Monday, October 11, 2010

Druidry is made an official religion in the UK

Here is an article that laments the fact that Druidry is now an official, charitable religion in the UK.

It saddens me that people are still so narrowminded and arrogant to believe that only Christianity(or, at best, theistic faiths) deserves special recognition. I'm not sure about in the UK, but I know that here in the US Buddhism is pretty much an established religion. And Buddhists aren't theistic, or at least it isn't a requirement to be theistic, and any belief in gods is kind of a "side comment" to their religion, not a focal point. Indeed, many Zen practitioners believe that Buddhism isn't just a religion, but can also be a spiritual practice to supplement the practitioner's primary religion(as I am beginning to incorporate Zen practices into my practice, I tend to subscribe to this viewpoint myself). Druidry is similar - most practice it as a spiritual supplement, but indeed many Druids do consider Druidry to be their primary religion.

"Judge not, lest you be judged." Too bad so many Christians have forgotten this.

2 comments:

Dan said...

At their very core, religions are agents of control. It's what they do.

Some religions are extreme in their levels of control, such as Fundamentalist Christianity and mainstream Islam. The bible quote you use is true but they will counter with dozens of other ones that support their point of view, even if the said verse is meant to be taken as metaphor.

Notice I said fundamentalist Christianity, I can’t pigeonhole the entire faith as I know many people who study Zen or other so called “New Age” philosophies to supplement their spiritual life. I fit in this demo, Christian but definitely a follower of Zen and most certainly not a biblical literalist!

Eastern religions and pagan practices teach one to look inside themselves, for the individual to take control of their own well being and happiness. That means less control from the religious cartels and that is one thing they will fight.

Chadly said...

I agree. And I think that's a big part of why I'm not a big fan of most "organized" religion. As you've probably figured out, I do consider myself Christian, and go to church, but my church isn't all preachy on things, and I don't consider there to be very much "organized" about my practice of my religion.