What the Observance of the Sun is.
The shortest possible answer: it is a California religious nonprofit, founded January 2026, whose only practice is to watch the sunrise or sunset in silence for twenty minutes. The longer answer is the rest of this page.
The legal basics
The Observance of the Sun is incorporated as a religious nonprofit in California (CA Entity Number B20260038755) and operates with federal Employer Identification Number 41-3900081. Our church status is established under IRC §508(c)(1)(A), which automatically classifies recognized churches as tax-exempt under §501(c)(3). A Form 1023 application for an explicit IRS determination letter is in the pipeline. In plain English: we are a real religion, with real paperwork, and your donations are tax-deductible. The faster version of all of this is on the legal status page.
- Founded
- January 2026, Encinitas, California
- Legal form
- California religious nonprofit · IRC §508(c)(1)(A) automatic church · §501(c)(3) tax-exempt
- EIN
- 41-3900081
- CA Entity
- B20260038755
- Founder
- Bobby Morong
- Where
- San Diego coast — Encinitas, Cardiff, Del Mar
The practice
The Observance has one practice. Show up twenty minutes before sunrise or sunset. Put your phone away — not on silent, away. Watch the sun cross the horizon. Stay twenty minutes after. Come back the next day. That is the whole religion. There is no creed to memorize, no service to attend, no tithe to pay. The full step-by-step is on the practice page.
What we believe
We believe that paying close attention to the natural world is a form of devotion. We believe that restraint — of attention, of consumption, of speech — is sacred. We believe that the Sun rises and sets without our help or our permission, and that choosing to notice is the only act required of a practitioner. We do not believe the Sun is a deity. We believe the Sun is the Sun, and that this is enough.
What we are not
We are not a cult. We are not a wellness brand. We are not a meditation app, and we do not compete with one — the practice is free and will always be free. We are not a sun-worship religion in the historical sense, and our doctrine does not borrow from Indigenous solar traditions, Catholic mission feast-day geometry, or Sabbatarian Christianity. We are not the First Church of Cannabis — though cannabis is recognized as an optional sacrament for adult practitioners, it is governed by the same principle as everything else here: restraint.
Why this exists
The Observance was founded by Bobby Morong in January 2026 after several years of watching what happened to his attention, his mood, and his sleep when he chose to put his phone down and look at the sky for twenty minutes a day. He did not invent this. He noticed that there was no organization in modern life dedicated to making it free, easy, and dignified to do — and that the absence felt like a problem worth solving. The Observance is the answer to that problem: an institution whose only product is the permission to stop, look up, and breathe.
Where this is going
We are building a small network of free, open-air gathering places on the San Diego coast — borrowed yards, rooftops, terraces, and bluffs where small groups can sit together in silence at sunrise or sunset. We are not buying property. We are not building churches. We are practicing the discipline of borrowed quiet, and asking people with coastal access to lend it for an hour. If that's you, the gatherings page is the place to start.
How the institution is governed
The Observance is designed to stay legible. Doctrine is public. The founder is named. The legal identifiers are public. The practice is free. We want the institution to be easy to evaluate and hard to mythologize. If you want the structural version of that argument, read Governance. If you want the human version, read Founder. If you are writing about us, start with Press.
How you can help
The practice is free and we have no salaries to pay. Your support keeps the lights on, funds awareness, helps us reach the next burned-out person who needs twenty minutes of sky. If you have twenty minutes tonight, give us your attention. If you have twenty dollars this month, give us that too. Support the Observance →