An atheist who reads evolution as an epic narrative of spiritual significance may be engaging in dark green religion, as would a pantheist who is humbled by the structure of the cosmos.
Dark green religion often finds common ground with religious traditions such as paganism and shamanism, as well as philosophical belief systems such as deep ecology, Aldo Leopold's theory of land ethic, and James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis.
Taylor's conviction that "religion" is a paradigm that can be understood to include entirely naturalistic worldviews puts him at odds with many of the new atheist thinkers such as Christopher Hitchens and especially Richard Dawkins, whom he discusses directly in his book.
He has observed that, as concerns over the state of the environment intensify, global summits aimed at addressing the ecological crisis have assumed a decidedly spiritual tenor.
[5] He argues that current trends in earthen spirituality might even presage the emergence of a “civil earth religion” that promotes loyalty to the biosphere rather than to nation states.
While the environmentalist efficacy of the stewardship model, which some think is mandated by Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike, remains a hotly disputed issue,[8] many dark green thinkers believe that efforts to preserve the ecosystem will not succeed unless underlying spiritual attitudes are shifted towards a more biocentric perspective.