The pagan representatives emphasised that while most government departments that consulted faith communities worked from a list (represented by the nine symbols on the cover of the report) supposed to represent the major religions in the UK, the April 2001 census showed that in England and Wales those who entered their religion as "Pagan" outnumbered the total for Jains, Zoroastrians and Baha'is combined. This is before adding in "Wiccan", "Druid" and "Celtic Pagan" - these were listed separately and bring the total to around 40,000. The total for Jains, Zoroastrians and Baha'is is less than 24,000.

The Home Office explained that Paganism has not been seen to speak with one voice. The pagan representatives explained that Pagans cherish variety between and within their traditions, as do many other faiths that are divided into separate denominations. The Home Office representatives were unaware, for example, that most Wiccans and Druids celebrate the same eight festivals, often with each other.

The Faith Communities Unit explained that part of its role is to facilitate contact between all faith communities and Government Departments.

The three pagan groups will therefore be forming an ad-hoc group, to be known as the "Public Bodies Liaison Committee for British Paganism" to deal with the Unit and to work towards equality of treatment by publicly funded bodies. The Committee will also be taking forward the FCU recommendation that faith communities need to learn how government works, and initially contact is being made with the Department for Education and Skills in the hope that accurate information about Paganism can be made available to schools.

Members of the Unit will be invited to national pagan events. News of further developments will be made available as they happen.

Contact: PBCBP Chairman Steve Wilson:
swilson@charity-commission.gov.uk

LINKS:

Pagan Federation UK
Wicca UK
The Druid Network

The new liaison group, ‘Public Bodies Liaison Committee for British Paganism’ is looking for a membership of around 8-9,000 to represent Pagan interests in the United Kingdom. This includes speaking with one voice on all matters relating to Paganism in the UK to all publicly funded bodies, particularly but not exclusively with regard to employment rights, equality with other faiths in all public arenas, and consultation on faith issues with such bodies. [See point 2 of the draft constitution].

The initial groups chosen for representation on the committee were selected as they covered the remit contained within the Home Office document, “Working Together: Co-operation between the Government and Faith Communities”. They were brought together at short notice, hence the fact there was little chance for a wider discussion within the pagan community before the meeting on the 26th April 2004 took place.

Those involved were The Council of British Druid Orders, a group of Druidic ‘groups’ and includes a selection of the numerous Druidic Orders currently in operation in the United Kingdom. The Pagan Federation, as it has family membership, plus the readership of their magazine Pagan Dawn increases the amount of pagans the committee can call on for information and liaison. Wicca UK includes the people who run the Pagan Association and covers a fair selection of the youth of our pagan community, as well as the gay, lesbian and bi-sexual elements within it. Pagans in Public Service is there to facilitate, it is not a member. The reason is that Civil Servants know how other Civil Servants think and can use language appropriately. In the near future the British Council for Traditional Witchcraft will be contacted so that they too can be part of the new committee.

The draft constitution is as follows:

1. The Name of the organisation shall be the Public Bodies Liaison Committee for British Paganism, (hereinafter called the Committee) or such other name as the members shall in general meeting decide in accordance with the rules set out below.
2. The Objects shall be to speak with one voice on all matters relating to Paganism in the UK to all publicly funded bodies, particularly but not exclusively with regard to employment rights, equality with other faiths in all public arenas, and consultation on faith issues with such bodies.
3. Further to the above Objects the Committee shall have power:
   a) To communicate with public bodies over the issues outlined in Clause 2
   b) To organise meetings with representatives of public bodies
   c) To issue, jointly with public bodies or separately, such information and to such Committees as the members shall decide
   d) To do such other things in furtherance of the Objects as the members in general meeting shall decide and append to an amended version of this clause.
4. In the event that the Committee shall decide in general meeting that it needs to hold any money or assets with monetary value in its own name, a General Meeting shall be called to amend this constitution to allow for a Treasurer and for the maintenance of financial records. No such decision shall be valid unless Clause 13 is also amended to determine the dispersal of any funds upon dissolution of the Committee.
5. Prior to the first AGM the members shall be the representative of the founder groups and other such groups as the following may decide in accordance with the rules set out below:
   a) The Council of British Druid Orders
   b) The Pagan Federation
   c) Pagans In Public Service
   d) Wicca UK
6. All General Meetings except the AGM shall be called Special General Meetings.
7. Special General Meetings may be called by agreement of all members or according to such other rules as may later be determined at an AGM and appended to this Clause.
8. All General Meetings shall be chaired by the representative for PIPS. The Chair shall also act as Secretary until such time as either the Chair or the members decide that the tasks should be split and this constitution amended accordingly.
9. At every General Meeting each member shall have one vote except Pagans In Public Service, whose representative shall not vote except that he or she may nevertheless make or refuse to make a chair's casting vote if votes are split equally. In the event of an equality
   of votes on an amendment, deletion or alteration of current policy, the status quo shall remain in place or, on any other issue the motion shall fail.
10. The Committee shall not be interested in the method by which each group selects its representative members.
11. The members may in General Meeting invite any pagan organization to send a representative member that can demonstrate that:
    a) It represents at least 500 members
    b) It is controlled by its membership such that any governing committee or member of such committee is subject to periodic re- election.
    c) It is controlled by its membership such that its governing document can be altered at the request of a set majority of its members.
    d) Its financial records are presented to, and must be approved by, is membership, except in the case of organisations that have no finances.
    e) Its membership is open to any pagan, or follower of that organisation's particular pagan path, subject only to conditions that do not exclude anyone on the basis of their race, age (apart from exception to legal minors), gender, gender preference
12. Any alteration to this constitution may be made at:
    a) An AGM,
    b) A Special General Meeting for which one months notice has been given to all members outlining the proposed changes, but also at:
    c) Any Special General Meeting on which the amendment is passed
    unanimously. Any amendment made under Clauses 12 (a) and 12 (b) must receive the
    consent of two thirds of members present and voting or the next percentage above that figure in the event of the total membership numbers not being divisible by three.

