Skip to main content.
Related sites:
Religion News Blog is a non-profit service providing academics, religion professionals and other researchers with religion & cult news
ReligionNewsBlog

Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues

Navigation:
Web religionnewsblog.com
Home | Site Menu | About RNB | RNB Store | Cult FAQ | Cult Experts | Apologetics Index | Cult Information Search Engine


Related

More news articles & news archive on Paganism


Advertisements *

Advertise on Religion News Blog Advertise Here *
Simple steps to financial health and a good credit score


Elsewhere

Left Behind answered verse by verse


Paganism:

Pagan priest hired to help prisoners

The Telegraph, UK
Nov. 1, 2005
Stewart Payne
news.telegraph.co.uk
  • Article Tools  • Share This Story

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 12929 • Posted: Tuesday November 1, 2005  

Click here... More articles on this topic: Paganism

Prison chiefs have hired a pagan priest to give spiritual advice to three inmates serving life sentences.

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.

Ian Edwards, a pagan priest, visits the men at a cost to the taxpayer of ?11.56 an hour plus expenses. He is able to bring with him tarot cards and a wand, but not the cauldron he uses in spell-making.

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.

Colin Dyer, the pastor of Alverstoke Evangelical Church, in nearby Gosport, said: “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.



Religion News Blog RSS feed Subscribe: Religion News Blog RSS feed  |  Religion News Blog RSS feed Subscribe by topic: Paganism
more cult news articlemore religion news More articles about Paganism

Like this story?

Today's Most Popular Articles

Share this

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:




Article and Site Tools

» PermaLink to: Pagan priest hired to help prisoners
   Need a shorter link? You can remove everything after the final /
» More news articles + news archive on Paganism
» More religion and cult news

Subscribe (RSS / Email) [What is RSS?]
» RSS News Feed - All Topics: Religion News Blog RSS Feed
» RSS News Feed - Single Topic: Paganism
» Headlines by Email: Daily Religion News Blog Headlines

More Article Tools
• Bookmark / Tag: Del.icio.us
• Bookmark / Tag: Furl
Save this article
Email this article
Print this article [Temporarily out of order]

More Information
Books about Paganism
Relevant books (and other goodies)

more religion news aboutmore Religion News Blog articles about

About Religion News Blog
Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, alternative religions and related issues. RNB's non-profit news clipping service is used by - among others - Christian apologists, countercult professionals, anticult organizations, cult experts, teachers, religion professionals, reporters and other researchers.

Home
Latest Headlines
RSS news feed [?]
Headlines by Email
News Trackers
Free content for your site
About RNB
Privacy Policy
Contact RNB
Link to RNB
Advertise on RNB
Apologetics Index
Cult FAQ
Apologetics Search Engine
CounterCult Search Engine