Druidry recognised as religion in Britain for first time

[underpants]

Source: Telegraph

Druidry has been recognised as an official religion in Britain for the first time, thousands of years after its adherents first worshipped in the country.

The Druid Network has been given charitable status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the quango that decides what counts as a genuine faith as well as regulating fundraising bodies.

It guarantees the modern group, set up in 2003, valuable tax breaks but also grants the ancient religion equal status to more mainstream denominations. This could mean that Druids, the priestly caste in Celtic societies across Europe, are categorised separately in official surveys of religious believers.


The document even addresses the claims made by the Romans about Druids committing human sacrifice, but finds “no evidence of any significant detriment or harm” arising from modern beliefs.

It notes that although there are only 350 members of the Druid Network, a BBC report in 2003 claimed as many as 10,000 people followed the ancient faith across the country.


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8036952/Druidry-recognised-as-religion-in-Britain-for-first-time.html

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The Brits added "Jedi" as a religion on their census a few years ago- so many people were writing it in that their laws required that it be added.

I think all of this is great-in case anyone thought this was posted to make fun of the Druids.

[msongs]

1. one current dominant religion has sacrificed 100's of millions in its name, if not billions, so

that's hardly a drag against druids. and the current dominant religion has made those sacrfices despite higher knowledge and awareness of science that druids could not even imagine. Of course, druid history has been completely rewritten by the current dominant religion so "druid history" is probably mostly BS

[No Elephants]

6. Most, if not all history seems to have been written or re-written to favor one agenda or another.

[LeftishBrit]

2. I always associate Druids with Getafix and his Magic Potion in the 'Asterix the Gaul' books

But I think it's great to recognize them after all these years. And they've done less harm than many other religions!

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Funny...you don't LOOK Druish!

Sorry...can't help myself sometimes.

Seriously, Druidism has as much right to consideration as a legitimate religion as a some theology centered around a certain bronze-age sky deity. Besides, there's something approaching 'proof' of the Druidic belief in reincarnation, considering all the documented cases of people recalling past-life experiences. Other than 2,000-5,000-year-old parchments telling tales of loaves into fishes & instructions from a burning bush, where's the 'proof' for any of those events? Jehovah remains reticent on the subject over the past couple millennia.

[No Elephants]

16. LOL! (@ your subject line) nt

[No Elephants]

4. Wouldn't this be, at a minimum, the second time? Unless, of course, your definition of

"official recognition" is unduly (IMO) restricted the the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

[Turborama]

23. The Telegraph headline seriously sucks but underpants can't really do anything to alter it

Clarification can be added in parenthesis but I'm not sure how that could be done with this one.

[Yavapai]

5. It is about time!!!

But only seventh day fundamentalist Druids should be allowed!!!

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dipsydoodle]

8. My grandfather was a Druid

:thumbsup:

On the Jedi front , and yes I was one of them , our government was forced to recognise Jedi as a religion but did not see fit to provide public funding.

Actual census outcome here :

In England and Wales 390,127 people (almost 0.8%) stated their religion as Jedi on their 2001 Census forms, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism, and Buddhism, and making it the fourth largest reported religion in the countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon

Next time round it will probably be something like a religion known as "Those who don't like people with ginger hair" :rofl:

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. But really, that wasn't "the government recognising Jedi as a religion"

All it did was report the number of people who put down 'Jedi'. Nothing more than that.

And I don't think many people will be bothered to write something as long as "Those who don't like people with ginger hair". 'Jedi' having only 4 letters was a big advantage. My guess is that 'FSM' will get some answers next year.

[dipsydoodle]

17. If so that'll go down as

Pastafarian.

[Downwinder]

9. It seems strange to hear of Romans complaining about human sacrifice.

I guess that is only if it is not sport.

[Diclotican]

10. underpants

underpants

Wel, at leat the Druids is "native" to england then.... Even tho England in the sense of the old Druids do not exist for a long time, it was the anglo-saxons, who in the end setled that name thing...

I also hope the new breed of Druids is somewhat less violent, and bloodtirsty than the orginal ones.. One of the reasons, the Druids was seen as not good to have in the Roman Empire, was the habit of killing of peopole in sacrifies to the goods... And it often should be the healty, young ones that is... Not just old fragile persons.. Only the best was enough.. The Druids was not so harmfull as we know them from Astrix and the Gauls, and other type of writing, where the druids is more or less shown as vice, old men with a lot of knowlegde about the world.. Many was that too, but often they also had the ability to use the knowlegde to scare the hell out of everyone... Even the mighty Romans was scared about them, and it was one of the reasons, Cæsar was after them, when he was in Gaul, to fight them..

