Why this essay?

I have decided to write this essay after having encountered various neo-nazi webpages on the Internet claiming Pantheism as their spiritual home. I find this tendency both disturbing and insulting, and even though — thank Nature — it’s only a minority within the Pantheist community, their ideas can wreak havoc within this community. It speaks for itself that the large majority of Pantheists do not wish to be associated with any of this hate-filled White Supremacist bigotry and that any neo-nazi ideas are in complete contradiction to modern Pantheism. I think its important to write this essay to distance myself — as a Pantheist — from this kind of nonsense to show potential Pantheists, new members and those who are interested in Pantheism, that these hate-filled views are NOT representative for this philosophy/religion.

On the relevance of Pantheism:

Pantheism is an ancient yet upcoming philosophy that may have great potential for appeal. In this age where people are becoming increasingly sceptic about the existence of a personal creator-god, where technology and science reveal the mysteries of the Cosmos and where the urban masses seek to reconnect with the Natural world around them, rational/naturalistic Pantheism indeed has a lot to offer. Without leading people astray into the illusions of faith, it offers a spiritual outlook to the Here and Now that can be very satisfying indeed.

Evironmental Concerns and Eco-spirituality:

Environmental issues plague our Earth. Needless to say, these issues become more and more pressing. The urgency of the ecological crisis and the disenchantment with conventional theistic religions have led people to explore new forms of eco-spirituality. Amongst these forms, is Pantheism, but not only Pantheism. Also its Eastern sister Taoism, Buddhism, New Age, Wicca and other Pagan creeds have come to the fore. In most cases, these forms of eco-spirituality are pretty much harmless. Some may be more inclined to mystery and superstition to others, some are more oriented towards the New Age industry, but nonetheless, almost all of them share an ethical outlook compatible with the principle of human equality, democracy and human rights.

Expose them: Neo-Nazi thought within Eco-spirituality and Green issues:

However, even though the great majority of eco-spirituality in general and Pantheism in particular, respect and affirm basic human rights, there is an increasing number of White Supremacist hate groups who try to leap onto the fashionable bandwagon of eco-spirituality in order to recruit members for their own warped ideology.

This tendency is not new. In the environmentalist movement, there often has been a very uncomfortable relationship between the majority of progressive and/or democratic activists and a small minority of ultra-right neo-nazi fringe groups. Many neo-nazi organisations try to infiltrate the environmental, eco-spiritual and Pantheist spheres for two main reasons.

Eco-fascism and Pseudo-biology:

Firstly: it is fashionable to be ‘Green’. Many people are concerned about the state of the World, about pollution, ecological destruction and overpopulation. Hate groups tap into these concerns and channel these legitimate sentiments into their own world-view. Hate groups argue that the Earth’s carrying-capacity has been reached in terms of human population and abuse well-intentioned concerns about population growth to launch their own platforms of eugenetics, immigration-bans, racial theory and immoral forms of population control. Also they tap into the trend of the biological discourse. The science of biology has been hugely popularised these past years by authors such as Frans de Waal and Richard Dawkin. Neo-nazi hate groups often push pseudo-biology to the fore to argue for racial ‘purity’ for caucasians and to ‘prove’ why blacks, Asians, Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and the mentally and physically disabled are to be considered inferior. The combination of the popularisation of biology and the advent of Green ethics, has prooven to be a new strategic battle-ground for hate groups to proclaim their ideas.

An unfortunate encounter: Northern European Paganism and Neo-nazis.

Secondly: because many forms of eco-spirituality (apart from Native American forms) are based or inspired by Northern-European Pagan traditions. The ‘big three’ — Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have traditionally been very much closed to Nature worship because their monotheistic outlook regards it as idolatry. Ancient Pagan traditions apparently (historians differ over this) had a powerful Earth-centred cult of the Mother Goddess and had strong animistic/polytheistic aspects in which the turn of the seasons, the fruits of the Earth and the elements are celebrated. These ancient traditions appeal to many searching for Pantheism and other forms of eco-spirituality, leading to the reconstruction of ancient Norse traditions (Asatru), Celtic traditions (the cult of the Goddess Brigit and Druidic traditions) and Wicca (gardnerian witchcraft). In essence, all these new religions are perfectly legitimate and in themselves harbour no ideology of racial prejudice. Often their members themselves — following a religious minority path — are extremely sensitive to all forms of prejudice. However, neo-nazi groups have made various attempts to ‘Aryanise’ these movements. In case of Asatru, the religion with the most obvious Germanic overtones, benevolent members of the religion have even launched a network of ‘anti-nazi’ Asatru websites, seeking to distance themselves from the malicious attempts of neo-nazis to Aryanise their religious tradition.

