Godless Pagans.

The Pebble census campaign doesn’t seem to be going quite as it should. According to the above page the aim of the campaign is to achieve the following:

"Paganism will be officially recognized as a serious religious choice;
The government can see that we vote and there are enough of us to make a difference;
Pagan organisations can show they are representative;
We can achieve more representation within the local and wider community;
Pagan organisations will have credibility when dealing with both businesses and the government to provide the services you need."

It’s possible to quibble with this on various points but the main flaw which, judging from their complete lack of any objection to it here, is one about which Pebble doesn’t seem to give a monkey’s soggy arse, is that the Census Diversity Action Group of the Office of National Statistics, which on behalf of the British government will investigate and assess the coherency of paganism as a single religious category albeit subdivided, have adopted the following definition of paganism:

“PAGANISM : The umbrella term for spiritualities and religions that recognise the sacred in nature, the environment, ancestry and heritage.”

Can anyone spot the missing word here? Anyone? You! Yes, you at the back! Speak up there. Again. Yes, that’s it. The definition does not use the word Gods - nor Goddesses for that matter.

Now, how is Pebble to achieve its aims, given above, when paganism will be officially viewed by the Office of National Statistics, the organisers of the census and an organ of the British government, as a group of soppy, gardening, environmentalist genealogist folklorists? Where are the Gods? Don’t any of the members of Pebble actually have Gods in their religions? If yes then do they plan on taking them seriously anytime soon and having Gods mentioned here? Or is it the case that it’s fine to talk about your Gods to other pagans but that when you’re looking for some political and economic clout then Gods may just be brushed under the carpet or shoved into the airing cupboard for fear of pagans looking a little too serious about this whole religion thing? After all, Pebble wants all the pageantry and places of paganism, and pagans and their preferences, or at the very least Pebble itself to be taken seriously by the government. It doesn’t seem, however, as though Pebble wants the government to take their religious beliefs seriously where these involve Gods. Yes, Gods are viewed from a different perspective by pagans than by monotheists yet can you imagine if Christianity were to ditch any mention of God when describing itself? Would they be carpentry-practicing, yeast-averse wine-tasters?

Personally, I would have thought that to omit any mention of Gods from a definition of paganism was a very bad idea, and I would have thought that the Heathen contingent of Pebble, Heathens For Progress, would have ensured that Gods made an appearance in this definition. Perhaps it’s the case, though, that Progress comes before principles, the principle here being that Gods are a big part of many pagan religions, but if the ONS doesn’t like that principle, well then, Pebble and its constituent members have plenty of others. Gods and the pagans who deal with them can go about their business, take up a hobby, form Subbuteo leagues, fly kites or whatever, as long as Pebble gets to sit at the High Table.

Should anyone feel as I do, that Gods should not be omitted from any description of paganism and that Pebble, if they're going to persist in their claim to be representative of pagans and their beliefs, should not permit pagans to be viewed by the government as some kind of secular cosplaying live-RPG club then they may take Pebble’s own advice and stand up and be counted by contacting Pebble to insist that they have significant mention of Gods included in the ONS definition of paganism. Pebble may insist that you sign up you and your friends as one of their partner organisation that they may represent-your-point-of-view-to-the-government-but-no-promises-mind-you, and you may join if you wish. Alternatively, if you wish to circumvent the self-appointed high priests of British paganism then you may contact the Office of National Statistics individually or on behalf of any group of which you are a member and which feels the same way that you may put forward your own point of view.


There is another option, very economic and effective. You might consider it a good idea to keep the government out of your religious beliefs and ignore Pebble altogether. Pebble is not paganism.