But, the druids was in ancient time all over Gaul, in Germania and in whats is today England/Irland/Wales/Scotland. Even under Roman rule they was there.. And it was not untill christianity got the best of all of them, before the druids sieze to exist

Diclotican

[dipsydoodle]

18. I sometimes need to remind myself

where you are. It's people : peopole.

That is not a critisism....just being helpful.

:hi:

[Diclotican]

19. dipsydoodle

dipsydoodle

No problem, I know my english is less than stellar, and is it allways good to have some who want to help me be better in the english langauage.. English is no easy language when your are not born into it..


:toast:

Diclotican

[htuttle]

11. In ancient times...

Hundreds of years before the dawn of history
Lived a strange race of people... the Druids

No one knows who they were or what they were doing
But their legacy remains
Hewn into the living rock... Of Stonehenge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7wcyLrPqC4

[Igel]

25. Possibly of Stonehenge.

The problem being that Stonehenge is as far removed from the first mention of the Druids as the Druids are from us.

In between Stonehenge and Druids there arrived numerous groups; since Druids bear what appears to be an Indo-European name and are associated with Celts, it's worth mentioning that when Stonehenge was built there were no Celts or known Indo-European speakers in the area. The megalithic groups weren't Indo-European.

Then there's the modern religion called Druidism, which is based on some hints about their beliefs from people hostile to their beliefs and some archeologists' surmisings. What we actually have reported about them would fill a page; what in that page is trustworthy might be a few sentences' worth. The rest is what some people 100-150 years ago thought was cool.

[boppers]

26. I take it you haven't seen the movie. eom

[AzNick]

12. Been so in France for ages...

[xchrom]

13. the head line should read 'again'. nt

[Prophet 451]

14. Good for the Druids n/t

[BlueIris]

20. Awesome. My mom is a Druid.

Wonder if she wants to immigrate.

[cilla4progress]

21. 'Bout time...

again!

[johnaries]

22. I used to date a Druid. I envied her for some of her training.

Of course, she lied to me about some other things - such as having sex with another guy that I considered a friend before he moved in on my gf. But that's another matter.

She believes that Druids were never "extinguished", but went into hiding, and continued the most important teachings in secret. So she believes that the modern Druids are not a "new" movement, but the extension of the old Druid teachings thtat is finally being allowed to see the light of day.

I have always been drawn to Earth-based religions, trying to observe Nature and understanding it. Her training was to be totally immersed in Nature. Whereas I sought to understand the ways of a creek as a manifestation of that which we call God, she was taught to BECOME the creek.

Yes, Druids have a bad rep. Conquerors have the advantage of rewriting history to their advantage. Many people believe that the athame of Pagan tradition represents Human Sacrifice. But it simply represents the "harvest". Just as the sickle represents the harvest of grain, the athame represents the harvest of animal feedstock that would not have survived the winter, anyway.

Frankly, I have found Druids to be much more tolerant, understanding, and flexible than Christians.

[Turborama]

24. Druids can be seen having ceremonies at Stonehenge every winter and summer solstice

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Druids+Celebrate+Winter+Solstice+Stonehenge+_U01Wts24JLl.jpg

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Druids+Celebrate+Winter+Solstice+Stonehenge+TSyIaSZFWJal.jpg

More pictures: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/JNL8esnDgQz/Druids+Celebrate+Winter+Solstice+Stonehenge/_U01Wts24JL

ETA just found some pictures of Druids gathering on Primrose Hill, London to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox...

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Druids+gather+Primrose+Hill+Celebrate+Autumnal+L3FSWzeMLXnl.jpg

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Druids+gather+Primrose+Hill+Celebrate+Autumnal+ORIFaUNUAvMl.jpg

More: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/0wUD3lbmIyr/Druids+gather+Primrose+Hill+Celebrate+Autumnal/L3FSWzeMLXn

[LostHighway]

27. I'm glad, but it's not really authentic

Always glad that a group of people have their beliefs recognized, but the consensus, which people calling themselves druids today are mostly aware of, is that what's called Druidry now is a system of belief started by 19th century revivalists who were really into Celtic history in Britain. While they may have meant well, the correspondence of what they came up with what may have actually have been believed is somewhat tenuous.

[BreweryYardRat]

28. Does it still take 20 or 30 years to qualify for full status as a Druid?

The length of time it took to train new Druids is one of the major reasons the faith collapsed in the first place.