What do you think about the archbishop becoming a druid?

[Divinus]

I know its not exactly "new" news, but on the 5th Rowan Williams, the Archbishop Designate of the Church of England, was made a druid. I was wondering what the posters on here think?

This is a quote from the Times' article:

Harps and trumpets welcome new Druid
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
 
ROWAN WILLIAMS, the Archbishop-designate of Canterbury, became a Druid yesterday. As the sun rose through Avalonian mists on the coastline of his native Wales, Dr Williams was inducted into the Gorsedd of Bards, an historic order of Druids, with pagan roots.
The hour-long ceremony was held in a circle of standing stones, erected a year and a day ago and hewn from Pembrokeshire stone like those at Stonehenge.

Source: The Times

(I'm sorry it printed it twice, but the editor won't allow me to delete it)

What do you think? Good, bad, irrelevant?

-Divinus

 

[Nick_Loves_Abba]

Could be a sign of the coming Apostasy?

 

[Susan]

It's bad. The Druids are a pagan cult. . .the Church of England SHOULD excommunicate Mr. Williams, as he has apostasized openly to another faith.

 

[Divinus]

The people who organise it - who aren't the Council of Bards, Oblates and Druids, in case you've heard of them - claim its a cultural, rather than a religious thing, and has nothing to do with the growing neo-pagan druidic movement.

I haven't made up my mind yet. I like Rowan Williams, you see

 

[Havoc]

Druidism is hardly a Cult. It's a Celtic Religion with very ancient roots. It certainly doesn't fit any modern definition I've seen of a Cult (ie the Bonewits Cult index that is used by Law enforcement).

Havoc

 

[Susan]

 

 

[Divinus]

'Cult' as in small religion, perhaps? I know that I describe, say, Mithraism as a mystery cult, meaning a religion, sometimes.

 

[kiwimac]

So what?

Are these Druids members of the Friendly society, the Order of Druids? For those who are unaware, Friendly societies were precursors to banks, back in the days when it was considered wrong for ordinary folk to join banks (which were for the rich) those working class people formed friendly societies, like the Ancient Order of Druids, or the Frontiersmen, or the Right Ancient Order of the Buffalo....

Kiwimac

 

[coastie]

Alright, well I watched a documentary on Druids on Discovery or TLC or one of those channels the other day and it is definately a religion and it is definately not Christian.

They believe much like Buddhists, that all living things have a spirit or mroe accurately a concience. They also believe in a Mother Goddess who is quite too often referred to as "Mother Nature". While this may all sound harmless, it is idolatry plain and simple. It's not like joining the Boy scouts or become a member of "The Sons of Norway" it's worshipping false God's and relating to ungodly spirits.

I'll try and find you all a site on this topic.

Zach

 

[coastie]

Okay, so that I do not break a rule and post a non-christian link hear I suggest you type "The British Druid Order" into your search engine and check the site out.

These druids do refer to themselves as Pagans and they most definately are not Christian.

 

[Divinus]

I used to know someone who called himself a druid, and he worshipped an ancient Irish goddess!

Its entirely possible that the archbishop has joined something which, itself, is not pagan, but given the confusion that has to arise from his action, I'm not sure it was a good thing. I mean, you could get people joining pagan druidic religions thinking they have joined something entirely harmless and Christian!

 

[coastie]

Divinus,

I've been looking all over the web and I cannot find anything related to the druids that is not paganistic.

It is not a harmless organization and it is important for people to understand that.

 

[Divinus]

coastie,
Yeah, I had a little look myself. The Times article - and the news coverage - said it was just something to do with the Eisteffod, but I haven't been able to find anything about druids in a non-pagan way. In any case, I'm not sure that the leader of the Anglican church should really be doing something quite so misleading/ambiguous when he's supposed to be speaking to the nation (and parliament) from a Christian standpoint.

 

[Susan]

I will restate my point: Williams should be excommunicated as soon as possible. The grounds for such excommunication would be apostasy and/or participating in an act of idolatry, both of which are grounds for excommunication in the Anglican church last I heard.

 

[Mid]

I think that it is wrong for archbishop to become a druid. He has risen to a high status, evidently causing christians and others to believe that he really did believe in christ, and God. he apparently did not though, and that is horrible. A Christian cannot become a druid and still be a christian. You are either one or the other. If you are a druid, it is NOT cultural, because the druids worship the sun god Lugh, and I cannot remember the goddesses name at this time. They worship nature. This is a religion, as many of you know. Not only should he be excommunicated, but he should be punished by law as well. He has let many christians down and it is appalling. I give you my sympathy.

 

[coastie]

coastie,
Yeah, I had a little look myself. The Times article - and the news coverage - said it was just something to do with the Eisteffod, but I haven't been able to find anything about druids in a non-pagan way. In any case, I'm not sure that the leader of the Anglican church should really be doing something quite so misleading/ambiguous when he's supposed to be speaking to the nation (and parliament) from a Christian standpoint.

I totally agree Divinus. It's a dangerous game he's playing.

Where in the UK are you from?

 

[wblastyn]

Of course it's wrong. Druids are nature worshippers, sort of like wiccans. They worship the creation not the Creator.

You cannot serve two masters - either God (as a Christian) or nature (as a druid), in his case.

 

[coastie]

From what I read it's not so much worshipping natural spirits it's more communicating with them.

 

[Lillith]

The Druids were the scholarly class, priestly class and governmental class in Ancient Ireland, England and I believe Scotland. Druids underwent 21 years of apprenticeship where they learned among other things, the healing abilities of various plants, the legal codes of the time, the ancient religious cermonies, musical instruments etc. They were the advisors to the kings becuase as a Druid you took an oath to be completely neutral and base your decisions upon facts and what would keep the country in balance. The Druids were also priests and yes they communed and worshipped nature because nature is what sustained them, they realized that to survive a balance had to be maintained within the environment. Too bad we waited until global warming, acid rain and polluted air to figure that one out. Another thing, the holidays Christians observe, all ocurr in the same months as all the pagan holidays ocurred. If you all would do a little research you would discover a good number of Saints i.e. Brigid was originally a pagan goddess Bridget. See the church realized it couldn't suppress the old ways, so it coated the old beliefs into the new ones to make it look better. For instance, Father, Son, holy Ghost (which by the way are Three Separate entities) took the place of Mother, Maiden, Crone- the Triple Goddess ....I could go on but I like to think one of you would actually do work and think.

 

[Divinus]

coastie,
I'm from Edinburgh

Susan,
I'm not entirely sure Dr Williams can be excommunicated - he is the leader of the Church of England, after all.