History of the World Pantheist Movement

This page is about the organization, not the history of Pantheism as a belief.

Formation

In 1996 Dr Paul Harrison began posting draft sections from his book Elements of Pantheism directly onto the internet. He included his email address and invited comments. Soon people began to write in, and when the number reached 35 a mailing list was created to facilitate exchange of views. So in September 1997 the first scientific pantheism mailing list was created, on AOL.

When this proved viable, a small group of volunteers chaired by Dr Harrison began to draw up what became the WPM Statement of Principles. Initially, there were 12 volunteers. They had to be in basic agreement with scientific pantheism, believe that these ideas should be spread, and be interested in finding ways of doing so. The group varied between 12 and 18 members. As large numbers proved cumbersome for e-mail discussions, we stuck to this number and filled vacancies by co-option from the main list. It was agreed that the World Pantheist Movement would have some kind of democratic mechanism to represent full members’ wishes.

Activities

The small list began by electing officers and working to agree upon what was being represented. The first version of the belief statement was agreed upon in 1997. We soon incorporated as a charity, the World Pantheist Movement, in the US state of Colorado (where our first lawyer resided).

The World Pantheist Movement

The World Pantheist Movement began accepting members on the 1999 spring equinox. The Ezboard forum was created in October, and the first issue of PAN magazine was published in November.

The Southern California group was the first officially recognized, with its own constitution.

The Board of Directors

As the WPM is led entirely by volunteers, its composition has varied.

Our directors page has more detailed information about the board’s current members.

For more information, please contact.