Post by Senbecc on May 5, 2006 15:43:23 GMT -5
Prison hires pagan chaplain -01/11/05
Prison chiefs have hired a pagan priest to give spiritual advice to three inmates serving life sentences, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The prisoners have converted to paganism and, under prison service rules, are allowed a chaplain in the same way as those with Christian or other religious faiths.
To deny them a pagan chaplain would infringe their human rights, said John Robinson, the prison governor at Kingston Prison, Portsmouth.
This is not the first time this has happened. In 2003, a pagan priest Mike Pearse was hired by prison bosses after more than
40 inmates held in jails across the country claimed in a survey of religious beliefs that they were pagans.
Former prisons minister Ann Widdecombe called it "silly nonsense" at the time, but for others it reflects the realities of a pluralist society.
Mr Edwards, who receives the title of reverend by being a prison chaplain, visits the inmates in their cells three times a month and has helped them to celebrate Samhain, the pagan name for Hallowe'en.
He said he only conducted positive spell-making and would not help prisoners who wished harm on anyone.
"We mark out a circle. We invoke the god or goddess appropriate to whatever it is they want to do," he said.
"It is usually something concerning their state of mind, for example to have more self-control."
Mr Robinson said it would be unreasonable to deny the men access to a priest from a belief that was lawful in the wider community when inmates of other faiths were provided with spiritual help.
"It would be very difficult from a human rights perspective to deny somebody the right to practice a legitimate faith," he said.
The realities of post-Christendom which mean that Christians have to share privileges such as chaplaincy with those of other beliefs does not sit well will some.
Paganism is also often confused with black magic. But it in fact describes a group of contemporary religions based on a reverence for nature.
Colin Dyer, the pastor of Alverstoke Evangelical Church, in nearby Gosport, told the Daily Telegraph: "I think it is dabbling with the occult and shouldn't be allowed to continue."
Instructions to governors on how to cater for paganism were issued to prisons last month.
www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_05111pagan.shtml
Prison chiefs have hired a pagan priest to give spiritual advice to three inmates serving life sentences, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The prisoners have converted to paganism and, under prison service rules, are allowed a chaplain in the same way as those with Christian or other religious faiths.
To deny them a pagan chaplain would infringe their human rights, said John Robinson, the prison governor at Kingston Prison, Portsmouth.
This is not the first time this has happened. In 2003, a pagan priest Mike Pearse was hired by prison bosses after more than
40 inmates held in jails across the country claimed in a survey of religious beliefs that they were pagans.
Former prisons minister Ann Widdecombe called it "silly nonsense" at the time, but for others it reflects the realities of a pluralist society.
Mr Edwards, who receives the title of reverend by being a prison chaplain, visits the inmates in their cells three times a month and has helped them to celebrate Samhain, the pagan name for Hallowe'en.
He said he only conducted positive spell-making and would not help prisoners who wished harm on anyone.
"We mark out a circle. We invoke the god or goddess appropriate to whatever it is they want to do," he said.
"It is usually something concerning their state of mind, for example to have more self-control."
Mr Robinson said it would be unreasonable to deny the men access to a priest from a belief that was lawful in the wider community when inmates of other faiths were provided with spiritual help.
"It would be very difficult from a human rights perspective to deny somebody the right to practice a legitimate faith," he said.
The realities of post-Christendom which mean that Christians have to share privileges such as chaplaincy with those of other beliefs does not sit well will some.
Paganism is also often confused with black magic. But it in fact describes a group of contemporary religions based on a reverence for nature.
Colin Dyer, the pastor of Alverstoke Evangelical Church, in nearby Gosport, told the Daily Telegraph: "I think it is dabbling with the occult and shouldn't be allowed to continue."
Instructions to governors on how to cater for paganism were issued to prisons last month.
www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_05111pagan.shtml