celebrated sexuality. The poems were “a mass of stupid filth,” “bombast, egotism, vulgarity, and
nonsense” and the writer “some escaped lunatic, raving in pitiable delirium.”
But Whitman never wavered. In the coming decades, he continued to revise, expand, and republish his poorly-selling manuscript.
He sometimes lived in poverty. He was sometimes depressed, lost in his soul and in his relationships. But he never denied what the
Light whispered to him about the beauty of physical love, the beauty of flesh, the sensuous details of being human.
For a pantheist, it comes down to this: as part of the larger whole, we are called upon to celebrate our existence in the universe, no
matter what and who we are, blessed or not, whole or broken, deserving or undeserving. What is the alternative? We are braided into
pain and joy, darkness and light. We are braided into nature, reflecting the sky. We transcend the material, the everyday, for we know
these things themselves to be transcendent. We are called on to rejoice. Who calls us? We preach to ourselves. A child of the cosmos.
Here we stand.

© Paul Moore, Big Stock Photo

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Pan Magazine Sping/Summer 2008
New chart of our galactic home
Spizter Space Telescope, NASA
We can admire the Andromeda galaxy
three million light years away, and see the
structure of its disc in detail. But it’s much
harder to get a clear view of our own
galaxy across the plane of its disc, through
deep veils of dust and gas.
Until the 1990s the Milky Way was
thought to be a regular spiral with four
star-forming arms, called Norma, Scutum-
Centaurus, Sagittarius and Perseus.
During the 1990s large infrared sky
surveys revealed that it was a barred
spiral, with an elongated elliptical bar of
stars across the center.
In 2005, a team at the University of
Wisconsin found that the bar extends
farther out from the center of the galaxy
than previously thought. The team now has
new imagery from the Spitzer telescope
14
of an expansive swath of the Milky Way,
stretching 130 degrees across the sky,
including over 110 million stars. “Now,
we can fit the arms together with the bar,”
said team leader Robert Benjamin, “and
we can map the structure, position and
width of these arms for the first time.”
The new analysis suggests that our
galaxy has only two major star-forming
arms - a common structure for galaxies
with bars. The Scutum-Centaurus and
Perseus arms have the greatest densities
of both young, bright stars, and older, red-
giant stars.
Two minor arms, Sagittarius and
Norma, are filled with gas and pockets of
young stars. Our sun lies near a small,
partial arm called the Orion Spur, located
between the Scutum and Perseus arms.
Though galaxy arms appear to
be stable features, stars are actually
constantly moving in and out of them as
they orbit the center of the Milky Way, like
waves of vehicles in traffic. Since our sun
was formed 4.6 billion years ago, it has
travelled around the galaxy 16 times.
“For years, people created maps
of the galaxy based on studying one
section of it, or using only one method,”
says Benjamin. “Unfortunately, when
the models from various groups were
compared, they didn’t always agree.
Spitzer has provided us with a starting
point for rethinking the structure of
the Milky Way. We will keep revising
our picture in the same way that early
explorers sailing around the globe had to
keep revising their maps.”

