Police Plan Pagans Group

Thu, 16 July 2009 Courtesy of: The Sun Online

Officers are already given special dispensation to take eight Pagan holidays a year, including Halloween and the summer solstice.

There are thought to be more than 500 Pagan police officers in the UK and they have now met with Home Office chiefs to push for an officially sanctioned support group.

Pagans worship nature and believe in many gods, and practices include witchcraft and druidism.

PC Andy Hill, of Staffordshire Police, a practicing Wiccan, or Pagan witch, has stepped up pressure on the government by setting up a website for Pagan police officers and their families, launching on August 1.

He said: "This is nothing to do with black magic, or devil worshipping.

"Witchcraft is not the hocus pocus, puff of smoke, turning people into frogs stuff you see on the TV."

PC Andy Pardy, of Hertfordshire Police, a Heathen who worships Norse gods, said the public had nothing to fear.

The officer worships the likes of hammer-wielding Thor, the one-eyed Odin and the god of fertility, Freyr.

He already gets the eight Pagan holidays off each year, including Halloween - signifying the Pagan new year - and the summer solstice in June.

PC Pardy, also a force equality and diversity representative, said: "Paganism is not the new age, tree hugging fad that some people think it is and is not the clandestine, horrible, evil thing that people think it is.

"A lot of people think it is about dancing naked around a fire. But the rituals are not like that.

"It involves chanting, music, meditation, reading passages and for Pagans the practices are seen to have the same power as prayer does for Christians.

"It has been practised in this country since before the concept of God arrived here. It is all about dedication to nature."

Paganism is not actually as rare in day-to-day life as some people might think.

There were 30,500 people practising Paganism in England and Wales in 2001 and last year the Home Office introduced the Pagan oath for use in the courts.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The Government wants a police service that reflects the diverse communities it serves.

"It is down to individual forces to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate the religion or beliefs of individual officers, as far as operational requirements permit."