clipped from www.ekklesia.co.uk

Some Christian groups in Scotland are anxious about druids, wiccans and other traditional religionists from across the UK gathering in a small north-east community this summer, reports the Scotsman newspaper.

The Rev Graham Swanson of Elgin Baptist Church, told the newspaper: "I have grave concerns and reservations about this event taking place. As a Christian I believe the Bible warns us about dabbling in such things as witchcraft."

But Moray resident Joanne Campbell, who is behind the event, said: "People like to sensationalise our gathering and speculate that we are up to all sorts of strange things. But the reality is that we really just want to get together and socialise with friends and like-minded people.

Along with humanists, pagans in Britain are denied official membership of many inter-faith bodies. The dispute is over the meaning and antecedence of 'belief', and the question as to the representativeness of bodies such as the PF.