13. If at any time a two-thirds majority of members at a General Meeting called for that purpose according to the rules for constitutional amendment listed above decides that the Objects shall be better served if the Committee were to cease, then the Committee
    shall be dissolved.
    

There are some revisions to this draft constitution currently in the pipeline. Point 11a) may be changed in the near future to allow for a limit of 100 or 200 members for local organisations, mainly to allow the Pagan Association to act in the Midlands area. They have around 200 members, nearly all of whom are in and around Birmingham.

The current chairman is Steve Wilson, he has been active in the Pagan community for twenty-five years. He was very pro-active in setting up this committee so that the UK pagan community could have a voice in government policy towards 'Faith in the Community'. He was asked to act as the current chairperson by the Pagan Federation representative. He hopes to be viewed as a neutral member of the committee.

So now we in the United Kingdom have a chance to talk to Government. Let us make this a positive force for action. Many of us state that for some reason or other we have to hide our personal beliefs due to prejudice. Perhaps now, like other Faith’s in the UK, our voices can be heard? Good luck and I hope that there will be much support to this new initiative within the pagan community, and may it become increasingly inclusive of all the diverse elements that is the Pagan Community in the UK!

Background for all you non-UK based pagans: although the UK has a state-sponsored religion, it is not a Christian country in the same way the USA is. Nevertheless, everywhere Pagans encounter suspicion and fear. The following press release is relevant to Pagans working in Public Service in the United Kingdom. We have reproduced it here to aid understanding of the Public Bodies Liaison Committee for British Paganism.

The Employment Regulation that came into force in December 2003 have made discrimination on the grounds of belief an offence. The regulations make it clear that the question of whether a belief counts as a religion or not in law is not an issue. For example, someone who does not believe in any religion cannot be discriminated against. Consequently, Pagans are now covered.

It is also important to realise that discrimination includes harassment. This means that Pagans have the right to complain to their employer (via the HR department or equivalent) if a fellow worker is abusive about their religion. If the employer refuses to act the employer is liable. The discrimination, in other words, does not have to come (directly) from a superior. Even religious harassment by members of the public counts.

Public Services are particularly concerned to abide by legislation, where some private businesses may be more concerned with what they can get away with. As a result "diversity champions" exist at the highest level of many departments to ensure that their departments comply with all such legislation.

Public Services are comparatively transparent in their actions and generally have more powerful Trades Unions than nowadays remain in the private sector.

These factors make the creation of a pioneering organisation acting both as a representative group and a point of reference for the public sector in general an opportunity too good to be missed.

Purposes

1. To provide a source of information regarding Pagan faiths for public sector managers and human resource departments with regards to the Employment Regulations of December 2003 and the European Convention of Human Rights.
2. To create a support network for pagans in public service.
3. To provide written material and to supply speakers to public service departments with regards to the attainment of diversity objectives.
4. To pioneer a type of pagan organisation that can be emulated outside the public sector.
   

Organisation

To provide contact details for employees by identifying volunteers prepared to act as representatives of PIPS in two ways:

• By Department within Sector, so that there will be overall co-ordinators for the Civil Service, the NHS, Local Government, Education and independent services such as the police, the courts, the fire service and the like. The co-ordinators will put enquiries to departmental representatives such as the Charity Commission (civil service), the Health Protection Agency (NHS) etc. The complexity of this should grow from demand rather than be established without need.
• By region, to be determined, to allow cross-service and/or public meetings. Note that Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate public service bodies completely, so the highest level split will be between England/Wales and Scotland. There seem to be very few Pagans in Northern Ireland, but no doubt some will emerge. Other distinct systems such as those relating to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands could develop their own networks if the need arises.
• Each point of contact will be represented by an individual whose contact details will be generally available. There is no need for real names to be used, since an email address will suffice. Some of us, though, will, be using our real names.
• Initially representatives will be appointed by the acting co-ordinators - those of us who have started this network and will be working towards a first AGM. Appointment will simply be on the basis of who is where.
• A draft Governing Document for PIPS will be circulated well in advance of the first AGM. Efforts will be made to ensure that no single existing Pagan organisation or tradition can stage a takeover.

• Establish an initial membership list and database, including representatives as above. Membership will initially be free, with the first AGM discussing an annual fee to pay for what is in the rest of this section.
• Produce a document, in the form of an information pack, explaining Paganism, and some of the problems facing Pagans at work, for circulation to Diversity Champions and Human Resource departments. When the draft is circulated the definition of Paganism will be largely ignored, since we've been arguing about it for decades and still don't agree. I will attempt to say, but not in so few words, that generally a Pagan is someone who follows a spiritual path that they consider to be Pagan, mentioning earth-based religion, equality of sexes etc.
• Produce a press release in the form of a re-printable article for public service departments and trades unions.
• Create and maintain, inevitably, a website.
  

If this sounds like the sort of organisation for you, email me at:
steve.sethur@virgin.net
Giving name, name of choice for would-be representatives, service, department and town or city of work in the United Kingdom.

Direct enquiries concerning PIPS please email the acting Secretary, Ciya O'Leary at:
ciya.oleary@virgin.net