Paganism is the fastest growing religious group in the British Armed Forces, The Telegraph can reveal.
Followers of the pagan faiths, who typically sport beards as a lifestyle choice, numbered 660 at the start of the year across the Armed Forces, up 144 per cent from 270 in April 2020.
In addition to the pagans, there are around 50 self-declared Heathens, Wiccans, Druidists and Odinists, all of which are nature-revering religions associated with paganism.
Earlier this month, the head of the army overturned a 100-year ban on facial hair to allow soldiers to grow beards. The announcement has been heartily welcomed by pagan leaders.
The figures, obtained under freedom of information requests, show that growth in paganism has been highest in the regular army, with numbers increasing from 190 to 500 over the past four years.
Meanwhile, the number of self-declared pagans has more than doubled from 40 to 90 in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, and increased from 40 to 70 in the RAF.
In recent years, paganism has become the fifth most celebrated religion among UK service personnel, after Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.
There are now three times more pagans in the British armed forces than there are Sikhs. If the numbers of pagans continue to rise at the same rate they will soon outnumber Muslims as well.
The number of Buddhists and Hindus serving in the regular armed forces have risen by 1.8 per cent and 8.6 per cent over the past four years, while the number of Muslims has increased by more than a quarter from 610 to 770.
But these increases are dwarfed by the 144 per cent rise in the number of pagans in the armed forces over the same period.
‘Freedom of choice’
Arthur Pendragon, a senior druid and pagan priest from Salisbury, said he welcomed the ban on beards being lifted for soldiers.
Mr Pendragon, who served in the British army for six years, said: “I am pleased to hear about it because I like a beard and I would have liked to have worn one when I was in the army. I welcome it because it means freedom of choice.”
He said the true number of pagans in the army will be much higher because “a lot of people will just say ‘no religion’ even if they have pagan leanings. If you look worldwide, you will see that all the Earth-based religions are on the increase. People seem to be looking back to a time when we were closer to nature and when everything worked.”
Manny Tejeda y Moreno, editor of The Wild Hunt, an online pagan news site, explained that there are “elements of living the faith that do have to do with facial hair”.
He went on: “The presence of facial hair is part of honouring a particular path that you have chosen. We welcome the army’s decision, just as we welcome any movement forward to offer greater freedom of expression and freedom of religion.”
Religious requirement?
There is debate within the pagan community about whether beards are a religious requirement or not.
The Pagan Federation says: “For many years there has been a recurring discussion regarding the right of Pagans, and in particular Heathens, in the armed forces and other uniformed organisations to grow a beard.
“Many misinformed groups argue that Heathens should be allowed exemptions from dress-code rules and uniform regulations with regards to facial hair on religious grounds.”
The Federation goes on to point out that in pagan sacred texts, beards are featured in physical descriptions of people but “at no point do they mention any spiritual or religious aspect of beard wear”.
Earlier this month, the King, who is Commander-in-Chief, signed off on the decision to allow officers and soldiers to wear beards.
Following a review of the Army’s policy on appearances and beards, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, the head of the Army, took the decision that “the appearance policy will change” after a survey of serving and reservist troops.
The findings showed an “overwhelming majority” felt the Army needed to change its policy and allow soldiers to wear beards.
It came after Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, said the beard ban was “ludicrous” when discussing the Army’s recruitment crisis.
The move brings the Army into line with the RAF and Royal Navy who already permit full beards.
A Government spokesman said: “Our Armed Forces are made up of personnel from a vast range of backgrounds.”
