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The Druid Network

Charity Commission for England and Wales: September 2010 Charity – druids – advancement of religion – public benefit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2010

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
Will Adam
Affiliation:
Vicar of St Paul, Winchmore Hill
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2011

The objects of the Druid Network, an unincorporated association, are ‘to provide information on the principles and practice of Druidry for the benefit of all and to inspire and facilitate that practice for those who have committed themselves to this spiritual path’. The Network supports the establishment of local groups and puts interested members of the public in touch with them, supports members in providing public rituals – especially the midwinter and midsummer rituals at Stonehenge – and runs a newsletter and website. It applied to be registered as a charity in accordance with section 3A(1) of the Charities Act 1993. The Commission noted that, insofar as it requires that the advancement of religion be for the public benefit, the definition of religion in charity law differed from that for the purposes of Articles 9 and 14 and Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Commission found that the sincerely held belief in the spirit within and arising from nature as a core element of Druidry represented ‘a divine being or entity or spiritual principle’ for the purposes of charity law and the Network facilitated and encouraged worship for that supreme being. As to the Campbell and Cosans test of ‘cogency, cohesion, seriousness and importance’,Footnote 6 the Commission noted that the Prison Service included Druidry within its provision of Pagan chaplains, that a Hospital Trust had appointed a chaplain for Pagans and Druids and that Druidry was the subject of extensive critical academic study. Furthermore, the combination of belief in a supreme being, the rationale for connecting with ‘sacred nature’, the emphasis on the importance of ancestors, cultural heritage and the natural environment, the common elements of worship and their integration into an ethical and moral system were a sufficient demonstration of an ‘identifiable positive, beneficial, moral or ethical framework’ capable of having a beneficial effect on the community at large. The Commission concluded that the Network's activities provided benefit to the public and did not include any element of detriment or harm; nor were there any issues of private benefit. The Network was established for exclusively charitable purposes for the advancement of religion for the public benefit and could therefore be entered in the Register. [Frank Cranmer]

References

6 Campbell and Cosans v UK (1982) 4 EHRR 293.