Druidry to be classed as religion by Charity Commission

Druidry is to become the first pagan practice to be given official recognition as a religion.

The Charity Commission has accepted that druids' worship of spirits arising from the natural world could be seen as a religious activity.

The decision to grant the Druid Network charitable status will also give druidry valuable tax breaks.

The commission says the network's work in promoting druidry as a religion is in the public interest.

The move comes thousands of years after the first druids worshipped in Britain.

Druidry was one the first known spiritual practices in Britain, and druids existed in Celtic societies elsewhere in Europe as well.

Turning seasons

BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott says that with concern for the environment growing and the influence of mainstream faiths waning, druidry is flourishing more now than at any time since the arrival of Christianity.

Druidry's followers are not restricted to one god or creator, but worship the spirit they believe inhabits the earth and forces of nature such as thunder.

Druids also worship the spirits of places, such as mountains and rivers, with rituals focused particularly on the turning of the seasons.

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.

A statement on the network's website welcomed the decison and said: "This has been a long hard struggle taking over five years to complete."

The decision will also mean that druidry will have the status of a genuine faith.

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