Druidry is officially a religion in the UK

[Zygote]

There's a new/old religion in the UK.

"After a four-year inquiry, the Charity Commission decided that druidry offered coherent practices for the worship of a supreme being, and provided a beneficial moral framework."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11457795

[Jet Black]

Islam is the light.

[DanB]

Government sanctioned craziness.

[Rie]

People who opt for Druid type stuff seem often to be fashionably eccentric.

[David B]

I view this development as positive, on balance.

If druidry can qualify, then so can Pastafarianism, AFAICS.

It sort of diminishes the other religions if Druidry qualifies, I think - and if so, I see that as a good thing.

David

[rog]

For pastafiriansim you'd need some sort of recognition first (http://www.secularcafe.org/showthread.php?p=163838 :) )

According to the article there are 350 people who paid £10 in to the organisation, but 10,000 who identify themselves as druids.

I think it would be a great wheeze to try!

[Jobar]

I seem to recall that there were enough people in Britain who claimed they worshiped/practiced the Force from Star Wars that it qualifies as an official religion, too!

[rog]

I seem to recall that there were enough people in Britain who claimed they worshiped/practiced the Force from Star Wars that it qualifies as an official religion, too!

That was where I was getting the idea from, but these chaps have been recognized by the charity commission, meaning they get tax benefits, should they ever get the donations. For me It's be one in the eye for organized religion if it got anywhere.

IIRC it would also mean they wouldn't have to pay council tax if they had a commune or the like.

[Roo St. Gallus]

That's sort of like adding a new mental illness to the DSM-V, right?

[rog]

Going slightly off topic, have you chaps ever heard of a SACRE? It's the committee that determines the contents of RE lessons for a local area - here are my local guidelines http://www.birmingham-asc.org.uk/documents/Birmingham_Agreed_Syllabus_for_Religious_Education _2007.pdf it makes for an interesting read. The BHA have been trying to get members appointed to these committees but are meeting a lot of resistance.

If pastafarianism were ever to make it onto the list, it would be because it contains within it ideas that are compatible with what the government seems to require of a religion, past the theological, for it to be acceptable - it must have certain underling principles or dispositions* that chime with those the state wishes to impart to the young.

I don't think, say, satanism could ever make it, not that I support them as such, but It'd be another one for messing with the status quo if they tried.


* For the purposes of this syllabus the dispositions have been
agreed to be:

Being Imaginative and explorative
Appreciating Beauty
Expressing Joy
Being Thankful
Caring for Others, Animals and the Environment
Sharing and Being Generous
Being Regardful of Suffering
Being Merciful and Forgiving
Being Fair and Just
Living by Rules
Being Accountable and Living with Integrity.
Being Temperate, Exercising Self-Discipline and Cultivating
Serene Contentment
Being Modest and Listening to Others
Cultivating Inclusion, Identity and Belonging
Creating Unity and Harmony
Participating and Willing to Lead
Remembering roots
Being Loyal and Steadfast
Being Hopeful and Visionary
Being Courageous and Confident
Being Curious and Valuing Knowledge
Being Open, Honest and Truthful
Being Reflective and Self-Critical
Being Silent and Attentive to, and Cultivating a Sense for,
the Sacred and Transcendence

ETA: Tommorrow I think I'll start a thread requesting alternate suggestions for dispositions with which to indoctrinate the young...

[Ray Moscow]

As a former pagan, I know lots of "druids" here. It's funny that the government thinks it can decide what's a "real" religion vs. what isn't.

On the other hand, it's not so funny.

[DMB]

Unfortunately, "the advancement of religion" is seen as a public good. The Charities Act 2006 gives the following as "charitable purposes" and recognition of having such purposes can give an organisation tax advantages:


The prevention or relief of poverty
The advancement of education
The advancement of religion
The advancement of health or the saving of lives
The advancement of citizenship or community development
The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
The advancement of amateur sport
The advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
The advancement of environmental protection or improvement
The relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
The advancement of animal welfare
The promotion of the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown, or of the efficiency of the police, fire and rescue services or ambulance services
Any other purposes currently recognised as charitable and any new charitable purposes which are similar to another charitable purpose


At least it's more comprehensive than it used to be.

[Rie]

I call on The Force to be with me. I'm not being sarky here. It seems right for one who used to keep her hands in the trad Christian position to summon this mystic amorphous power that accounts for us being here. and for any aliens who currently live on another planet that would not support our requirements for viable life.

[diana]

As a former pagan, I know lots of "druids" here. It's funny that the government thinks it can decide what's a "real" religion vs. what isn't.

On the other hand, it's not so funny.^^this

B'cause...wtf?!

d

[diana]

It seems right for one who used to keep her hands in the trad Christian position to summon this mystic amorphous power that accounts for us being here. I can't help myself here...

What is the traditional Christian position?

d

[diana]

Going slightly off topic, have you chaps ever heard of a SACRE? It's the committee that determines the contents of RE lessons for a local area - here are my local guidelines http://www.birmingham-asc.org.uk/documents/Birmingham_Agreed_Syllabus_for_Religious_Education _2007.pdf it makes for an interesting read. The BHA have been trying to get members appointed to these committees but are meeting a lot of resistance.

If pastafarianism were ever to make it onto the list, it would be because it contains within it ideas that are compatible with what the government seems to require of a religion, past the theological, for it to be acceptable - it must have certain underling principles or dispositions* that chime with those the state wishes to impart to the young.

I don't think, say, satanism could ever make it, not that I support them as such, but It'd be another one for messing with the status quo if they tried.


