Paganism Apparently on the Rise in Britain
A Slide Show and More Details Included in Article
[Fun Note: One of the people in the slides is someone I’ve met in person at a local Druid Seed Group. Small world]
This article in the Examiner discusses the rise of Paganism in Britain.
However, as Pagans, we must be careful not to be sensationalists.
I did a previous article about the rapid rise of Paganism HERE.
The problem with the Examiner’s article is that they don’t actually link to a poll with real statistics and numbers. Their “poll” link just goes to a series of Examiner’s British articles.
They say that 38% of British people don’t believe in a Christian God, but that doesn’t automatically lump these British folk into Paganism. That’s like saying all people who don’t like Vanilla Ice Cream automatically love Chocolate – a gross over simplification of the facts. Many of these Non-Christians could be Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists or Muslims. As Pagans, we are definitely a rapidly growing demographic, but our numbers are still quite small for now.
Also, it is a well discussed fact that the number of Pagans has doubled in many polls since the 90’s. Yet part of this recorded growth simply be because more Pagans are coming out of the broom closet so to speak. The internet has also played a liberating factor here. Before the internet, many Pagans practiced alone and generally didn’t discuss their practice with those in their community – if they couldn’t find an appropriate coven/group. Yet the internet has drastically amped up Pagans’ abilities to meet those with similar beliefs in their area.
We can recognize that there have been gradual changes in society that reflect our growing numbers: such as the increase in workplace rights for British Pagans, a recognition that students and workers should be allowed to take off on Pagan Holidays and symbols like the Norse Hammer and the Wiccan Pentacle have been accepted as symbols of faith in the U.S Airforce. The growth of our numbers and acceptance in society makes my heart swell. But let’s be careful to depict the facts of the matter accurately please.
Metal Gaia 