Church of All Worlds

http://www.caw.org

Hey, wait a second – you mean it's another religion based upon the writings of a science fiction writer?!? Yep, you betcha…except that this particular one is based on a good book, not pulp fiction.

The Church of All Worlds was the brainchild of Tim Zell, a true child of the 1960s who decided to found a religion based upon Robert Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land. Zell's philosophy was integrated into paganism when he wrote the Gaia Thesis, which placed an emphasis on "non-possessive love and joyous expression of sexuality as divine union" (in other words, good old fashioned free love).

However, the fortunes of the Church of All Worlds have waxed and waned with the rise and fall of the magazine Green Egg, which had two incarnations. The first series, which lasted through the 1970s, popularized the Church of All Worlds and caused CAW "nests" to spring up all over the place. But when Zell retired to Oregon, the magazine folded and many of these "nests" folded up and blew away. Green Egg was re-launched in 1988 with new publishers, and this second incarnation was highly praised and widely read and referenced within paganism. The magazine still lost money, however, and it folded for good in 2001. Fortunately, by this time the Internet had gone mainstream, and along with many other cults and faiths, the Church of All Worlds moved online.

The Church supports itself through membership dues and membership packets (gee, the Church of the SubGenius does the same thing!), though apparently anyone can declare themselves a member if they want to be one.