The Druid Network

Press release. Tuesday 8th October 2019

Neil Pitchford of The Druid Network (TDN) has been appointed as a Moderator of the Faith Communities Forum (FCF) of the Inter Faith Network for the UK (IFN). He attended his first meeting as Moderator on 3 October 2019 in London.

IFN was established by its first member bodies in 1987 as an independent charity to advance public knowledge and mutual understanding of the teachings, traditions and practices of the different faith communities in Britain including awareness both of their distinctive features and their common ground and to promote good relations between persons of different faiths. It continues, with its member bodies which include The Druid Network, to pursue these aims through a wide programme of work: www.interfaith.org.uk

IFN’s Faith Communities Forum (FCF) was established by the Board of IFN to enable member national faith community representative bodies to share good practice, and to discuss issues of common interest and concern. The Government, as well as other external agencies, use the Forum as part of multi-faith consultation with faith communities on a wide range of public life issues. It meets approximately four times a year. It has nine Moderators, six drawn from the six largest faith communities in the UK and three from a range of other groupings. The term of a Moderator is one that normally lasts for three years under the current Terms of Reference of the FCF.

IFN is governed by its board of trustees, led by two Co-Chairs. The IFN Board sometimes use the FCF to sound out the views of member faith community bodies, and the Moderators of the FCF have a formal role in relation to that. In urgent situations, the Co-Chairs of IFN and the Statement making Moderators of FCF are authorised to issue public statements. The statement making Moderators include one on behalf of Nominating Group 7 (see below). That Group, on 3 October 2019, chose the Pagan tradition Moderator – Neil Pitchford – to play that role for the coming period.

When electing Trustees and appointing Moderators, IFN faith community representative body members do so through seven Nominating Groups. These groups comprise one for each of the six largest faith communities in the UK and a seventh group made up of all other national faith community representative bodies in membership.

These groups are:

    1: Christian

    2: Muslim

    3: Hindu

    4: Sikh

    5: Jewish

    6: Buddhist

  7: All other national faith community representative bodies in membership

Each Nominating Group appoints one Moderator and may appoint to one seat on IFN’s Board, except Nominating Group 7 which has four Moderators and four seats on the Board, held – by agreement – in rotation by communities within this Nominating Group.

Nominating Group 7 currently consists of national faith community representative bodies of six faith traditions (one of which includes TDN).

IFN has, since the early 2000’s, received significant funding toward its work programme from the UK Government given the significance of the work to integration and cohesion.

This is the first time a Druid will have served in such a high profile inter faith role in the UK. It marks another significant step for The Druid Network, almost ten years after it successfully attained charity status and, in the process, redefined how religious faith was viewed in UK and International law.

This appointment also further legitimises the role a Druid can make within modern society and puts Druids and Druidry as active partners within the wider UK religious framework.

NOTES

1. The Inter Faith Network for the UK (IFN) is body which links in membership: national faith community representative bodies; national, regional and local inter faith organisations; and educational and academic bodies with an inter faith or multi faith fcous. It creates resources, leads national Inter Faith Week www.interfaithweek.org, and works to share learning and good practice to promote inter faith understanding and cooperation in the UK.
2. The Druid Network became a member of IFN in 2016. It is one of two organisations within Nominating Group 7 which represent parts of the Pagan community, the other being the Pagan Federation.
3. The role of the Faith Communities Forum of IFN is set out in its Terms of Reference, and the role of Moderators in relation to making statements is set out in IFN’s Policy on Making of Statements. The process of electing Trustees is set out in its Bye-Law on Nomination and Appointment of Trustees. These documents can be found on the Governance page of its website: https://www.interfaith.org.uk/about/governance
4. The UK Government’s position in relation to consultation of the FCF is set out in a holding response and written response given in response to parliamentary questions in 2011 and can be viewed at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110623/text/110623w0003.htm

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