The fact that these forms of eco-spirituality have their roots based in ‘white’ Northern European paganism, is very appealing to hate groups. It enforces their belief in ‘Blut und Bodem’ (Blood and Soil) the notion that one is (spiritually) bound to the land of one’s birth and that it’s ‘unnatural’ to emigrate or receive immigrants (the obvious outcome being xenophobia). Also, neo-nazis hijack these pagan traditions to bolster ‘white pride’ in its membership. Neo-nazis try to mythologise the tribal, Nature-oriented character of Germanic paganism to serve their own ends and to devise a code of ‘ethics’ based on the ‘Natural Order’ whatever that may be.

The Natural Order of Being?

Central to many neo-nazi forms of Pantheism and Paganism, is the reactionary notion of the ‘Natural Order’ of being. They claim that Nature has devised a hierarchy in which all must know their place. One must know their place in the greater scheme of the Race, the Nation, the Tribe and the Family. Needless to say, this leads to an extremely conservative and regressive world-view in which norms are estremely rigid and where anyone who ‘deviates from the Natural Order’ are to be ostracised, discriminated at best or led to the gaschambers at worst. Ofcourse, this also leads to obscure theories of eugenetics and racial purity, and the condemnation of ‘mixed’ marriages and such. One can only imagine what schemes these people have for women, Jews, Gypsies, gays, blacks, etc, etc. One only needs to look at the Third Reich: the Nazis in Germany themselves tried to ‘revamp’ their Pagan traditions, celebrating solstices and such to cement their warped ideology and eugenics programs and to bolster their virulent antisemitism. Think of Haeckel, a ‘Pantheist’ thinker in the early 20th century who created the ‘Monist League’ and who ended up being a nazi.

Fundamental Questions:

Confronted with these hate-groups, Pantheists must ask themselves fundamental questions about the nature of Pantheism and the nature of ethics and the nature of the world around them. Does Pantheism endorse such a hate-filled outlook? Is there such a criterion as a ‘Natural Order’? How must Pantheism combat neo-nazi views within their own ranks? What’s the responsibility of Pantheists to combat such views?

The Ethics of Pantheism:

I think it is fair enough to say that modern Pantheism is not one bit compatible with nazi ideology. Pantheism, much akin with straight atheism and humanism, believes in the consciousness, individual responsibility and unalienable equality of all human beings. The pantheist position that we are all interconnected, all part of the great Web of Life, that we are all stardust ultimately and that we are all ‘God’ or ‘Nature’ or ‘Cosmos’, will not allow for the discrimation of any human being. Each human being is sacred, and just as sacred and valued as his brother or sister.

Although the personal political opinions of individual Pantheists may vary considerably, I think it is reasonable to presume that Pantheism ultimately is a philosophy which stresses the Earth as one large community, and places values of equality and internationalism and brotherhood at its core.

As proponents of scientific theory, we embrace the fact that the Human Race is genetically the most homogeneous race in the world, where despite phenotypic differences in skin colour, body shape and hair colour, we are all virtual siblings in genetic terms. We share 99.9% of genetic material with our fellow humans. Any racial superiority theory falls apart on this fact. For comparison: humans and chimpansees share 98% of the genetic make-up.

Pantheist Politics?

Must Pantheism become political to counter this problem of neo-nazi groups? No, I think not. Like I wrote earlier, personal political opinions may vary greatly between individual Pantheists, and that’s just fine. We do not need to align ourselves politically. I, myself, am a radical Marxist. I do believe, in my personal view, that my Marxism is compatible with my Pantheism, but I will never force that position down the throats of fellow Pantheists. I respect any Pantheist who may have different views, just as much. Pantheism inherently is not right or left-winged. Individual members can make it such for themselves and so my political views are my own, and my own they will stay.

However, Pantheism, as a life-embracing, world-affirming philosophy, cannot pretend to remain silent on these sort of issues, or cannot run away from them. We as Pantheists are invariably part of the World and we must question that World continuously. And so we must address these issues.

What can be done?

We cannot cast a magic spell to make the nasties go away. It is even questionable from a democratic point of view whether ‘making them go away’ would be desirable. However, we should be alert and try to ‘ban’ these sort of nazi-characters from our own Internet pages and discussion forums. We should inform those new to Pantheism that the large majority of Pantheism is in fact benevolent and that these hate-groups luckily form a tiny, but loud, minority. Let’s make sure they stay that way.

Within our organizations we can formulate even more clearly our egalitarian and democratic stances to make sure that the message gets across as clear as possible. Formulating a Credo, like the World Pantheist Movement has done, may have a twofold effect: firstly, it clearly states our ethical position and secondly, it deters those with bigoted views from joining or seeking contact.

Neo-nazis try to infiltrate all sorts of religions and philosophies in order to recruit. We are not the only victims in their book. Nonetheless, their presence is a blemish on the blossom of Pantheism. But the blossom in itself is still as radiant as ever. Don’t be deterred from Pantheism because of a few hate-filled fringe groups.