Pantheism (from the Greek words pan and theos, literally “all-God”) is the view that there is a God, and God is everything. For the Pantheist, God isn’t beyond the universe or greater than the universe. Rather, God is the universe. In other words, the universe is literally divine. One attractive implication of this worldview is that you and I are God—or at least part of God! (You can imagine what a boost in self-esteem this can provide.)
Pantheism is far more common in Eastern cultures than in Western cultures. For example, certain forms of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism are explicitly Pantheist. However, Pantheism has made significant inroads to the West in recent years through the New Age movement and the modern revival of paganism.
Despite its prominence in some cultures, Pantheism faces serious problems as a worldview, at least for those who believe in the reality of good and evil. (Recall that you answered yes to the Goodness Question.) I noted earlier that one of the advantages of Theist worldviews is that they can account for a real objective distinction between good and evil. God is the source and standard of all goodness. Goodness is ultimately godliness. But this raises quite a problem for a Pantheist. If everything is God, then it seems to follow that everything is good. If God is pure goodness—as surely God ought to be—then every part of God must be good. I’m good; you’re good; we’re all good. Adolf Hitler was good. The Holocaust was good. Child abuse is good. Cancer is good. It’s all good, because it’s all God.
Pantheism is often associated with Monism. Monism is the view that everything is ultimately one; all distinctions are ultimately illusory. For those who think that God must be a pure unity, Pantheism leads directly to Monism: if all is God and God is one, then all is one. While many Pantheists are happy to take this step, Monism makes it even harder to accept the reality of evil, because a consistent Monist has to reject as illusory any ultimate distinction between good and evil. But even for Pantheists who don’t accept Monism, there seems to be no logical place for genuine evil in their worldview. Pantheism may seem attractive on the surface—who wouldn’t want to be part of God?—but onreflection it has very implausible and unpalatable implications. For the Pantheist, the problem of evil becomes the problem of the denial of evil.
If you hold to a Pantheist worldview, are you willing to say that ultimately everything is good and nothing is evil? Perhaps you are. But can you walk the talk as well? Can you live consistently with that consequence of your worldview?
(from James Anderson's "What is your Worldview)