Why I am
a Pantheist
New members write
I have finally found a “home”
for what I believe in, after all
these years of not having a name
for my feelings and beliefs. I
can now pass on to my children
the spirituality of our beliefs
with a name and hopefully some
customs which we shall develop.
I can teach them with confidence
to revere the beauty and power
of the universe.
Lisa Smith
I have always felt more at peace
in the forest than in a church.
I have a problem with a god
that punishes a person for being
human, for doing that which
seems normal, for following his
basic instincts, to love whom he
chooses. I also find it hard to
believe a person can influence
what has been proven to be a
Natural process by praying to
an unseen force. Above all I
believe in freedom and honesty,
something not easily found in the
“Church.”
George Ball
I feel that everything is tied, and
I am sometimes brought to my
knees in awe of the beauty of this
world. It angers me when others
take this world for granted,
raping and destroying it. We need
to love that which gives us life,
the Universe.
L. C.
I am a pantheist because in
my experience, simply put,
it’s the only attitude towards
the Universe that makes sense:
reverence, wonder, and deep
abiding gratitude for all that is.
James Anderson
I believe that nature is god.
Nature is who we are and
what is all around us. Nature
gives us what we need and there
is a purpose and reason that
only nature provides. Nature
is beautiful. I do not belive in
supernatural entities.
Tabatha Grainger
I can no longer believe in
Christianity but still look for
spirituality and have a great love
of nature and a reverence for all
life. I need a fresh definition of
the word God and believe I have
found one in Pantheism.
Jack Restall
I am most at peace when I
am out in my yard or going
through the fields and woods
with my dogs. I have long felt an
inner peace from simply being
with nature that I never felt in a
house of worship. I also strongly
believe in respecting the Earth
and all its inhabitants: animals,
plants, and all other manner of
natural objects. I found this site
and realized that there are a lot
of other people out there like me
and appreciate having the chance
to communicate with them.
D. D.
A few years ago I began
working at a telescope shop
and had my first chance ever to
look at the sky. Upon peering
at the stars and the glory of the
heavens my life exploded with
new possibilities and a newfound
appreciation for our universe.
My goals in life had changed in
what seemed like an instant.
After attending two years’ college
majoring in music, I found
that I had achieved a thirst for
science and wanted desperately
to open the eyes of mankind to
reason and understanding of
the cosmos. Having withdrawn
from Christianity at an earlier
age I have felt like somewhat
of an outcast denying Jesus and
the Christian concept of God.
My family will certainly feel that
I am destined for Hell for my
actions today but I know that I
Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008
am doing the right thing. I am a
Pantheist because I have faith in
humankind to be active stewards
of this planet and universe and
feel that by joining this religion I
will further that cause.
Bryan McCallister
I believe that all of nature
is collectively holy and if
anything deserves to be called
(metaphorically) God then
it is nature. I do not believe
in a personal theistic God
exist outside of nature. But,
I do believe in the religious
experience, and that experience
is part of what it means to be
human. I seek the religious
experience through connecting
with life and nature.
Margaret Lee
W e are the only living things
that have the capabilities
to protect and preserve all
other living things and our
environment. This must then be
our own defined “purpose” and
“meaning” for existence. This
comes from natural evolution, not
from a supernatural entity. We
must acquire the knowledge and
the will to fulfill this purpose.
Ted Radamaker
I love being a part of Gaia.
I have no need for the
supernatural when the natural is
so exquisite.
Carrie-Ann Giles
N one of the popular
theistic hypotheses fit the
observations of science. Most are
absurd and some are dangerous
to humankind and our planet.
Whatever the place-card word
God means, it seems to me to
be the ground of existence and
not separate from it. Spiritual
reality is not something apart
from natural reality but consistent
with it. And the plain fact is, the
natural universe is beautiful far
beyond any theistic daydreams to
account for it. The Medieval Age
is over - it is time to move on.
Joseph Maddox
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Pan Magazine Spring/Summer 2008
S exing up atheism is one of
the best ideas I’ve seen in a
long time. The credo is logically
intact and allows me degrees of
freedom as an individual. The
quotes by Einstein, Hawkings,
Shelley encapsulate the shared
wisdom and beliefs of a large,
unspoken group of intelligent
people.
P. W.
I am a spiritual atheist, revering
nature, including spiders,
snakes and rats. I have not
previously had any group
affiliation that honored these
values.
Robert Edwards
It offers a religious home where
my spirit can be nourished in
ways that do not insult my
intelligence.
Ernesto Torres
Special
events Calendar & Almanac
June
5: World Environment Day:
        Conserving the environment.
21: Midsummer Solstice
July
4: US Independence Day: democracy
5: Anniversary of supernova that
created Crab Nebula.
12: Birthday of Thoreau
14: Storming of Bastille - liberty,
equality, fraternity
20: Moon landing day (1969)
16
I feel a very deep and powerful
connection with the natural
world, with the universe if you
like. The beauty of it all is so
overwhelming and humbling, yet
more fulfilling to me than any
doctrine or dogma. “God” is all
around us and inside us.
L. H.
I have come to the harsh
realization that believing
in supernatural religions has
caused and continues to
cause immeasurable pain and
suffering. But, the potential of
humanity is infinite. Pantheism
is a way to give individuals a
sense of community, while more
importantly, providing a catalyst
to help individuals come together
to work indiscriminately for the
benefit of all humans as well as
care for the world in which we
live.
R. K.
August
6:   Hiroshima Day - focus on peace
12: Perseid meteor shower:
Starwatching
26: Krakatoa day: global tectonics.
Harvest (according to location)
September
16: UN International Peace Day
23: Autumn equinox
A fter some considerable
thought (most of my life)
what else could anyone be but a
Pantheist. It’s the only religious
expression that makes any sense.
Henry Barrett
T here seems to be no evidence
for a personal god which
intervenes in human affairs.
However, the fact that we are
here and part of an amazingly
complex and magnificent universe
demands an appreciation and
reverence for nature as a
mysterious and powerful force. I
see myself as pantheist because
I equate the divine with nature
itself.
Matthew Stewart
R eligion has always sent me
a “collect” call, yet nature
continues to hold and teach me
what truth really is.
Del Beach
Equinoxes
& Solstices
Summer solstice
June 20 23:59
Autumn Equinox
September 22 15:44
Full Moons
Bayon Temple © Elena Pokrovskaya
June 18 17:30
July 18 07:59
August 16 21:16
September 15 09:13
All times Universal time =
Greenwich Mean Time