Christians and Druids
by Richard Thomas
At first sight, Christianity and Druidry seem to be different, irreconcilable religions. Christians find the authority for their beliefs rooted in a set of sacred scriptures, whereas Druids have an oral tradition and base their beliefs on internal experience.
Many Druids think that Christians worship a fierce God who stands outside his creation, whereas many Christians think of Druids as ‘tree-huggers’, worshipping nature as deity. Christian faith is based on a belief that God became a person in Jesus, that he was willing to give his life in order to pay the price for our sin, and that God raised him from the dead. Most Druids find the concept of ‘sin’ difficult, and prefer to work with an understanding of personal responsibility and the sacredness of nature.
The list of apparent differences could be a lot longer. Yet many Christians who have been to Druid meetings, or who have spent long, warm hours around a log fire deep in conversation with their Druid friends, enjoying good beer and good food, have come to understand that, despite the differences, there can be a meeting of the heart and the spirit that transcends the differences of belief. This meeting of the spirit points to something beyond them both: something that they share and honour in common.
It is that ‘something’ that I want to reach towards, to explore. It is an elusive thing, an agreement of the soul, a recognition of something profoundly sacred that both the Christian and the Druid can sense. It is calling us from a place that is deeper than our differences, and is stronger and sweeter than our fears.
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