Druids recognized as religion for first time in UK

[VirusCoreHacker]

Druids recognized as religion for first time in UK - World news - Europe - msnbc.com

LONDON — Druidry has been officially recognized as a religion in Britain under charity law.

The Charity Commission has granted the Druid Network charitable status, giving it tax breaks and equal status to mainstream religions like Christianity.

The commission said Saturday that druidry has a coherent and serious set of beliefs and that it offers a beneficial ethical framework. It also says that the Druid Network's work in promoting druidry as a religion is in the public interest.

Druidry is an ancient pagan tradition that dates back thousands of years in Britain. Druids worship deities characterized as natural forces, such as thunder and sun, and spirits they believe arise from places such as mountains and rivers.

So, the only reason I didn't post this in Religion is so avid World of Warcraft players can rejoice, though it's only in the UK.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Cyborg009]

i gotta say wow! never thought that would happen in this day and age. but it did.

 

[Silverslide]

I didn't know that was a religion. I thought it was just a class in fire emblem....

Good for them?

 

[Zulkir]

Wow, they actually beat Warlocks, considering how long the occult has been around that's quite a surprise.

 

[Artorius Rex]

Druids had been around for thousands of years. No surprise.

 

[MomentoMori]

Wow, they actually beat Warlocks, considering how long the occult has been around that's quite a surprise.

Isn't Warlock an offensive term for a male witch?


And why has it taken this long for Driudry to be recognized? It predates Christianity by centuries.

 

[Ulti]

Isn't Warlock an offensive term for a male witch?

more like AWESOME name

I can tell you that you can blame the witch hunters for this. Pretty sure druids weren't seen as kindly as they should have been.

 

[MomentoMori]

more like AWESOME name

I can tell you that you can blame the witch hunters for this. Pretty sure druids weren't seen as kindly as they should have been.

Wicca FAQs: Answers to Common Questions about Wicca * Wicca-Spirituality.com

"Wiccan" and "Witch" are both gender-neutral terms. They are the same whether you are female, male, or anything else.
Fantasy books and movies are the source of this confusion, using terms like Warlock. This is not a word that actual Wiccans or Witches use.

Male wiccan? - Wicca Online Community For Pagans and Wiccans

Although some modern practitioners of witchcraft identify themselves as 'warlocks', many avoid this term and/or find it offensive. Wiccans in particular consider it to be a pejorative term, meaning "oath-breaker".[7] Wiccans use the term "warlock" to mean one who has been banished from a coven, either for revealing secrets, or for breaking coven laws.[8] However, in many forms of Traditional Satanism, with its strong association to histrionics and counter-cultural "shock value,"[9] the term "warlock" is embraced and employed as the primary title for a male member of the coven.

Just in case someone might be confused.

 

[tangerine]

And why has it taken this long for Driudry to be recognized? It predates Christianity by centuries.

Popularity and propaganda.

 

[Urbane]

Honestly, I'm impressed. Way to go, druids.

more like AWESOME name

I can tell you that you can blame the witch hunters for this. Pretty sure druids weren't seen as kindly as they should have been.

Forget witch hunters. Just blame the fucking hunters. Everything's their fault anyways. Damn hunters.

 

[Chrono Mizaki]

...I just found out that recently and frankly, it annoys me.

A religion that pretty much not a lot of people care about gets a fucking tax break, yet a multi-billion dollar game industry in which it can bring in revenue for the Government gets nothing? Fucking hell, I want the Game Industry to be a religion now. It's the only way the industry is going to survive and become a competitive market against Canada and France.

 

[Dogenzaka]

Isn't Warlock an offensive term for a male witch?


And why has it taken this long for Driudry to be recognized? It predates Christianity by centuries.

Does it really? Because you know that Christianity is basically Judaism: The Sequel, right? xD

Anyway, this is funny. I had no idea what druids were. The more you know!

