Pagans, Satanists and Britain. Oh my!

Are you a Liberal, Progressive or Libertarian Pagan who is unhappy with the recent lunge towards Christian “values” and “morals” in this last election? Well don’t worry, America may be seeing a surge in it’s “Moral Majority” but it looks like our close ally and partner in the Iraq war Britain isn’t heading in the same direction.

“Led by sociologist Linda Woodhead and Paul Heelas, the researchers found that organized Christianity will be eclipsed by New Age spirituality within the next generation, if current trends continue. Their new book, The Spiritual Revolution, documents this incredible transformation of Great Britain–a reversion of a largely Christianized culture to its pagan roots.” – The Christian Post

From UK Pagan Links, apologies to my Christian friends.

“It was interesting to find that the spirit of the Romantics was still alive and well ? in the gateway to the Lakes. The forms of spirituality that are doing best are those which have to do with the cultivation of what Wordsworth called ‘the spirit of life’.” – Paul Heelas

The paperback edition comes out December 1st by the way, the perfect Christma..I mean Winter Solstice gift!

Why is this happening? According to the true believers it is because they have gotten their Christianity shots! Damn their socialized medicine!

“The people of Britain have been inoculated with a dead, mild form of Christianity, which has given them resistance to the real thing. It has been diluted with human philosophy. People want to be told what to do and how to do it.” – Reverend Brian Maiden, of Parr Street Evangelical Church in Kendal

It’s just like the flu shot! If only we had known!

As further proof to conservative Christians of Britain’s drift away from God is the recent story of a Royal Navy technician who just happens to be a Satanist was given permission to practice his religion at sea.

“”We are an equal opportunities employer and we don’t stop anyone from having their own religious values. Chris Cranmer approached his captain and made a request to be registered as a Satanist. This involved a formal approach, in front of an audience, saying that he wanted to register and to practise his religious beliefs.” – Royal Navy spokesperson

“I can’t see the majority of the world’s population ever seeing Satanism in a different light, but I don’t really care. I’ve already said that by common definition of the term evil, I must be evil. If however you ask my friends and family, you’d get a different answer.” – Chris Cranmer, a naval technician serving on the frigate HMS Cumberland



What does it all mean? Zenit news service leaves us with this dire warning.

“Recognizing one person’s right to practice Satanism may be dismissed as a trivial incident. But it can also be seen as symptomatic of a society that is rapidly becoming de-Christianized, a process that brings with it many unpleasant surprises.”

So beware the “unpleasant surprises” of religious freedom!

Tags: Neopaganism