Editing Modern paganism (section)

===Nature veneration===
{{anchor|Nature worship}}
{{Main|Earth religion}}
All pagan movements place great emphasis on the [[earth religion|divinity of nature]] as a primary source of [[divine will]], and on humanity's membership of the natural world, bound in kinship to all life and the [[Planet Earth|Earth]] itself. The animistic aspects of pagan theology assert that all things have a soul – not just humans or [[organic life]] – so this bond is held with mountains and rivers as well as trees and wild animals. As a result, pagans believe the essence of their spirituality is both ancient and timeless, regardless of the age of specific religious movements. Places of natural beauty are therefore treated as sacred and ideal for ritual, like the [[nemeton]]s of the ancient Celts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/animism|title=Animism|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica|access-date=18 December 2019|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221030921/https://www.britannica.com/topic/animism|url-status=live}}</ref>

Many pagans hold that different lands and/or cultures have their own natural religion, with many legitimate interpretations of divinity, and therefore reject [[religious exclusivism]].

While the pagan community has tremendous variety in [[politics|political views]] spanning the whole of the [[political spectrum]], environmentalism is often a common feature.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/22/paganism-stonehenge-environmentalism-witchcraft|title=Everyone's A Pagan Now|last=Moreton|first=Cole|date=22 June 2009|website=The Guardian|access-date=18 December 2019|archive-date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218185318/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/22/paganism-stonehenge-environmentalism-witchcraft|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Horned God and Mother Goddess (Doreen Valiente's Altar).jpg|thumb|A [[Wiccan]] altar belonging to [[Doreen Valiente]], displaying the Wiccan view of sexual duality in divinity]]
Such views have also led many pagans to revere the planet Earth as [[Mother goddess|Mother Earth]], who is often referred to as [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] after the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth.{{Sfn|Carpenter|1996|p=55}}