* For the purposes of this syllabus the dispositions have been
agreed to be:

Being Imaginative and explorative
Appreciating Beauty
Expressing Joy
Being Thankful
Caring for Others, Animals and the Environment
Sharing and Being Generous
Being Regardful of Suffering
Being Merciful and Forgiving
Being Fair and Just
Living by Rules
Being Accountable and Living with Integrity.
Being Temperate, Exercising Self-Discipline and Cultivating
Serene Contentment
Being Modest and Listening to Others
Cultivating Inclusion, Identity and Belonging
Creating Unity and Harmony
Participating and Willing to Lead
Remembering roots
Being Loyal and Steadfast
Being Hopeful and Visionary
Being Courageous and Confident
Being Curious and Valuing Knowledge
Being Open, Honest and Truthful
Being Reflective and Self-Critical
Being Silent and Attentive to, and Cultivating a Sense for,
the Sacred and Transcendence

ETA: Tommorrow I think I'll start a thread requesting alternate suggestions for dispositions with which to indoctrinate the young...I may be an pastafarian, considering.....

Only...what does this disposition require? "Remembering roots."

d

[Roo St. Gallus]

It seems right for one who used to keep her hands in the trad Christian position to summon this mystic amorphous power that accounts for us being here. I can't help myself here...

What is the traditional Christian position?

d

Which tradition?

[Roo St. Gallus]

I may be an pastafarian, considering.....

Only...what does this disposition require? "Remembering roots."

d

Yeah...and considering, a tricky one.

What is really being 'remembered'?

Meatball!

[DMB]

But if Scientology can be recognised as a religion, there are no boundaries for the concept of "religion" unless the underlying requirement is to believe in daft stuff.

[rog]

I may be an pastafarian, considering.....

Only...what does this disposition require? "Remembering roots."

d

Celebrating "Hominid Ancestry Day"? *

* eta that's not a thing yet, but it could be...

[David B]

As a former pagan, I know lots of "druids" here. It's funny that the government thinks it can decide what's a "real" religion vs. what isn't.

On the other hand, it's not so funny.^^this

B'cause...wtf?!

d

While religions continue to have tax breaks I suppose some arm of law or government has to decide if something qualifies or not. Scientology, for instance, is recognised as a religion in the USA for tax breaks.

In Britain is is not so regarded, though it has charitable status for at least some of its activities, also qualifying for tax breaks.

David

[Clivedurdle]

I put myself down as a Jedi warrior, as did 390,126 others in England and Wales.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/rank/jedi.asp

[Clivedurdle]

The lists above do not mention the requirement of pastafarians - pirates!

He who would valiant be...


...to be a pirate!

Eternal Pasta, Strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to thee,
for those in peril on the sea.

[Clivedurdle]

Remembering roots.

Carrots.

[Clivedurdle]

Which reminds me that I have been in Sheffield Brightside parish church, who for some strange reason do not have as their hymn:

"Always look on the bright side of life."

[Eudaimonist]

This development seems fine to me.

Not that it is a big deal to us if druidism is recognized as a religion or not, but I can sympathize with them for failing to be recognized for who they are. For them, it is a big deal.


eudaimonia,

Mark

[Clivedurdle]

But will they reintroduce the twenty year training with everything learned by heart and the reading the entrails of recently deceased victims?

And what about reburials?

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:CiNljFsrmEgJ:www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/imported-docs/a-e/appendix1cobdorequest.pdf+english+heritage+druid+b ody&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg4lnoBCD0FFKfztckvb3bxcnqXUwLa2HL5-c6bEV-foX3uxRDdMTnkp5OWiMnW0XV7kNr1F52u5w8_9JvDTaicXo0Mt t_Ej5wrGJ7bXf-QVTeNfQnA-JO8Vzj3N2RoQuSg-e5d&sig=AHIEtbQw7-njvRj8XuirRKvTZlQiEJHFYQ

[Clivedurdle]

Everyday when I wake up, I thank the Lord I'm Welsh.

Is it not by definition that to be a Druid you must be Welsh? Heretics!

[rog]

From earlier in the year

A student has been suspended from school in America for coming to class dressed as a pirate.

But the disciplinary action has provoked controversy – because the student says that the ban violates his rights, as the pirate costume is part of his religion.

Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear 'full pirate regalia' as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism.

The school, however, say that his pirate garb was disruptive.

Pastafarians follow the Flying Spaghetti Monster (pictured), and believe that the world was created by the touch of his noodly appendage. Furthermore, they acknowledge pirates as being 'absolute divine beings', and stress that the worldwide decline in the number of pirates has directly led to global warming.

Pastafarianism gained wide attention when its key prophet, Bobby Henderson, wrote to the Kansas School Board during the height of the controversy over 'Intelligent Design' being taught in science classes. His letter, also published on his website, demanded equal time be given to the teachings of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as was given to ID and evolutionary theory.

Since then, the Flying Spaghetti Monster has gained countless followers worldwide, although there are those who remain spagnostic.

The school, in North Buncombe, North Carolina, remains adamant that their decision to suspend Killian for a day has nothing to do with his religion, and quite a lot to do with his repeated refusal to heed warnings against wearing pirate outfits.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/43272-student-punished-for-spaghetti-beliefs

ETA: Secret Pastafarian Video Exposed

41k-IJxPENc


As a Pastafarian you know when you drive by an accident.... You know you're gonna be blamed for it....
You know you nave to do something... you know those people in the cars, they're not gonna rape themselves...
They're not gonna rape themselves...

[HinduWoman]

since religion is believing in something supernatural, all one should need is a theology of the supernatural and enough people.