Earth Day and the Limitations of History

Last updated on: April 23, 2012 at 6:24 pm by John Beckett

Earth Day and the Limitations of History 2012-04-23T18:24:00-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I know, I’m a day late with an Earth Day post. I spent yesterday attending an Earth Day service and tree planting ceremony at Denton UU, followed by a meeting with Denton CUUPS. Among other business, we got volunteers to lead all the circles for the rest of this year – I’m leading Winter Solstice, with help from Erin. Instead of holding it on the closest Saturday as we usually do, we’re going to hold it on Friday, December 21, which is the actual date of the Solstice. We don’t think the world is going to end, but clearly a major change is in progress – we want our Winter Solstice ritual to help shape that change into something that will be positive for us and for our world.

Jason at The Wild Hunt had two very good Earth Day posts this weekend. On Friday he had this piece on how some right-wingers are attacking environmentalism as “Pagan.” This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that claim. Yesterday Jason had a more general post on Earth Day that’s particularly good and that leads me to some things I want to talk about today.

Is Earth Day a Pagan holiday? We can state unequivocally that it was not intended to be Pagan. Go through the links in Jason’s posts – Earth Day was established in 1970 in response to an oil spill and was intended to be a “teach-in” to raise awareness of pollution and environmental degradation. The purpose was entirely secular. There is ample documentation of this and it happened only 42 years ago – there are plenty of people alive who were there for the deliberations and the first celebration.

But as with so many religious, political, and cultural movements and landmark events, the whole truth isn’t quite so simple. Jason quotes Chas Clifton, who in speaking of the impact of Earth Day said

if there was a year when Wicca (in the broad sense) became “nature religion,” as opposed to the “mystery religion” or “metaphorical fertility religion” labels that it had brought from England, that year was 1970.

There has been an environmental movement in the United States since at least the days of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson – an appreciation of Nature and a realization that we are part of Nature. That movement has mostly been overshadowed – and overwhelmed – by the desire to exploit Nature for its wealth, but it has been present in the works of people like John Muir and in the establishment of the first National Park in 1872, the first Clean Air Act in 1963 and the first Clean Water Act in 1972.

This movement motivated some people to care for the Earth because it’s the only planet we have. It motivated Christians (or at least some of them) to care for the Earth because it’s God’s creation. But it motivated Pagans to care for the Earth because we saw the Earth as the body of the Mother Goddess, because we saw the Divine in the skies and rivers and oceans and rocks and trees.

That’s the first point I want to make. Earth Day isn’t a Pagan holiday, but Pagans have embraced it and claimed it as our own, though we’re happy to share it with practitioners of other religions who share our concern for the environment.

See what’s happened in just a few years: parallel movements (environmentalism and Paganism) have become intertwined – a mystery religion has become a Nature religion. People who are strongly opposed to both movements are spreading misinformation (I’ll assume they really believe the garbage they’re spewing and aren’t just lying to score political points) and have formed a countermovement. In 42 years, in the “Information Age,” when there is an overabundance of documentation, the truth about the origins and meaning of a “teach-in” is close to being lost in the mainstream culture.

If that’s the case, what chance do we have of uncovering the real origins of Wicca, 60 to 100 years ago?

What chance to we have of uncovering the real origins of Christianity, 2000 years ago? Or the real origins of Islam, 1400 years ago?

Honoring our ancestors is a sacred act and is one of the cornerstones of most modern Pagan religions. But we must be careful not to let that honor degenerate into a false certainty about who they were, what they did, what they believed, and why.

We rarely know as much about the past as we like to think we know.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 20, 2012

Pagan Evangelism

Next Post

April 25, 2012 Welcome New Readers!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who betrayed Jesus with a kiss?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Thomas Herod Peter Judas