Druidry

Lisa Anne · October 2, 2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101002/lf_afp/britainreligionlawdruidsoffbeat

"Britain has recognised druidry as an official religion for the first time, thousands of years after the Celtic pagan faith emerged in Europe, the country's charity commission said Saturday.

The Druid Network, an organisation representing the religion in Britain, was granted charitable status in a decision that not only gives it tax breaks but also lets the religion take its place alongside more mainstream beliefs.

"This has been a long hard struggle, taking over five years to complete," the Druid Network said in a statement after its application to be registered as a charity had been accepted by the Charity Commission.

In its ruling on the group's application, the commission said it accepted that druidry was an "ancient pagan religion" in its own right involving the worship of nature, particularly the sun and the earth.

Druid rituals involve "commonality of practice" across the faith including solar and fire festivals, ceremonies at various phases of the moon, seasonal festivals and rites of passage in life.

There had also been some official recognition already, it added, including a provision by Britain's Prison Service for the practice of druidry and the attendance of a pagan chaplain at services.

"The board members concluded that The Druid Network is established for exclusively charitable purposes for the advancement of religion for the public benefit," the Charity Commission said.

Druidry emerged in ancient Ireland and Britain and spread further afield during the Iron Age, especially into France, but became largely supplanted as Christianity took hold across Europe.

It has gained recent popularity because of its pantheistic nature and concern with ecology."

Nothing but pure witchcraft and here's another step towards the general society accepting evil. Just because it is "historic." I especially love how "This has been a long hard struggle, taking over five years to complete."

Edited October 2, 2010 by Lisa Anne

John81 · October 3, 2010

Similar is taking place in other nations. There is has been a push for acceptance of the ancient Greek pagan religion in Greece, for example.

In America the pagan American Indian religions are recognized even to the point of allowing some to use small amounts of illegal drugs in their religious ceremonies. Even some American Indians in certain prisons are allowed to have a sweat lodge and a tiny amount of peyote once a year.

Invicta · October 4, 2010

Similar is taking place in other nations. There is has been a push for acceptance of the ancient Greek pagan religion in Greece, for example.

In America the pagan American Indian religions are recognized even to the point of allowing some to use small amounts of illegal drugs in their religious ceremonies. Even some American Indians in certain prisons are allowed to have a sweat lodge and a tiny amount of peyote once a year.

In Britain the recognition is to give charity status, as it does to all religions. Many pagan religions have charity status, including muslim, catholic, hindu, sikh, etc. As a church, we have charity status which allows us to claim tax back on offerings made under the gift aid scheme, which means that if a taxpayer fills in a form saying that they wish their gifts/offerings to come under gift aid we can claim back the tax paid on it. It also means we don't have to pay local tax on our buildings which would otherwise be taxed at the business rate. The govt. say we should not pay for our waste/garbage collection but our local govt. considers us "Not entirely a place of worship" as we have a Sunday School and a Mothers and Toddlers group, so we are charged for that. We also get charged a lower rate, 5% instead of 17.5% (soon to be 20%)tax (VAT)on our gas and electricity bills as well as not having to pay the rip off tax known as the "climate change levy". This applies to all "places of worship" which only have to register if their income is over a certain amount.

So the recognition of the druids is just recognising them as a religion.

The local govt can then appropriate our building for elections, but they never have, and can place their notices on our premises, which they never have.

DennisD · October 4, 2010

I think within the last 10 years, the US military has recognized the wiccan religion insomuch as giving veterans the benefit of a wiccan headstone if buried in a veteran's cemetery. I vaguely remember something like this, didn't look it up before I posted though.

John81 · October 4, 2010

I think within the last 10 years, the US military has recognized the wiccan religion insomuch as giving veterans the benefit of a wiccan headstone if buried in a veteran's cemetery. I vaguely remember something like this, didn't look it up before I posted though.

I've been thinking about this too. I know they were pushing for such and I think they eventually gave in and said those who were pagans could request a pagan headstone.