 

[Orion]

I wonder if this is another sign of the UK getting soft on religion. They've recently been bending over backwards for Muslims.

 

[Solar]

lol and yet whenever I visit it seems otherwise

'cept in Kardiff

But my experiences in London, Liverpool and Manchester weren't the greatest.

And there was this really small town, forget what it was called but it proved to me rednecks are a universal lot.

 

[burnley95]

I didn't know that was a religion. I thought it was just a class in fire emblem....

Good for them?

Lol I thought the same thing about FE.

 

[Zarin I Yehudahi]

Does it really? Because you know that Christianity is basically Judaism: The Sequel, right? xD

Anyway, this is funny. I had no idea what druids were. The more you know!

And what's Islam? The fan-fiction that's almost as popular as the sequel? petemoodshift

 

[Dentim]

Does it really? Because you know that Christianity is basically Judaism: The Sequel, right? xD

Anyway, this is funny. I had no idea what druids were. The more you know!

That still doesn't make christianity older than druidism.

The earliest references (roman sources) are from 200 BC. Though no one really knows exactly when they came to be. They were mostly philosophers who were probably a decendant of the older nature based worships.

Also, shouldn't this technically go to the Religion section?

 

[Dogenzaka]

That still doesn't make christianity older than druidism.

The earliest references (roman sources) are from 200 BC. Though no one really knows exactly when they came to be. They were mostly philosophers who were probably a decendant of the older nature based worships.

Depends on how you look at it. The New Testament, which details God's new covenant with the earth by sending Jesus Christ, is definitely not older than druidism. But, Christianity as a whole, which believes and follows the Bible as a whole, you might say predates druidism if you look at the age of the oldest books in the Bible.

The New Testament itself only came from the first few decades of A.D., but the belief of Christianity encompasses the entire Old and New Testament, of which many scholars agree that either Job, written by an unknown Israelite about 1500 B.C., or the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), written between 1446 and 1406 B.C, are the oldest books in the Bible. Even the youngest book in the Old Testament, Malachi, written about 400 B.C., precedes what you say are the earliest references for druids.

So it depends on how you view it, I suppose.

 

[Dentim]

Depends on how you look at it. The New Testament, which details God's new covenant with the earth by sending Jesus Christ, is definitely not older than druidism. But, Christianity as a whole, which believes and follows the Bible as a whole, you might say predates druidism if you look at the age of the oldest books in the Bible.

The New Testament itself only came from the first few decades of A.D., but the belief of Christianity encompasses the entire Old and New Testament, of which many scholars agree that either Job, written by an unknown Israelite about 1500 B.C., or the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), written between 1446 and 1406 B.C, are the oldest books in the Bible. Even the youngest book in the Old Testament, Malachi, written about 400 B.C., precedes what you say are the earliest references for druids.

So it depends on how you view it, I suppose.

Actually, while christianity does indeed have both of the Testaments, the whole idea behind christianity is that not everything from the Old Testament was all that good. It formed the basis, but it is the New Testament, the life story of Jesus, that's considered all important. Take away the Old testament, and christianity would turn out mostly the same because the emphasis isn't on all the old stories, it's on Jesus. The reason it's included in the Bible is because they did mention the Messiah, but in reality, a lot of Jesus' teachings do not fit all that well with the Old Testament, rendering a substantial amount obsolete, historical references aside.
Plus, the book may be older, Christianity still only came into being after/during Jesus Christ' life.

But you are right, it mostly depends on viewpoint. Not to claim I know better or anything, but I did spend most of my life in catholic schools and have had a lifelong interest in mythologies, ancient religions, the occult etc. :3 (Not that I'm always right off course)

 

[Solar]

And what's Islam? The fan-fiction that's almost as popular as the sequel? petemoodshift

Uh no it's the sequel to Christianity. We believe Judaism got corrupted, so God gave the people Jesus (pbuh) but they eventually messed up his message as well so then He gave us Islam and decided that the sum total of his previous religons had come full circle.