Item Details

The Problem with Paganism in Charity Registration in England and Wales

Issue: Vol 21 No. 3 (2018) Religion in Law: Interdisciplinary perspectives

Journal: Implicit Religion

Subject Areas: Religious Studies

DOI: 10.1558/imre.38296

Abstract:

Charity registration is one means by which a group can claim religious status in England and Wales. As groups must also prove their "religious" activities are for public benefit, it domesticates religion by forcing groups to conform to liberal Protestant Christian values. Examining how groups negotiate criteria for religion as defined by public bodies highlights both the problems with defining religion and how the state marginalizes groups that do not fit their criteria by denying them access to certain benefits. The problem for Pagans is they generally set out to challenge norms, not conform to them, which leaves them in a quandary when seeking registration as a religion. When the Pagan Federation failed in its applications to register as a "religion," it was because it did not conform to the Protestant Christian model informing how religion is defined in Charity Law.

Author: Suzanne Owen

View Original Web Page

References :

Ainsworth, David. 2013. “Pagan Federation withdraws appeal to charitytribunal
over charitable status.”
Third Sector. 4 January. https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/pagan-federation-withdraws-appeal-charity-tribunal-
charitable-status/governance/article/1165595

Beckford, James A. 2003. Social Theory and Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Charity Commission for England and Wales. 1999. Letter to the Pagan Federation. 21 July. [unpublished]

Charity Commission for England and Wales. 2008. The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358531/advancement-of-religion-for-the-public-benefit.pdf

Charity Commission for England and Wales. 2010. The Druid Network Decision. 21 September. Application for Registration of the Druid Network. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324236/druiddec.pdf

Charity Commission for England and Wales. 2012. Letter to the Pagan Federation from Marion Shanley on behalf of the Charity Commissioners. 4 October. [unpublished]

Church of Scientology. C. 1996. “Assault on Ancient Beliefs.” Freedom: The Voice of the Church of Scientology Since 1968. http://www.freedom.org.uk/mag/issuea01/page06.htm

Critical Religion Association. n.d. “What is Critical Religion?” https://criticalreligion.org/what-is-critical-religion/

Edge, Peter W. 2002. Legal Responses to Religious Difference. Alphen aan den Rijn, NL: Wolters Kluwer.

Edge, Peter W. and Joan M. Loughrey. 2006. “Religious charities and the Juridification of the Charity Commission.” Legal Studies 21(1): 3664. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-121x.2001.tb00166.x

Equality and Human Rights Commission. 1998. The Human Rights Act. London: Crown. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights/human-rights-act

Fitzgerald, Timothy. 2007. Discourse on Civility and Barbarity: A Critical History of Religion and Related Categories. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.religion.2008.05.007

Harding, Matthew. 2014. Charity Law and the Liberal State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Harvey, Graham. 2009. “Re The Druid Network.” Expert Report for the Charity Commission. 6 July. https://druidnetwork.org/files/core/GH%20Report.pdf

Horii, Mitsutoshi. 2018. The Category of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Japan: Shūkyō and Temple Buddhism. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hutton, Ronald. 2009. Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

McCutcheon, Russell T. 2005. Religion and the Domestication of Dissent: Or, How to Live in a Less than Perfect Nation. Sheffield: Equinox. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315539119

Owen, Suzanne. 2010. “The World Religions Paradigm: Time for a Change.” Journal of Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 10(3): 253268. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022211408038

Owen, Suzanne and Taira, Teemu. 2015. “The Category of ‘Religion’ in Public Classification: Charity Registration of the Druid Network in England and Wales.” In Religion as a Category of Governance and Sovereignty, edited by T. Stack, N. Goldenberg and T. Fitzgerald, 90114. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004290594_006

Pagan Federation. 2013. “Introduction to the Pagan Federation.” http://www.paganfed.org/index.php/federation/introduction-to-pagan-federation

Pagan Federation. 2013. “The three principles.” http://www.paganfed.org/index.php/federation/the-three-principles

Pocklington, David. 2015. “Quasi-Law and Religion.” In Religion and Legal Pluralism, Russell Sandberg, 133149. Farnham: Ashgate.

Griggs, Ian. 2012. “The Pagan Federation Appeals to the Charity Tribunal over Refusal of Charitable Status.” Third Sector. 20 November. https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/pagan-federation-appeals-charity-tribunal-refusal-charitable-status/governance/article/1160600

Wheeler, G.J. 2017. “Witches, Odin, and the English State: The Legal Reception of a Counter Cultural Minority Religious Movement.” Journal of Law and Religion 32(3): 449469. https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2017.36

Woodhead, Linda. 2012. ‘Introduction to “Judaism, Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism: Post-war Settlements.” In Religion and Change in Modern Britain, edited by Robert Bluck, Linda Woodhead and Rebecca Catto, 86–88. Abingdon: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1740355312000162

York, Michael. 1997. “Paganism and the British Charity Commission: A Question of Restricting Boundaries.” Paper delivered at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Meeting. San Diego. http://www.michaelyork.co.uk/Domus/CV/confpapers/cp-40.html