The Pagan Police Association (PPA) was proudly announced by co-founder PC Andy Pardy of Hertfordshire Constabulary after Home Office chiefs officially sanctioned the group last week.
PC Pardy — who is a heathen worshipper of Norse gods, including hammer-wielding Thor — said Pagan cops could now take off a string of religious holidays.
By allowing Pagans to set up their own organisation, the Home Office has officially sanctioned a string of Wicca and Pagan-related holidays, which include leaving food out for the dead, 'unabashed sexual promiscuity' and going on long country walks.
Officers can now claim the days as official religious holidays.
And top brass have to allow Pagan cops to take these days off or face being hauled before a tribunal for not respecting a cop's religious rights.
Pagans — including druids, witches and shamans — will have to take the days as holiday days, but each day is given the same respect as Christmas for Christians, Ramadan for Muslims and Passover for Jews.
Pagan cops are also allowed to swear upon their own religion in court now, pledging to tell the truth not before God but by what 'they hold sacred'.
PC Pardy said that now that Paganism was a 'valid religion', officers — of which around 500 are believed to be Pagan in the UK — can officially apply for religious holidays.
He said: "The recognition of Paganism is a slow process, but the progress is evident.
"Officers can, for the first time, apply for leave on the festival dates relevant to their path, and allow them to work on other dates such as Christmas which bore no relevance to them."
He also said that an increase in Pagan chaplains in police forces across the UK meant cops had a 'support base' close to hand.
He said: "The recruiting of Pagan chaplains into the police service is an acknowledgment of the increasing numbers of Pagans choosing to work in the police service, and the changes of attitude between them.
"Pagans do not set themselves above or outside nature, but recognise their place within it.
"The Pagan Police Association understands and promotes our co-dependency with the Earth and therefore promotes the tenets of community and the pursuit of peace and prosperity."
Source:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2967143/Pagan-cops-get-eight-new-hols.html